IBS abdominal pain
is often diffuse all over the abdomen, but its common site is the lower abdomen, especially the left lower quadrant. It usually occurs as cramping, but it may feel like attacks of sharp pain on top of constant dull aching pain. Eating participates, or worse, this pain, and defecation may improve it.
Altered bowel habits in IBS may occur as follows:
Constipation may represent a complaint of hard stools, painful, or infrequent defecation that doesn’t respond well to laxatives.
Diarrhea represents loose stools of small volume, an urgency to defecate, or frequent defecation.
Usually, the patient has one pattern of disturbed bowel habit -constipation or diarrhea-, but some patients may have alternating constipation and diarrhea.