Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) types
According to symptoms, we can classify irritable bowel syndrome into four types:
IBS-D; Diarrhea is predominant.
IBS-C; Constipation is predominant.
IBS-M (Mixed IBS); alternating diarrhea and constipation
IBS-U (unclassified); the symptoms don’t fit into any of the above types.
This classification isn’t so important because about 75% of IBS patients change subtypes.
Symptoms of IBS establish the Rome criteria for diagnosis. IBS diagnosis depends mainly on its presentation. To say that it is a case of IBS, we should have the following:
Recurrent abdominal pain at least for one day weekly within the previous three months; the pain also should be:
- Related to defecation (increased or relieved by it)
- Associated with a change (by increase or decrease) in the stool frequency
- Associated with altered stool appearance