Rome III Criteria and IBS Symptoms

Every one of us at some point of time has experienced intestinal disorders like diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, bloating and gas. But when all these irritations overwhelm a person continuously, it may refer to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS symptoms should be properly diagnosed to warrant appropriate treatment.

Primarily diagnosed as functional disorder, IBS does not tend to exhibit any kind of noticeable sickness. In order to distinguish that a particular person is suffering of usually passing digestive disorders, from IBS, medical profession have now fallen back on what is known as Rome III criteria. This criterion when adopted for diagnosing a person as indeed having IBS, mandatory associates the following IBS symptoms with the disorder:

a) That the digestive disorders mentioned above must have been present in the patient for a minimum period of six months,

b) That these disorders must have manifested at least on three days during the last three months.

c) The IBS symptoms should include constant recurring pain or discomfort in the abdominal area, associated with the following two or more factors:

• Bowel movement usually relieves pain.
• Pain begins with the change in composition of stool – soft, or harder.
• Pain begins with the change in the regular cycle of bowel movement.

IBS symptoms can be medically diagnosed only on the basis of continuous pain in the abdominal area, combined with a noticeable change in your bowel movement habits. IBS in the context of an individual patient might mean a combination of the symptoms including abdominal pain, which is relieved after a bowel movement; Constipation – strained movement of bowels, with fewer than three bowel movements a day, or hard/dry stools; diarrhea – feeling of urgency for bowel movement, with more than three bowel movement per day, or watery loose stools; feeling of incomplete evacuation, passage of mucus or gas and bloating. IBS symptoms can be broadly classified into three types, one with predominant constipation, second – predominant diarrhea, and third kind with symptoms alternating between diarrhea and constipation.

There are certain IBS symptoms which are usually of serious and upsetting nature, leaving the people wonder whether there has been wrong diagnosis and whether the attending medical people have not been able to consider a more serious disorder in their health. Given below are the symptoms which are not associated with IBS, and therefore which should be investigated further to know the reasons for their manifestation.

a) nausea;
b) fever;
c) significant and unexplained weight loss
d) fatigue
e) presence of blood in the stool due to hemorrhoids, which should be immediately brought to doctor’s notice
f) Anemic conditions, bloodlessness in the body;
g) Pain in the abdomen which isn’t relieved by bowel movement
h) Pain in the abdomen which disturbs sleeps and awakens the patient.
i) Decrease in food intake/Loss of appetite

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Fat and IBS

The diet for an irritable bowel syndrome involves avoiding all of the foods which irritate the colon and has the potential to cause a spastic colon. A gastro colic reflex takes place when the food goes to the stomach. Foods which help in healing and regulating the colon should be a part of your daily diet in order to prevent and avoid those foods that cause painful spasms and cramps, gas, nausea, and bloating, and assist in the healing of the colon.

The body finds it very difficult to digest fats and certain kinds of animal products. These two kinds of foods trigger IBS Colitis and are also the main causes for both constipation and diarrhea. All these foods should either be completely avoided or limited to the maximum possible extent from your diet. Your diet might need a complete overhaul in order to bring the symptoms under control but they are all positive changes for your health and well being.

Fat is a great stimulant, which is present in the digestive tract. When the food we consume reaches the stomach, a gastro colic reflex takes place, and the colon starts contracting automatically. Sometimes an attack of IBS takes place immediately after the wrong kind of food has been consumed and takes place in a more powerful manner especially when fat is consumed. Though the normal consumption of fat would only result in a bowel movement, this can cause serious problems for people that have IBS colitis or diarrhea. This is because people with IBS do not have a normal gastro colic reflex and the colon could respond in a violent manner. People who have a chronic problem of constipation will find that such spasms will make the colon react very severely, cramps from the colon can cause some sever pain and this will also aggravate the constipation since motility has closed and the feces is not able to move. The muscles should relax in order to provide relief but with IBS it takes some time for normal motility to be restored after such a reaction.

Foods which contain a lot of fat can only aggravate the condition of IBS diarrhea since the muscle spasms which take place as a result of fat digestion will result in such quick gut contractions that there will not be enough time to absorb water. The spasms and diarrhea will also cause a lot of pain. High fat foods can result in both diarrhea as well as constipation for people who have IBS colitis and this is due to the delay in the gastro colic reflex. You can imagine what your body would go thru if the whole meal consisted of fatty fast foods.

It is very difficult to completely avoid high fat foods and people with IBS colitis should try to limit and/or avoid these in their diet pattern. In understanding that your body will have a reaction you can consume a little portion and help yourself by drinking lots of water to keep the system moving. These dietary changes will help you in living a healthier life and pain free life.

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