Diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is made from a process of exclusion. Exclusion is made by ruling out all other causes for the patients symptoms. As stated in the last section the symptoms of I.B.S. are cramps or abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, and gas or bloating. Research into I.B.S has always been hampered by the lack of standardization for diagnosis of I.B.S. Their has been some progress in this area with the Rome and Manning criteria systems as well as with the Quality of Life Questionnaire (IBSQOL).

. In the Rome and Manning systems, I.B.S. is diagnoised by two situations, diarrhea or constipation.  For diarrhea or constipation, one or more of the following symptoms must be present. For diarrhea: three to five bowel movements per day, loose , water ,mucous and bowel movement urgency.  For constipation: two bowel movements or less per week, hard or lumpy stools, and straining during bowel movements. In the Quality of Life Questionnaire the severity of I.B.S. is determined by the Quality of life a person has with I.B.S..This is calculated on a series of questions related to your everyday life for the past month.

In the exclusion process for I.B.S all organic diseases that may cause the symptoms should be considered as well as malabsorption disorders and irritable bowel disorders such as Crohn,s disease and diverticulitis. Colon cancer should be tested for as well. A qualified physician will determine what test are needed if any based on the patient's past medical history, age and symptoms.

To see if you are an I.B.S. candidate you can take and complete the I.B.S. Self-Evaluation Questionnaire. 

References

1.Francis CY, Morris j, Whorwell PJ, The irritable bowel severity scoring system: a simple method of monitoring IBS and its progress, 1997, Aliment Pharmacol Ther.

2.Hahn BA, Kirchdoerfer LJ, Fullerton s, Mayer E, Evaluation of a new quality of life Questionnaire for patients with IBS; 1997 Aliment Pharmacol Ther.

3.Kruis W, Irritable bowel syndrome: questionnaire and scores;1990 Gastroenterol clinical Biol.  

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