What is irritable bowel syndrome?

Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic noninflammatory disease characterized by abdominal pain, altered bowel habits consisting of diarrhea or constipation or both, and no detectable pathologic change in the intestinal tissue.

How do members experience irritable bowel syndrome?

Top 5 symptoms reported by people with irritable bowel syndrome*

*Reports may be affected by other conditions and/or medication side effects. We ask about general symptoms (anxious mood, depressed mood, fatigue, pain, and stress) regardless of condition.

Top treatments taken by people for irritable bowel syndrome*

*Data from patients with irritable bowel syndrome, who have ever reported treatments, ordered by their reporting frequency during the last 5 years.

Compare treatments taken by people with irritable bowel syndrome*

Treatment
Perceived effectiveness
Side effects
Total evaluations
Tried for
Treatment

(Bentyl)
Perceived effectiveness
for irritable bowel syndrome (5 evaluations)
Side effects
Total evaluations
5
Tried for
irritable bowel syndrome (17)
Treatment

(Questran)
Perceived effectiveness
No evaluations
Side effects
No evaluations
Total evaluations
0
Tried for
irritable bowel syndrome (3)
Treatment

(Imodium)
Perceived effectiveness
No evaluations
Side effects
No evaluations
Total evaluations
0
Tried for
irritable bowel syndrome (3)
Treatment

(Levsin)
Perceived effectiveness
for irritable bowel syndrome (1 evaluation)
Side effects
Total evaluations
1
Tried for
irritable bowel syndrome (2)
Treatment

(Generlac)
Perceived effectiveness
No evaluations
Side effects
No evaluations
Total evaluations
0
Tried for
irritable bowel syndrome (2)

*Data from patients with irritable bowel syndrome, who have ever reported treatments, ordered by their reporting frequency during the last 5 years.

Who has irritable bowel syndrome on PatientsLikeMe?

Age

Age Proportion # of patients
<20 18
20s 390
30s 1,165
40s 1,780
50s 2,265
60s 1,926
70+ 914

Distribution of sex

Sex

Sex Proportion # of patients
Male 1,114
Female 7,288