Irritable bowel syndrome is a functional gastrointestinal disorder, meaning symptoms are caused by changes in how the GI tract works. People with a functional GI disorder have frequent symptoms; however, the GI tract does not become damaged. IBS is a group of symptoms that occur together, not a disease. In the past, IBS was called colitis, mucous colitis, spastic colon, nervous colon, and spastic bowel. The name was changed to reflect the understanding that the disorder has both physical and mental causes and is not a product of a person’s imagination.

IBS is diagnosed when a person has had abdominal pain or discomfort at least three times a month for the last 3 months without other disease or injury that could explain the pain. The pain or discomfort of IBS may occur with a change in stool frequency or consistency or be relieved by a bowel movement. Followings are symptoms and signs of irritable bowel syndrome in TCM.

1. Pattern of Liver Qi Stagnation and Spleen Deficiency
Main Symptoms: emotional stress, depression, stomachache, diarrhea, loose stool, distension still after stool, poor appetite, dull stomachache, irritability, insomnia.

2. Pattern of Stagnation of Liver and Qi
Main Symptoms: stomachache, diarrhea, difficult to defecate, desire to defecate even after stool, swelling abdomen pain.

3. Pattern of Excessive Heat and Damp
Main Symptoms: chronic diarrhea, abdominal distension, borborygmus, vomit, indigestion and loss of appetite.

4. Pattern of Spleen Qi Deficiency
Main Symptoms: fatigue, poor appetite, irregular bowel movement, abdominal distension after meal.

5. Pattern of kideny and Spleen Yang Deficiency
Main Symptoms: crymodynia in the abdomen, chronic diarrhea and dysentery, aversion to cold, poor appetite, pale complexion, fatigue.