The symptoms that most people suffer from with IBS include:

- bloating and gas

- constipation and/or diarrhea

- feeling as though you still need to have a bowel movement after you have already had one, which goes hand in hand with

- feeling a strong urge to have a bowel movement; pain and cramping;

- occasional mucus in your stools.

Before your doctor will tell you that you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, there are some things that he will need to do. The first thing is a physical exam, which will include taking a blood test.

After your doctor gets your blood test back, he will usually ask to take an X-ray of your bowels.

This procedure can be referred to as a barium enema or a lower GI (gastrointestinal) series.

Barium used for this procedure is a thick liquid, which is inserted rectally, that is used to make your bowels show up better on the x-ray.

Your doctor may also request for an endoscopy. In this procedure the doctor will insert a long thin tube into your bowel. This tube has a camera attached to it so that he can look at the inside of your bowels and check for problems.

If you are indeed diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, you should know that there is no known cure for it and doctors aren't even sure what causes it. However, there are 3 things that you can do to alleviate the symptoms.

Listed in the order of importance, these things include changing your diet, taking medication and finding ways in which to relieve your stress.

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You will need to start eating more foods that are rich in fiber because this will improve the digestive process, regardless whether you have diarrhea, constipation or both. Fiber will help reduce your bloating, pain and some of the other symptoms that come along with Irritable Bowel Syndrome as it bulks up your stools and make them softer.

Some of the foods that are rich in fiber include bran, carrots, apple, whole grain bread and natural cereals. You should also make sure to drink 8 glasses of water each day.

Another step that often helps IBS sufferers is to reduce the size of their meals, and eating little but more often each day. Whenever you eat these meals, you should make sure that you chew your food at least 25 times before you swallow it to aid the digestion process internally.

At first, you may need to keep reminding yourself that Irritable Bowel Syndrome is not going to kill you as it can sometimes feel that way! Making the lifestyle changes will help relieve irritable bowel symptom problems. These changes may seem difficult to do until they become habitual, but they are worth persevering with to find relief from painful IBS symptoms.