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module menu icon Questions to ask the patient

  • Find out whether the patient has consulted a doctor about their symptoms and, if so, what they were told. There will be some patients who have had a lot of investigations in the past
  • The patient may already have tried prescribed or OTC medicines to treat the condition. You need to know what has been tried and whether it produced any improvement
  • Travel abroad and gastroenteritis sometimes appears to trigger symptoms of an irritable bowel, so a history of this should be sought. Referral may be necessary to exclude an unresolved infection
  • Ask about the impact of symptoms on daily functioning such as at home, work or leisure
    Stress appears to play an important role in IBS and can precipitate and exacerbate symptoms. Enquiring sympathetically about recent problems or life events might provide some insight
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