Are there varying degrees of IBS?

Are there varying degrees of IBS?

Lin Chang (UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases) gives expert video advice on: What is 'irritable bowel syndrome' or IBS?; What does 'irritable' mean in terms of IBS?; What is a 'bowel'? and more...

There are varying degrees of IBS, rated by different levels of severity. You have actually patients in remission. It's a fluctuating condition, so you can have symptoms at one time but not at another. Even though it's not curable, you can go into periods of remission where you don't have any symptoms. The way we rate severity is fairly general - it's either mild, moderate, severe or very severe.