[S_LIne]

As above what are the differences in symptoms? With mild can you have one or two symptoms once and a while or all the time. With severe do you have all the symptoms or just a few constantly and severely? Do they have a scale that measures the difference between severities? These are the symptoms of IBS and my symptoms are on the right. So with that being said would I have Mild as I don't have many issues or Moderate as I have these just about everyday? I am sorry if this is confusing. But being stuck in the US for a few months yet I don't have a doctor and I don't have insurance. So I really don't want to pay a doctor for his/her advice.

* abdominal pain or discomfort relieved by a bowel movement I have had cramping relieved by diarrhea a BM 3 times since I started having symptoms (little over a year and a half)
* three or more bowel movements a day (diarrhea) maybe like 3 times a year
* three or fewer bowel movements a day (constipation) nope 1 time a day
* loose, watery stools (diarrhea) I have one sort of loose BM a day
* hard, dry stools (constipation) nope
* feeling of urgency (diarrhea) Not often maybe a few times
* straining during a bowel movement (constipation) sometimes
* feeling of incomplete evacuation sometimes but rarely
* passage of mucus never
* gas and bloating gas every night some bloating

[Kathleen M.]

I don't think there is a solid definition of mild, moderate, or severe.

This is my take on it.

Mild, weather you have it every day or every so often the symptoms are fairly easy to deal and while a bit annoying, it isn't effecting your quality of life. You can go where you want and do what you want most of the time with only a minor interruptions in your daily routine.

So this could be either how often it happens (only a couple of times a month for a short period of time) or that the symptoms even if fairly frequent are no big deal.

Moderate. Symptoms at least some of the time are an issue with your life. It is more than just a bit annoying because you actually sometimes find it interferes in a fairly substantial way with your quality of life and usually on a fairly regularly basis.

Severe. Greatly effects quality of life. And again this can be from frequency of symptoms (severe pain after every single meal you eat) or from how severe they are when they hit (you may have good and bad days, but on bad days you can't be more than 50 feet from a bathroom).

In all cases there may be one or two of the symptoms that are the big problem. For me the pain was severe, but the stool consistency issues were always pretty mild and if I just had that I'd have called it mild but the curled up in a ball unable to walk more than a few steps without dropping pain was IMO severe even if the stools were only a little on the loose side.

It isn't mild is 1 symptom and severe is all of them at maximum intensity. Even if one or two of the symptoms is keeping you from working on a regular basis or making it hard to care for yourselr it is severe IBS.

[S_LIne]

Cheers Kathleen that's what I wanted to read.