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irritable bowel syndrome
the most common disorder seen in patients with gastrointestinal complaints, consisting of altered bowel habits, such as diarrhea or constipation or alternation of the two, along with abdominal pain and intolerance to flatus, without any detectable organic disease. It should not be confused with colitis or other inflammatory diseases of the intestinal tract; in irritable bowel syndrome there is no inflammation, and it is not
necessarily limited to the colon.

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