Question:easy
A young girl presents with abdominal pain and a recent change in bowel habit, with passage of mucus in the stool. There is no associated blood in the stool and the symptoms are increased with stress. The most likely diagnosis is:
A young girl presents with abdominal pain and a recent change in bowel habit, with passage of mucus in the stool. There is no associated blood in the stool and the symptoms are increased with stress. The most likely diagnosis is:
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Mucus without blood plus a strong stress link in a young patient is functional bowel disease.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn's disease
- Amebiasis
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Map the clues to a single label. A young woman has crampy abdominal pain, her bowel habit has shifted, she passes mucus, there is no blood, and stress clearly flares the symptoms. The standout signal is the tight link to stress paired with the complete absence of bleeding.
That profile is textbook $irritable$ $bowel$ $syndrome$, a functional gut-brain disorder defined by recurrent abdominal pain tied to defecation, altered stool frequency or form, and frequently mucus in the stool, all without structural damage. The strong stress trigger fits its gut-brain mechanism perfectly.
Crucially, the danger signs are missing. There is no rectal bleeding, no weight loss, and no fever, and these missing red flags push the diagnosis away from organic disease.
Now discard the organic mimics. Ulcerative colitis classically gives bloody, mucus-laden diarrhoea with urgency, so no blood weakens it. Crohn disease tends to bring weight loss, systemic upset, or perianal involvement rather than a stress-driven functional pattern. Amebiasis is an infective dysentery with blood and mucus, which again does not match a bloodless, stress-linked picture.
With pain, mucus, altered habit, no blood, and stress as the trigger, the diagnosis is irritable bowel syndrome.
\[\boxed{\text{Irritable bowel syndrome}}\]
That profile is textbook $irritable$ $bowel$ $syndrome$, a functional gut-brain disorder defined by recurrent abdominal pain tied to defecation, altered stool frequency or form, and frequently mucus in the stool, all without structural damage. The strong stress trigger fits its gut-brain mechanism perfectly.
Crucially, the danger signs are missing. There is no rectal bleeding, no weight loss, and no fever, and these missing red flags push the diagnosis away from organic disease.
Now discard the organic mimics. Ulcerative colitis classically gives bloody, mucus-laden diarrhoea with urgency, so no blood weakens it. Crohn disease tends to bring weight loss, systemic upset, or perianal involvement rather than a stress-driven functional pattern. Amebiasis is an infective dysentery with blood and mucus, which again does not match a bloodless, stress-linked picture.
With pain, mucus, altered habit, no blood, and stress as the trigger, the diagnosis is irritable bowel syndrome.
\[\boxed{\text{Irritable bowel syndrome}}\]
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