Irritable Bowel

Irritable bowel syndrome is not something that has a 100 percent cure rate.  In most cases, you and your doctor will work at determining how best to tackle and handle the symptoms.  Without the cause being known, there is little that can be done to remove the pain and discomfort forever once and for all. 

One thing that should be noted is that irritable bowel syndrome is not a progressive condition.  It is also not life threatening to those that suffer from it.  There is no reason to believe that you can't get help and will have to suffer with IBS either.

But, there is much that can be done to help in improving the quality of your life by handling the symptoms that you face.  That is what we'll provide here. 

How To Manage IBS

There is a lot to think about when it comes to managing IBS.  There are medications, home remedy solutions and other things that you will need to do to help you to stop the pain and suffering that you are experiencing.

In most cases, you can get some relief by implementing just one of the types of treatments available to you.  But, most that suffer from IBS will want to consider doing more than just adding one treatment to their regimen for managing IBS.  With a constant eye on several key factors, you can find a number of benefits in health related costs.

Treatments To Be Considered

There are several types of treatments that can be used in the relief of irritable bowel syndrome.  In later chapters, we will go into full details about each of these so that you can adapt them into your lifestyle and find the relief that you need.

• Stress relief
• Your diet
• Prevention of the condition
• Self care measures
• Coping with the condition
• Medications prescribed
• Alternative medications available
• Complementary treatments

Each of these avenues is something that you should carefully consider if you are to overcome what IBS can do to you.  In addition to this, the severity of your condition should be taken into considerations.

Those that suffer from more extreme cases are going to need more help than those that do not.  Your treatment should be based on just how extreme your condition is.  In effect, the treatment for a mild case of IBS is not going to be enough for those with severe symptoms.  Likewise, the treatment for severe IBS is not going to be beneficial to those that are suffering from a mild condition. 

What's What?

Your doctor will work with you in diagnosing and then determining what level of severity your IBS is.  For each person, this will mean meeting with and following up on your doctor's diagnosis.

But, you can learn more about your condition by monitoring the levels of your condition on your own.  Once you know to what degree you are suffering, there is a simple set of tools available to you to use. 

If you have mild IBS, your goal will be to work through management of stress factors and to make changes to the foods that you eat and to your overall lifestyle.

For those that are suffering from more moderate conditions of IBS, there is a need to make the changes noted above for mild conditions as well as to take fiber supplementation, anticholinergic medications (or those similar to them) and possibly over the counter relief.

If you do have a severe form of IBS, you'll need to follow both the mild and moderate conditions, but in addition, you will need to talk to your doctor about further medications.  These can include tricyclic or SSRI antidepressants or other types of medication.

How Do You Know?

The biggest question that most individuals with IBS ask themselves is a simple, who do I know what to do?  The best answer that can be given is to meet with and talk to your family doctor first.  If you don't find answers there, more on to working with a specialist in the field. 

Through a series of testing, your doctors will help you to fully understand your condition including the severity of your symptoms.  Once that is complete, they will help you to make the right lifestyle changes and, in most cases, you will also be prescribed medications to manage it.

The recommendations of a specialist in the field are by far the very best way to go.  He or she will aid you in providing the right treatment for your specific condition, not just the symptoms that are most common with irritable bowel syndrome.

But, it makes sense to keep yourself completely updated and educated on what is happening in the world of IBS.  When do can safely do that, you will find the relief that you need.

In the next chapters of this e-book, you will learn various methods to managing your IBS condition.  In most cases, you will want to consider making the necessary changes to your lifestyle that will make a significant difference to your IBS symptom severity as well as its frequency.  Dedicate your time to improving your lifestyle and diet, and you will most likely find relief.

As for the medications chapter, make sure that you discuss with your specialist the types of medications that can help in your specific situation as not all of them are right for others.