Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common condition that affects the large intestine. The condition’s symptoms can vary from person to person and range from mild to severe. While mild symptoms can be managed with diet and stress reduction, medication and counseling may be needed to manage more severe symptoms.
The cause of IBS isn’t known, and there are no specific tests for the condition. However, if you have symptoms of the condition, your doctor may run some tests to rule out other possible causes of your symptoms. The symptoms of IBS vary from person to person. Some of the most common symptoms of the condition include abdominal cramping, pain, or bloating that is relieved or partially relieved after having a bowel movement, mucus in the stool, excess gas, and diarrhea, constipation, or both.
1. High Fiber Diet
A high fiber diet can help some individuals with IBS. Fiber adds bulk to your stool, which helps with bowel movements. Most adults should consume 20 to 35 grams of fiber each day. Add soluble fiber into your diet a little at a time, as adding too much fiber too fast may trigger IBS symptoms. It’s also important to increase your fluid intake at the same time you increase your fiber intake. Some good sources of fiber include fruits like apples, pears, bananas, strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, figs, cantaloupes, and peaches. Vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts are also good sources of fiber you can add to your diet.
2. Exercise
Exercise is typically part of any IBS treatment plan. Not only is exercise good for your overall health, it is beneficial for this specific gastrointestinal condition. Exercise can help you cope more effectively with the physical and emotional triggers of the condition. Exercising also improves your well-being and helps you manage stress. Stress is a well-known trigger for irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. Nerves located in your colon control contractions in your colon muscles to keep things moving. When you’re stressed, these nerves can cause abdominal pain.
3. Stress Management
Stress is a known trigger for irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. Therefore, stress management may help provide relief from your symptoms. There are numerous ways in which you can manage stress in your life.
Avoid stressful situations, when possible. This doesn’t mean you should avoid stressful situations that need to be dealt with, but you can limit the time you spend with people who consistently stress you out, learn how to set boundaries and limits, take a longer and less congested route home if traffic stresses you out, and turn off the news if watching it causes you stress.
4. Diarrhea Medication
Diarrhea medication can help you manage bouts of diarrhea related to IBS. Over-the-counter diarrhea medications, such as loperamide, can help control diarrhea. Your doctor may also choose to prescribe a bile acid binder, such as colesevelam, cholestyramine, or colestipol to help manage bouts of diarrhea.
Bile acid binders inhibit bile acids from stimulating your colon, which relieves diarrhea by slowing down stool passage. Bile acid binders are usually only given if the symptoms of your condition persist after other treatment options have been tried. Side effects of bile acid binders include constipation, bloating, abdominal pain, feelings of fullness, gas, and nausea.
5. Antibiotics
Not all antibiotics are believed to be beneficial for IBS. However, antibiotics that aren’t absorbed by your stomach are believed to be beneficial because they can influence your small and large intestines. Specifically, the antibiotic, rifaximin, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Rifaximin can decrease bacterial overgrowth and provide relief from diarrhea.
6. Dietary Supplement
Individuals with IBS may benefit from taking dietary supplements. One dietary supplement you may benefit from if you have this GI disorder is psyllium powder, which is a bulk-forming fiber laxative that’s made from ground psyllium seed husks. Fiber is beneficial for both constipation and diarrhea, as it can loosen or bulk up your stool. Peppermint oil is another supplement that may help relieve your symptoms.
Peppermint oil contains menthol, a chemical that has been shown to relax GI tract muscles in spasm. Peppermint oil may be helpful in relieving abdominal pain, bloating, gas, and constipation. You can try adding the supplement to your hot tea or water.
7. Gut Antispasmodic
The muscles in your intestines contract and relax to move food along your digestive tract. Your muscles contract in response to chemicals produced by your body. These chemicals bind to specific receptors on muscles in your GI tract. In conditions like IBS, muscle contractions can occur too often or be painful.
A gut antispasmodic works by attaching itself to the receptors on the muscles in your GI tract, inhibiting chemicals from binding with these receptors. Antispasmodics decrease muscle contractions and can help relieve some of the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
8. Laxative
These medications can help relieve IBS constipation. Several laxatives are available over the counter for constipation relief, including magnesium hydroxide and polyethylene glycol. Stimulant laxatives trigger the muscles in your bowels to contract, helping your stools pass more easily. It only takes these medications a few hours to work.
Osmotic laxatives pull water back into your bowels, which softens stools, making them easier to pass. These medications can take one to two days to work. Ask your doctor which medication would be best for you. These types of medications should be used on a short-term basis.
9. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Psychological factors, such as stress, are known to trigger IBS symptoms. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one way you can learn to cope with stress. In cognitive behavioral therapy, you learn how to recognize negative and distorted thinking patterns and replace them with more positive and realistic ones. Working with a cognitive behavioral therapist can help you learn how to react differently and more positively to irritable bowel syndrome using relaxation techniques and being more positive, which can help reduce GI pain.
Many people with irritable bowel syndrome have anxiety. While anxiety isn’t the cause of the condition, your symptoms can be triggered or made worse by anxiety. In CBT, you’ll learn how to evaluate your thoughts when you’re having symptoms, analyze whether your fears are rational, and how you can manage your anxiety. This, in turn, may lessen the severity of your symptoms.
