I have irritable bowel syndrome. What should I do?

I have irritable bowel syndrome. What should I do?

Charles Triay (General Practicioner) gives expert video advice on: What is the best treatment for indigestion?; What produces excessive stomach gas and can it be cured? and more...

When dealing with irritable bowel syndrome, it really boils down to dietary modifications and symptomatic treatment. By dietary modification, I mean that there are number of food products which the patient might find makes their irritable bowel syndrome worse: fatty foods, high fibre foods, or it could be low fibre foods. The patient will derive lots of benefits from trying to keep a food diary. It tries to establish what helps the irritable bowel syndrome. There are also a lot of benefits from consulting a dietician, who would then help the patient, study the diet further and recommend things that would be beneficial or not beneficial particular to that individual. From a medication point of view, if an irritable bowel syndrome patient has diarrhoea, we can give some medication for diarrhoea, or if they have constipation, give some kind of medication.