Which medicines are commonly used for IBS?

Which medicines are commonly used for IBS?

Lin Chang (UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases) gives expert video advice on: Will my IBS symptoms get better?; Is there a cure for IBS?; What treatments can relieve IBS symptoms? and more...

There's different medicines that can be used for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but it's important to direct the medication therapy to the patient's predominant symptom. Antispasmodics are probably the most commonly used agents for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but there's very little data that suggests it helps the overall symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Sometimes it can help patients with post- toneal pain. For the diarrhoea patients, anti-diarrheal agents can be useful. Also, low dose tricyclic agents which are anti-depressants, but at low doses are not used for mood. They actually decrease diarrhoea and pain. There is also a drug called Alosetron but it's under restricted use and that's used in women with severe diarrhoea predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). For the constipation symptoms we use laxatives or prokinetic agents such as Tegaserod which is right now under restricted use as well.