How can I treat IBS on my own?
Depending on the likely cause of IBS, the condition can often be treated at home. Dietary changes such as increasing fibre, limiting FODMAP foods or identifying trigger foods can help, alongside other steps such as minimising stress, using movement for treatment or incorporating probiotic supplements, all whilst listening to your body.
Steps for managing IBS from home
Here I outline some steps on how to help manage IBS from home on your own, without the need for medical interventions:
1. Understand your symptoms
People often accept the IBS diagnosis but don't really understand what it means for them. This is because IBS is a broad umbrella term and can mean very different things for different people. It really means there is a degree of digestive malfunction at play and some more serious digestive conditions have fortunately been ruled out. From there, it may be up to you to really figure out what it means for you in terms of treatment, since there's technically 'no cure' as it can be so individual.
For some people, symptoms can be constipation-dominant (IBS-C). For others, the issue is diarrhoea-dominant (IBS-D). Some people even have both (IBS-M), although very often constipation is at the root of the cause, if this last scenario is the case. Then, as well as IBS often being categorised by these predominant symptoms, there is often lots of overlap with many of the other common symptoms, such as bloating, flatulence and uncomfortable cramps.
Understanding your set of symptoms is an important first step in trying to figure out the potential root cause. Stress, dietary triggers or an imbalance in gut bacteria can all have parts to play and may present a slightly different set of symptoms depending on how they affect us.
My advice is to listen to and try to understand your body in order to have a better chance of managing your symptoms more effectively.
2. Chew and drink water, but not together
With IBS, just as with any digestive complaint, going back to basics is often an important first step. Simple steps can often be the most effective for encouraging your digestive system to work properly once more.
Firstly, chewing properly is crucial. Regardless of the type of IBS you experience, this step is always useful. Chewing helps prep your digestive system for the incoming food, and makes your digestive enzymes more likely to be able to successfully break down your food into their simplest units, which makes for a happier digestive process.
When it comes to drinking water, this may be especially important in cases of IBS-C (constipation dominant variant), but actually, in all instances of IBS it will be helpful and you certainly shouldn't shy away from this if diarrhoea is your predominant symptom – it won't make things worse, so that's quite often a common misconception.
Just be sure to separate any drinks from your main meals by at least 20 minutes either side, so you don't risk diluting your all-important gastric secretions.
3. Consider the impact of diet
What triggers one person's IBS may be very different from what trigger's the next persons; but in many cases, certain foods can be considered 'dietary triggers', although not necessarily the sole underlying cause.
To some degree, this is individual. Generally, fibre should be considered an important aspect for maintaining gut health, but for those with IBS, certain fibres may be tricky to tolerate, at least at first, which is why the low FODMAP approach can often help. Although this shouldn't be considered a suitable long-term approach, unless under the advice of a doctor.
Artificial sweeteners are another common irritant and there is research suggesting the frequent use of these could potentially upset the balance of bacteria in the gut, with some long-lasting effects. (1)
So, these may be some useful starting points to consider in terms of potential tweaks to your diet, but as always it is very individual. Certainly, though, identifying food triggers initially, for many, may be helpful.
4. Use probiotics
Whilst not always helpful for everyone, manipulating the balance of good bacteria in the gut with the help of both pre- or probiotics can often be useful.
Although there are encouraging results for the use of some probiotics in the management of IBS, such as with the Optibac range, research suggests that combining probiotics with supporting prebiotics such as Molkosan, in a special combination known as synbiotics, may be an even more effective approach, potentially with some longer-lasting results. (2)
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5. Minimise stress
Stress may in some cases be a fairly obvious cause if it's been exacerbating your IBS symptoms lately. In other cases, underlying, chronic stress working away in the background, and unbeknown to you, could be contributing to some of your digestive turmoil.
Stress can switch off some of your digestive symptoms which, in turn, can give rise to some unfavourable symptoms.
For this reason, certain stress management techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, hypnotherapy or relaxing exercise options such as dynamic stretching, may have their benefits. These approaches can all help to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system which is the branch of your nervous system which literally helps us to 'rest and digest.'
When it comes to the movement aspect, the key is not to do too much and to find something you enjoy. This will help keep the 'stressful' impact of too much exercise on the body to a minimum, and instead you can benefit from the dose of endorphins that exercise can provide.
These feel-good, hormone-like chemicals can not only help to act as a natural painkiller, which can come in handy in cases of uncomfortable flare-ups, but actually, they can help our mood and mental state more generally too. We know that there is a strong brain-gut connection, so some people may well find that incorporating exercise into their regime works especially well for them.
Moving more may also be especially useful in cases of IBS-C, as gentle movements of your body can help to massage your gut into action.
