How to Cope With Irritable Bowel Syndrome With No Medication

Learning to cope with Irritable Bowel Syndrome depends on the way your body works, your stress level, diet, and physical health. There is no known cause of IBS, however, there are foods that may make symptoms worse or better. Also, your everyday stress levels and mental state can affect your health. The steps below will help you achieve physical and mental well-being.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook
• Pen
• Yoga or meditation books

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Instructions

• 1

  Understand your body and what upsets it. Record your eatings habits and keep track of your mental health and stress level on a daily basis. Keep an IBS journal record of what you eat at every meal, and compare that to how your body feels after you eat it. Keep track of this for a month, daily, and record the symptoms you experience after each meal or snack.

• 2

  Keep a month-long record of your mental and spiritual state, and your stress level. Understand what stresses you, using a scale of a 1 to 10 stress level in your IBS journal, rating everything from family, work, financial worries, health and time management. Studies by gastroenterologists and Mayo clinics have shown that IBS is agitated by a combination of diet and mental and spiritual health, so taking time to soothe the body and mind is very important. Review your diet and stress level journal after a month of recording to put into perspective. Learn the main things that bother your IBS, and then change your lifestyle.

• 3

  Use Integrative Medicine to help reduce your IBS symptoms considerably. Combining a changed diet, stress awareness, healthy mental state and physical activity will undoubtedly reduce your IBS agitations.

• 4

  Eat well to feel well, and know what isn't good for your body. Learn this from your food journal. Avoid problem foods. Taking fiber supplements can either increase or decrease your symptoms, so experiment with fiber in small doses to see what works for you. Pro-biotic products, such as yogurt, are beneficial to IBS as they replace bad bacteria with good bacteria to ease the digestive system. Eat at regular times, try to not skip meals and attempt to eat at the same times each day to regulate bowel function. Check if large meals worsen your symptoms. Drink many fluids, especially water.

• 5

  Engage in physical and spiritual activity to help lower your stress levels and balance your mind and body. Learn how to relax. Meditation, acupuncture, massage, T'ai chi, and yoga are good examples of activities to soothe your IBS symptoms. Re-prioritize, relax, learn to say no to activities or responsibilities you do not have time for, release control, let go of guilt, and asses your time commitments to certain relationships, work and activities.