IBS and natural was to help symptoms

Try peppermint tea or peppermint oil capsules, aloe vera juice and even a hot water bottle on your stomach.  You coulad also try light exercise or massage therapy.

Check out herbs, Turmeric, Cumin, Ginger, and others, loads of info online, I am a great believer that nature has answers to many problems, it's just finding it, I use Turmeric, and bought some Cumin I'll give that a go, Turmeric really helps me with IBS.

Peppermint oil capiles help me...

Not completely drug free but a lot of natural stuff in it..

Dear Amy

My understanding is that IBS is usually caused by intolerance to some components of food.    The natural way to overcome this is to stop eating foods that contain those components.

Researchers at Monash University found that there is a unch of foods that contain components called FODMAPS.  From memory there are 5 groups of FODMAPS and you might be intolerant to one of them or more , even all five.

You have to identify which ones you can't tolerate and then avoid them.   To do this you first go on an exclusion diet where you eat only a very small amount of FODMAPS   If you are lucky  your symptoms will cease.   You then re-introduce foods with more FODMAPS in them   If your symptoms return then you must either avoid that food completely or eat it in small amounts.

For details search for FODMAP Monash

This has been adopted in many countries around the world so ask your doctor and try to get help from a dietician who knows about FODMAPS.   You are much better off having an expert helping you than trying to do it all your self.

If you decide to try it then take it really seriously. One cup of coffee with ordinary milk is too much for me,

You really need a helpful doctor who has some experience with FODMAP

Amy86549,

My experience with IBS, I've tried everything under the sun and the only way I keep mine at bay without sitting in the bathroom all the time is with medication. My doctor told me one time to let my stomach get some rest from solid food and I tried that and it didn't seem to make a difference, the only thing that seemed to help from symptoms was when you have a test run and you have to empty out your colon and that is the best rest I have had other than keeping med's around. I wish you luck with trying the no medication route but I can tell you that with the med's I've been on for years I haven't had side effects the only way I know I take something is because I actually know I take something. Keep us updated about your progression....

Every medication and natural remedy you take can give you side affects. Unfortunately its unavoidable. Sucking on strong mints often helps. Colperin is a peppermint capsual that you can get from the doctors. But if you have IBS D then maybe best to avoid as many people claim they make it worse. But works great on IBS C studies show.

I take mebeverine for my IBS. It works well and i get no side affects at all. I only have to take one and for me it can last for days. Best thing is you can stop it as soon as you feel better and then restart again whenever so your not taking it all the while (although you can). I cant stick side affects and whilst some people claim Mebeverine is useless others cant live without it. Like any other medication on the shelves. So best to give something a go. It may work!

Hot water botle is good, cutting out fatty foods. 

The FODMAP diet is the result of fairly recent research and many doctors don't know much about it.  It is scientifically based so it must be worth a try.

Unfortunately it doesn't have a 100% success rate.  As you know IBS is the label for a set of symptoms that can't be explained by other known conditions.    It therefore includes multiple causes and early results from FODMAP testing indicated that the diet worked for about 70% of those diagnosed with IBS.   It is now used very widely but I haven't looked for any later success rates.

It costs nothing to try so a 70% success rate sounds pretty good.

Cheers