4 Ways to Address IBS for Better Digestive Comfort
Stomach discomfort can disrupt your life, and finding answers isn’t always easy. Getting a diagnosis means going through lengthy testing to eliminate possible culprits. The right IBS home remedies may help you feel better in the meantime and help you manage the condition.
Precisely what helps IBS get better varies from person to person. Health woes stem from a complex combination of factors, from your DNA to your diet and lifestyle. Identifying the triggers that bring on pain and taking common-sense steps toward promoting overall wellness can ease symptoms. Trying the following IBS home remedies can bring you considerable relief.
What Is IBS?
IBS stands for irritable bowel syndrome. It’s a disease of exclusion, which means doctors diagnose it by ruling out other possible causes of your symptoms. According to Dr. Suma Magge, MD, a gastroenterologist at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut, IBS is a chronic, sometimes disabling disorder involving gut function characterised by abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits.
What Causes IBS?
The exact trigger for IBS remains unknown. Although doctors have yet to pinpoint a specific cause, numerous factors may influence symptom development, including:
Stress
Infection
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
Food poisoning
Food intolerances
Motility issues, where the abdominal muscles contract too fast or too slow.
These factors may work together to produce symptoms. For example, your typical discomfort from a food intolerance may be so mild you hardly notice it — but symptoms flare when under stress or after taking an antibiotic that impacts your gut microbiome.
Symptoms of IBS
Abdominal pain
Constipation
Diarrhea
Bloating
Mucus in the stool
A feeling that the gut hasn’t emptied
These symptoms vary in intensity. They also mimic those of inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, making diagnosis challenging.
What Helps IBS Get Better?
You have all the unpleasant symptoms but lack the time, money or insurance for extensive testing. Fortunately, the right lifestyle changes help IBS get better even without a diagnosis. Try these IBS home remedies and be patient — finding the right management strategy may take time.
1. Modify Your Diet
Some people find that certain foods increase their symptoms, while others have dietary deficiencies that may make matters worse. Some of the foods IBS patients avoid to manage their symptoms include:
Spicy foods
Fatty meats
Gluten
Dairy
Alcohol
Coffee
Fruit juice
Carbonated drinks
Artificial sweeteners
This list might look lengthy, but you may not have to give up everything or feel deprived. For example, ancient grains like quinoa make excellent alternatives to gluten-containing versions and offer a protein punch as a bonus. Eggs are far easier to digest than fatty meats like sausage and supply 13% of your daily protein for just 70 calories.
You might also benefit from adding more probiotic and prebiotic-rich foods to your diet. Probiotics refer to living organisms that balance your gut and help you digest, found in fermented foods like yoghurt, sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha. Prebiotics refer to pectin and other dietary fibres that nurture these pint-sized powerhouses while drawing water to your colon to make “the go” easier. Starting your day with a parfait containing yoghurt, apples and oats could ease belly pain all day.
2. Get Moving
Physical movement or a lack thereof impacts gut motility, one possible cause of IBS symptoms. Recent research suggests it does so by impacting your microbiome, those healthy bacteria colonies that probiotics replenish. Regular exercise also impacts appetite regulation, which could make it easier to choose foods that nourish your gut while avoiding triggering substances.
3. Lower Your Stress
Stress alone may or may not cause IBS, but it can definitely make your symptoms worse. Unfortunately, you can’t outrun modern stressors like rising rents the way early humans fled from hungry predators. However, engaging in daily mindfulness activities like the following can help you decompress and manage the load you carry:
Deep breathing
Mindfulness meditation
Gratitude journaling
Body scan meditation
Yoga
4. Discover and Avoid Your Triggers
Detecting food sensitivities can take time. Use an elimination diet approach, cutting out suspected problematic foods and gradually adding them back until you determine what spurs your symptoms.
Avoiding stress triggers is even more challenging than uncovering food sensitivities. However, engaging in techniques such as body scan meditation builds awareness of your physical reactions to stress. From there, become mindful of the circumstances that prompt your physiological responses. When you know you have a potentially upsetting day on deck, schedule extra self-care and treat yourself with the compassion you’d show your BFF.
When to See Your Doctor
If taking the above measures fails to ease your symptoms within a week or so, give your physician a call. Additionally, sudden severe pain lasting longer than 24 hours or accompanied by a fever, bloating, yellowing of the skin or ongoing diarrhoea, especially with rectal bleeding, warrants medical attention. Finally, seek care if pregnant, as stomach trouble can result in malnourishment that affects fetal development.
IBS Home Remedies
IBS can disrupt your routine and cause unnecessary pain. Finding answers isn’t always easy, but anyone can incorporate the above strategies in their search for relief. These IBS home remedies may be all you need to help your IBS symptoms get better so that you can get back to life.
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Beth, the Managing Editor and content manager at Body+Mind, is well-respected in the mental health, nutrition and fitness spaces. In her spare time, Beth enjoys cooking and going for runs with her dog.
