My 5 top tips to help with IBS
TOP TIP NUMBER 1 - GET A DIAGNOSIS
If you've got symptoms of what you believe is IBS but you haven't been diagnosed, definitely get in touch with your GP and get a proper diagnosis.
Sometimes I think we worry a lot about digestive symptoms that we have and our mind kind of goes into overdrive worrying about what it could be. If you've got IBS or even if you haven’t, either way you need to know. If your GP tells you that it is IBS that might help to calm you down a little bit and get a bit less anxious when you've got symptoms. So, get a diagnosis, and get in touch with your GP.
TOP TIP NUMBER 2 - YOGA
Become a yogi! There is a small study that compared the FODMAP diet, which is a diet that is often used for when you've got IBS (by removing a lot of foods) with yoga practice and they found that actually yoga was as helpful, if not more helpful, than the FODMAP diet.
The only thing with yoga is that you need to be consistent to see some results, so if you know a lovely class in your area just try to go twice a week and make a commitment to really try this for four weeks. Yoga has an effect on the nervous system and since IBS is very much a dysfunction between the gut and the brain access, it does help to rebalance what we call the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous system and put you more into rest and digest mode than fight or flight mode.
Yoga also massages the organs of the digestive tract so if you've got constipation, it will definitely help to get things moving along. So get on the mat!
TOP TIP NUMBER 3 - REMOVE THE CRAP FROM YOUR DIET
Before you do anything else, remove gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, and seeds from your diet. Just have a look at your diet and remove all the processed food.
You will need to prepare and plan in advance. One useful tip is when you're cooking a meal at dinner time just make double for lunch and bring your lunch with you to work the next day. Breakfast, you can do something really simple the night before and put it in the fridge and have it ready to grab in the morning.
Make a conscious effort for two or three weeks to remove any type of processed food in your diet.
One thing I see a lot in clinic is people thinking that gluten is a trigger. Gluten can be a trigger but not always, and unfortunately clients resolve to using gluten free supermarket alternatives and these gluten free products are often full of additives and preservatives that can also be irritating the gut. So please be aware that gluten free alternatives are very often processed themselves.
Another example is dairy and clients believing that lactose intolerance is the problem when in fact our cheeses don't have a lot of lactose. There is therefore no need to remove ALL dairy products.
TOP TIP NUMBER 4 - KEEP A FOOD DIARY
Keeping a food diary is great but don’t just make it about food! Include your moods and symptoms too.
Have you considered that your IBS flares up at particular times? Different types of stress may interfere and may really trigger an IBS flare.
Keep a note of if when meeting up with a particular person your symptoms get worse, or is it generally every morning before you go to work? Is it when you have to stand up in front of colleagues to present?
Try to highlight the areas where these events in your life are affecting your symptoms. And on the flip side, are your symptoms better when you go on holiday?
TOP TIP NUMBER 5 - SUPPLEMENTS
One of the supplements that has been really shown to help with IBS, and it's been studied extensively, is a probiotic that contains live bacteria called Lab4.
Lab4 has got several strains of bacteria that have been shown to be really helpful for IBS. The brands that I use are Proven and BioCare. There's also another probiotic called Alflorex that has been shown to be useful for some individuals. Probiotics, from experience in clinic, can be hit or miss. Some probiotic works for some individuals and others don't. It can be trial and error for about 8 weeks. As long as it doesn't hurt, just keep going for a period of 8 weeks.
The second supplement that I really like is magnesium because it is so effective against stress. Magnesium will calm everything down when you're getting contractions and cramping in your lower abdomen by helping to relax and smooth the muscles.
If you're on any other medication, make sure you check with your GP regarding supplementing.
IBS is an area I specialise in and there are a lot of other things you can do. Just don't stay in pain because there's an awful lot that you can do to manage your IBS better and to get your symptoms under control.