How to Treat Your IBS With Science

I went through my own bout with IBS some years ago. It was really frustrating. I spent a lot of time and money trying to fix it, and nothing worked.

Dealing with IBS was especially frustrating because of all the unhelpful advice I'd get. When I'd Google IBS, I'd just get blog posts telling me to exercise and avoid triggering foods. Meanwhile, when I'd go to the doctor, they'd tell me I should just avoid stressful situations and eat more fiber.

I really wished I had an actually helpful guide with actually helpful advice. I wanted a guide that would reassure me that I actually had IBS (and not Crohn's, colon cancer, or other much more frightening diseases). I also wanted a guide that would lay my treatment options out clearly: what works, what doesn't, and what I can expect from the treatment. Last, I wanted a guide that would tell me what was actually wrong with me. I knew my bowel was irritable, but why? What changed?

I couldn't find a guide like that. So I wrote it, and here it is. Here's what's in the book:

The organization of the book

The book is laid out first with a table to make sure you actually have IBS, and not a similar GI condition. Then it has a table of scientific evaluations of IBS treatments, complete with citations of many, many studies.

If you have a simpler form of IBS, these two tables might be enough. If you have a more complex form, or a more complex condition, you will need a doctor's help. That's why the next section is how to deal with your doctors, who will likely be your GP and your gastro.

When you're dealing with your doctors (or figuring things out yourself), you should have an idea of how your digestive system actually works. That's why I've put another section here on how your digestive system works, and how it breaks down in the various IBS-related conditions. I've also included a brief scientific explanation of how the various IBS treatments work.

At the end of the book, I list all my sources (and there are a lot!), what I took from them, and how I evaluated them. If you want, you can follow up on these sources yourself to gather your own conclusions.