Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a routine disorder that affects the intestine. It commonly causes pain in the belly, bloating or cramping, and constipation or diarrhea, all of which is often inconvenient and distressing.

IBS is a permanent disease, but it doesn’t stimulate more grave diseases, like inflammatory bowel disease or cancer. IBS is diagnosed by exclusion — a doctor contemplates other alternatives to start with, conducting tests to exclude other medical problems. However, the specific cause for IBS is not clear. It’s possibly due to the following reasons:

• The nerves in the bowel are more sensitive than normal.
• Unusual contractions observed in bowel movements
• Chronic inflammation of bowel
• Few psychological factors

Irritable bowel syndrome treatment is dependent on various factors, which are as follows:

• The kind of symptoms you have
• Level of severity
• Impact on your daily activities

No single type of medication works perfectly for everyone. So you and your doctor can work jointly to ascertain what may be prompting your symptoms. You will have to tweak your lifestyle to effectively manage your symptoms and still hang on with your routine activities. Remember, your doctor must be kept informed of the symptoms and the progress of the treatment.
Recording your symptoms
The first step for irritable bowel syndrome treatment usually involves observation and recording of disease symptoms, bowel habits, food habits, and other routine activities (like morning walk) that affect the symptoms.

Note all these daily activities in a notepad for a few weeks, which in turn can enable you and your doctor watch certain patterns of symptoms. You may be able to track what habits make the symptoms worse. For example, eating pizza and burger frequently would lead to irritable bowel syndrome. So, you must start avoiding them proactively.
Managing symptoms
For people suffering from IBS, specific foods may provoke symptoms. The following tips may help control or ease few IBS symptoms:

• Restrict consumption of caffeine, alcohol and fatty foods.
• Restrict intake of dairy products, fruits, and artificial sweeteners such as sorbitol or xylitol, if diarrhea is your key symptom.
• Increase fiber content in your diet. It not only helps relieve constipation but also worsens other symptoms like cramping and gas. Some of the fiber-rich food include fruits, vegetables, and beans.
• Avoid intake of beans, cabbage, uncooked cauliflower or broccoli to help ease bloating or gas.
• Exercise daily to further improve the quality of your life on many fronts — sound sleep, better energy level, your emotional as well as social life, etc.
• Quit smoking
• Go on medication. You may require medicine for diarrhea, constipation, cramping, and depression
• Minimize stress, if stress appears to spark symptoms.

Medical tests for irritable bowel syndrome treatment
Irritable bowel syndrome can be treated based on symptoms. Doctors diagnose IBS if a person has normal symptoms of the disorder and additional tests have ruled out other probable causes if any. Most people may not need tests, but few will, due to age and symptoms. Typical tests include:

• Checking medical history
• Physical examination
• Blood test to diagnose celiac disease
• Checking complete blood count (CBC)
• Sedimentation rate to check for body inflammation
• Analysis of stool
• Thyroid tests and colonoscopy on need basis

Medication for irritable bowel syndrome
Diarrhea medicines may be used for irritable bowel syndrome treatment. The following medicines may be used to treat acute diarrhea if it does not improve with home treatment.

• Antidiarrheal — Includes atropine, diphenoxylate, and loperamide
• Bile acid binding agents — Includes cholestyramine
• Rifaximin (Xifaxan) — Used to treat people who have diarrhea and bloating as their key symptoms. This can be taken for around 14 days.
• Alosetron — Prescribed for women with acute diarrhea. This medicine is said to trigger ischemic bowel disease. Doctors who are prescribing it need to sign a certificate as well patients need to sign a compliance form.

Medicines for constipation
There are numerous medicines for acute constipation that doesn’t cure with a home remedy. Predominantly these medicines are available easily; you don’t require a prescription, and they can occasionally be taken. You must check with your doctor before using such medicines for constipation.
Some medicines for constipation are as follows:

• Osmotic laxatives – Includes Milk of Magnesia and non-absorbable sugars like lactulose
• Polyethylene glycol like MiraLax
• Stimulant laxatives like Senokot
• Linaclotide like Linzess
• Lubiprostone like Amitiza

If your symptoms don’t respond to irritable bowel syndrome treatment given by a general practitioner, then you will have to see an expert who specializes in treating digestive system diseases (gastroenterologist). If stress is the trigger for IBS, it may be ideal to see a psychiatrist.