I briefly mentioned alternative therapy as an ibs treatment in part 1 and will expand some of the areas that fall into the “alternative therapy for ibs” category, these are:

Yoga – This has long been acknowledged as a way of relaxing and learning to calm your mind so relieving yourself of stress. As it has become fairly widely accepted that stress can play a very large part in how severe your IBS symptoms are, learning yoga can only help you to stay relaxed, thereby helping to prevent your symptoms from occurring. Although in itself yoga is not an irritable bowel syndrome treatment, as it does not treat any symptom specifically, it can and does help lots of people by teaching them how to relax and eliminate some of the stress from their everyday lives.

Acupuncture – Many sufferers of ibs will testify that acupuncture works for them, and that it does provide some relief from their symptoms. Acupuncture is one of the better known alternative therapies. So how exactly will acupuncture help in your irritable bowel syndrome treatment?

The acupuncture practitioner will chat to you and after this consultation he or she will be able to treat your symptoms in the way that is right for you. Acupuncture is said to release blockages in your life-force by using needles that are placed into various parts of your body. No need to be alarmed at this thought! The needles are so thin, that they will not cause any pain. The idea of this type of therapy is to relieve any pain felt with your ibs.

Medical –Physicians can offer irritable bowel syndrome treatment, and it is often to them that someone who suffers with ibs will turn. This is generally the first port of call as we tend to understand and trust any treatment that your physician may prescribe. Plus of course the condition does need to be confirmed before any treatment is administered. Medical intervention will tend to be with drugs, although sometimes your physician may recommend counselling.

Prescriptions are often issued for medication that will help to control your symptoms so that you are not suffering too much. These can be used to keep pain levels down, to help stabilize your digestive system, or to help stop you becoming depressed. You may well find that your irritable bowel syndrome treatment will need more than one type of drug, so you may be prescribed a comination.