Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable Bowel Syndrome...a condition? or the result of poor
understanding of bowel management (ie constipation, followed by drastic
measures to resolve such which results in diarrhea)

After a long conversation with a friend who thinks she has IBS, I
realized that she has a poor understanding of how bowels function esp as
we age. She waits too long before having a movement, then throws all
kinds of "measures" at it and ends up in diarrhea...are we surprised?
the bowels like regularity ...and stop and starts...forgive the analogy.

Before you accept such a diagnosis, follow the recommendations to the
letter, understand how _your_ bowel functions, which foods/meds cause
constipation and/or diarrhea in you. For instance, she said that fresh
strawberries loosen her bowels and cause diarrhea. Well eat something
with fiber in it with a tablespoon of strawberries on it, (instead of
just a bowl of strawberries)..she's going to try..I'll let you know how
it all turns out. She has less complications because she refuses to
take meds..however she has had weird eating habits all her life.
(something she still battles).

Understand the importance of exercise, fiber and water.

I honestly don't think that people need to "learn to live with IBS".
That it's totally avoidable or can be dealt with in natural ways. For
instance, a half glass a day of pure concentrate prune juice, will
counter any "constipating" effects of meds. Take more meds, take more
prune juice or whatever works for you.