Back to Homepage
Beyond that, there are a lot of support groups out there. There are a lot of people with IBS, and there are a lot of doctors who specialize in managing it. And talking to other people with IBS can be really helpful because it’s very difficult to live with. An analogy I often use is: imagine that you’re living in an apartment with a broken fire alarm. And just because the fire department has come every time that it goes off and said, “There’s no fire.” And you know there’s no fire, it doesn’t mean it’s nice to live in an apartment where the fire alarm is constantly going off. And to deal with that, there are a lot of tips and tricks that people can use to try to help you while we try to rewire the fire alarm and fix it, especially because, for whatever reason, this particular alarm is sometimes pretty hard to fix. Talking with people online, talking with support groups, talking to other people who experience disease is often a great mechanism of finding out those tips and finding things that work for you, because treatment for this is very individualized. However, I would always recommend talking to your doctor before you initiate a new therapy, especially if you found it online. Some things are fantastic and some things are a little concerning, and for the most part, as long as it’s safe, it’s a great idea to try something, but we do want to make sure it’s safe before you go ahead.
