Irritable Bowel Medication - 5 Steps to Treat IBS

Irritable Bowel Medication Used in Drug Therapy

When speaking about drug therapy for IBS, it is worth mentioning that this therapy is used in cases of moderate to severe IBS patients, those who have been recommended changes in the food they eat and given other medical councils, but with no, or little effect.

In spite of the fact that in the past the first stage treatment for IBS was intended to deal with the main symptom, now there are several therapies that shown their efficiency in dealing with multiple symptoms.

1. Laxative

The first step in approaching the IBS traditionally is dietary fiber. This is part of a group of irritable bowel medication called laxatives. Apart from the dietary fiber, there are other three types of laxatives that are used in case the first doesn't have the expected effect.

This type of IBS medication is used in progressively in an attempt to find a solution for the specific IBS symptoms that a patient might show.

2. Anticholinergic/Antispasmodic agents

If laxatives prove inefficient to fight IBS, then the physician uses a second group of irritable bowel medication called antispasmodic agents. The problem with this type of IBS medication is that there are no significant results in the general population, and also, those have shown some little effect are not available in USA.

3. Antidiarrheal agents

For IBS patients suffering from diarrhea, a GI doctor would next use as irritable bowel medication antidiarrhea agents. The downside of this method is that it doesn't eliminate abdominal pain and it causes constipation.

4. Antidepressant medications

Considering that the gut flora and motility is influenced by antidepressant medications, the medical procedure uses this type of irritable bowel medication. In addition to that, IBS is often present when psychological issues may be involved.

This way can be relived abdominal pain.

5. New serotonin agents

Due to the new research results, now is used another type of irritable bowel medication. These newer drugs have proved to be efficient by high standard clinical tests. We will mention two of these irritable bowel medications that act on serotonin receptors in the body.

Serotonin (5-HT) has an important role for the bowel function. That is why it is used as an irritable bowel medication..

There are several drugs that include serotonin, but the most known are:

• Alosetron ( Lotronex), which is used for IBS patients with diarrhea, and
  
  
  


• Tegaserod (Zelnorm), which is used when the IBS patients present constipation symptoms.