Self care for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

As of last weekend the Self Care Plan for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is free access for those people with the condition and for those who might feel their symptoms are down to IBS, but are unsure and wish to know what to do next. Check it out here:

http://www.theibsnetwork.org/the-self-care-plan/

As the UK charity for people with IBS we felt it was important to have this information for everyone to access. I know of no other site that has information on symptoms, medical treatments, dietary treatments and psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression that often follows this diagnosis, in one area and including tools that can help

such as the bowel relaxation recording. It also has information on alternative treatments and how useful these are for symptoms. It has been checked by the IBS Network team of advisors including gastroenterologists, psychotherapists and dietitians to ensure the information is as comprehensive and evidenced based as it can be. We also requested members to comment as the best people to advise us are people who are living with this condition. The plan is still open to comment so do please get in touch if you wish to make any compliments, suggestions or constructive criticism, we do wish to continue to improve this tool.

http://www.theibsnetwork.org/contact-us/

The plan is also useful to health practitioners to aid patients in clinic, I use it when I am in clinic. We have 10-20% of the population in  the UK living with IBS at any one time so self-care is going to be vital to help people to manage, we hope the plan will be a tool that people are happy to use and perhaps more importantly happy to recommend to others to spread the word.

We still need membership to help us to continue as a charity – membership includes the self-care plan symptom checker, access to ask health professionals questions, the help line, can’t wait card and travel translation card.  Well worth joining, also to help us to continue to provide help and support for people with this condition.

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