Review of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder frequently encountered clinically. Many IBS patients use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies for better treatment results when their conditions could not be improved by first-line drug treatment. However, due to limitations of quality and quantity of studies about CAM therapies, most of these therapies for IBS have not been recommended by relevant consensuses and guidelines. We overviewed common CAM therapies for IBS, detailed three types, namely, natural products, psychosomatic therapies, and Chinese medicine, aiming at increasing clinical workers and patients' understanding and application of these therapies.

Keywords

• irritable bowel syndrome|complementary and alternative medicine|treatments|review