Top 12 IBS Questions and Answers – Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

What is the best over the counter medicine for IBS?

Pain – Abdominal pain is the most worrying symptom of IBS. Moderate to strong analgesics such as gabapentin (Neurontin) and Pregabalin (Lyrica) can ease severe pain.

Laxatives – Foods rich in fibers are the first line remedy to relieve constipation. If fiber doesn’t help symptoms, polyethylene glycol (Miralax) and magnesium hydroxide oral (Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia) are some of the best laxatives to relieve constipation.

Anti-diarrheal medications – Loperamide is the main over the counter drug to help control diarrhea. Bile acid binders such as colestipol (Colestid), cholestyramine (Prevalite), and colesevelam (Welchol) can also be used to reduce diarrheal episodes.

Anticholinergic medications – These drugs are commonly used to relieve pain and reduce muscle spasms. The most commonly used OTC drug for this purpose is dicyclomine (Bentyl).

Antidepressants – As stress and depression can aggravate the symptoms of IBS, taking medications along with stress-management techniques is sometimes necessary. Tricyclic antidepressants such as nortriptyline (Pamelor), fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem), imipramine (Tofranil), desipramine (Norpramin) are the mainstay of reducing depression. You should take them after consulting your doctor as they can cause drowsiness, blurred vision, dizziness and dry mouth.