Review Detail

Having suffered from irritable bowel syndrome from childhood the author of this book is well qualified to offer advice to those just recently diagnosed.

A diagnosis of IBS can be frustrating as the conventional therapies offered by your doctor are likely to be very limited in both number and effectiveness. If every patient were to be given this book they would probably fair a lot better.

Heather Van Vorous starts of by teaching the reader how the digestive system should work and what goes wrong in IBS. She goes on to discuss a range of dietary modifications and other techniques that can offer relief from symptoms. These other techniques include stress management, the use of nutritional and herbal supplements, gentle exercises, and acupuncture.

As well as educating the reader about their condition and what can be done to help, Van Vorous also offers a wealth of practical tips for making the most of doctors visits, enjoying holidays/vacations to the full, and eating at restaurants or at friends/relatives houses.

Some commentators have argued over specific dietary recommendations that the author makes but by and large the advice is very accurate and reasonable an perhaps some people forget that this is advice for "the first year", not forever.

A recently diagnosed IBS patient cannot go far wrong picking up a copy of this book.