Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a debilitating chronic gut disorder that can have serious implications on an individual’s overall health, including mental health. Symptoms like gas, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation are often sporadic and unpredictable and can inhibit a person’s quality of life. Today, IBS is one of the most frequent disorders that physicians see, impacting an estimated 10% and 15% of the U.S. population.
While there is currently no cure for IBS, new digital tools can make the condition much easier to live with and manage. This blog explains some of the new tools available and how they can help reduce symptoms and enhance your well-being.
Symptom trackers and meal-planning apps
One of the most effective ways to identify food triggers is to track daily food intake alongside IBS symptoms. Digital symptom trackers make it easy to record food and symptoms to help patients and their physicians identify which foods are most problematic. The apps can also help track progress to see if symptoms go away when a particular food is avoided.
While paper journals have been used for this purpose for a long time, digital symptom trackers appear to have better compliance rates. This is likely because they are easier to use and available through smartphones, which people tend to have with them or close by during and immediately after mealtime.
Similar to digital symptom trackers, digital meal planners can also help by giving individuals food recommendations based on IBS guidelines and customized to their specific IBS symptoms. These can be valuable tools for assisting individuals in making better food choices meal-to-meal or through week-long meal plans. They can also help patients choose the best options when eating away from home.
Wearable devices
As smartphones and smart watches gain broader adoption, they present new opportunities for patients to better manage their IBS and to more effectively collaborate with their physicians through remote patient monitoring.
One of those digital tools is an ingestible capsule that targets constipation. The capsules do not contain pharmaceutical drugs. Instead, they send “micro-vibrations” to the patient’s colon, stimulating regular bowel emptying. Although the device is not a drug, it does require a prescription. This ensures that the device is only used by patients who may find benefit and that those patients are actively monitored by a clinician while using the device.
In addition to new internal devices, there are non-surgical wearable devices that are less invasive but just as effective. These devices work by “sending gentle electrical impulses into cranial nerve bundles located in the ear.” These impulses help interrupt abdominal pain and nausea signals related to IBS. Just as with an ingestible device, wearable devices may be available by prescription only as they need to be customized for the patient and monitored over time by a clinician.
Virtual therapy programs
Finding and scheduling in-person therapy for IBS can be challenging for patients with busy schedules or who live in areas with limited options. Fortunately, new digital tools help remove these barriers so patients can find relief any time, anywhere.
One such app, an FDA-cleared prescription digital therapeutic, uses hypnotherapy to target and alleviate abdominal pain associated with IBS. The app works by enabling “focused attention and deep relaxation” to help the individual “filter out uncomfortable sensations” in the gut. Because the app is available for a smartphone or tablet, patients are able to access the tool when and where it’s most convenient for them.
Other virtual options include research-backed cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). With CBT, individuals are guided through a succession of short daily lessons through an app. As patients progress through the lessons, they develop the skills necessary to “build healthier brain-gut relationships, decrease symptom severity, and increase overall well-being.”
Next steps
Individuals living with IBS shouldn’t have to suffer or change their lifestyles because of symptoms. New digital tools explicitly designed to help manage IBS and its symptoms are readily available and highly effective. The first step is to reach out to your GI physician. If you don’t yet have a GI physician, the GI Alliance website can help. Along with a searchable database of physicians in your area, the website provides other medical resources, including information about the latest digital tools that can help you on your IBS journey.
