I am getting no relief from irritable bowel syndrome. what to do?

my gastro-enterologist diagnosed with me IBS after ruling out diseases like colon cancer, crohns, colitis, etc etc. the colonoscopy was normal.

however, i experience chronic abdominal pains, i'm frequently constipated and i feel something is burning inside the stomach. i feel bloated too all the time. After eating food, my condition deteriorates.

I was prescribed on some medication initially and it didn't help much. Then a new medication was prescribed and that too doesn't help much.

I think no medication suits me. What am i to do now? i feel miserable. Please help me.

i'm 31 and i'm extremely stressed for the past several months

Well, IBS has a very strong emotional, psychological component to its etiology and failure to address that underlying cause of IBS will likely prolong IBS. Neural stimulation of GI causing uncontrolled motility and contraction is the hallmark of IBS and so you need to control the neural stimulation either through psychological therapy or medications. This is the explanation i gave another girl about why Donnatal could help and much better is coupled with therapy(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
IBS is like saying you have a bug, it's a very vague disease with no clearly defined cause. Anyway, i [read up on Donnatal which was prescribed to another IBS patient and it] seems to be an anticholinergic drug which blocks neuronal signaling to your GI to stop or dampen motility. Sure, stress is usually a strong sympathetic followed by a strong parasympathetic response (uses Ach as main neurotransmitter that is antagonized by anticholinergics), which is what you see in people who throw up or poop under extreme anxiety attacks. goodluck

Okay, i'm gonna go the extra limb to explain sympathetic and parasympathetics. These two functional systems of our nervous system is often referred to as "fight or flight". Sympathetic response during stress increases blood pressure breathing rate so you can transienty increase your metabolic rate to address whatever is causing you stress like embarrassment for example. This, however, has an opposite effect on the GI system because sympathetics release two different neurotransmitters that affect the cardiovascular (receives norepinephrine neurotransmitters) and GI (receives noradrenaline, adrenaline neurotransmitters) systems differently. Where as in the heart norepinephrine has a strong stimulatory effect by binding beta 1 adrenergic receptors to increase smooth muscle and heart muscle contraction, adrenaline and noradreline has a strong relaxation effects on the GI smooth muscles by binding beta 2 adrenergic receptors. You dont poop and pee during extreme stress, this comes afterwards. After the transient sympathetic response is over, ie, relaxation of the GI system, the parasympathetics kick to try to equilibriate the system and recover from that rapid jolt. the parasympathetics release acetylcholine which binds g-protein coupled receptors that increases calcium releases in the GI smooth muscles causing contraction and motility. donnatal (anticholinergic) is an anticholinergic which may bind to the same g-protein coupled receptors that acetylcholine binds so in order to outcompete acetylcholine and abolish its effects and results in loss of GI SM contraction and motility. It also helps that donnatal also has phenobarbital which is a sedative to try and dampen the effect of over stimulation of your brain which activates the sympathetic and parasympathetic response. These are hallmarks of IBS and nothing else. Crohn's will not be cured by an anticholinergic or a sedative because it's an autoimmune disease. You can also cross out Celiac and Ischemic Bowel diseases because one is allergic and the other is mechanic-mediated diseases and you would be on different type of therapies and surgeries to fix those. Cancers theoretically could be but it is very very unlikely because cancers with endocrine effects will release hormones not catecholamines and i dont see hormonal effects here (long term effects) and see only catecholamine effects (short, quick effects).

MOST IMPORTANT THING IS...how old are you? I had that problem for a horrible 6 years and it slowly...slowly faded over time. I was 10 when i first got it i woke up one day and had diarrhea and it hurt so bad i couldnt even describe it. I know its really hard but i went through so many doctors and specialists and in the end medicine didnt help...you just have to wait until your stomach/colon is over it. Usually it has to do with nerves. Ultimately are you stressed?

relax man, just go with the flow. its part of who you are.