Buscopan Medication for IBS Cramps

It is well known, and as one of my doctors remarked, was one of the older drugs used to treat IBS cramps. The active ingredient is plant-based; an extract of the leaves of the Duboisia plant, or Cork Tree.

The stomach cramps associated with IBS are not the same as stomach ache caused by indigestion (which is usually felt in the upper abdomen and may be accompanied by acid reflux) or menstrual cramps.

Many factors affect the digestive tract, which is extremely sensitive, and it responds both to foods that may not agree with you (in my case nuts, broccoli, peppers will all start them off.) and your lifestyle, especially stress.

When I took this medication, I found that if I could also rest with a hot pad or hot water bottle, I did gain some ease, and I experienced no adverse side effects.

Some women find that IBS cramps are triggered by their menstrual cycle, and suffering period pain and IBS pain together is truly miserable; often I did not know know which was which, save that the IBS occurred all the time, rather than once every three or four weeks.

I also discovered that ovulation could sometimes cause an IBS spasm. The digestive system generally operates smoothly, but IBS spasms occur when that smoothness becomes the equivalent of a hard *clenching* of the digestive muscles. This product is designed to relax that clenching action.

I myself took pain-killers, sometimes as well as this, but since there are no actual pain killing ingredients in the medication, either aspirin, paracetamol or codeine, there was no reason not to occasionally take both.

Food intolerances, allergies, gastric infections and food poisoning also cause stomach cramps, and they are often accompanied by bloating, gas, diarrhea and/or constipation. You may suffer them with headaches, loss of appetite, nausea and bladder infections.

It may be bought from a chemist or drugstore, and costs about £5.00 in the UK, or may be prescribed by your GP. I have been prescribed it, and the doctors believed Buscopan to be a 'tried and tested' drug, older than the popular Colofac IBS.

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