Customer Reviews

IBS Chat: Real Life Stories and Solutions

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wish I had found this book 15 years ago. My husband has suffered

from IBS and it has had a very negative impact on our social life. He is

also the type who would never read a book to get help. IBS Chat has been a lifesaver! The chapters are broken up in such a way that I could

easily point to the sections that would be most helpful to him. The

easy-to-read style and the fact that these were real people offering advice made him open up to try new ways of dealing with his IBS. He and I have been struggling with this on our own for so long, it is great to feel that we can finally make some progress.

Although I am still on my search for a cure -- not just treating the symptoms, this book reminded me that I'm not alone. It also re-enforces the need to get to the heart and cause of this curse. Twenty percent of the total population is entirely too many souls to ignore.

Lots of information and real life stories - nothing you wouldn't get from the www.ibsgroup.org website. The website is easier to navigate for specific issues.

During one of my recent visits to the IBS Self-Help & Support Group, I noticed a promotional ad for IBS Chat. Beneath the image of the book cover, the tagline read, "Your essential guide to IBS Relief." A bold statement, if ever there was one - especially when you consider that there are literally dozens of IBS self-treatment books in print that claim to have "the" cure for IBS. However, having read this book from cover to cover, I can honestly say that Jeff Roberts and Barbara Bradley-Bolen have definitely created a top-notch, unparalleled (and, yes, essential) resource that every IBS sufferer should read.

In my opinion, one of this book's greatest strength (and what sets it apart from so many other IBS self-help books) is that the authors recognize and emphatically acknowledge that IBS is not a one-size-fits-all condition, but rather a complex disorder that so often affects different people in very different and individualized ways. And not surprisingly, there is still no single treatment or cure that works for all sufferers or all symptoms. So it is only fitting that the book gives readers insight into a broad range of treatment options to consider or discuss with their doctors. As anybody with IBS can tell you, getting an official medical diagnosis is rarely the end of your journey. To the contrary, it is often only the beginning of a long, frustrating quest to find which specific treatments will work best for your particular set of symptoms and triggers - a process of elimination, if you will.

And that brings me to what really makes IBS Chat so unique and helpful. While it may have the look, feel, organizational structure, and (at over 500 pages) weight of a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the beauty of this book is that its advice comes from actual, real-life IBS sufferers who have chosen to share their personal stories so that other people can benefit from their experiences. Take it from somebody who made the mistake of battling IBS all by myself for far too long - we need all the help and support we can get! And thankfully, that's exactly what IBS Chat delivers.

- Tim Phelan, Author of Romance, Riches, and Restrooms: A Cautionary Tale of Ambitious Dreams and Irritable Bowels