Irritable bowel syndrome is a very common yet extremely difficult illness. The problem is it has no clear etiology or easy way to diagnose it. In fact usually doctors diagnose it after excluding many other illnesses. Then after it is diagnosed there aren't any clear and obvious treatment prottocols for it. That said the latest research is saying that irritable bowel is caused by something called SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth).
Many of you who are fans of MMA may have seen the article about Demetrious Johnson who won the One Championship tournament while battling IBS (SIBO). He had to try many different varieties of antibiotics and the problem is it is very hard to completely get rid of SIBO because bacteria develop immunity.
Manuka honey is an ancient treatment. Egyptians used honey as an antibiotic thousands of years ago and honey is actually a traditional medicine. Manuka honey is a special kind of honey which is much more expensive than ordinary honey because it has to be sourced from New Zealand. Manuka honey has been shown capable of killing drug resistant bacteria by damaging the proteins of that bacteria.
Conclusion
If your doctor recommends an antibiotic and your insurance will pay for it then by all means take it. If you don't have the insurance or cannot afford it then Manuka honey is worth a try. If you have insurance and can get both the doctors antibiotics and use Manuka honey then why not use both? Just make sure you are not allergic of course and who knows it might actually help.
One way to find out is to try using Manuka honey for 1 week and document the process. This way people can learn whether or not it works. Because honey has sugar in it there are some who might say it could worsen symptoms but because it's also antibacteria it could kill the bacteria in the small bowel.
References
Society for General Microbiology. (2009, September 10). How Manuka Honey Helps Fight Infection. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 18, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090907013759.htm
https://www.scmp.com/sport/martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts/article/3033003/one-championship-demetrious-johnson-reveals