Guide to IBS
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Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gut disorder. Up to 1 in 5 people in the UK develop IBS at some stage in their life. It hospitalises tens of thousands of people a year, and is the second highest cause of work absenteeism (after the common cold). This general guide to IBS has been put together by practitioners at The Centre For Integrated Health, where we have a great deal of experience and high success rates in treating IBS. If you would like to discuss your case, please call us on 01730 233 414.
The symptoms of IBS can be quite variable and include abdominal pain, bloating, sometimes bouts of diarrhoea and/or constipation, and fatigue. They can be chronic, or they can come and go. IBS is twice as common in women as in men and can affect anyone at any age, but it commonly first develops in young adults and teenagers. There is no known singular cause, although IBS may begin after an infection (post-infectious, IBS-PI) or a stressful life event. It has been found that people suffering from IBS are more likely to develop other health challenges such as Headache, Fibromyalgia, and Depression and endometriosis.
It’s important to draw the distinction between IBS and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Inflammatory bowel disease is an autoimmune disease that can have very serious consequences. But irritable bowel syndrome, even though it can cause debilitating pain, is a functional bowel disorder. In other words, there are no significant physical conditions that contribute to the problem.
The British Medical Journal recently reported that patients with IBS are more likely to suffer from depression and have ‘abnormal’ behaviour patterns including anxiety and somatisation (conversion of an emotional, mental, or psychosocial problem to a physical complaint). This supports the experience of our practitioners, who have found that the key to resolving IBS lies in psychological factors (the relationship between the brain one’s physical state is complex and its effects truly profound). This is why doctors typically prescribe antidepressants. They also prescribe antispasmodics. This is done to suppress IBS symptoms but since they do nothing to address the underlying cause (and they have nasty side-effects), if you want to rid yourself of IBS, you will have to give the issue more attention than that!
It’s a good idea to lay solid physical foundations for good intestinal health. This will not only help with IBS, but it will benefit your whole body, energy and mood. Naturally, you’ll want to pay close attention to your diet. This means eating a diet of wholesome fresh unprocessed foods, prepared healthily, and tailored to your personal nutritional requirements. Some people thrive on different ratios of fats, carbohydrates (from vegetables, not grains!) and protein. Experiment to find out what is best for you.
Avoid all sources of gluten. Most people understand this means avoiding all forms of wheat, but you also need to be aware that there are many other less obvious sources of gluten in your diet. These include Barley, Rye, Oats, and Spelt. Typically, avoiding gluten for a week or two is enough to see significant improvement.
In addition to gluten, food allergies can also play a role so be sensitive to that and start a trial and error process to determine which ones you have. IBS sufferers are often hypersensitive to fats and fructose. Some find that cutting out lactose helps, in the same way as gluten. Also, drink plenty of water, take your time eating, do not go for long stretches without eating, and cut down on alcohol. Exercise may help.
Get checked for parasites. Some parasites, such as giardia, can sometimes be a contributing factor that needs to be treated. NutriVital make a fantastic herbal Parasite cleanse named Paragon. Click here to have a look.
It’s also important to make sure you have enough healthy bacteria in your gut. You can get healthy bacteria from fermented foods or a high quality supplement. Once you lower the amounts of sugar and processed foods in your diet, you’re automatically creating an environment that will support the growth of good bacteria and diminish growth of bad bacteria. But you can enhance that process further by eating fermented foods or taking a high quality probiotic such as NutriVital’s Acidophulis. Click here to have a look
Taking additional fibre can also be very helpful to control IBS symptoms such as constipation and diarrhoea. Fibre such as psyllium tends to be particularly helpful. Psyllium is adaptogenic fibre, meaning if you’re constipated it will soften your stool and help increase your bowel frequency, and if you have loose stools and frequent bowel movements, it will help with stool formation and decrease the frequency of bowel movements. Look for organic psyllium.
Another good fibre is whole, organic flax seed. You can take a few table spoons of freshly ground flax seed per day. Another benefit of flax is that it’s also a high quality source of plant-based omega-3 fats, particularly ALA, which nearly everyone needs on a regular basis.
All of these measures are done to lay the physical groundwork for good intestinal health and a strong system. As already stated, dealing with the psychological factors will be the key to effective and lasting relief from IBS. About half of people with IBS date the start of their symptoms to a major life event such as change of house or job, or bereavement. Other cases we have treated have been related to stress, anxiety or relationships. Because no two people are the same, there is no blanket solution for these underlying causes of IBS. But methods that have worked include meditation and relaxation techniques, stress counselling, cognitive behaviour therapy, psychotherapy, and hypnotherapy.
IBS does not shorten your expected life span; it does not lead to cancer of the bowel; and does not cause blockages of the gut or other serious conditions. But it can cause a great deal of discomfort and disruption and there is plenty you can do to alleviate it. Just look to treat the cause, rather than the symptoms. The process of assessing and updating your dietary and lifestyle habits can be made easier by keeping a diary of what you eat, how you feel, what you have done, stress levels so on. Patterns should emerge.
There is a great deal that practitioners at The Centre For Integrated Health can do to help – we have very high success rates.
This article is meant just as a general guideline. At The Centre, we offer complete, personalised consultations including a health scan to establish the existing state of the body, as well as intolerances, deficiencies, the presence of parasites and much more. Our practitioners have a great deal of experience in treating IBS and treatment plans are completely integrative, including nutritional therapy and psychotherapy. If you would like to find out more about how we can help you at our clinic, please call us on 01730 233 414.