Disease of the Week - Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Disease of the Week – Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Tue, Feb 9, 2010

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Last week, I shared a short story that ended with a few natural remedies for irritable bowel syndrome. So playing off of that, I thought I’d do a more complete Disease of the Week on the matter.

A decent chunk of doctor visits, around 15%, were due to this condition. It might be higher since the majority of IBS sufferers never see their doctor. It’s a very manageable problem, but what needs to be done depends on the symptoms that are experienced.

There are a few characteristics that you may want to be familiar with such as IBS occurring more often in women than men. Symptoms of IBS often develop in patients before age 35 and almost always before age 50. The start of IBS-like symptoms in a patient older than age 50 can be a red flag, possibly indicating another, potentially more serious, condition. More red flags include anemia, family history of colon cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, fever, blood-positive stools or rectal bleeding, onset in patients over the age of 50 years, abdominal or rectal mass, persistent diarrhea or severe constipation, recent antibiotic use, and weight loss.

Now that we’re through the red flags, what are the typical symptoms? Those symptoms include general abdominal pain and either constipation OR diarrhea. Often one of these symptoms predominates, but many patients alternate between diarrhea and constipation. Many patients also complain of heartburn, indigestion, nausea, bloating, and flatulence.

In the previous post, I focused more so on the stress aspect of IBS which is a large contributor. However, there are a lot of food triggers that need to be eliminated.

Alcohol
Beans
Caffeine
Fatty foods
Milk products/lactose
Sugarless gum/candies (sorbitol)
Certain vegetables (e.g., broccoli, cabbage)

Not everyone will experience complete relief with just food aversion. It’s these patients that may benefit from certain drug therapies. Those suffering from diarrhea may take loperamide (AKA Imodium A-D). There are a few other conventional drugs, but many forget about alternative treatments. These include agrimony, black tea (decaffinated), blond psyllium has also shown to be effective. To stop the intestinal spasms that cause cramping and diarrhea, there are conventional drugs, but artichoke and peppermint oil has also been good!

The blond psyllium is also effective for constipated patients because of the fiber. There’s also Cascara Sagrada, Aloe , and Senna has also shown great promise. One should avoid aloe if suffering from diarrhea since this can act as a laxative thus making the situation worse. Fiber such as psyllium is obviously important in either diarrhea or constipation.

For those with IBS, psyllium has had the best results overall. Getting fiber in general is important for IBS patients, usually around 20-30 mg per day. Some doctors suspect that patients with IBS may also have abnormal levels of bacterial flora in their intestines and may benefit from probiotics like Lactobacillus or Bifidobacteria. Research on this is hit or miss with IBS, but it is worth another look.

Keep in mind peppermint oil for pain and diarrhea since it helps ease gut contractions, and artichoke extract for pain and constipation. Probiotics such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacteria are good bloating and abdominal pain. I’m not going to say that these are 100% in IBS sufferers, but they are options that you should discuss with your doctor.

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