Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

Irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome cause. IBS symptoms. Diet for IBS.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is not to be confused with IBS. Many people commonly consider IBS as part of IBD, which is not so.





IBS is also called spastic colon. IBS is also called a stressed bowel. It’s more of a functional bowel disorder with abdominal pain, diarrhea and/or constipation. The functional disorder means that the bowel doesn't function or work properly.

You know when you are in irritable mood. The same kind of thing happens to the bowel. And boy, don’t you feel it when the bowel is irritable?

In IBS mostly the symptoms are treated whereas in IBD the inflammation has to be treated first. There is no inflammatory component with IBS (no fevers, no joint pains, etc.).

IBS is gastrointestinal, digestive disease that makes the life a bit more complicated.

First, when diagnosing with IBS, your physician may want to rule out causes such as viral or bacterial infection, IBD, Celiac disease, etc.

Learning stress relief techniques and making dietary changes are recommended in this condition.

Irritable bowel syndrome cause.

IBS cause is still unknown. And there’s no cure. Crohn’s disease cause is also unknown. In fact, many other gastrointestinal diseases don’t have a known cause. There are possible causes that were studied like genetic, environmental and dietary causes. But nothing was conclusive.

Very common IBS symptoms are abdominal pain, bloating, cramping, gas pain, problematic bowel habits and flatulence.

IBS is not genetic or inherited. IBS is not contagious. IBS is not associated with cancer developments later on in life like autoimmune gastrointestinal diseases. IBS interferes with your relationships, your work, and your life.

And if you are proactively looking to get better, you are in the right place or on the right website, at least. I try to find best possible natural ways to heal gastrointestinal diseases like Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Celiac disease and IBS. My goal is to help you heal yourself with integrative medicinal approach. I am a pharmacist but I don’t necessarily recommend medications here even though I know the medications very well. I recommend healing options for you as a digestive disease patient.

The diet for irritable bowel syndrome may be the most important part of healing IBS to my opinion.

You would need to start a journal and write down ALL the foods you consume. It’s very important. The intolerance to certain foods may be the only problem in your case of IBS. To start the proper diet for IBS you would need to eat just basic foods that usually never give you the problem. Then, you could start adding more foods slowly, watching how it affects you.

For common diets irritable bowel syndrome you need to investigate elimination diet.

• Most common holistic diets for IBS consists of organic, clean meat;
• organic, non-citrus fruits and many green vegetables;
• green, freshly squeezed juices with added one tablespoonful of extra-virgin olive oil;
• steamed vegetables;
• mashed potatoes, very little butter;
• many, many herbal, calming teas like chamomile tea, valerian tea, St John Wort tea, kava kava tea, etc

But what is the most important thing you need to do when taking fiber form food or from pills? You need to drink enough of water. Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. Otherwise the fiber will only constipate you.

IBS Treatment.

• The holistic approach is to start the treatments for irritable bowel syndrome with finding the right diet for IBS.
• The next step would be eliminating stress. That can be done with Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, stress-relieving techniques, etc.
• IBS support is so important here. The family and friends can really aid in the healing process. IBS patients do very well with therapy, although many are having problem starting it.
• Take probiotics to improve the digestive system health.
• Exercise regularly. Even very light exercise can be improving your condition.

Medications For Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Conventional medicines for irritable bowel syndrome is the traditional IBS treatment :

• Anti-spasmodics-for pain and diarrhea. Antispasmodics are common medications for IBS. The classic examples are Donnatol-RX (belladonna and phenobarbital), Levsin/Levbid-RX (hyoscyamine) and Bentyl-OTC (dicyclomine).
• Anti-diarrheals-for diarrhea. Imodium-RX is classic anti-diarrheal medication for IBS. Other anti-diarrheals include Lomotil-RX and Pepto-Bismol-OTC.
• Older Antidepressants-for diarrhea and pain. Tricyclic antidepressants are relatively effective medications for IBS. The examples are Nortriptyline, Amitriptyline, Imipramine. They are long acting and associated with many side effects.
• Newer antidepressants--for constipation and pain. The examples are Buproprion, Fluoxetine, Paroxetine, etc. They are associated with slightly less side effects.
• Narcotic pain relievers-for pain. The classic narcotic pain medication for IBS is Vicodin. There are others like Demerol, Percocet, etc.
• 5-HT3 Antagonists-for diarrhea predominant female patients only. The medication is Lotronex. Causes severe constipation. Was taken off the market and now it’s back with strict prescribing guidelines.
• 5-HT4 Antagonists-for constipation predominant female patients only. The medication is called Zelnorm. It’s only given for short term. May cause diarrhea and bloating.

There are few other Rx medications that are under studies and not available on the market yet.

Natural Remedies Irritable Bowel Syndrome

• Many find relief with ginger tea. Ginger tea should be prepared with real ginger and not from the tea bags to be most effective. Just boil it and simmer for a few minutes. Then drink it when it cools down. You can add very little honey, but not sugar, please.
• You may try some peppermint oil. It’s been studied by holistic doctors for years and shows to be effective for mild to moderate cases of IBS.
• You may want to try Anise seed tea. You can prepare it the same way as the ginger tea.

• Drinking one tablespoonful of olive oil on empty stomach in the morning can be very helpful for IBS patients.
• Valerian root drops are effective for mild to moderate cases of IBS.

I wish you to stay symptom free!


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