Q&A: Are there any herbs or supplements that work for Irritable bowel syndrome (I.B.S.) ?
Posted by: Alan in irritable bowel syndrome treatment, tags: Bowel, herbs, I.B.S., Irritable, Supplements, Syndrome, There, Work
Question by Barry: Are there any herbs or supplements that work for Irritable bowel syndrome (I.B.S.) ?
Best answer:
Answer by Rhianna Returns
Possibly yes. This one will please the alties: Chinese herbal medicine has been used with SOME success, providing drugs like aristolochia, stephania and clematis are avoided. A recent RCT has shown commercially available herbal preparations containing nine plant extracts (STW 5) effective in reducing symptoms in IBS. So that might be worth a try.
Try dietary changes too, 50% of people find that a low fire diet helps, whilst the other 50% say it makes it worse, but it is worth a try.
The spasm in the gut can be very painful. Have you tried Colpermin? You buy this OTC too. If all of the above fails to work, then you could give low dose Amytriptlyn(sp?) a try. This sort of acts as a muscle smoother.
I am very sceptical about those pro-biotic yoghurts, but they might help. Stress is thought to play a part. Many people find that their symptoms worsen during episodes of stress. Studies show that overactivity of the muscles in the gut play a large part and various factors may play a part in this. It could be something to do with messages sent from the brain to the gut.
Food intolerance account for 33-66% of IBS cases but actual allergies are a rare cause, contrary to popular belief.
What do you think? Answer below!
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September 1st, 2010 at 8:46 am
There are studies that show benefit from probiotics, but you need more than can be found in yogurt unless you want to eat many servings a day. A good probiotic is Culturelle, which is a capsule you take by mouth. Your pharmacy may carry it or can order it.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:24 am
Eating a vegetarian or vegan diet will greatly help irritable bowel syndrome by promoting positive eating habits. You will recieve more nutrients into your body, but on to the herbs that I know can help. Specifically mint, tumeric, marshmallow, bistort, meadowsweet, gentian, flax seeds, and acidophilus. A few of these are so common that you can integrate them into your diet easily. Mint, flax, and tumeric are probably the most commonly used.
Acidolphilus is commonly found in yogurts and some milks.
I have seen bistort root as a powdered root. 1 tsp with 1 – 1 and 1/2 cups boiling water. Don’t exceed 3 cups.
Flax can be taken orally by oil, or as flax meal.
Gentian is usually taken as a tea by boiling 1/2 a teaspoon of powdered root with a cup or more depending on how bitter it may seem to you.
Marshmallow is usually taken by eating like 5 leaves a day.
Meadowsweet is taken in a variety of ways. Tinctures, powders, oral infusion, liquid extracts, dried flowers, dried herbs, but it is whatever you feel comfortable with for yourself.
Mint can be taken in many ways as well, but commonly placed in teas, or simply eating the leaves.
Tumeric is a spice that many people have heard of and you may also take it orally I have heard ranges from 10 to 60 grams a day, and sometimes up to 3 times a day.
Remember if you are pregnant, ill, or have many food allergens than consult a doctor. Try to never exceed typical doses because sometimes it can lead to vomitting and Diarrhea.
I hope that helps you.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:56 am
According to Wikipedia most doctors currently recommend against herbal supplements for IBS because many of them were found to aggravate the bowel and worsen symptoms. IBS is tricky because we don’t really understand it. It’s a diagnosis of exclusion, which means they tell you that’s what you have when they rule out everything else that it can be. Studies show that patients with a good relationship with their doctor respond well to the same treatments that worsen the symptoms of patients with a bad relationship with their doctor. Studies also find that Psychotherapy is highly effective at treating IBS. These factors lead many medical experts to conclude that IBS may be best classified as a psychological disorder with severe physical symptoms. Does this mean they think you aren’t sick? Of course not, just that your best alternative may be therapy. The strong psych component to this disorder also explains why scientists have a hard time sorting out what really works as a treatment and what doesn’t. They cannot control a patient’s mood or stress levels during an experiment. Best of luck to you.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:22 am
Out of thirteen years of selling health food related stuff, I will vouch that most of my customers found some degree of relief from the variety of products that this woman sells – the acacia fiber, the enteric coated peppermint oil capsules, etc. Be forewarned, her tea bags are too pricey, and you can find them much less practically anywhere. Also, a good probiotic people tell me is invaluable – and the renew life probiotics are the ones people have been the most enthusiastic about. You can read customer reviews for them at iherb.com
The books on that link below are well written (sound sensible advice that is pretty easy to implement), but if you read one of them, you have read all of them because there is a lot of overlap on information presented.
IBS is one of the few chronic conditions that tends to respond well to behavioral modification (all the things you do from midnight to midnight) and dietary management.
http://www.helpforibs.com/shop/
September 1st, 2010 at 10:51 am
Well done Rhianna:)
I agree with all what Rhianna Returns has said except my only difference is if you are from Australia you’d purchase a product like Mintec instead of Colpermin which isnt available here or even better would be if you could find an enteric coated peppermint from a small health company so that you could support a small business.
IBS isn’t a psychological disorder.While it can sometimes have a mental component,it also has real physiological changes in the abdomen etc and while some sufferers find psychotherapy useful,others havn’t found it useful or have take the suggestion of it as insult.
In anycase,some home lifestyle changes can be made like eating without TV or other distractions & trying to relax/have relaxation while eating as there is interrelation between our brain + abdomen.
Also eating at regular,scheduled times & not eating erratically or through the night( i am a hypocrite here as i eat in the night)
Some exercise like swimming,skating,whatever etc.
I.B.S can sometimes be a “catchall” diagnosis( im saying this alot tonight on YA) and while you have possibly been diagnosed with IBS(without any diagnostic tests done?With?You didnt mention regarding this) you could possibly have one of a whole range of other disorders that has been misdiagnosed as IBS eg:Gluten sensitivity,Post giardiasis,Gastritis by any number of causes,Chrohns disease,Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth,Inflammatory Bowel Disorder,Lactose intolerance,Gastroparesis,Dumping syndrome,mild(relatively) liver problems where your not producing enough bile or a number of other things also.
The reason why there can be one person who has “IBS” saying they have constipation & another saying they have diarrhea etc is because sometimes some doctors put IBS diagnosis on too quickly without having done thorough enough testing to consider the above possible disorders.
A good doctor,does a good differential.
Therefore do beware of “one size fits all” solutions where people say just eat more fibre etc because as Rhianna Returns mentioned Fibre helps some sufferers but it makes some people actually worse.
•Nevertheless,some things you could try are the Peppermint oil tablets(mintec,colpermin)
•Also the probiotics that Tink suggested or Culterelle or keffir.
Some people say probiotics have been wonderful for them,some people say they havnt helped them at all.
Unfortunately you might need to try different probiotics as they are not all the same.
•Aloe vera drink helps some people.There are no stuides(that im aware of) that say it is effective for this although the big problem here with studies regarding IBS & treatment,is & is going to be that all people that have been diagnosed with IBS but in reality could have different symptoms of different etiologies have been/will be enrolled in those IBS studies which is going to possibly effect the outcome of the studies where they arn’t accurate.
•Artichoke leaf extract you could try and has helped some people but dont use if you have gallbladder probs or bileduct obstruction.
•A number of Chinese herb formulas but also make sure they include no toxic ingredients.
•Also you could try fennel,coconut oil or milk,blackstrap molasses,buttermilk-if anything makes your symptoms worse stop it immediately though.
While IBS is not related to food allergies per say, it can involve food sensitivities so remove any foods that you notice any symptoms after taking if you find there are any.
Sometimes if a person has had irritable bowel for a long time they might not even be aware that having mild stomach pains often isnt “normal”-some people only associate stomach pains with like big cramps like when you have diarrhea etc-so take note even if you hvae mild stomach pains after eating certain foods or bloating,flatulence,constipation,diarrhear etc & remove those foods.
Unltimately though,any dietary changes will need to depend on what you actual symptoms involve.
Discuss all this with your doctor first if you have any other conditions or are taking any other medications/herbs.
You could try a relatively bland diet of juices,soups,light vegetables,fish,red meat in slow cooker, and brown rice for a while though?
The usual,avoid refined sugar,sweets,softdrink,fatty fried foods,drink moderate amount of water etc.
Of course,avoid any artifical sweeteners like Equal etc.
Some people might need to restrict fructose too like real sweet fruits etc although some juices are ok.
Some might need to restrict Sorbitol too.
Fiber-it helps some people,if you though have constipation and it causes you more constipation avoid it.Fibre makes some peoples G.I symptoms worse.