Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Once, just once, you’d like your digestive system to work the way it’s supposed to. But nothing’s ever easy. Either you’re constipated or you have diarrhea. You have terrible gas. And your stomach starts to ache after almost every meal.

If your doctor has ruled out other possible causes, you could have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Sometimes called spastic or nervous colon, it’s the most common disorder among people with gastrointestinal problems. People with IBS have a difficult time staying regular and often complain of pain somewhere in the digestive system after eating. The good news is that IBS is not dangerous. The natural remedies in this chapter—in conjunction with medical care and used with your doctor’s approval—may help prevent or relieve IBS, according to some health professionals.

See Your Medical Doctor When... Your bowel habits suddenly change. Your bowel habits change and you’re suffering from abdominal pain or vomiting. Your pain is more severe than any you’ve had before. You have severe pain and a fever or bloody stool. You are losing weight without being on a diet.

Ayurveda

Triphala, a gentle but powerful internal cleanser made from the Indian fruits amalaki, haritaki and bibhitaki, is the main Ayurvedic treatment for digestive and eliminative problems, says David Frawley, O.M.D., director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Some health food stores sell triphala capsules or tablets; you can also purchase them in Indian pharmacies or by mail order (refer to the resource list on page 634). Dr. Frawley says to take one gram two times a day or to follow the directions on the label.

“It is a mild laxative, without side effects,” says Dr. Frawley. “People who take triphala don’t develop a laxative dependency. In fact, triphala helps restore the tone of the large intestine.”

Flower Remedy/Essence Therapy

People with IBS or colitis often have trouble expressing certain emotions, particularly anger, according to Eve Campanelli, Ph.D., a holistic family practitioner in Beverly Hills, California. Dr. Campanelli recommends a blend of three essences: Cerato, to combat self-doubt, Gorse, for hopelessness, and Vervain, to quell anger.

Flower remedies are available in some health food stores and through mail order (refer to the resource list on page 635). For information on preparing and administering flower remedies, see page 37.

Food Therapy

“Be nice to your colon, and your colon will be nice to you,” says Michael A. Klaper, M.D., a nutritional medicine specialist in Pompano Beach, Florida, and director of the Institute of Nutritional Education and Research, an organization based in Manhattan Beach, California, that teaches doctors about nutrition and its relationship to disease.

“If you eat a lot of cooked protein, hydrogenated oils, concentrated sugars or other foods that are hard to digest, your colon can react—and not nicely,” says Dr. Klaper. He advises that those with IBS avoid meats, dairy products, greasy snack foods, spicy fare and sweets. At the first sign of a flare-up and during the time the colon is inflamed, build your meals around easy-to-digest foods such as rice, sweet potatoes, well-steamed green and yellow vegetables and bananas, he suggests. Then after the bowel inflammation subsides, he says, you can start adding new foods to your daily diet, one at a time every 48 hours. This way, he explains, you can watch for any ill effects of the new foods.

Herbal Therapy

Peppermint is what herbalists call an antispasmodic, and it may help alleviate the bowel spasms that are often part of IBS, says Barre, Vermont, herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, author of Herbal Healing for Women and other books about herbs. She recommends peppermint oil, available in most health food stores. She says to take two or three drops of the oil, diluted in ¼ cup of warm water, three or four times a day.

Relaxation and Meditation

Progressive relaxation may reduce anxiety and help subdue the symptoms of IBS, says Edward B. Blanchard, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders at the State University of New York at Albany. In a small study of 16 people with IBS, for instance, Dr. Blanchard and his colleagues found that those who practiced progressive relaxation daily for a month were five times more likely to report improvement in their conditions than people who merely kept records of their symptoms. To try progressive relaxation, see page 122. Dr. Blanchard suggests practicing progressive relaxation for 15 to 20 minutes once each day for eight weeks. Then when the relaxation comes easily, use it whenever you feel stressed or anxious, he says.

Vitamin and Mineral Therapy

Use the food sensitivity diet (see “Food Sensitivity: How to Discover the ‘Healthy’ Foods That Can Cause Disease” on page 52) to eliminate any foods that might aggravate IBS, suggests David Edelberg, M.D., an internist and medical director of the American Holistic Center/Chicago. He also says to eliminate sugar and caffeine, which can contribute to episodes of irritable bowel. And he says that people with IBS may want to take 500 milligrams of glutamine three times a day and one peppermint oil capsule three to six times a day to help control the condition. These supplements are available in most health food stores; glutamine can also be purchased in most pharmacies.

Yoga

Stress often causes flare-ups of irritable bowel, says Stephen A. Nezezon, M.D., yoga teacher and staff physician at the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. To lower stress, he suggests trying a daily routine of breathing exercises, meditation and poses.

Do the complete breath exercise (see page 152) whenever you’re feeling stress, whether it’s at the office, in the car or at home, suggests Alice Christensen, founder and executive director of the American Yoga Association. Daily meditation (see page 153) helps clear your mind and teaches you to relax at will, she says. And for the poses, choose three or four from the Daily Routine, which begins on page 606. Be sure to vary the poses from day to day to keep your interest high and to strengthen different parts of your body, according to Christensen. Dr. Nezezon says you should include at least one relaxation pose, such as the corpse (page 612), knee squeeze (page 612) or baby (page 618), in your daily yoga routine.