Holistic Treatment For IBS

So you're looking for a holistic treatment for IBS that works. I'm assuming that because you are looking for a more natural treatment for your irritable bowel condition, that you have tried everything your gastroenterologist has suggested.

Did this include...

• Colonoscopy — the most common response is ‘didn’t see anything—looks normal, or looks a little inflamed in there.’

• ‘Here is a prescription for——. There isn’t anything else I can do for you.’

• ‘But come back and see me in a month.’ (Didn’t you just say there was nothing you could do?)

• ‘Hey doc before I leave any recommendations about diet?’ ‘Sure-eat a high fiber diet.’ Which is the exact opposite of what to eat.

So, I am sure you have been there & done that.

Or did you hear about the newest "natural" medical treatment (this is scary, you can’t make this stuff up)? Fecal transplantation (or bacteriotherapy) is the transfer of stool from a healthy donor into the gastrointestinal tract for the purpose of treating recurrent C. difficile colitis, and now they are using it for IBS, Colitis, Ulcerative Colitis, and Crohn’s Disease. And by ‘healthy donor' they mean void of any disease. If they had any idea what they were doing they would mean that the stool was populated with healthy probiotic bacteria. Then again they will tell you that it is sterile, but in the process of sterilization, they would kill anything that was good in it! For the life of me, I cannot figure out why you wouldn't just swallow a probiotic capsule.

Lastly–you will get some people who think they are smart who will say something like—‘you have to do it rectally because orally the bacteria won’t survive the acidity of the digestive tract.’ Wrong – Wrong – Wrong. Any good probiotic is coated in a way that protects it! If this theory of Fecal Transplant is valid does this mean that women for millennia have been nursing their babies on the wrong end?

Science just can’t trust nature.

Here are some other supposed Holistic Diets that don’t work (if your definition of ‘work’ is to be healed or cured.) Most of you have tried at least one of these but still have a problem.

These are diets that will not cure IBS, although they may make you a little more comfortable:

Fodmap: this is an unnecessarily complicated manipulation of certain carbohydrate foods that have specific molecular configurations. What I love about this one is they throw all of this theory at you and give you some guidelines and then say ‘everyone is different so you will need to experiment for yourself.’ Get your microscope ready!

Gluten Free: These people sometimes find that if they stop eating foods that contain gluten their symptoms, such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea go away, but they have no idea why.

Dairy Free: what happens when you slip up and have a smidgen of ice cream or some pizza?

Elimination Diet: this is the culmination of all of the above. You get to the point where all you can consume is white rice and water—on a good day.

There are a zillion more ‘holistic diets’ just like these. What do they all have in common? They all play the blame game, it’s the food’s fault, they are just juggling and manipulating foods. None of them work because food does not work. You cannot eat your way into or out of IBS.

Food has nothing to do with being the cause or the cure!

However, there is one valid rule regarding food and IBS: Eat a Low Fiber Diet.

• No Raw Fruit

• No Raw Vegs

• No Nuts

• No Seeds

• No Corn

Why? Because these are ‘rough’ and will further damage and irritate an already damaged and irritated colon.

It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? You have to temporarily eat ‘unhealthy’ to get healthy.

Colitis Cures?

Colitis Cures? I was asked this yesterday. ‘Are there any good colitis cures?’ My answer was ‘yes there is one – it’s a natural one and it’s the same as the one for IBS and Crohn’s.’ Any other inflammatory bowel condition cure is bogus. Why is this so? It’s because these are all the same condition with the same cause and the same cure. What is the alternative? Covering up the symptoms of colitis with synthetic drugs is not a cure. You would be surprised at how many people think so. One person told me- ‘I don’t have a bowel problem—- I take prednisone!’ The one true cure is to rebuild the colon using the organic raw materials that it is made of. The last that I checked colons are not made of chemicals.

Exploring the Train of Pain

You may not realize that the various inflammatory bowel conditions are actually related: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Colitis, Ulcerative Colitis, and Crohn’s. Let’s take a minute and look at these conditions. From the point of view of a naturopathic practitioner each of these issues is really just a progressively worse version of the previous one.

With each of these conditions as time goes by without the proper treatment there is more and more damage being done to the tissue of the GI tract. You can compare this damage to that of first, second, and third degree burns. As the level of a burn gets higher not only is it more painful but also more complicated to treat.

I call this progression ‘the train of pain.’ Each GI issue can be considered a stop along the way. The symptoms accumulate at each ‘stop.’

The 1st stop is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The symptoms here include some pain that is more like cramping, gas, bloating, and diarrhea. These symptoms are barely tolerable and as the train runs down the track do nothing but get worse.

The next stop is Colitis. Now the symptoms of IBS have gotten more pronounced, especially the diarrhea which by now has become urgent and intolerable.

As we keep rumbling down the line the next stop is Ulcerative Colitis. Nobody likes this stop especially those who can’t stand the sight of blood—in their toilet bowel!

Now we find ourselves getting to the end of the line. We are running out of tract—as in the gastrointestinal tract from our digestive acids eroding our colon. Imagine all of the above symptoms ramped up to another level with the addition of mucus in the stool. This is the last stop on the line - Crohn’s. You don’t want to go there.

All of this pain and suffering can be avoided if you jump off that train early by seeking an alternative means of getting where you really want to go—perfect colon health.