Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) - the most common gastrointestinal disease in clinical practice - affects between 10 and 22 per cent of the adult population. Twice as many women as men develop the condition, which is characterised by abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation, or alternating diarrhoea and constipation. The primary clinical symptom is recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort, which can be associated with gas, bloating, mucous in the stool, a lumpy, hard stool, or a watery, loose stool. The pain is relieved by defecation or passing of wind.

Clinical investigations suggest that IBS may manifest as a result of food sensitivity and/or the proliferation of parasitic or toxic bacteria from the bowel. Recent studies also indicate that IBS can be solely caused by stress, whether mental, emotional, physical, environmental or chemical. In my clinical practice, I’ve found that IBS patients frequently experience severe life-stress events prior to the onset of IBS. These stress events include sexual abuse, divorce, financial hardship, overwork, new-job interviews, family problems, death, separation of parents, friendship problems in school, the ending of a love affair, persistent anger, jealousy, unhappy family life or work life, the shock of an accident, and overseas travel.

Chinese medicine views IBS as a condition caused by liver qi stagnation (aggravated by stress), which causes the impaired bowel function. Chronic liver qi stagnation can also lead to damp heat and phlegm accumulating in the stomach, spleen and bowel.
Treatment for the condition can be quite extensive as most IBS patients see a natural therapist only as a last resort, having lived with the symptoms for many years, managing it with laxative and anti-diarrhoea drugs. I perform Hemaview on most IBS patients, and in every instance the tests reveal clinical evidence of endotoxin, which suggests inflammation of the bowel wall. Apart from living with constant abdominal bloating and pain, all these patients suffer a degree of anxiety or depression, fatigue, forgetfulness, salt or sugar cravings, abnormal weight gain or weight loss, and bad taste in the mouth.

Some patients have taken numerous vitamins and supplements over the years with little or no result. When I examine treatment history, I find a common thread: the stress factor (as mentioned, this is one of the most common underlying causes of the condition) has never been addressed. In TCM, stress is classified as liver qi stagnation. Liver qi stagnation continuously causes abdominal dysfunction. If the practitioner focuses only on the treatment of the IBS symptoms, results are temporary. Only when the cause of the IBS is addressed can permanent results be achieved. If I identify the main cause of IBS as some kind of stress, I deal with the stress first, using herbs such as passiflora, skullcap, Siberian ginseng, oats, withania, ziziphus and logan, which have a mild sedative effect and support nervous system function and adrenal function. Herbal and nutritional compounds such as Proxan, Vata Tone, Phoserin, Neurocare, Neuropro and Adrenal Tone are my choices of nervous-system support. Many patients experience a significant reduction in IBS symptoms after starting on treatment that supports the nervous system.

Patients with IBS can clinically represent chronic gut infection such as blastocystis hominis. Some have severe abnormal colonic fermentation from fungus and parasitic infection. Nutrients such as glutathione, glutamine, rosemary extract, and colostrum are very effective for the gut treatment. The Chinese herb artemesia annua is the fastest acting of all anti-parasitic activity, and so is widely used to treat gut infection. Other herbs such as turmeric, uncaria tormentosa, gentiana lutea, and juglans nigra are used to treat and eliminate gut infection.

A complete bowel and liver detoxification program is usually recommended to treat IBS. This detoxification will allow successful repair of the gut mucosal membrane and achieve a more permanent outcome.

Here’s how to prevent IBS:
1.Have a positive mental attitude towards life. Don’t sweat on small stuffs. “Always face the sun, you will never see the shadow.”

2.Love people, love life so life can love you back.

3.Get plenty of fresh air. Walk in the park or rainforest more often then in the shopping malls.

4.Drink purified water.

5.Follow a diet compatible with your blood type: not the absolute answer to your problem, but a good place to start. (Ed’s note: metabolic typing, which incorporates blood type in the questionnaires, is a more accurate way to find the right eating plan).

6.Do not overeat. Chew food properly. Do not drink water while eating.

7.Don’t smoke and limit alcohol intake

8.Minimise chemical drug use. Make vitamins and herbal medicine your first treatment choice.

9.Take acidophilous daily.

10.Detox annually.

This article was first published in the magazine “Nature and Health”

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