Home Remedies For IBS

The large bowel is in a state of constant movement, as the muscles in its wall contract and relax impelling its contents onwards. This wave-like motion is absent in those with irritable bowel syndrome who as a result suffer alternately from either constipation — where the bowel is inert — or diarrhoea -where it is overactive, with colicky pains and an excess of wind. No single cause has been identified, though the severity of the symptoms can be exacerbated by certain foods, while stress is certainly a contributory factor.

As there is no single cause of IBS, everyone's case is different, and finding the best treatment is very much a matter of trial and error. There are many proprietary preparations from the chemist for one or other of the several symptoms — laxatives for constipation, anti-diarrhoeal drugs for diarrhoea, charcoal tablets for wind and peppermint based products for colic.

None of the following remedies will therefore apply to all, but serve to illustrate the scope of possible treatments. Two relevant symptoms, constipation and wind, are considered elsewhere in this anthology in more detail.

Diet: There are two important aspects to the question of diet in irritable bowel syndrome. The first concerns the general advice that patients should seek to exercise their bowel with a 'high fiber' diet — with lots of unrefined cereals, brown bread, pasta and so on, supplemented if necessary by special fiber supplements or high fiber cereals. This increases the bulk of the stool and encourages the smooth wave-like motion of the bowel, while at the same time preventing constipation.

A high fiber diet is certainly effective in some cases, but in others it may exacerbate symptoms, particularly increasing the quantities of wind in the bowel and associated colicky pains. Those made worse should clearly try to reduce rather than increase the amount of fibrous food in their diet.

The second aspect of diet is that certain foods will either exacerbate, or in some cases dramati¬cally relieve the condition. Finding out which food affects the bowel can really only be determined by personal experience.

The most common exacerbating foods include, as already mentioned, 'high fiber' foods like bread and cereals; flatus inducing foods of which the most notorious are beans but also include cabbages, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and onions; dairy products where the person is intolerant to the lactose they contain; spicy foods particularly chillies; and acidic foods, oranges, grapefruits and vinegary salad dressings; finally, coffee, which can directly influence the nerves controlling the muscles in the walls of the bowel.

Constipation: See under Constipation. In brief, the most important are water (lots of it); fiber (where appropriate) and natural laxatives such as sugar (or honey), prunes and cashew nuts.

Diarrhoea: There are several dietary remedies for diarrhoea to be found in any book of herbal medicine including rice, oats and potatoes but none are nearly as effective as the proprietary remedies obtained from the chemist which are clearly to be preferred.