IBS is a miserable illness. I recently had three patients in the same week who came to me with very similar gastrointestinal symptoms looking for help using homeopathy to treat their IBS. Homeopathy is often slated for not using randomised controlled trials - the holy grail of medical testing - to prove its effectiveness but these three patients with what on paper was the same disease gave me the opportunity to see how homeopathic treatment worked when each person was treated individually.
Symptoms of IBS
It is not possible to test for IBS as it is not a disease but the name given to a collection of symptoms. People often come to when they have already spent a great deal of time undergoing tests and examinations to eliminate other causes. Symptoms include: bloating, cramping, wind, belching, nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, often headaches and sleep disturbances, usually food intolerances and exhaustion.
If you experience the following symptoms, please see your doctor immediately as these could indicate something more serious:
you have lost a lot of weight for no reason
there is bleeding from your bottom or bloody diarrhoea
you have a hard lump or swelling in your tummy
shortness of breath, noticeable heartbeats (palpitations) and pale skin
For a lot of people with IBS, eating becomes a horrendous minefield. Because the gastrointestinal tract is incredibly hypersensitive it can feel as if anything they eat can trigger another bout of awful pain and urgent trips to the toilet.
What causes IBS?
Symptoms of IBS occur due to sensitivities causing inflammation in the digestive tract. Please see the diagram below taken from :
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00725/full which is a taken from a really interesting article about the Human Microphysiological Models of Intestinal Tissue and Gut Microbiome published in 2020.
Sometimes these can be alleviated by eating calming herbs such as slippery elm, peppermint, ginger and fennel and sometimes where there aren’t enough of the enzymes needed to digest food a multi-enzyme complex can help, as can apple cider vinegar and probiotics. However, if you suffer from IBS these can make things worse and I don't usually recommend them until the gastrointestinal tract is calmer.
Once it is in a more comfortable state and can handle a normal diet again, trying to reduce sugar which feeds the bad bacteria in the gut and increase the amount of fibre, colours and flavours along with pre and probiotics can really help to keep it from becoming inflamed again.
Lack of Vitamins A and D leads to increased protbacteria, pro-inflammatory cytokines are released and anti-inflammatory cytokines diminish. These two vitamins work together and are found in the same foods. They are both lipid dependent which means they should be eaten with fats. If you haven’t enough of one of these vitamins you probably don’t have enough of the other. This happens in the gut and on the skin.
How does IBS differ from Coeliac and Crohn’s diseases?
Coeliac disease inflames and flattens the surface area of the villi in the small intestine making it difficult for it to absorb nutrients which can lead to problems caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies. It is triggered by the immune system reacting to the presence of gluten in food.
Crohn’s disease is another autoimmune disease where inflammation in the gut causes swelling, tenderness and inflammation in the lining of any part of the digestive tract but tends to be worse towards the lower end of it.
It is the inflammation which leads to the pain in the gut and the symptoms common to all these conditions. We can’t see the inside of our bowels but much like eczema and psoriasis on the surface of the skin, the surface of the gut becomes broken and inflamed. This allows pro-inflammatory cytokines to be released and anti-inflammatory cytokines to diminish. Allergies and food intolerances can also trigger these symptoms and testing can identify which of these problems lies behind your issues.
What can you do?
Steroids can help with Crohn’s and avoiding gluten is a game changer with Coeliac disease, plus avoiding triggers if these are known in cases of food intolerance and allergies. None of these diagnoses however help you to get on with life.
How does homeopathy help in treating IBS?
When we take the right homeopathic remedy it helps to stand down the reactive response to what is going on in the body. As with psoriasis and eczema where you can see the skin healing after homeopathic treatment, the same seems to occur in the gut.
I would treat all of these conditions the same way by establishing exactly what is going on in your body. How did it get like this in the first place? Stress is often a major factor and I have seen these symptoms brought on by difficult working conditions, family issues, death of significant loved ones, menopause, following gastrointestinal illness or progressing on from another chronic condition.
In order to find the best remedy for your unique presentation of symptoms I want to know where in your body you experience problems, how frequently and how severely. This is never the same for two people. We all have our own challenges in life and handle (or don’t handle) them in our own way.
Homeopathic remedies are made from substances which in their natural form would bring about the symptoms we are experiencing. My job is to find the one which is the closest match to your expression of symptoms.
Once we have a good match I have found relief to be rapid. For some this is within the first day of taking their remedy and if you’ve not noticed any change within a week I want to know about it. It’s that quick!
In some cases there is continued and steady improvement until you are eating normally again. For others, there is some improvement but you are left with a shorter list of symptoms. This would indicate an increase in potency or a change of remedy. And for some people things instead of improving can get worse. This is because although the remedy is a great match, the stimulus from it is too strong and I would guide you through the process of finding the best dose for you. I always use the LM potency when treating this as it wears off after 24 hours and therefore any aggravation is short-lived. I am well aware how uncomfortable symptoms of IBS and other inflammatory bowel conditions can be and my main goal is to alleviate this as quickly and gently as possible.
Sometimes, symptoms are greatly relieved but caution going forward is helpful to reduce triggers. I would never suggest stopping treatments from your doctor but patients find they don’t need them as often and can discuss gradually weaning themselves off them with their doctor once they are feeling better.
This is why my three patients with the same symptoms were all given completely different remedies and why each of them got back to me within the month to tell me they are eating confidently again, sleeping better, headaches gone, bloating gone and their bowels are returning to a normal comfortable movement without the quick sprint every day. Best of all, they all report feeling more relaxed, able to leave the house whenever they like and feel altogether more like themselves again.
If any of this resonates with you and you would like to try homeopathy why don’t you book a free 15 min call with me by clicking on the link below.
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