Discovery Health Channel Health on the Line – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Part 1
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Irritable bowel syndrome is an unpleasant condition usually involving:
* Abdominal pain varying form a dull ache to acute cramping
* Loose bowels or alternating looseness and constipation
* Abdominal bloating

Other symptoms sometimes occur including:
* Nausea
* Poor appetite
* Tiredness
* Backache
* Bladder symptoms
* Heartburn
* Easily feeling full after eating

Symptoms often come and go with little rhyme or reason; but almost invariably they are related to emotional states and stress. On internal investigation, there is usually no physical sign of abnormality in the bowel.

Stress And Nerves Are The Key
On questioning sufferers, they usually agree that emotions or stress are involved. It may be that:
– There is a particular stressful situation either now, or when the symptoms started
– They have a ‘high stress’ type of constitution in general
– The symptoms are worse if they are stressed – or perhaps if they are over-tired

In all these situations, the answer to IBS can be summarised in 3 steps:
1. Calm down the bowel
2. Build up the nerves
3. Address any underlying health issues

Step 1. Calm Down The Bowel
The quickest way to do this is usually by using the fantastic herb Slippery Elm. A teaspoon of this powdered bark is mixed into a little cold water in a mug, then topped up with hot water to make a thin ‘porridge-like’ drink. This is a soothing, nourishing, calming drink which will often give relief within the hour. If it works for you – and it does for most people – you have a safe herbal remedy which will stand you in very good stead. I have never know anyone to have a sensitivity (an ‘allergy’) to Slippery Elm, and it is very safe, being recommended for its nourishing properties for children, the elderly and those recovering from illness. If you really just CANNOT take the drink – it is available in capsules too. If you travel a lot, capsules may be essential for you. Take the equivalent of a teaspoon of the herb – about 4 capsules for a dose, 2 or 3 times a day.

Step 2. Build Up The Nerves
Alternative medicine will build the nerves and make them stronger and better able to deal with stress. Herbs, homoeopathy or acupuncture can all be helpful here.

For example, you can use a 3-month course of herbs to boost the nervous system. This might include scullcap, vervain, wood betony and hops. In addition, herbs for the adrenal gland help the nervous system greatly especially if stress has been long term. Here, a top herbal recommendation is borage, a great adrenal tonic. Licorice is also good and combines well with borage. (Large amounts of licorice should not be used if you have known hypertension – high blood pressure.)

Step 3. Address Any Underlying Health Issues
If you have another illness this will certainly be sapping your energy and making it harder to build the nerves and correct the IBS.

In terms of general health, the commonest symptom which will slow recovery is; fatigue and tiredness. This can be addressed by an alternative practitioner – not by a doctor, who has no weapons to deal with general fatigue and tiredness. (Though do eliminate thyroid deficiency by talking to your doctor if you feel this might be involved.)

Doctors say than IBS has ‘no known cause’, which is why they have trouble treating it. If you follow this fairly simple 3-step programme – with the help of practitioners in alternative medicine as appropriate – you will almost certainly deal with IBS in a much more reliable way than your doctor alone can. One day all sides of the medical profession will be working together to use our combined skills for the good of patients!

Dog irritable bowel syndrome is very popular condition in dogs of all types and breeds and effects thousands each year around the world. Its common occurrence can cause many symptoms and these can often include diarrhea, blood in the feces, and reoccurring bouts of diarrhea with little being produced each time and possible straining while this is happening.

It begins when something upsets the digestive system of the dog; this could be an abnormal food, or some kind of poisoning of the system. When this happens the first reaction of the dogs body is to try and remove the offending substance that is causing irritation of the stomach, and this is often done through diarrhea and often because of the stomach irritation the dog will make itself sick to stop the pain that is occurring as soon as possible.

You may want to think of dog irritable bowel syndrome as a kind of allergic reaction but inside the dog somewhere along the digestive system, this often occurs in the last bit of the process before the anus. This is the most common place for irritable bowel syndrome to happen and most cases will be due to this.

This condition may well pass quite quickly and the food intolerance may stop after a short time, but in other cases you may want to take you dog to the vet to have further tests done to determine if there are other problems to be treated as well as this one, or maybe just to seek further advice on how to treat the condition in the best possible way for your dog.

In the case of the vet being shown this type of condition they may take several tests and ask many questions about the dogs behaviour in the last few weeks amongst other things. Then treatment normally following on from confirming dog irritable bowel syndrome will be to give he dog a very bland diet of food for a short period of time and when the symptoms have stopped the dog will then normally be eased gently back onto the foods that are stronger and the foods they used to eat. The reason for gradually doing this process is so that the irritation is not triggered again and the symptoms start again.

Inmost cases once the dog s back on normal tasting full flavour food the irritable bowel syndrome in your dog will stop, but some dogs do tend to have it more than others, for more advice on what to do in these situations you should contact you vet and take the appropriate actions.

Find out how to reduce your chances of getting Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Presented by the World Gastroenterology Organisation – www.worldgastroenterology.org
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