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An estimated 13 million people in the UK suffer from IBS. In this article, you’ll discover what IBS means for those affected, and how Integrative Medicine can help.
What is IBS?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, covers a range of digestive symptoms which can’t be explained by a recognised digestive condition, such as Crohn’s disease, colitis or inflammatory bowel disease.
IBS causes symptoms like abdominal cramps, bloating, wind, diarrhoea and constipation. These symptoms tend to come and go and can be unpredictable. Sufferers then naturally become cautious about what to eat for fear of it affecting their digestion.
Other symptoms of IBS can include nausea, passing mucus in your stool, fatigue, brain fog, and food intolerances. However, since good digestive health is fundamental to whole-body health, an irritable bowel can produce symptoms all over your body.
Typically, a diagnosis of IBS is only made after tests for other diseases have come back negative, and no obvious other cause can be found. This means diagnosis often takes time. In fact, IBS isn’t considered to be an illness, but a collection of symptoms with their origins in the gut.
You might be prescribed anti-spasmodic drugs, painkillers or laxatives to control IBS. However, these only serve to mask bothersome symptoms. Of course, symptoms don’t show up in the body unless there are underlying causes, so let’s look at some of these now.
Microbiome Imbalance
Your gut, especially your large intestine, is home to a diverse community of microbes. These should coexist happily with you for mutual benefit. You, the host, provide them with a home, along with food in the form of plant fibre to feast on. In return your microbes nourish your gut lining, train your immune system, and assist with digestion.
One fascinating aspect of your gut microbes is that the precise species of bacteria and the proportions of these species are as individual to you as your fingerprints. This is because they are influenced by what you eat and by your lifestyle.
A healthy population of microbes exist in a balanced natural ecosystem, with beneficial species keeping the undesirable bacteria in check. They produce substances which create the type of environment they like to live in, and one which doesn’t suit the disease-causing bacteria.
However, the population of bacteria can easily become unbalanced, for example after a course of antibiotics. When this happens, microbes connected with poor digestive health can multiply. These release substances promoting inflammation in the digestive tract. This can damage the delicate intestinal lining, interfering with digestion and creating gas.
Many people are surprised to learn parasitic infestations of the gut are not uncommon in the UK. Disease-causing bacteria and parasites thrive in similar environments.
Some people suffer the effects of having bacteria living in the wrong area of their digestive tract. The bacteria normally found living in the large intestine sometimes migrate into the small intestine, where they are usually only found in tiny amounts. When this happens, the result is bloating and wind after eating, a condition known as SIBO.
Leaky Gut
This condition is more properly known as increased intestinal permeability. The cells lining your intestines act very much like gatekeepers. They create a barrier, designed to allow beneficial molecules through into your bloodstream. These include nutrients and favourable substances produced by your gut microbes.
At the same time, this barrier needs to deny access to potentially harmful or allergenic substances such as toxins and certain bacteria, alongside particles of food that haven’t completely been digested. If these substances are allowed to pass through into the circulation, the immune system is put on high alert because it perceives them as unfamiliar. This is why leaky gut is closely connected to food intolerances.
The gut lining can easily become too permeable as a result of inflammation. Often, leaky gut is exacerbated by eating gluten, found in wheat, barley, rye, and some oats. This is because gluten encourages the release of a substance called zonulin. This causes the naturally tiny holes in the gut lining to open wider, allowing undesirable substances to pass through into the bloodstream.
Nutrition for a Healthy Gut
If you’re low in certain essential nutrients, especially zinc and vitamin B6, you might not be able to produce sufficient stomach acid. Production also naturally declines with age. On the other hand, stomach acid is neutralised or decreased if you take antacids or proton pump inhibitors.
Sufficient acid is needed not only for protein digestion in the stomach but also to kick-start the next stage of digestion in the small intestine. Therefore, too little stomach acid will have knock-on effects further down the digestive tract, and the early stages of digestion aren’t effective. This tends to result in sluggish digestion in the large intestine, creating an environment ideal for the wrong kind of bacteria to thrive.
Nourish your healthy bacteria by consuming plenty of plant-based foods, naturally high in fibre. Your beneficial bacteria will be well fed and your bowel movements more regular.
On the other hand, sugar feeds undesirable types of bacteria. Therefore, foods with added sugar, and processed foods containing little natural fibre are best avoided. Artificial sweeteners (1), emulsifiers (2) and other food additives can disrupt your microbiome, too.
Meanwhile, many people suffering from IBS find gluten-containing grains make their symptoms worse. Gluten is a complex molecule. Therefore, if your digestive system isn’t working well, it may struggle to digest gluten. Modern varieties of wheat have been selectively bred to contain artificially high levels of gluten.
Stress and IBS
Your digestive system and your nervous system are closely linked by bidirectional networks of nerves as well as chemical messengers travelling between the two. Stress therefore has a major effect on digestive function. Your body simply won’t prioritise digestion if it senses that you’re stressed. Unfortunately for many people, being stressed is a more or less permanent situation, so it’s no wonder digestion suffers.
Here at The Forbes Clinic, we have a range of mind/body therapies to help your body dial down stress and, in turn, prioritise rest and digestion. For example, Emotional Freedom Technique, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy or Felt Sense Polyvagal Model may be appropriate for you, depending on your situation.
Testing Your Gut Health
Digestive issues can produce a range of symptoms, some seemingly unconnected with the gut. Therefore, it can be difficult to work out what’s going wrong by looking at symptoms alone. This is where it’s so valuable to test, rather than guess. Discovering the imbalances behind your symptoms will reveal the root causes of your ill health and is the first step towards putting them right.
Gastrointestinal mapping analyses a small sample of your faeces, which you collect at home with no mess. It will reveal the composition of your microbiome, the chemicals they manufacture, and substances secreted by your body to digest your food. The test provides information about how well your digestive system is functioning, and the levels of inflammation being produced. It will discover any unwelcome visitors like parasitic, viral or fungal infections or rogue bacteria, and whether you are suffering from intestinal permeability.
This test is incredibly useful if you’re struggling with digestive issues or unexplained symptoms, which often have their roots in gut ill-health.
Integrative Medicine Support for IBS
A healthy digestive system is crucial for a healthy body. Not only is your gut where essential nutrients are obtained from your food, but because of the wide-ranging effects of the messenger substances sent out by your microbiome, an unhealthy gut can affect your whole body. Therefore, it’s important to get IBS under control.
Even if you’ve been struggling with IBS for years, there’s no need to be held prisoner by your gut. Take your first step to improved gut health by booking a Discovery Call today.
