Patients Dealing with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and how Naturopathic Care Can Help!
April is IBS Awareness month and we are so pleased to be bringing you all the information and care appointments needed to get your life back on track.
Abdominal pain? Bloating? Gas? Constipation diarrhea? These are all symptoms of IBS and are concerns that Naturopathic Doctors can help with. If not treated, IBS can lead to leaky gut and inflammation in your body, which may increase risk of neurodegenerative disease, chronic pain, heart disease and more.
Causes of IBS:
- hormonal disturbances
- improper liver filtration
- nervous dysfunction
- stress
- triggers (sensitivity of food or environments)
Common Symptoms Include:
- Abdominal pain, discomfort and bloating
- Headache & Fogginess
- Constipation, loose stool and/or diarrhea
- Gas/flatulence
- Nausea
- Low appetite
- Patterns with stress
- Mood concerns with anxiety or depression
- Painful bowel movements
- Relief of bowel movement
- If you have blood or mucous in your stool, you may want to rule out other health concerns
Other Causes Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
IBS can have multiple root causes, the most common of which can included:
- Hormones
- Stress
- Food sensitivities and intolerances
- Inadequate nutrition
- Bacterial infections
- parasites
- Imbalance of healthy gut bacteria (dysbiosis) or SIBO (most people will use FODMAP diets)
- Lack of digestive enzymes
- Lack of exercise
What is the Natural Treatment for IBS?
Since there are multiple possible causes of IBS, our naturopathic doctors will create a program that is individualized to you – there is no "one-size fits all" solution.
- Food Sensitivity Testing: Through a Naturopathic doctor, you can access the most sensitive and scientific testing for up to 200 potential food allergens.
- Remove what is damaging the digestive tract: We can guide you through cleansing your digestive tract of harmful bacteria and yeast and restoring the beneficial bacteria. Our cleanses don't involve harmful laxative herbs or a need to be close to a washroom. Most health food store GI cleanses do not effectively remove harmful bacteria or yeast, at least not for very long.
- Healing your digestive tract: Your gastrointestinal tract can be healed to eliminate your IBS symptoms and increase nutrient absorption and immune system health.
- Restore normal production of digestive enzymes and stomach acid
- Diet: Customized dietary recommendations to avoid foods that promote an unhealthy digestive tract.
Other digestive problems that our Naturopathic Doctors can help treat through a similar root cause approach include:
- Indigestion, bloating
- Heartburn
- Constipation, diarrhea
- Candida
- Crohn's Disease
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Gastro-Esophageal Reflux (GERD
- Stomach/Intestinal Ulcers
- Hemorrhoids
- Mouth canker sores
- Poor fat digestion/fat malabsorption
For more information about IBS all throughout the month, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, where we will be discussing various helpful tools.
For a more in depth analysis and help from one of our Naturopathic Doctors, you can book a virtual appointment through Telepractice. It is easy, and effective treatment, all from the safety and comfort of your own home.
