Natural Remedies for IBS Relief: A Holistic Approach to Gut Health

I was diagnosed with IBS back in the late 90's. As the years passed I found more and more discomfort with belly bloating and pain and on occasion constipation. About one month ago I started to experience the symptoms of IBSD and I am here to tell you, I was practically living in my bathroom for three days. I then changed over my diet to no dairy, less fiber because I noticed when I ate things like spinach, broccoli, cabbage, etc. I would be running to the bathroom shortly after.

I began to drink coconut water, having coconut/almond milk in my coffee, supposedly non dairy, cut out ice cream and even had to cut out frozen yogurt and tried the lactaid products and still I am having issues. It is not as bad as it was last week, but it seems no matter what I eat, I am running a short while after or by the wee morning hours up and about with pain, discomfort, nausea. I have no clue what I should do anymore. I have plain Italian toast with jam, plain scrambled eggs, coconut water, etc. etc. and still, I wake up during the night in pain. I had tried the essence of peppermint like I used to take and still no relief.

I don't know what to do anymore..I am so tired and trying to make sure I stay hydrated at the same time. It has been one week today when this all got worse. Please help me!

Thank you, MT. I never knew about this root but will call the health food store and see if they have it. They probably do, they seem to have just about everything I have never heard of before. Had some fennel tea last night before going to bed and it was basically an uneventful night..very little with the going and my tummy was not as bad as it has been. Would like to try this root tea though. Thank you again.

It has been over a week now since I started taking the Echinacea tincture as well as Peppermint tincture. I take the Echinacea in the am and in the pm. I take the Peppermint three times a day, morning/afternoon/and before bedtime. I started with the Vitamin D3 as well as maybe twice a day or so having a piece of candied ginger. I bought some Fennel Tea so that I did not have to put fennel seeds in things that I cooked. After several days, the pain seemed to subside but I was still waking early in the am and running to the bathroom. I swear, I don't know what is wrong. I drink spring water and coconut water as well. And, this am was the first time I even had a few dropplings of anything slightly solid in my movement. Although I only had to get to the bathroom twice this am, the pain in my gut is horrid again. I am at my wits end and am wondering if I will ever be normal or somewhat normal again. And, I am mentioning this here simply because it is the only place I feel ever so slightly comfortable with talking about it, but when I go and it is like water, it now has a slight pea green color to it. I am bloated again and so uncomfortable. How long does it take to at least have something normal go through me after beginning to take these things? I have barely eaten anything, but last night I did have a plain burger/with backed red bliss potatoes and carrots. I only have plain scrambled eggs in the am with maybe toast or a waffle with peanut butter and I have basically forgone lunches altogether. I do have some aged cheese (over 12 months) that I may have on a few crackers to munch on. I had even gotten some non-dairy ice cream made of almond from the Health Food Store and still had issues.

Can anyone please tell me how long does it take before you even have a few normal days?

Thanks

Elizabeth

I was recently diagnosed with IBS. My symptoms include, sever constipation, black stools, upset stomach when I eat and when I have a bowel movement. I had been taking an over the counter drug and it kept me regular. However the stools each morning were initially hard followed immediately by a loose stool. I was prescribed a IBS drug which while I was on it (taken three times a day for two weeks) I was regular but still has some stomach discomfort. When I went off the drug my symptoms returned and the over the counter drum is not effective. I had a series of tests, scopes, colonoscopy and an endoscopic ultrasound. I was not tested for parasites at all. I am on a FODMAP diet and my constipation is terrible and so far I have not seen any improvement. Any advice.

Mark, are you drinking enough?

Hi, Mark I was wondering which GI Doctor you see. I'm looking for a GI that is open to the idea of healing through a diet plan like SCD, LowFodmap, AIP etc.... I've seen several GI's over the years but none have brought up SCD for healing.

Thanks, Janet. I've been taking 10000 now d3 for several years now. I had taken l-glutamine for several months some time ago, but didn't see any difference. I also have bad insomnia, for which I take 3g glycine + 3g l-tryptophan + 4 mg melatonin. Not much of a difference for the insomnia but at least I go to sleep for an hour or so, then doze the rest of the night. So many things interact, I know if I'd find the right balance I'd be better. I've been taking the angstrom magnesium, but not holding it under my tongue b/c it gives me diarrhea. I use it like the mag oil, it seems to be a bigger dose.

Interested but how much of each ingredient?

I have ibs and I get bad bloating after I eat salads and some steamed vegetables. I eat fennel seeds to help. Any other suggestions?

Dear Amy,

There are a couple of things that I would try.

One would be charcoal. If you know you are going to eat something that will aggravate you, take a couple of charcoal tablets (not capsules) or a teaspoon of charcoal in 6 ounces of water. This will often help with gas/bloating.

Alternately, there are some herbal things to try. (Don't use charcoal within two hours of medication or herbal treatments.)

Peppermint - Have a cup of peppermint tea when you have something that may disagree with you. Or even easier, keep a bottle of peppermint essential oil with you and put a couple of drops into some water and drink it when you have something that might bother you.

Or

Comfrey - You can make a comfrey tea to take with or after eating potentially offending foods.

You could also try just drinking comfrey and peppermint tea regularly. This may give some healing in the long term. You could drink 3-4 cups a day.

Let us know what you try and if it helps you.

~Mama to Many~

I read on Natural News about a woman with ibs-d who said she ate only raw eggs and raw meat for a month and it cured the ibs-d. I'm okay with raw, but has anyone else heard of this? Some folks appear to make comments that are far-fetched on purpose, like a troll, with no care of the consequences. I'd like to do research first.

For Ulcer, you have to take 1 raw egg early in the morning in empty stomach and you have to supplement with vitamin C. But this can work for IBS-D as well, you have to try and see. IBS, CROHNS, stomach ulcer, UC, lactose intollerance, IBD, sibo all are just the branch of the GI disease manifesting simple and aggressive symptoms. Never heard of taking raw meat, myself at least.

I eat a Paleo diet and I had terrible IBS for years before I ate Paleo, I eat certain meat and offal raw, a lot of people on Paleo eat raw eggs as well. I was bought up on raw eggs with warm raw milk with honey in. I was a happy, fit child and I swear it was the raw eggs and milk etc. Great stuff, and since I've been eating the meat raw, or nearly raw, mine has corrected itself, and a long standing bowel problem has gone, and I feel many other benefits. It's early days yet but it can only get better if it's got me here so quick? Other things need mending bodily, but it will come, thanks to this way of eating, and I eat loads, its not a diet, its just an eating plan, but it's doing me good. Love Andrea C xxxxxxxxxxx

I think my last post didn't make it! If this is redundant- my apologies. I fought with e-coli, and started losing 1/2 a lb a day. I took pro-biotics, anti-biotics, nothing helping. I take D____, a blackberry liquid. I can only find it on Amazon, and a few nutrition stores in Dallas, TX. It totally helped. I suffer from IBS, as well, and I take the it about 2-3 x a week. It lets me live normally!!!

<<<>>> I have had it all , IBS Diarhea for 30 years, Seriously, it lead to colon cancer, 25lbs of it taken out, I am now in remission, everything is going great for me, CEA of 05 out of 0.0-2 5 , so the doctors think it was related to IBS. Please be careful, I was careful and the doctors drop the ball on me. I went to my appointments and their nurse found out I was anemic as the doctor said I was good to go. Now I still have cronic Dia f- n ria which has always taken over my life for 30 years, can you believe this? It has, I am the most patient person on this earth. I have written down 11 answers to the question as to how to CURE this disease of IBS w/ D, I want, where is a bathroom, gone from my life. I have been passed on to Dr. To Dr. Idiot to Idiot if you want my opinion, the last GI Doctor just let me go one month ago, very kind of them. They had no more answers for me as to how to cure or even help the problem except for DTO / Opium, it works, it slows everything down but not always. D is stronger than anything I have ever known and I am a cancer patient. I should know, you wouldn't believe the pain from chemo drugs and having Diarrhea, its like walking in a field of flaming hot fire, well as I close here thank you to all IBS suffers you know how I feel. To all GI Doctors, You are all full of C_HIT! Sell your Crap to someone else and keep on pretending to be a Doctor, your not anywheres near being anybody- your lower than a used cars salesman. Well I am off to the bathroom AGAIN!!!

Have you tried cutting all forms of Gluten out of your diet. I used to be like you and I am much better. You probably have undiagnosed Celiac Disease. It is very hard to diagnose even when you take all their tests. The only way to know for sure is to study gluten and all the names for it in food and remove it totally from your diet. If you have Celiac Disease and you don't remove Gluten from your diet you will get intestinal cancer. Celiac is an autoimmune disease that manifests with intestinal damage when you eat gluten products. If you have any problems eating dairy products that is also a big tip off that you have Celiac. I got lactose intolerant from intestinal damage due to Celiac. I have been gluten free for 9 months and I can eat some dairy now. Get the book "Wheat Belly", it will save your life.

I just heard that a diet called Low FODMAP diet is helpful in relieving the symptoms. Basically, it's keeping fermented foods out of the diet. If anyone has tried this, please do let us know. Thanks!

What is the "Mother" they are referring to when mixing these remedies with apple cider vinegar or whatever? I have seen with the Mother and seen another with the X... I am skimming thru the articles but don't know what they are talking about. It is under Irritable Bowel Syndrome/ Treatment for IBS.

Any answers would be great :). Thanks

I have to give this one a nay. I have in the past been able to take this herb with no problems as a sleep aid, but ever since my gastrointestinal problems got worse, I can't take Valerian without experiencing an IgE response. I can't see how this would possibly be healing to the gut given that reaction, and I would use it with extreme caution if you do have similar problems.

I have mixed and it starts out with severe constipation and I usually pass out and throw up or feel like throwing up.

By magnesium chloride, do you mean the magnesium oil that generally comes in spray form? I have this and find it to be very strong. How much did you take and how often?

Thank you!

Christi

Yeh regarding your IBS. Totaly knock off white bread .. And take a teaspoon of Black strap mollasas everyday. That cured me. Browner the bread the better.. but the cheap white fluffy stuff seems to make the bowels react.

Micki from Swindon: which brand of rutin did you use because I tried this per your recommendation but am seeing no results. Thanks so much, Chelsea

Hi everyone,
I just want to say that some doctors and even the big pharma still want to hide the fact that IBS, Crohn disease and other GI dysfunction are nothing but a parasitical infections. I urge all people who are suffering from these diseases to check for parasites. On stool tests is not enough. If your doctor is stupid who doesn't think out of the box ( most doctors are brainwashed by big pharma, even their books are sponsored by big pharma, their textbooks are like their bibles). Now big pharma are trying to patent Rifaximin for IBS. The reason is simply because big pharma doesn't want to admit the fact that parasites and bacteria are causing IBS and Rifaximin kills the parasites.

is also linked to lyme disease. MS is a manifestation of a bacterial infection. It's sad to see people suffering for 10 to 20 years with IBS when a simple treatment that address the cause could cure them in 1 to 2 weeks.

I used to have terrible IBS. I found that avoiding dairy helped tremendously also. I no longer have IBS. I attribute this recovery to stopping my diet soda intake (it was hard, but what a difference! ) and taking 3,000 mg (or more) of MSM daily. I've heard that aloe vera juice can also soothe the gut and clear this up. * I also used colloidal silver first to clear up any bacterial infections that may be in the system. ** Note: If you are using ANY artificial sweeteners, this will worsen IBS symptoms, at least it did in my experience and in my mother's experience.

I have to agree with Megyn and all of the above comments. I have HSV2 and got this after already having IBS symptoms. However, I also wonder if the herpes virus isn't making it worse as well. :( This sucks! I take a monolaurin supplement which is shown to help herpes. If I 'ever' run out of it, I am entirely constipated and impacted. I found it also treats h pylori and I have symptoms which indicate, to me, that I have this as well. So, I began 2 T 3 x per day of 10 ppm silver hydrosol and this has helped when out of the monolaurin, so has oregano oil. However, the monolaurin, is a night and day difference. I know that going with the protocol of low FODMAP, allicin, neem oil, berberine, and oreganol helped me in the past but I ran out and 'cheated' before finishing the treatment effects. So, I'm on the fence as to what is the root cause. At the same time, it's freaky to me how using monolaurin alone will regulate my bathroom habits (petrified to run out). I only take pellet form. I will look into lysine again but found little effect on my hsv2. Found out about monolaurin through Dr. Neil. Also, I believe if I cut out so many nuts (I tend to eat a lot of these) that this would really help my hsv2 symptoms, thereby decreasing the need for monolaurin. I wish I had a fm doctor to wade through all of this. I will look at Ted's protocol above for hsv.

I too have had great results with fennel. I have been suffering from IBS on and off for several years now. Usually it only last for about two weeks. But this time it lasted about 8 MONTHS!

My IBS is strictly pain. I don't get diareha or constipation just pain on my left and right side below my ribs.

Heres what I did:

After a colonoscopy my doctor diagnosed me with spastic colon (aka IBS)and prescribed me an anti-spasmodic drug called Bentyl or something like that. Of course I refused to take it and searched for a natural alternative.

Fennel is a natural anti-spasmodic and so is Chamomile. Fennel tea does help but I found chewing fennel seeds and sucking the juice out and swallowing then spitting the seeds out helps a lot too. But so far I think it is better to actually eat the seeds. I add about 1/2 teaspoon to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (I acutally use sunflower seed butter)

I buy my fennel seeds at a local health food store for 50 cents per ounce. Two ounces last me a 1 week or two. You can also order them online. I like Frontier Herbs since they have great prices and a HUGE selection of raw and organic herbs.

The other thing that is GREAT is to eat a fennel bulb that you can buy at a grocery store. I buy mine at Meijer or Kroger. But some krogers don't carry them. It's a white bulb with a long green stem. The best way I've found to prepare it is by cutting it like an onion into half in strips then STEAMING it. It makes it very soft and easy to chew. Sometimes I also sautee it with butter.

Eating the fennel bulb is probably one of the best in my opinion.

I also like to combine the steamed bulb with rice as it makes a nice substantial meal. And rice helps a lot for me.

The other thing that I recently purchased that HELPS A LOT is Organic Acacia sennegal fiber. There is a seller online with a great price for a round tin that contains a good amount. The brand I bought is specifically made for IBS sufferers. I think it was like $16. You can find it online by doing a google search for "Acacia Fiber IBS".

The final thing that has helped me is STRESS reduction and watching comedy! START LAUGHING! IT HELPS I SWEAR. Go on youtube and look up Louis CK he is hilarious! Or just type in comedian and watch some of those videos.

GOOD LUCK I HOPE THIS HELPS.

-darenM

You don't really have to drink a whole liter every day do you?

Are you still taking Biotin now?

Fresh Ginger Root also helps Acid reflux and IBS. peel off a small teaspoon size chunk of the root (after peeling and rinsing) chew it well. NOTE: the root is very spicy (hot) but not too bad.

I had stomach problam that could have been IBS.

It felt as if i had dead bowels / colon' with no food passing to excretion - no movement in colon.

Even if it is not IBS my success may help.

1) NO spices in diet eg curry
2) NO fatty or greesy foods like fries
3) 5 TBL Aloevera conc 3 times a day
4) Multivitimin supplement + minerals daily
5) stress related issues effect colon so I took a smoke of 3 spliffs a day for just over a week. yes i mean cannabis.

6) alternative to spliff is chinese herbs for headaches - they work by removing stress (Zheng Tian Wan) - 2 weeks supply.

7) eat greens, lentils, fruit especially apples and eggs.

hope this will help someone as it helped me, no matter how drastic the solution.

I have had severe IBS for 6 years. Before that time I could eat anything, never a stomach problem and my health was excellent. Since then I have tried every diet there is with the results that if I eliminated anything acid including citric acid which is in a lot of drinks and foods I could get by but I was still severely affected by IBS. Just one week ago I decided to try only drinking bottled water because I suspected my tap water even though we have a filtration system. I have not felt this good in 6 years. I am able to eat things (chocolate) that I haven't eaten in years. I have not been able to eat any fruits, any juices, most vegetables, in the last 6 years. I have not started to put all of them back in my diet yet as I am taking things slowly but this has been a HUGE improvement. The water I have been drinking is from a natural spring but nothing expensive (64 cents a gallon). Drinking bottled water has also improved my husbands health as he has had a skin irritation for several years that doctors could not diagnose. We both thinks it's the chlorine in the water system. By the way it isn't just the water in Florida causing the problem because we both had our health problems begin in Delaware where we also had a water filter on the tap.

Re: Irritabe Bowel Syndrome and Water Filters. Not all filters are created equal I have a gravity filter based on Black Berkey filters. Has done wonders for over all health along with water cure. Berkey removed flouride as well if you use the secondary PF2 filter. Most common filters do not remove flouride. There is one on TV right now being heavily advertised and it only claims to remove one thing from water. I assure you there are many many more things in water. Do your research. Google black berkey comparison. Flouride shuts down the thyroid.

I tried taking magnesium before breakfast and it didn't relieve my severe IBS c. I tried up to 1000mg. since my c is severe but had no luck sadly. I'm surprised it has not helped.

I have had IBS-D for more than 20 yrs. Now that I've been Gluten Free for about a year, I have alternating bowel functions. Do you think that coconut oil will help with the dual functionality? I am so willing to try anything.

Hello Wildstormy1, IBS [Irritable Bowel Syndrome] is caused by variety of issues, even hiatus hernia can manifest IBS or low stomach acid can also show symptoms of IBS or hypothyroid can also show the same symptoms. Main reason, infection in GI.

First start with Ted's alkalizing formula 3 times a day.
To heal the intestine, drink wheat grass juice 30ml a day. Colonize your intestines with probiotics by taking Milk Kefir, Miso, Saurkraut.

Once the intestines starts to heal your digestion will improve. This will take long time.

I urge you to read Hemorrhoids section in EC, it is has more information regarding UC and IBS.

There are variety natural treatments to treat IBS, above said are the simple ones. Ted's alkalizing formula is a must, Without alkalizing your body the healing process will not begin.

Good Health

Why don't you take just a spoon full of oil? Is there any benefit by taking the capsules?