Homoeopathy for IBS

A lot of youngsters and women these days are being diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, which is why as a Homoeopath, I chose to begin with how we can help manage this gastro-intestinal disorder effectively.

Like most of us know, irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic disorder of the bowel causing chronic abdominal pain, bloating, constipation or diarrhea or both.

Since Homoeopathy deals with a holistic approach to any given condition, to understand how homoeopathy can help, it is important we understand the causes of IBS. Your IBS can be due to

• Bacterial Infections or Inflammations can be a precursor to your IBS

• An unhealthy diet

• Mind Disorders like stress, anxiety or depression can cause IBS or vice-versa due to the Gut-Brain connection that is explained below.

The Gut-Brain Connection

"Always, trust your gut feeling."

What if that has a more scientific side to it than it seems? What if that feeling is actually your gut communicating?

That's right.

The mind and the gut connection is not only a figure of speech, but also a real existence. This is because of the presence of the Enteric Nervous System in your gut, that can almost function as independently as your Central Nervous System, the reason why scientists call the gut the 'second brain'.

In the case of IBS, there are the below possibilities:

• Some neurotransmitters like serotonin (responsible for your mood, sleep, digestion, etc) are produced in the gut. An irritable bowel syndrome can affect the production of these neurotransmitters which in return affect your mind.

• On the other hand, the brain sends signals initiating movement of food in your intestines. Hence any mind disorders like stress, anxiety, mood disorders alter this interaction, and the food can move slowly – causing more food in gut or fast – causing more gas, all resulting in the onset of IBS.

This is where Homoeopathy can help.

The Role of Homoeopathy

Now we know how the mind and the body is connected in most cases of IBS. This is the prime reason why Homoeopathy can be of immense help in IBS cases.

We homoeopaths consider the patient as a whole and prescribe medicines after taking a totality of all the symptoms that the patient is suffering. So, it helps to calm the person mentally, making one more efficient in stress management and it also acts on the digestive sphere, reducing the hypersensitivity of the intestines.

All this, as known, without any side effects.

IBS, further calls for a Homoeopathic approach because of its chronic nature. Homoeopathy is known to be a safer medical system; but there’s more to that. Those who already have experienced Homoeopathic cure, know how it works. For the new ones, Homoeopathic medicines are prescribed aiming at completely eradicating the root cause of any condition. In chronic conditions like IBS, eliminating the root cause evidently becomes important to curb the recurrence of the condition, thereby giving a more permanent cure to IBS.

Overall, IBS can be exhausting, but it's not such a bad thing because we can help manage it effectively. Otherwise, it’s okay to be irritable sometimes, we all are!