How many of you suffer from diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, gassiness? Most likely you have been told is IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) or spastic colon. Unfortunately this diagnosis is not addressing the real root cause of your problems and you were prescribed medications.
As a functional medicine physician I try to investigate the underlying conditions that could be the real issue. So, first we need to rule out food allergies. With a simple blood test, we will investigate more than one hundred fifty food items and explore which are contributing factors (like gluten sensitivity, dairy intolerance, etc). Second we will do a comprehensive stool test and make sure there are no parasites, bacteria or yeast overgrowth. Also the stool test will tell us about your good bacteria, pancreas, and stomach acidity.
So what to do? Lifestyle modification including the right diet for the patient, appropriate supplements, and stress reduction. Treatment is based on the previous testing. A good elimination diet will be the first step which itself may alleviate many symptoms. The stool test will guide us to see if we need more acidity in the stomach or if the pancreas is not working perfectly well, or if he (she) needs probiotics.
Sometimes we find parasites or other bacteria which treated appropriately could be very helpful. Most patients require a good spectrum probiotic, hydrochloric acid and fiber. Finding the root cause of IBS can result in relevant improvement of symptoms, and avoid medications which usually have many side effects and most of the time do not solve the problem permanently.
If you feel you or a love one can benefit from our approach to IBS, please don’t hesitate to contact us.