Overview

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is characterized by alternating periods of constipation and diarrhea, accompanied by cramping and bloating.

It may have multiple causes, which may include an auto-immune component.

Please see conventional, complementary, and alternative medical treatments for important background information regarding the different types of medical treatments discussed on this page. Naturopathic, Complementary, and Alternative treatments that may be considered include:

Etiology

Diagnosis

The Rome III [Longstreth2006  🕮 ] criteria for diagnosing IBS requires:
  • Symptom onset at least 6 months prior to diagnosis
  • Recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort at least 3 days/month for the last 3 months
  • Associated with 2 or more of the following:
    • Symptoms improve after bowel movement (BM)
    • Onset of symptoms is associated with a change in frequency of BM
    • Onset of symptoms is associated with a change in consistency of BM

The workup of an IBS patient includes:

  1. Rule out alarm signs (bleeding, masses, sudden change in bowel habits)
  2. Then diagnose based on history and symptoms.
  3. Test for dysbiosis with organic acid test

Differential Diagnosis

  • Opiate drug use
  • Neoplasm

Treatment

Conventional Treatment

Naturopathic, Complementary, and Alternative Treatments

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

According to the Low Dose Naltrexone home page [LDN], LDN has been seen to benefit IBS, which is considered to be an autoimmune disease. Dr. Jill Cottel also reports successfully treating irritable bowel syndrome using LDN [Elsegood2016, pg xviii].

[Toljan2018  🕮 ] [Kariv2006  🕮 ] reports a 4-week trial of 0.5mg LDN with 42 IBS patients. Global assessment showed an improvement in 76% the participants, with the mean number of pain-free days increasing significantly from 0.5 to 1.25 days. Dr. Weyrich notes that this was a relatively low dose, and better response might be expected with dose titration towards the usual dose of LDN of 4.5mg/day.

Dr. Weyrich has been trained to use Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). However, Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of IBS with LDN.

Please see What is Low Dose Naltrexone? for more information.

Dysbiosis

Treat dysbiosis if present.

Neurotransmitter Balancing

Neuro Research [Hinz2015] reports that irritable bowel syndrome can be benefited by balancing neurotransmitter levels in the body.

Dr. Weyrich has been trained in neurotransmitter balancing protocols, but has not treated irritable bowel syndrome using this technique.

Please see What is Neurotransmitter Balancing? for more information.

References