Antony Haynes, Nutritionist and co-author of the award winning The Food Intolerance Bible (Harper Collins) reviews the major symptoms of IBS and looks a little closer at the underlying issues with this common condition and presents specific potential treatments for them.

There is no specific medical test for IBS. It is diagnosed from your symptoms. If you repeatedly have a pattern of symptoms, as detailed above, then you can readily be diagnosed with IBS. Here are the most common symptoms:

• Abdominal Bloating
• Gas
• Constipation
• Diarrhoea - esp. after eating or first thing in the morning
• Feeling that you need to have a bowel movement just after having had one
• Feeling a strong urge to have a bowel motion
• Abdominal pain and cramping, which may be relieved after bowel motion

Treatment for IBS

Advice on one website reads as follows: "the best way to handle IBS is to eat a healthy diet, avoid foods that seem to make you feel worse and find ways to handle your stress." This is a very useful summary that could well help many IBS sufferers. The trouble is, not everyone with IBS knows which foods trigger symptoms and by no means is it straightforward to reduce stress levels. Medical advice tends to lean on anti-spasmodics, anti-depressants and medications that alter bowel habit, depending on the need. Conventional advice is relatively limited and does not include many of the true imbalances that underpin this prevalent condition.

There's more to it
However, there is a little more to IBS than simply eating the right foods and reducing stress. For example, a healthier food such as whole vegetables can trigger symptoms when a Big Mac may not. It may have little to do with the "healthiness" of the meal. Here are the six major causes of IBS.

1. Food Intolerance.
As long ago as 1982, The Lancet published a study which showed that food intolerance affects the symptoms of IBS. At least 50% and as possibly as much as 90% of IBS sufferers could have food intolerances as the cause of their symptoms. The typical culprit foods include dairy products, eggs, wheat and gluten grains, sugar and yeast. Clearly, the most sensible approach to food intolerance is to identify the culprit food(s) and avoid it.

2. Maldigestion.
If you do not digest food properly, then this can result in a variety of symptoms including those within the IBS group. Low levels of stomach acid are very common and can be measured by an elegant test called the Gastro-Test. There is often a need for digestive enzymes which are predominantly made by the pancreas. In some with poor fat digestion, lipase supplementation can be an effective treatment.

3. Compromised Gut Lining.
This includes the somewhat dramatic condition referred to as "leaky gut syndrome" but can also refer to low levels of secretary immunoglobulin A, intestinal inflammation and so on. When food comes into contact with a sensitive gut lining, it can trigger smooth muscle constriction and bloating is what you get! There are some very effective remedies for this kind of imbalance, and Probiotics can also help with supporting the health and integrity of the gut lining.

4. Imbalance in bacteria.
This is also referred to as "dysbiosis" and can be measured by stool analysis, but symptoms such as excess wind will provide good evidence that this exists. Whilst testing may be the best way forward, there are many different probiotics, some of which have been studied and proven effective.

5. Unwelcome Guests.
Parasites, yeasts and bacteria could well be a contributory factor in IBS symptoms, and include such wonderfully named bugs as Blastocystis Hominis, Enterobacter Cloacae, Citrobacter Freundii, Entamoeba Histolytica, Klebsiella pneumonia, Candida Albicans and so on. Stool analysis will prove their presence and each bug may usually be vanquished by a different anti-microbial or anti-biotic. Given that antibiotics may be a causative agent for IBS, one may wish to consider natural herbal formulae to address these unwelcome critters.

6. Stress and nervous system involvement.
This is often the case, and in itself stress can impair digestive function, upset smooth muscle function, create an imbalance in calming neurotransmitters such as serotonin and inhibit bile flow. Anti-depressants can be effective, it is true, but natural remedies to help counteract stress include preparations to improve alpha wave activity, extracts of Valerian, Hops & Passiflora and the mineral magnesium which has been referred to as Nature's Tranquillizer, since it helps to relax muscles and nerves.

Reproduced with the kind permission of Today's Therapist