Plant Medicine Provides A Holistic And Healthy Ibs Treatment

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common health problem affecting a substantial proportion of the population; point prevalence estimates usually range from ten percent to thirty percent. Prevalence rates vary significantly between countries and depend on the diagnostic criteria used. IBS causes reduced quality of life and has been reported as resulting in the same degree of impairment as congestive heart failure. People with IBS are more likely to be unable to work and to have visited their doctor than the general population.
The condition generates a substantial workload in both primary and secondary care. A minority of those experiencing symptoms consult their general practitioner. However, a substantial proportion of those who do present to primary care require referral to a specialist. IBS accounts for twenty to fifty percent of referrals to gastroenterology clinics. Costs associated with IBS are therefore substantial; it has an impact on the individual, industry and commerce and the health service.
Patients who come to medical attention tend to have a greater number of symptoms and are more anxious and depressed. Little is known of the coping strategies used by the large number of IBS sufferers who do not seek medical attention, or which patients have significantly reduced quality of life and absenteeism from work. A proportion of patients stop consulting because of disenchantment with current therapy and some seek complementary therapy.
The most common symptoms of IBS include a change in the appearance or frequency of stools, and abdominal pain that is relieved by defecation. Other symptoms include bloating, distention, mucus in the stool, urgency, and a feeling of incomplete evacuation. Based on stool-habit alteration, three subgroups of IBS have been described: constipation-predominant IBS, diarrhea-predominant IBS, and IBS with alternating bowel habits. Although these groupings are useful for research purposes, symptom patterns may vary.
A structural or biochemical mechanism for IBS has not been identified. But, dietary, bowel-motility, enteric nervous system, psychiatric, and other factors have been associated with IBS. Many illnesses share some of the same symptoms as IBS. Some of these illnesses are serious and require aggressive evaluation and treatment. IBS usually has been a diagnosis of exclusion, based on history, physical examination, and a negative battery of diagnostic studies.
To date, no gold standard or marker for IBS exists. A cost-effective diagnostic approach that uses the fewest tests and invasive studies is most desirable. As in all illnesses, the most valuable initial tools are a detailed history and physical examination. If alarm symptoms that suggest an underlying organic disease are uncovered, further testing usually is considered. Scoring methods, subgroup classifications, laboratory studies, endoscopy, and psychiatric assessment are available to help guide the diagnosis in patients who present with abdominal pain.
Your doctor may suggest fiber supplements or laxatives for constipation or medicines to decrease diarrhea. An antispasmodic is commonly prescribed, which helps to control colon muscle spasms and reduce abdominal pain. Antidepressants may relieve some symptoms. However, both of these types of IBS treatment can worsen constipation, so some doctors will also prescribe medications that relax muscles in the bladder and intestines.
Plant medicine can provide real opportunities to safely eliminate IBS with encouraging measurable results. This treatment can provide elimination of IBS by directly reducing gastrointestinal spasms, improving metabolic functionality, strengthening immune system, and lifting emotions. This renders a holistic, total and healthy irritable bowel syndrome treatment. Results achieved with this treatment are more than convincing especially in view of the poor efficacy of current IBS treatments.
The use of medicinal plants is taking an increasingly greater role in developing new techniques of treatment for IBS, as conventional medicine has few effective solutions. Powerless, and faced with treatment failures, some doctors are actively seeking alternative effective IBS treatment to resolve this inadequacy. As a result, plant medicine is poised to become the treatment of choice by medical professionals and patients seeking to eradicate irritable bowel syndrome and related symptoms. To learn more, please go to http://www.naturespharma.org.