Alternative Healing for IBS and Chronic Digestive Disorders
Today, the increase in people being diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) is quite alarming. As someone who has suffered from digestive problems her whole life, having been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, I know all too well the complications of having a chronic digestive disease.
Not only is it debilitating on the physical body, but also on the mind and spirit.
IBS is known as a chronic complaint of stomach pains, bloating and cramping, and a change in bowel habits such as chronic diarrhea or constipation. It is most commonly diagnosed in people who internalize stress and anxiety, have suffered from a traumatic or stressful event, and in those who have a nutritionally deficient diet.
IBD includes a more serious group of conditions (Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis) and results in inflammation of the colon, small intestine and overall digestive system that can cause a whole host of symptoms including: blood and/or mucus in stool, chronic diarrhea, fever, chills, headaches, weight loss, inflammation in other areas of the body (joints and/or eyes), nausea, chronic fatigue, depression and an overall decreased quality of life. IBD has been linked to people who have had a previous parasite and/or who were frequently prescribed antibiotics.
Antibiotics wipe away both the good and bad bacteria, resulting in a weakened immune system which then leads to inflammation. It is also linked to those with a family history of the condition, [those who internalize stress]/video/quickie-stress-relief) and anxiety and those who eat a nutritionally deficient diet.
In both IBS and IBD, the mind and body are connected; however, it’s unclear which symptom started first. Did the mind affect the body or did the body affect the mind? Either way, we know they are intertwined and that we have to heal the ‘whole’ person in order to improve the condition of any ailment.
Despite all of the information out there, it is still difficult to find a known cure for IBS or IBD that helps to heal the ‘whole’ individual. Medications and surgery are often prescribed to physically help with the symptoms, but there is a lack of knowledge out there on how to help people to naturally heal through yoga, Ayurveda, meditation, pranayama and eating whole foods. What I have found, through my own experience, is that there is a link between the body and what is going on in your life and in your mind. When we nourish the body, mind and soul, we can heal a whole host of diseases and illnesses.
If you look at these digestive complications from an Ayurvedic perspective, they are both Pitta/Vata complications with different degrees of severity. Balancing these doshas by calming the Vata mind and developing a beautiful self-care routine to reduce the inflammation (Pitta) are the most important aspects of healing. After I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2009, I was told by my doctor (and several second opinions) that I would be on medication for life. I was not satisfied with this prognosis. While I totally agree that medication may be initially necessary, I believe that anyone can slowly decrease their medication and eventually live a happy and healthy lifestyle with the appropriate education.
One day during a flare up, I was reading and came across a book called “Perfect Health” by Deepak Chopra. It was there that I realized that I could heal myself of my IBD and live a life free of suffering and medication. This is also where I first really immersed myself in the concept of mind/body healing. Since then, I have slowly decreased my medication to nothing and have not had a flare up in over 6 months. Although not completely cured, I “feel” cured, healthy and happy.
I attribute my health to following a life based on Ayurvedic principles while eating a plant-based diet.
Practices which have helped me to heal:
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I live a life full of love, compassion, empathy.
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Eat a sattvic vegan diet with mainly cooling herbs and spices.
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Practice mindfulness meditation
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Pranayama: Ujjayi breath and alternative nostril breathing have provided significant and positive changes in my lifestyle to reduce my symptoms.
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Yoga: I practice beautiful restorative yoga poses which open up the lower spine, eventually leading to many forward bends and abdominal twists. This has helped significantly.
My mind has become calm, my diet has become pure, my soul has become nourished and my body has become healthy. I want to inspire others to heal themselves, so I hope I have inspired you. It takes some hard work and dedication that some might say is extreme, but taking medication and surgery seems a lot more extreme to me. I am now thriving rather than surviving.
About the Author
The Therapeutic Order: 7 Tenets of Naturopathy
Contrary to common belief, naturopathic doctors are not just doctors who prescribe natural remedies to patients. (This means that a visit to the health food store is not a substitute for advice from a licensed healthcare practitioner!) After all, as previously “naturopathic” therapies invade scientific literature, more up-to-date medical doctors are prescribing things like fish oil and probiotics to their patients.
However, this doesn’t make them naturopathic doctors any more than prescribing rights make us medical doctors! Naturopathic doctors differ from the traditional medical model, not so much in what we prescribe or our principles (do no harm, treat the whole person, prevent disease, doctor as teacher, support the body, treat the cause), which medical doctors arguably share with us, but in something called the Therapeutic Order.
The Therapeutic Order is a hierarchy that governs a naturopathic doctor’s clinical decision-making. It begins by offering minimally invasive therapies aimed at supporting the body and ends in more invasive procedures such as chemical therapies and surgery.
Remove Obstacles to Health
Naturopathic medicine begins by creating the conditions for health through focusing on lifestyle factors that contribute to our health and well-being. This involves cleaning up the diet and promoting healthy eating, ensuring adequate and restful sleep, managing stress, fostering healthy relationships and social support, fresh air and clean water, adequate movement, encouraging the pursuit of hobbies and passions and even supporting spiritual and moral fulfillment. Setting the foundations for optimal health is the first step in managing or preventing disease and promoting a lifetime of health and happiness.
Stimulate the Healing Power of Nature
Sometimes, a long-term lack of a proper health foundation, genetic disposition, environmental factors, prolonged significant stress or long-standing, chronic disease can result in a weakening of the vital force. Before you scoff at the term, keep in mind that all medical systems, traditional or otherwise have a name for this pervasive healing force. In Ayurveda it is called prana, traditional Chinese medicine has Qi, homeopathy refers to it as wesen, monotheistic religions refer to it as God, conventional medicine or the biological sciences call it homeostasis or, perhaps, metabolism. In naturopathic medicine this healing power is called just that, The Healing Power of Nature or, in Latin, the Vis Medicatrix Naturae.
This force is stimulated in a variety of ways, but mainly by using therapies that have a gentle stimulatory, energetic effect. These therapies act to strengthen the vital force, awakening its ability to heal the body. Therapies used to stimulate the vis include acupuncture, homeopathy,hydrotherapy, prayer, visualization, journaling, meditation, mind-body medicine, yoga or Qi Gong, among others.
Strengthen Weakened Systems
This level of the Therapeutic Order is implemented when long-standing disease or lack of a solid health foundation results in a prolonged weakening of the body’s ability to heal, resulting in damage to organ systems. Conditions to be treated at this stage include hypertension, diabetes, digestive concerns, pain and fatigue, etc. Unfortunately, this is the stage at which most people seek medical attention and, although at this stage there are still a few more rungs on the Therapeutic Order’s hierarchy, this is the stage at which most people are given medications to manage symptoms, rather than being told how to support their health naturally.
At this stage of the Order, naturopathic doctors opt for targeted therapies using some of the previously-mentioned modalities (homeopathy, acupuncture and hydrotherapy) but also implement high doses of vitamins, minerals, supplements, such as fish oil and probiotics, food prescriptions and botanicals to target the healing of specific organs or organ systems.
Correct Structural Integrity
I always wonder why this step is only step 4 and why it doesn’t fall into steps 1 or 2, as it is often used by naturopathic doctors earlier on, when indicated. Correcting structural integrity has to do with encouraging proper alignment of the skeletal and muscular systems. Proper alignment is supported through the use of spinal manipulation, massage, exercise, proper posture, physical therapies, acupuncture and stretching.
The importance of proper structural integrity can’t be emphasized more, as our alignment contributes to the way we feel by affecting our circulation and nerve conduction and by keeping our organs in their proper places. Ensuring proper alignment is essential for health and well-being.
Use Natural Substances to Control Symptoms
At this stage of the Therapeutic Order, finding the root cause of disease is bypassed and symptoms are addressed directly. Symptom management is necessary in cases where:
- Symptoms are so unpleasant that immediate relief is necessary in order to move forward
- Addressing symptoms first establishes trust in the doctor-patient relationship
- The case is complicated and the root cause cannot be identified or is too complex to target immediately
- The patient is suffering from an acute condition
- There is an obstacle to cure that is difficult or impossible to remove
- The disease state is unresponsive to treatments for the top four rungs of the Therapeutic Order and the only thing left to do is palliate symptoms naturally, and so on.
Symptoms are treated with many of the same modalities as in the first four steps of the Therapeutic Order: acupuncture, hydrotherapy, botanicals, supplements, physical medicine, etc., but with the therapeutic goal of treating symptoms, not stimulating healing by treating the cause of disease.
Use Pharmaceutical Substances to Control Symptoms
Unless naturopathic doctors have prescribing rights in their regulatory district (as some naturopathic doctors in the United States and British Columbia have earned), the naturopathic scope of practice ends here. At this stage, patients are not responding to naturopathic modalities in terms of symptom management and the disease stage is so far gone that the patient will not experience success unless they resort to pharmaceutical intervention. In terms of the naturopathic scope of practice, when we recognize that a patient has reached this stage and would benefit from drug therapy, our job is to refer out.
Most of the time, the patient is co-managed and receives medical interventions while being supported naturopathically with treatments that create the foundations for health, stimulate the vital force, support organ system-healing, correct structural integrity and naturally manage symptoms.
Unfortunately, patients are often started at this stage of the Therapeutic Order from the moment their symptoms motivate them to seek medical care. Many naturopathic patients are already taking medications when they come to see us. The good news, however, is that some patients find that with proper implementation of therapies from the upper 5 steps of the Therapeutic Order, medications are no longer necessary and, with the consent of their medical doctors, can be discontinued.
Use High-Force Interventions such as Chemotherapy, Radiation and Surgery
This last stage of the Therapeutic Order is performed by medical specialists. At this stage patients have a disease that has progressed enough to warrant more invasive interventions: burning, drugging and cutting. Most of the time these interventions are given in life-or-death situations.
When a patient’s condition warrants these treatments, which do not facilitate healing but rather the removal of invasive disease, their bodies can also be supported naturopathically: by supporting the healing power of nature, supporting organ systems, managing symptoms (or side effects of interventions) naturally and, eventually, establishing a healthy lifestyle foundation that will prevent re-occurrence of the same disease process.
