An estimated 15 percent of individuals world-wide have irritable bowel syndrome. If you have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you may be wondering what is IBS. You may have gone through several tests and been told everything looks great! But you’re still not feeling right, and end up diagnosed with IBS. Let’s get a better understanding of what IBS may mean for you!
What is IBS?
IBS is a functional gastrointestinal disease and includes for a variety of symptoms that makes diagnosing IBS difficult. IBS typically is a “diagnosis of exclusion” meaning all diagnostic tests for other gastrointestinal disorders came back normal and all other disorders have been ruled out leaving the diagnosis of IBS. IBS is characterized by bowel habit changes (consistency or frequency) and abdominal pain or discomfort. There are different subtypes of IBS including diarrhea-predominant (IBS-D), constipation-predominant (IBS-C), mixed diarrhea and constipation IBS-M, and unspecified IBS (IBS-U).
What is causing my IBS symptoms?
There is no consistent cause of IBS for every individual. This is why an individualized approach is so important for symptom management. There are several different factors that may be contributing to your IBS symptoms such as digestive insufficiencies, adverse food reactions, infections, anxiety/stress, an imbalance in the gut microbiome, gut sensitivity, altered gut motility, a “leaky” gut and others. If you are having adverse food reactions, it may not help to work on stress management. Likewise, if you have anxiety, taking digestive enzymes may not be necessary.
I was told to follow a FODMAP diet, but I don’t even know what that means.
A low FODMAP diet removes foods which contain specific sugars that your body may not be absorbing well. These sugars may be causing your IBS symptoms. The low FODMAP diet removes sugars including: Fermentable, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. For more information on what FODMAPs are look here. Instead of being absorbed, our gut microbiota ferments these sugars which can cause gas, bloating, and the abdominal discomfort you feel.
Where do I start?
IBS can be overwhelming to manage, but the best place to start is to identify your triggers. This can be done alone, but may be best completed with a Registered Dietitian and may include following the low FODMAP diet.
A great place to start is working through the 5 R Framework for gut restoration: Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, Repair and Rebalance. Doing this will likely require you to work with a Registered Dietitian who is familiar with this process. The low FODMAP diet may be the first step to remove those rapidly fermentable sugars lessening the stress on your gut. You may also need to remove other potential food triggers as directed by a dietitian. FODMAPs and other food triggers act as stressors on your gut and once removed can allow the gut to heal. Once the stressors are removed, then you will begin the replace phase of the 5 R Framework. In this phase, digestive secretions that may be impaired or deficient are replaced to promote proper digestion and absorption. Once your digest and absorption are being supported through replacement of digestive secretions, now it is important to support and balance our gut microbiome through reinoculation. Reinoculation includes increasing probiotics and prebiotics in the diet. The goal of this step is nourishing the good microbiota through a diet rich in prebiotics and by providing a specific probiotic needed to assist with your symptoms/needs. Probiotics are strain specific, meaning you may not get the desired benefits by just taking a generic probiotic. While reinoculation of the gut is happening, the next step includes repairing the gut lining. This may require additional nutrients such as zinc, antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and glutamine. Lastly, rebalance is such an important step and one that often gets missed. This step requires you to balance sleep, exercise, and stress as all of these lifestyle factors can play a role in the proper functioning of the GI tract.
Help! My IBS it is affecting my everyday life.
Often times when you have IBS, your gastrointestinal symptoms can affect your daily life. At Revitalize, we look at IBS from a “birds eye view” and dive in to the different functions of the gut to help determine the cause. Then we work with you to create a comprehensive plan to help you heal. Reach out to Revitalize to work with a Registered Dietitian who can help develop an individualized plan to overcome IBS.
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