Generally sports people especially athletes can hardly afford to have undiagnosed gastrointestinal problems. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects your large intestine (colon).
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Irritable bowel syndrome commonly causes cramping, abdominal pain, bloating gas, diarrhea and constipation. Despite these uncomfortable signs and symptoms, IBS doesn’t cause permanent damage to your colon. According to a recent study, IBS patients were less likely to rest in the face of their illness and exhibited all-or-nothing behavior by continuing their activities despite their symptoms. Sound familiar??
Most people with IBS find that symptoms improve as they learn to control their condition. Only a small number of people with irritable bowel syndrome have disabling signs and symptoms. In many cases, you can control irritable bowel syndrome by managing your diet, lifestyle and stress.
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Causes
Although the etiology of the irritable bowel syndrome is uncertain, some relate this to psychological disturbances, especially anxiety. Some relate their onset to an attack of infective diarrhea or certain foods may precipitate symptoms.
- It is true that stress can affect bowel function. It has been demonstrated that the bowel can flush or become very pale in response to emotional reactions. Severe acute stress may cause diarrhea.
- A close look at dietary factors is a must in evaluating the cause for an irritable bowel. Lactose intolerance, the inability to digest lactose sugar in milk and dairy products, is a very common problem. The undigested lactose acts like a laxative and causes the symptoms of an irritable bowel.
- Another and less common is gluten intolerance. Some individuals may have an allergic reaction to gluten protein, which is found in all cereals except rice and corn. This can cause diarrhea.
- Alcohol is another often-unrecognized cause for such symptoms, particularly diarrhea. The patient may not think that his or her alcohol habit can be the cause. Alcohol is a cellular poison. Its initial contact with the lining of the bowel may cause some cellular damage.
- Coffee, tea, colas and chocolate are all can cause IBS, as they stimulate muscular contractions and acts as a causative factor in diarrhea.
- Spices may also irritate the bowel. In some case it may be due to food allergies or food poisoning.
- Various infectious diseases may cause this but this is usually of short duration. Parasites may be a cause like Giardiasis.
- Disease of the pancreas may cause large, frequent, fatty stools. The pancreatic enzymes needed for digestion and when these are in short supply symptoms follows.
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Symptoms
- Diarrhea characteristically occurs in the morning, and almost never at night.
- Urge to defecate after meals.
- Pain in the lower abdomen, pain often occurs in attacks usually relived by defecation and sometimes provoked by food.
- Bowel habit is variable. All most all patients notice ribbon like stools with or without mucus.
- Sensation of incomplete emptying of the rectum.
- Abdominal distension, excessive flatus, dyspepsia, heartburn, increased urine frequency
Tips to Avoid IBS
As the name itself suggests, it is very irritable. There are plenty of things you can do to take some of the irritability out of your bowels.
- Try changing your diet.
- Eliminate the use of milk and milk products from your diet.
- Avoid excess tea, coffee, alcohol, cola, and carbonated beverages.
- You should eat slowly and in a relaxed environment as possible. Don’t eat during indigestion and don’t eat irregularly.
- Avoid intake of unsuitable food, heavy, cold, contaminated or too sweet food, which is heavy to digest.
- Omit strong spices; too oily, i.e., fried food, fatty foods, and flatus alleviating foods.
- Tobacco should be eliminated entirely. Avoid all forms of tobacco, including smoking, chewing or snuffing.
- It is important to eliminate nervous tension if possible. Relieve your anxiety and stress by adjusting your life style.
- Train your bowel, as this is also an important part of managing irritable bowel symptoms, when the problem is mostly constipation.
- Don’t suppress the urge of urine & stool
- If you haven’t had much fiber in your diet, increase the amount you eat gradually.
- Drink at least six to eight glasses of water each day to keep fiber moving smoothly through your system.
- Whenever possible, get at least 30 minutes of noncompetitive exercise such as walking. Exercise helps relieve stress, releases natural painkilling endorphins, and keeps your body —including your digestive system—working smoothly.
Home Remedies
Eat yogurt: Having diarrhea can drain away good bacteria that help prevent harmful bacteria from growing out of control. When you’re having IBS-related diarrhea, eat plenty of yogurt containing active bacteria, such as acidophilus. Or take supplements of acidophilus. The usual daily dosage is one pill containing 1 to 2 billion live organisms. Take it on an empty stomach.
Drink tea: Every day, drink a cup or two of peppermint tea, which relaxes your intestines, reduces spasms, and relieves gas pain. Make sure to buy the kind that contains real peppermint, rather than black tea with peppermint flavoring. Ginger tea is also a good option. Drink four to six cups a day.
Peel and slice some fresh ginger. Add few drops of lemon juice and eat it after every meal. It is one of the best home remedy for irritable bowel syndrome.
Grind together the equal quantities of pepper, dry ginger and green cardamom seeds. Take ½ tsp of this mixture after one hour of every meal.
Drink a glass of cabbage juice to soothe the intestinal illness.
Eat the slightly steamed lettuce and carrots to relieve yourself from IBS.
Boil 1-2 teaspoon of fennel seed in a glass of water. Keep it for some time and then strain this mixture. Drink this magic portion to keep yourself away from the problems of irritable bowel syndrome.
Take half teaspoon of cinnamon and have it with a glass of milk every night to ease cramps.
Have pomegranate seeds with some black salt. It is an effective home remedy for the treatment of IBS.
Simply having rock salt in warm water is one of the simplest home remedies for IBS.
The efficient home remedy for curing IBS is to have a mixture of one drop of dill oil and a teaspoon of honey after meals.
Add a pinch of black salt in 1 teaspoon of pomegranate seeds and consume them.
IBS is not a serious disease. With some changes in the diet and certain home remedies, it can be effectively treated at home. However, if you notice some symptoms such as bloody stools, fever, weight loss, and severe pain, then a doctor must be consulted.
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Image coutesy: mirror.co.uk , medvinresearch.com
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