# IBS healed by ayurvedic treatment regimen



## feder (Jul 13, 2010)

Hello, I am new here and would like to share my success story with IBS and ayurvedic treatment (for german readers, I have already posted my story on the german rds forum).I have suffered from chronic diarrhea for almost 20 years. The symptoms initially started during a antibiotic treatment against sinuses infection. Basically, I suffered from strong diarrhea every week, followed by a few days without much bowel movement and very hard stool, then increasing bowel movement for a day or two, and then again strong diarrhea once, usually after a meal. During the years, I also became increasingly intolerant of certain foods (bell pepper, zucchini, and alcoholic beverages), which even in small quantities, usually led to severe diarrhea symptoms for 8-12 weeks. In terms of therapy, I tried allopathy, homeopathy, and other treatments. I tried several diets, avoiding histamin rich foods, gluten, etc. Also, I tried several probiotics over the years, nothing helped. Also, food allergy testing (IgE) was negative. I had acupuncture treatments and an individually prepared chinese herbal preparation, with no effect. As my diarrhea symptoms became much worse over a period of 6 months, I finally went to an ayurveda practitioner, who diagnosed a "Pitta" induced diarrhea (Pitta is seated in the small intestine and stands mainly for the fire element). According to ayurveda, everything in the universe, including living beings, is made up of the three doshas Vata (elements wind and ether), Pitta (predominantly fire, and water), and Kapha (earth, water). This principle is central to ayurvedic diagnosis, and leads to a determination of one's natural constitution (the one you were born with), and also the disease causing imbalance. My natural constitution was determined as predominantly Vata, with a (disease causing) Pitta imbalance.In the following 4-5 weeks, I received a "panchakarma" treatment (averaging 3-5 treatments a week), a set of massages, purgation, and enemas (I also had additional treatments because of a migraine). To my great surprise, right after the purgation step, I felt something had changed the way my bowels worked, I could go to the toilet more often, and my severe diarrheas were gone, although I still had loose and sometimes watery stools. Then, a few days after completing the treatment, I suddenly had regular bowel movement twice a day, and the diarrheas completely ceased. I have not had anything like this for almost 20 years! This has been ongoing now for almost 4 months.For me this was a quite amazing result. I would have never thought that oil and herbs, applied internally and externally, could accomplish so much.Since the treatment I am also on a vegetarian diet (and follow ayurvedic recommendations for my specific constitution, or body type), which means that I have to eat regularly and should avoid certain foods. As long as I adhere to my diet recommendations, I am diarrhea free and have very regular bowel movements. I have also tried eating meat on a few occasions (as I am not a strict vegetarian), and did not encounter any problems so far. I had never thought that such a profound change in physiology was possible anymore, after 20 years of constantly having severe stomach problems! Somehow I feel confident that this effect is not temporary, and that at least some others suffering from ibs may profit from a treatment of this type, too. Unfortunately, ayurveda is more known for wellness, etc. than for serious medicine, at least over here in Germany, and there is no coverage by health insurance. Furthermore, it may be helpful to add that I had an ambulatory treatment at my avurveda practitioners practice, which was at least 3x less expensive than a stationary visit at a clinic would have been. I found this not to be a disadvantage at all (however, some may prefer the all around care at a clinic). Anyways, it is always a good idea to ask around. Although I can only speak from the experience I have made myself, I think ayurvedic treatment is something well worth considering when dealing with ibs related problems. It is another way to look at things, very profound, and scientifically exact in its "own" non-western way. Determining the personal constitutional type I think is a big plus to many other medical systems out there, including allopathy. A more detailed article about ayurveda and ibs which I found useful is located here: My linkApologies for my English..for any questions, do not hesitate to ask.Update 8 April 2011:I started having problems again in Feb/March (regular Diarrhea ever second day for 6 weeks) after eating bad fish. I repeated the internal cleansing part and since almost 4 weeks, I am diarrhea-free again. Also, my stool is harder than before and I have made adjustments to my diet (less fat). So far, I am doing well!------------------------------------------Text has been edited by author.


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