Healing Outside The Box

Have you or someone you know been told that they have irritable bowel syndrome? You may have been too embarrassed to ask your healthcare provider what it's all about. Although I always recommend that you seek medical attention if you have any G.I. symptoms, it may help to break it all down and define a few terms. Inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome are actually 2 separate conditions. Inflammatory bowel disease normally covers 2 common diseases where the symptoms are pretty similar. They are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. A pretty descriptive article about these 2 diseases can be found here. Irritable bowel syndrome is the diagnosis that doctors usually land on when other diseases (Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease) have been ruled out. It is generally speaking, not as severe as those diseases, but people suffering from IBS can be pretty measurable. The dietary treatments usually center around trying to relieve the symptoms. This is usually done with a diet low in fermen