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A quick search for ‘can people with IBS live normal lives?’ will return a massive amount of Western medicine-focused publications and reports responding with a collective, resounding, and (questionable) yes.
Yeah, we already know what you're thinking.
This is a chronic disease that sends some us running for the bathroom upwards of 15 times a day. Leaves us doubled over in abdominal pain so severe it seems impossible just to get out of bed. Can have us feeling so bloated that our once-favorite activities become massive exertions of energy we dread. Swimming? Forget it. Exercising? Is there a bathroom I can run to every 5-10 minutes?
There is nothing ‘normal’ about living life with IBS. Sure, we live in ‘unprecedented’ times, but there is no way in hell any of what we just covered should be considered normal. And there’s 45 million people in the U.S. alone suffering from symptoms of IBS every day.
What those with IBS are tired of hearing
“You’ll feel better if you just stop doing _______"
“Just avoid dairy.” “Just stop eating anything high in fiber.” “Cut out of coffee.” “Have you tried just eliminating gluten and anything spicy?”
Right. So just keep cutting different things out and completely re-altering your lifestyle every few months and eventually—maybe—you’ll get lucky and something will work so you know what triggers it. You want to say, “This can’t be real life”, but for so many of us, it is.
Laxatives should do the trick!
WHAT?!! WHY?!
The biggest issue we see time and time again with the “treatments” western medicine prescribes for IBS is they insinuate IBS presents in the same way, with the same symptoms, in every single person. Which we find (if you haven’t picked up on the vibe yet) utterly nonsensical.
Every case of IBS is different. And yes, sometimes constipation is part of it. And in those specific cases, there is a place for (natural) laxatives to help get things unblocked and alleviate discomfort. But it’s NOT the case across the board. And in some cases, when bloating, dehydration, and inflammation of the stomach lining are at play, they can be downright dangerous and cause way more harm than good. Stop with the generic diagnoses. Stop with the
one-size-fits-all treatments. They’re doing so much more harm than good.
What IBS isn't
Misdiagnoses are, unfortunately, rampant in the IBS community. And while it’d be impossible to list them all, the ones we hear most common are the ones we’re going to break down (especially for anyone reading who might suspect they’re suffering from misdiagnosed IBS).
Lactose Intolerance vs. IBS
Lactose Intolerance is the body’s inability to digest lactose (the sugar found in dairy products) because it lacks sufficient lactase (the enzyme responsible for breaking the lactose down). IBS, as we know, is a gastrointestinal disorder that can have a host of triggers and onset indicators - unlike LI where the trigger is exclusively the consumption or exposure to lactose + dairy products.
But because these two can present with similar (or even overlapping) symptoms like bloating, excessive gas, chronic diarrhea, and abdominal pain - IBS can often be misdiagnosed as lactose intolerance. An issue further exacerbated when someone has both of these conditions, which is much more common than we’d like. That means treating the lactose intolerance can cause some symptoms to lessen in severity, but won’t alleviate all IBS complications. So if you’ve received a LI diagnosis and are still fighting the same symptoms (albeit slightly less severe) you may be dealing with an overlapping IBS diagnosis.
The kicker is that Lactose Intolerance can be 100% verified through lactose tolerance testing (measuring blood glucose levels after dairy consumption) and, in some cases, stool acidity testing to detect high levels of undiagnosed lactose in the body. So if you’re concerned you’ve been misdiagnosed, head right back to that doctor, clinic, or specialist and demand one of these panels (or order your own labs).
Celiac Disease vs IBS
Similar to lactose intolerance, Celiac Disease can be traced to a primary trigger - the ingestion of the gluten protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. While both Celiac Disease + IBS are gastrointestinal disorders that affect the stomach, Celiac Disease is further classified as an autoimmune disorder that can compromise + damage the stomach’s lining when triggered.
Celiac disease can be diagnosed via blood tests, genetic testing, or a small intestine biopsy, but the results are not always cut and dry as levels of key indicators like tTG-IgA, EMA, and HLA-DQ2 can widely vary. And with symptoms like bloating, gas, stomach pains, and dirrahea, Celiac is sometimes what makes it on the prescription pad, when in reality it’s a case of IBS.
Just like we discussed with lactose intolerance, make sure that any provider you’re working with is being thorough in all of their testing before issuing a diagnosis. If you notice your symptoms persistent even after cutting gluten out of your diet completely, there’s a strong possibility you’re living with undiagnosed IBS.
What can actually help IBS
One of our biggest bones to pick in the world of IBS is that so many prescribed treatments are entirely focused on symptom management, and not on getting to the root cause. And yes, you’ve likely heard this a million times. Root cause, root cause, root cause. But we’ll jump to what you’re probably already thinking - what if I don’t know the root cause?
And there, loves, lies the greatest challenge with IBS. It’s not like the Lactose Intolerance or Celia Disease we just mentioned. There isn’t a singular cause or trigger we can trace back to to say, “Aha, that’s it!” IBS can be caused by everything from trauma and injury, to genetics, to stress. And if we don’t always know what our specific root cause is, how on earth do we go about treating it?
Hear us out - you really don’t. Trying to pinpoint the single thing that causes IBS flareups is an exhausting, thankless, and often endless journey. Trial-and-error is a vicious cycle, and constantly changing, tweaking, and entirely altering your lifestyle every few months just to try and find a magic fix is no way to live.
Hear us out again - we also don’t have all the answers. But what we know is that the more we’ve seen our community members battling IBS shift their focus to the health, stability, resilience, and balance in their gut overall, the more we’ve seen the absolutely heartwarming messages that—for sometimes the first time—they’re seeing some level of relief.
First things first: get labs done
Tests don’t guess. There may not be magic number on lab work that’s going to diagnose your IBS and tell you exactly what’s causing it. We all know better. But labs WILL shed light on weakness, deficiencies, high toxin levels, and a host of other issues that are likely lingering that you weren’t aware of. Knowing that information gives you the ability to make changes, start regimes, and research formulas that are going to help YOUR specific gut issues (hint: run—as fast as you can—from any formula or fix that claims to do everything for everyone. They don’t exist).
Focus on restoring (and maintaining) holistic gut health
Karen(our founder and resident practitioner)’s four Rs are our favorite approach to truly transforming the state of your stomach: Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, Repair.
Though the very thought of MORE things exiting your body may sound like torture, trust us when we say that toxins will be one thing you’re glad to be rid of. You have to get what’s causing the irritation and damage to your gut out before it’s time to even think about putting anything back in.
But when it is time to start sending things back in, it’s critical it’s good things. Healthy, micronutrient-rich foods, replenishing supplements, and the right probiotics (what we mean by right) are key. As harmful toxins and bacteria are replaced by crucial vitamins, minerals, and nutrients your gut needs, the mucosal lining in the colon begins to heal, nutrient absorption skyrockets, and energy levels get back to their optimal levels.
If you take a peak back at this section, we opened with restoring and maintaining your gut health. That means this will never be a one-and-done deal. Keeping your gut balanced, replenished, and free of toxins is a cyclical process that we must always be mindful of—especially those of us waging war against IBS.
But trust us, there is power in that. There’s something to be said for gaining a deep understanding over what goes in your body (and what comes out), and how you can leverage it to Win. This. War.
We believe in you. We believe in all of us.