How Toxins Affect Your Health – Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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An estimated 10 to 15 percent of Americans have irritable bowel syn­drome; it accounts for 12 percent of primary-care visits. The word “syndrome” can include all sorts of symptoms, including bloating and digestive pain, but classically IBS refers to a situation where the bow­els have extreme reactions with no predictability—such as alternating between constipation and diarrhea—and seemingly acting with a mind of their own. This phrase is apt. IBS is actually a kind of “depression of the intestines,” linked to diminished amounts of serotonin just like psychological depression. The nerve cells in the intestines orchestrate digestion and cause the muscle of the intestines to contract.

When serotonin levels are inappropriate, the intestine gets disturbed, caus­ing the alternating bouts of too much or too little activity or general discomfort. These symptoms are also exacerbated by chronic constipa­tion. When toxic waste sits in the colon, the intelligent nervous system of the intestine can alternate between primal panic, giving you diar­rhea to get rid of the toxins, and paralysis, making you bloated.

The concept of healing IBS naturally by restoring serotonin pro­duction and removing toxicity is not widely discussed. This is ironic, given that modern medicine pioneered the idea of treating IBS patients with antidepressants. The protocol evolved accidentally, after enough patients with depression who were being treated with SSRIs were unex­pectedly getting relief from IBS (not surprising, given what we know about neurotransmitters and the scope of the suffering, which can in the most extreme cases lead to a high rate of unnecessary surgeries such as cholecystectomies, hysterectomies, appendectomies, and back sur­geries). The medication these patients were given for their “psychologi­cal” symptoms alleviated the bowel conditions so well that this treat­ment has now become standard protocol for IBS, whether the patient is depressed or not. Yet little discussion has gone into why the SSRIs are actually helping the patients’ IBS to improve.