Joe Nowell at The Fresh Pharmacy, a Natural Medicine Compounding Pharmacy in Lenoir City shares his favorite natural remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. IBS affects as many as 20% of people in the United States. Irritable bowel can cause moderate to severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, ulcers and includes conditions like Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease.
Many factors may contribute to flairs of symptoms related to IBS;including certain types of food, stress, and hereditary factors. People with IBS should avoid dairy, spicy foods, and citrus (which are acidic). While you might be able to control your diet to lessen your flair frequency; its very difficult to eliminate stress from your life. So chances are if you are affected by IBS you will experience the occasional flair despite your best intentions. 
So the next time you experience symptoms and want to try a more natural remedy follow these simple recommendations: Ginger Root capsules, Papaya Enzyme, and high doses of Folic Acid! Pretty much everybody has heard of taking ginger for upset stomach; ginger ale especially. Now a lot of ginger ale doesn't contain ginger, or does in relatively small doses. Instead reach for a bottle of Ginger Root Capsules. The most common strength you will find on the shelf is 500mg take 1 as needed for upset stomach or stomach cramps. Papaya Enzyme naturally aids digestion and comes in chewable tables with a delightful flavor. The ace up my sleeve is really Folic Acid. This B vitamin is necessary to life and most people are deficient. The strength you will most often on the shelf is 1mg (1000mcg). However, you can take, and might need, much much higher doses. Here at the Fresh Pharmacy we compound folic acid in 10mg and 15mg doses so that people who are severely deficient can get an effective dose with out taking a whole handful of pills!
