Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Centre for Advanced Medicine

Digestive and gastrointestinal health overview graphic

Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS is a very common gastrointestinal disorder characterized by a group of symptoms that occur together, including abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel habits such as diarrhea, constipation, or both. Functional medicine approaches to IBS include:

  1. Comprehensive health history which includes an analysis of symptoms, triggers, lifestyle factors and review of systems.
  2. Functional testing may include blood, breath, and or stool analysis to determine if there is microbial overgrowth, dysbiosis, enzyme dysfunction or intestinal permeability to address.
  3. Dietary and lifestyle modification will address triggers and environmental optimization to reduce symptom severity and frequency.
  4. Personalized treatment plan is dependent on the cause of IBS and other comorbidities discovered from testing. Typically treatment involves a multi-faceted protocol to address all aspects of gut health, and to ultimately improve quality of life.