WELCOME TO JOHNS HOPKINS HEALTH ALERTS!

This free public service from Johns Hopkins Medicine helps keep you up to date on the latest breakthroughs for the most common medical conditions which prevent healthy aging. Browse all the articles via the Health Alert Topics navigation bar on the right, or read the headlines below.


Get the latest news sent straight to your Inbox. Register now for your FREE Johns Hopkins Health Alerts. Check the boxes below for all the topics you are interested in, enter your email address, and click "Send." It's fast, easy, and FREE.   Benefits of Being A Registered User.

Enter your email here: (Example: yourname@domain.com)
Please send my alerts as:

We value your privacy and will never rent your email address.Already a Member? Manage your Health Alerts


Johns Hopkins Health Alert

Probiotics and Hypnosis: Two Promising Complementary Therapies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Comments (1)

Many people turn to complementary therapies, such as herbs, meditation, or yoga, when they have a disease that is difficult to treat. Irritable bowel syndrome is one of them -- symptoms are distressing, few treatments exist, and the treatments that are available often provide insufficient symptom relief and sometimes life-threatening side effects.

But is there any evidence that complementary therapies are safe and effective for irritable bowel syndrome? Here's what we know about two nontraditional therapies often touted for irritable bowel syndrome.

Probiotics for irritable bowel syndrome: A wide variety of bacteria (called intestinal flora) live in your large intestine. These bacteria help regulate motility, immune function, and fluid secretion in the intestine. But if one type of bacterium starts to proliferate, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms may occur. Probiotics -- supplements that contain live strains of bacteria and yeast -- may help keep your intestinal flora in balance.

Results from one study showed that women with irritable bowel syndrome who took the probiotic Bifidobacterium infantis 35625 for four weeks noticed improvements in their bowel movements: Women who were constipated started having more bowel movements and women with diarrhea started having fewer. Women who took a placebo had no significant improvements.

One commonly used probiotic is Saccharomyces boulardii, a yeast culture in capsule form (Florastor). Another type, Lactobacillus acidophilus, is a bacterium found in yogurt. The most effective dose appears to be 10 billion live L. acidophilusbacteria. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to tell which yogurts contain this amount. Dannon Activia is the first probiotic yogurt on the market; it contains 10 billion live bacteria in a 4-oz serving. If you don't want to eat yogurt, L. acidophilus is also available in capsules (take 1.5 g per day).

Probiotics have few side effects when taken at recommended doses. In the beginning, you may experience some abdominal discomfort or gas, but these side effects usually go away with continued use. Avoid taking L. acidophilus if you have a weakened immune system, intestinal damage, or overgrowth of intestinal bacteria.

Hypnosis for irritable bowel syndrome: The most promising alternative therapy for irritable bowel syndrome is gut-directed hypnosis (also called hypnotherapy). During a series of weekly sessions, a therapist guides you through relaxation exercises. When you reach a state of deep relaxation, the therapist suggests imagery and sensations to help you with specific symptoms. In a recent study, about 70% of 250 people with irritable bowel syndrome had at least a moderate improvement in their symptoms with hypnotherapy. The participants also reported needing less medication and fewer doctor visits. Another study found that 80% of those who responded to hypnotherapy maintained their improvement for up to six years.

Hypnotherapy likely works by relaxing smooth muscles and relieving psychological stress, both of which may alleviate symptoms. If you're interested in hypnotherapy, it's important to find a therapist who specializes in irritable bowel syndrome. Your gastroenterologist may be able to recommend someone.

Posted in Digestive Health on June 22, 2009


Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer


Notify Me

Would you like us to inform you when we post new Digestive Health Health Alerts?

Post a Comment

Comments

Health Alerts registered users may post comments and share experiences here at their own discretion. We regret that questions on individual health concerns to the Johns Hopkins editors cannot be answered in this space.

The views expressed here do not constitute medical advice, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins Medicine or Remedy Health Media, LLC, which has no responsibility for any comments posted on this site.


I have irritable bowl syndrome and I am the person who get easily stressed out. I got one of the links to the site http://www.clicktomeditate.com in one of your web pages, it has very good quality free guided meditation audios. I tried the one on mindfulness that is basically based upon breathing and using that to come to present moment, that has helped me a lot. Thanks for the excellent information. I now try these meditation once in the morning and once in the night.

Posted by: joshsfba | July 12, 2009 9:08 PM

Post a Comment


Already a subscriber?

Login

Forgot your password?

New to Johns Hopkins Health Alerts?

Register to submit your comments.

(example: yourname@domain.com)

Customer Service

Registered Users Log-in:

Forgot Password?

Become a Registered User!
It's fast and FREE!
The Benefits of Being a Registered User

Johns Hopkins Digestive Health Bestsellers

Our Featured Title:

Johns Hopkins White Paper 2013: Digestive Disorders

  • 2013 Digestive Disorders White Paper Discover exciting advances and the most useful, current information to help you prevent or treat conditions affecting the digestive tract. You'll find a thorough overview of what the medical field knows about upper and lower digestive tract disorders (including everything from gastroesophageal reflux disease [GERD] to peptic ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome to colorectal polyps) and conditions that affect the liver, gallbladder and pancreas. 96 pages.
    Read more or order now

Health Topic Pages

  • Health Alert
  • Special Report

What is this?

XML