A recent minor spat between the University of Iowa & the University of Melbourne brings awareness to the roles that prunes, sorbitol & FODMAPs play in Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Prunes were the topic of discussion in a recent debate over their effectiveness in treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome constipation. The debate started over a bit of research done by the University of Iowa’s Department of Gastroenterology which suggested that prunes were possibly a more effective treatment option than psyllium husks for those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome constipation. Continue reading “Irritable Bowel Syndrome & The Great Prune Debate” »
Well unfortunately it seems like the cost of Iberogast has gone up considerably over the last year or so. About a year ago I could purchase Iberogast for right around $18 USD(free shipping), now the cheapest place is around $35 after shipping costs. This is practically a 2x increase. I’ve searched around for alternatives, even going so far as to see if it can be imported from Germany, but no luck.
So far the cheapest place for Iberogast is still Amazon.com as they list multiple vendors and you can choose the cheapest one. Also note that many of them operate out of Canada, so there may be a longer delay when shipping.
You can read my Iberogast review if you haven’t tried Iberogast before.
Debbie DeAngelo of GoErie.com wrote an article highlighting some interesting things about ovarian cancer which routinely goes undetected due to misinterpreting warning symptoms. I will have to admit that the symptoms are rather vague and could be hard to decipher as being related to ovarian cancer, especially for someone with a chronic digestive disease like Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Crohn’s Disease.
Some symptoms too look out for are:
“…abdominal bloating, increased abdominal size and urinary urgency.”
as well as:
“…feeling full after a small meal, unexplained weight loss, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea, fatigue and abnormal uterine bleeding.”
Factors that could put you at risk are:
…[a] personal history of breast cancer, family history of breast, uterine, ovarian or colorectal cancer, certain breast cancer genes and use of fertility drugs, especially without achieving pregnancy.
Check out the full article on GoErie.com.
Align Probiotics Review
Buy Align from Amazon.com
Recently Proctor & Gamble’s marketing department got in touch with me to take a look at their flagship probiotic, Align. While I haven’t actually started taking Align yet, I’d like to share some of my first thoughts on the product.
I’ve seen Align advertised before & it has received good reviews on places like Amazon.com. I am a little skeptical on mass marketed products that have slick packaging. In some cases the word probiotic is used to attract people to a product that has little digestive benefit. In one case I got some terrible breakfast bars that supposedly had “probiotics” in them, but they were barely a step above sweetened laminated cardboard. I don’t think this is a goal of Align since they are strictly focusing on a probiotic supplement where the cardboard is only in the packaging, not the actual product. Continue reading “Align Probiotics Review: First Glance” »
Review: Gas-X Thin Strips for gas & bloating with Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS)
So I am sure we’ve all probably had times were we’re filling gassy or bloated. When dealing with IBS these times are probably more often than we’d wish. Now, normally I’d suggest a natural product, but in some cases a less than natural product is needed. This is were Gas-X Thin Strips step in. Why do I like Gas-X Thin Strips? A) It works. B) The packaging and form factor are very discreet. Continue reading “Review: Gas-X Thin Strips for gas & bloating with Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS)” »
Review: Iberogast for Irritable Bowel(IBS) – Buy Iberogast from Amazon.com
Today I’ll be reviewing Iberogast, a natural herbal pro-kinetic motility agent distributited by Medical Futures & Flordis.
warning: According to the the Flordis website, Iberogast contains Ethanol which may be derived from corn. If you have a severe corn allergy, you should not use Iberogast.
So first off, what is a motility?
Motility is basically another word for movement. Movement in your digestive tract is obviously important. It’s especially important that these movements are coordinated. A lot of digestive problems can be linked to poor motility, such as chronic indigestion, gastroparesis, constipation or diarrhea. Continue reading “Review: Iberogast for Irritable Bowel Syndrome & Gastroparesis” »
GoodBelly Strawberry Fruit Juice Drink
GoodBelly Probiotic Fruit Drink
I found out about GoodBelly juice drinks from my local public radio station. Between shows they’d have an advertisement for the “non-dairy probiotic fruit juice based drink”. Intrigued I went off in search of this stuff. The first visit to the GoodBelly website suggested that my local Fred Meyers carried it, but when I went there it was not to be. I then tried a local Safeway(may also be known as Vons), which did indeed carry it, but it took some looking as it was near the yogurt and not on the juice aisle. Continue reading “Product Review: Goodbelly Probiotic Drink” »
Vitamin D & Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Was browsing over @ IBSGroup.org & found a blog post by user ‘absoluterob’ about Vitamin D deficiency. It is an interesting post on how Vitamin D can help reduce inflammation. Vitamin D is known as ”the sunshine vitamin” since most people produce it naturally by being out in the sun. I don’t get a whole lot of sunlight during my day & a lot of people in the northern hemisphere probably don’t get a lot either. Besides helping with inflammation it also helps with mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder which is basically seasonal depression is suspected to be caused partially by a lack of sunlight/Vitamin D production. So overall it would seem like supplementing Vitamin D would be a wise idea. Continue reading “Vitamin D & Irritable Bowel Syndrome” »