When I was training, we had a young woman patient come to clinic who was suffering with Irritable Bowel Syndrome [IBS]. She worked in Selfridges, lived on her own with no partner or children. She had her own flat, was debt free and, on paper, there was absolutely nothing that could trigger the symptoms that she was experiencing. Her symptoms were; bloating, excessive wind, griping pains after eating, alternating diarrhoea and constipation.
Her GP had prescribed Omeprazole [!?] which had not helped one little bit…
When she came to us, we were able to do something the modern GP in practice does not have the time to do. He had asked her for her symptoms, and then bizarrely, prescribed a medication that would not help the actual digestive process.
Instead, we had the luxury of time to ask her about the pattern of her symptoms, what she actually ate, when she ate, how she slept, how she was feeling emotionally, and what she did in her spare time. We asked all these questions as well as probing more deeply into her past health and questions about any other symptom she may be experiencing in any other system of her body.
And what we found out was this; she was so rushed off her feet in this London store that she worked through her breaks and didn’t even sit down for lunch. She was so scared of her supervisor criticising her for slacking that she just took hurried bites of a chocolate bar or sausage roll that she stashed under the counter. And she was always worried that she would be caught doing this, as eating at post was not allowed.
These details only emerged because somebody asked.
Our advice was this; you are legally allowed reasonable breaks for rest and refreshment, and we will write to the manager ourselves if this is questioned. You must stop snatching quick hurried bites of junk food while you are harassed, you must sit down and eat, you must chew your food properly, and do not eat while you are emotionally disturbed.
Oh, and when we found out that she did not have, nor had she ever had, reflux, and that she had not yet begun taking the Omeprazole, we advised her not to start.
We sent her off with just this advice alone without any herbs, and we had printed it all out so she could not forget it. When she was gone, we discussed what mix we could make her to help with her symptoms when she came back in two weeks to tell us how she had got on.
We discussed carminatives to reduce wind, bloating and abdominal discomfort; antispasmodics to reduce ease cramping and painful bowel spasm; demulcents to ease irritated bowel mucosa; nervines, when stress or anxiety aggravate symptoms; and bitters when the IBS results in constipation, and digestion is sluggish.
When she returned, we had thought of a suggested tea blend that she could try. But first we asked her how she was…
She was absolutely fine.
No pain, no bloating, no cramping.
She had followed the lifestyle advice to the letter. She ate while rested, no more anxious bites of a sausage roll, or guilty chocolate bar snatched behind the counter. She had bought a slow cooker and got home to a nourishing meal at night. She walked away from her post and sat for half an hour at lunch time in the staff room. Her supervisor had been irritated but could not legally stop her.
Our patient said she was looking for another job, some sort of training for a profession.
And we never saw her again.
I could not help wondering whether a snippet of timely advice had prevented that young woman from years of unnecessary medication with Omeprazole and/or other drugs looking for something that would help her IBS, but finding she was being put on one drug after another to counteract the side effects of a previous drug. It happens.
It also shows how important it is to start simply at first and not dispense medication straight away. A few sensible tips turned this young woman’s life around.
From our perspective, it also shows that a gentler intervention of herbal teas is not always necessary either.
It also shows that sometimes changing the way you do things can impact health considerably without the need to ‘take something’ and perhaps be dependent on it for life.
And professionally, it was satisfying because although we had a herb solution ready – we never had to use it.
