Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in Traditional Chinese Medicine

So IBS is one of the most common digestive diseases that I see today in my clinic. And I think conventional care does a good job of differentiating it into a few distinct types. But I thought I would share it from a Chinese medicine perspective, what it actually is, and what's going on within the body. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hine, Chinese medicine doctor, acupuncturist, and author of the health book, Master of the Day. So I've included two very important links below this video. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally, or online via telemedicine, you can reach out to me at my clinic below. And the second is for a free download, which is four daily rituals that can help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. So those are both right below. So I thought I would share some of the diagnostic criteria according to the Mayo Clinic on what actually constitutes and makes up IBS. So there are two things that I very much agree with that make a lot of sense differentiating the kinds of IBS. So the first thing they say is that the Rome criteria, which is basically criteria including abdominal pain, discomfort lasting on average at least one day a week in the last three months, associated with at least two of these factors, pain and discomfort related to defecation, the frequency of defecation is altered, or stool consistency is altered. So then the Mayo Clinic further goes into breaking down the types of IBS. And they say that basically it's either constipation predominant, diarrhea predominant, or a mixed type. Now the reason that I share this here is because it's very similar actually to how we categorize it in the Chinese medicine field verbally. And I wanna share what those are in my experience. So really the two main types that I see clinically of IBS, which is again a Western diagnosis or a biomedical diagnosis, are really what I think of as cold type IBS, and then mixed type IBS. So the cold type that we'll call Taiyin is typically found in people who feel colder, are more pale faced, more of like an anemic type. They generally have much more loose stools in general. They often have a tendency towards lower appetite, bloating, getting a food baby, and food sensitivities. So that is most often what I see as the cold type IBS. And the reason why it's important to differentiate because those people are prone to certain genetic weaknesses. They have a certain tendency. And for those people, a lot of the formulas we use are formulas that warm and improve the circulation in the digestive system. So I see that these kinds of people often have issues with anxiety, sometimes depression, and sometimes insomnia. But in general, the big differentiator is that they are colder types. Now the second type is really the mixed type. So this is what we would call Xiaoyang or Yangming IBS. And what that means is that the presentation here is that the person has a constitution, they have a genetic body type that expresses more heat. So they're more predisposed to having acne on their face, towards having a red flushed face. They're feeling hotter usually, or they report feeling a normal body temperature. Or at the very least, they're generally warmer than the people around them. And it's very different from the cold type because the cold type always remarks that they feel cold. Now this type often has, they can have hard stools, and they often have mixed stools. So they may also experience bloating and food sensitivities. But the difference here is that they have hard stools that can then alternate with soft stools, depending on really what they eat, and depending on what's going on in their life. So these are really essential to know because number one, if you know kind of your genetic predisposition, you know basically your body type, are you on the more cold side, more hot side, that can help predict which kind of this IBS pattern you have. It's also important because if you give someone who has the hot type IBS, these warming herbs, or they consume like a lot of ginger and cinnamon, it can make some of their symptoms worse, while some of their symptoms better. So that kind of thing is great for the cold type, more ginger, cinnamon in their oatmeal, more warming drinks, that kind of thing. But for the other type, it may worsen some of their symptoms. So generally speaking, those are two of the biggest types of IBS that I see clinically. All right, you guys, that's what I have for today. Again, if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine, check out the link below this video, which is for my clinic and contact info. There's also a free guide, which is four daily rituals to help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. You can check those both out below. And then before you go, I have two related videos here. Thank you for watching. I'll see you in the next video.