Treatment of functional bowel disorders in an integrative medicine clinic resulting in improved digestive tract symptoms

Background and Aim Functional bowel disorders (FBDs), including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and others, are conditions without a physically identifiable etiology that, as a result, are difficult to treat. Alternatives to traditional medical interventions are needed because IBS patients require mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JGH open 2024-01, Vol.8 (1), p.e13022-n/a
Main Authors: Wagner, Leigh E, Bridges, Kristina M, Hinman, Jill M, He, Jianghua, Buckles, Daniel, Dunn, Winnie, Drisko, Jeanne, Sullivan, Debra K, Carlson, Susan E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Constipation
Diarrhea
Diet
Dietary supplements
Dietitians
Exercise
functional bowel disorders
functional gastrointestinal disorders
gluten‐free diet
Integrative medicine
Intervention
Irritable bowel syndrome
Lifestyles
low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols diet
Medical referrals
Medicine
Original
Patients
Physical fitness
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Summary:Background and Aim Functional bowel disorders (FBDs), including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and others, are conditions without a physically identifiable etiology that, as a result, are difficult to treat. Alternatives to traditional medical interventions are needed because IBS patients require more of physician time and higher healthcare spending. The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of alternative lifestyle interventions for patients with FBDs seen in an integrative medicine (IM) clinic at an academic medical center. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review to determine whether patients with FBDs had improvement in symptoms following predominantly nutrition‐based IM interventions that included recommendations for dietary supplements and elimination diets. We measured symptoms before and after intervention (average time between measurements 8.75 months) using a medical symptoms questionnaire (MSQ) commonly used to quantify symptom change in IM clinics. Results Digestive tract symptoms, as measured by the MSQ, improved significantly in patients (n = 57) with FBDs following IM intervention. The MSQ Digestive Tract subtotal for FBD patients decreased from 10.2 (SD, 5.4) to 7.2 (SD, 5.2) (P 
ISSN:2397-9070
2397-9070
DOI:10.1002/jgh3.13022