Healing IBS
Reverse IBS
the easy way
by
Mugdha Pradhan
Founder & CEO, iThrive
Table of Content
01. Pavan’s Story 03
02. What is IBS? 04-05
03. Causes & Risk Factors of IBS 06-08
04. How Conventional Doctors Treat IBS 09-10
05. The iThrive Method 11-12
06. Pavan’s Post Program Analysis 13
Table of Content 02
Pavan's Story
When Mr Pavan Mahadkar came to iThrive his main focus was to
get rid of his IBS. He is one of the few who know they have IBS.
Many remain unaware of their condition for years. The reason
being, symptoms of IBS are similar to digestive disorders. And
digestive issues are usually just taken in stride.
A few symptoms of IBS are:
-Abdominal pain (especially if it's not related to a bowel movement,
or occurs at night)
-Diarrhea that is persistent or awakens you from sleep
constipation
-Nausea or recurrent vomiting
-Anemia related to low iron
-Weight Loss
-Rectal bleeding
-Fever
Pavan had been suffering from IBS for a few years when he reached
out to iThrive. He would continuously have issues with his gut,
where he couldn’t digest his food properly. It was common for him
to feel rumbling in his tummy followed by episodes of diarrhea after
almost every meal. Along with IBS he also had kidney dysfunction
and from skin issues.
After we had his blood and stool analyzed and generated his health
report. It was concluded that the skin issue was not an isolated
issue. Rather, it was a side effect of IBS. In relation to it, his health
report showed micronutrient deficiency, poor gut health and
increased homocysteine level.
To be able to deal with an issue, you first need to understand the
issue.
Pavan's Story 03
What is IBS?
IBS (Irritable Bowel syndrome) is a health condition affecting the
gastrointestinal (GI) tract, characterised by a specified set of
common GI distress symptoms- abdominal pain, irregular bowel
movements including diarrhea and constipation. With the added
condition that there are no other identified health conditions
known to be causing these symptoms in the patient.
To put it simply, when conventional medicine is unable to identify a
patient’s GI issue, which happens to be very often actually, it is
labeled as IBS. It’s just a group of symptoms with no particular
cause identified. Hence the word “Syndrome” in the name. The
dictionary definition of the word syndrome reads “a group of
symptoms which consistently occur together, or a condition
characterized by a set of associated symptoms.”
Thus, IBS diagnosis is purely based on symptoms along with a
process of elimination. That goes to say, you have IBS if you are
afflicted with any of the above mentioned symptoms and have
eliminated other conditions. These mainly include inflammatory
bowel disease (colitis and Crohn’s disease), thyroid disorders, colon
cancer, celiac disease and known infections like giardiasis.
Now that you know what IBS is, you may question, “what could
possibly be the reason I have IBS?”
What is IBS? 04
Causes & Risk Factors of IBS
There are multiple reasons that can trigger your IBS. The following
are the most common ones risk factors of IBS:
Gut-brain dysfunction: This is the primary cause cited by
conventional medicine. The nerve signaling between the gut and
the brain can get disrupted especially in connection to the body’s
stress response pathway(hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis or
HPA). This plays a big role in IBS which is why stress is such a big
trigger. In most cases though, this is a downstream effect and not
the root cause.
Gut Dysbiosis: This involves an imbalance of your gut microbiome-
an increase in the “bad” problem-causing bacteria and a reduction
in the “good” bacteria varieties. When it comes to root causes of
IBS, this is probably the most common one. Your gut microbiome
has a huge impact on your overall health.
Post-infection or antibiotic use: This is related to the previous
point because both a severe GI infection and extensive antibiotic
usage can create a significant lasting impact on your gut
microbiome. It is common for patients to develop IBS post an
episode of GI infection or antibiotic usage.
SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth): This is the growth
of pathogenic bacteria in your small intestine. Your small intestine is
supposed to be sterile and bacteria-free. SIBO is a very common
condition and could be the cause behind your IBS.
Fungal and viral infections: Besides gut bacteria, viral and fungal
infection can also lead to gut issues.
Toxin overload: Overload of certain environmental toxins,
especially heavy metals can disrupt gut function.
Psychosomatic causes: We mentioned how the gut-brain axis
plays a big role in IBS. Sometimes, psychological reasons such as
trauma can be the main cause behind your IBS. Anxiety and
depression are strongly associated with IBS cases.
What is IBS? 05
How conventional doctors treat IBS?
We mentioned how there is a step of ruling out other known
conditions when diagnosing IBS. This is where a lot of discrepancy
exists between different practices, even within conventional
medicine. The official list of conditions that are supposed to be
tested for and ruled out is seldom fully followed. Celiac disease and
NCGS(Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity), for example, despite being
highly widespread are almost never evaluated.
Additionally, there is also the constant push from the
pharmaceutical lobby to promote symptom suppression through
drugs instead of solving issues.
iThrive and other functional medicine practices always try to get to
the root of the problem. Symptom suppression and management is
something we simply reject as a long-term treatment plan(more on
iThrive’s IBS treatment protocol below).
Once diagnosed with IBS, the conventional medical practice is
essentially to use a trial-and-error protocol of trying out different
drugs to find out what works for a patient. Commonly prescribed
drugs include:
Antispasmodics like hyoscyamine or dicyclomine for abdominal
pain.
Tri-cyclic antidepressants for abdominal pain and other GI
distress.
Laxatives for constipation such as PEG, Linaclotide, Lubiprostone.
Anti-diarrhoea drugs like Alosetron, Eluxadoline, Loperamide.
Antibiotics and probiotics, These are generalised antibiotics and
probiotics without testing and treating for specific bacteria
strains.
Prokinetics for cases suspected to be associated with low gut
motility.
How conventional doctors treat IBS 06
The iThrive Method
First and foremost for any person coming to iThrive we find the root
cause of their problems because we believe that all these disorders
are just a symptom of our body’s way of indicating that something
is wrong. So how do we find the root cause? Our blood which flows
through the entire body gives us a lot of clues that help us piece
the picture together. Secondly, a comrehensive stool analysis is
critical for GI disorders like IBS. Among others, we use the GI-MAP
stool test which is the most advanced stool analysis system
available today. We ask you to run these tests, of which, we then do
an in-depth analysis to find the root cause of all your problems. Our
root cause analysis gives us a clear picture of what is causing the
problem so that we can treat the cause and help you heal.
In Pavan’s case we realised that his IBS was triggered and over time
aggravated due to three of the mentioned causes. That is, he had
Gut-brain dysfunction, gut dysbiosis, micronutritional deficiency
and toxin overload. We were able to uncover this by comprehensive
analysis of his blood test.
iThrive’s principal mode of treatment is FOOD. We believe that
FOOD is the primary answer to all health problems. Also the side
effects of healing with food are great, like weight regulation,
glowing clear skin, shiny hair, increased energy and many more.
Here are a few ways you can start treating you IBS:
1. Eliminate Seed Oils
First and foremost throw away the oil you are using. All vegetable
and seed oils must be eliminated immediately as they are the
biggest source of chronic inflammation. Instead cook your food in
ghee or butter. If you do need to use oil, substitute the oil you are
presently using with coconut oil.
The iThrive Method 07
The iThrive Method
2. Swear Off Processed Foods.
Processed foods are one of the major contributors of lifestyle
diseases. They contain a whole lot of added sugar, table salt and
refined seed oils. Individually these ingredients harm if consumed
in large quantities. So you can only imagine how much harm can
even a small portion of processed food do. White flour and their
products, soft drinks, ready to eat foods, candies, bread and more
are a few examples of processed foods.
3. Reduce inflammation
Inflammation is the major cause for all the conditions as it
precipitates your symptoms. This means avoiding gluten, dairy,
soy, table salt, sugar, and processed foods. You can substitute
these for rice or jowar, coconut or oat milk, Himalayan pink salt,
raw organic honey, dates and raisins.
4. Avoid Dairy.
Dairy can cause you a myriad of problems, especially diarrhea. It
is not necessary that because you have IBS, you cannot tolerate
dairy. But, it is seen that people with IBS have a high chance of
being sensitive to milk and milk products. This is caused due to
two reasons- lactose intolerance or casein allergy. Both of these
are rampant in the population today and we cannot disregard
them.. You can substitute milk for coconut milk. Even milk
products like curd can be made using coconut milk.
The iThrive Method 08
The iThrive Method
5. Correct Nutrient deficiencies.
Nutrient deficiencies are more prevalent than you would think,
even if you are eating a relatively healthy diet, often these
deficiencies also can worsen the underlying dysfunctions in your
body.
6. Exercise and Meditation.
Stress has been reported to aggravate IBS symptoms. And two
ways to deal with stress are exercise and meditation. Exercise
helps you gain back healthy weight that you may have lost due to
IBS.
The iThrive Method 09
Pavan's Post Program Analysis
After 3 months of our program, almost all of Pavan’s IBS symptoms
were eliminated. His Neutrophils, Vitamin D and T3 levels were all
fixed. He also improved his Anemia of Nutrient Deficiency and
homocysteine levels.
His bowel movements were very much regulated due to changes in
the diet. The skin rashes which he was suffering from also
diminished. Since he was a frequent traveler, we had even provided
a Travel guide which helped him to thrive compliant with his food
choices and still keep foods which triggered his IBS symptoms
away.
If you are still reading this book, it means you are also looking for
solutions to manage or even reverse your IBS. Yes it is possible to
take control of your life and even lead a normal life. The iThrive
ALIVE program can make it possible, as it did for Pavan.
Pavan's Post Program Analysis 10
Contact Us
As healers, nothing is more important to us
at iThrive than creating a safe space for
your healing journey
Mugdha Pradhan
Founder & CEO, iThrive
Contact Us
+91 8956942036, 7796692504
help@ithrivein.com
www.ithrivein.com
Contact Us 11
