Irritable Bowel is due to a weakness of the muscle action in the walls of the gut, which push down through the intestines into the colon and rectum. IBS causes spasmodic pain with explosive, watery diarrhoea, alternating with bouts of constipation. There is no physical cause for Irritable Bowel, but there are possibly psychological reasons, and a poor diet with insufficient fibre may also be to blame.

Chinese Medicine regards irritable bowel as an imbalance between stomach, spleen and intestines, sometimes also affecting the liver and kidneys. Normally IBS is a weakness of the spleen and kidneys, with too much dampness in the intestines, plus liver Qi stagnation. In Chinese Medicine IBS is not always an easy condition to cure, but the aim will be to tonify the spleen, clear the toxins from the body and balance the immune system. A Chinese Medicine practitioner will prescribe Dandelion for this purpose, while magnolia bark can ease the bloated feeling in the stomach, and rhubarb and Chinese angelica will stop constipation. Poria will control diarrhoea.