A recent Yahoo Answers submission about constipation and IBS that we posted. This is a health issue that affect millions in the ‘developed world’ — so perhaps a good one to start with:
How do I help my niece? (I am her guardian.) She has recently been diagnosed with severe and permanent irritable bowel syndrome. This means that often she has diarrhea or constipation. She is eight years old so she is perfectly potty trained. When she is constipated, the doctor told me to help her by “forcing” her bowels to work without medicine or laxatives or any sort or adding more fiber to her diet, because her condition is not dietary. I have been told that this can be done by pushing on her feet or having her poop in a hole, where she can squat. How can I help her?
Simply can’t believe that for a youngster they (the medical profession, that is!) haven’t come up with something better! The ‘system’ (well, modern medicine in general!) is terrible when it comes to such diagnoses — I went through YEARS of tests, more tests, & even more tests…only to get the same IBS ‘umbrella every time…Which of course means “don’t really know what the problem is” diagnosis in the end…
In fact I now know through my only research and resolutions of most of my problems that there were probably several causative factors…
For starters: MOST folks on a typical Western Diet end up with a chronically impaired digestive system.
Getting your ‘gut health’ right is a key step towards seeing improvements in IBS symptoms (as well as in general health and wellbeing) for many people. If stats are to be believed up to 80% of all folks consuming a typical Western diet (that’s most of us in the UK and the US for starters!) are likely to have compromised intestinal health. This is for many reasons, mostly to do with lifestyle, food choices, and eating habits.
We can therefore end up with 80% ‘bad’ bacteria/20% ‘good’ (helpful/needed) bacteria in the gut — whereas the opposite proportions are said to be necessary for good digestion, and consequent better health.
One way to start moving things in a positive direction is to try and introduce some ‘good’ bacteria into the diet by using a probiotic supplement. My personal favorite is an all-naturally produced probiotic product that is grown from organic plant sources (NOT fecal matter like some products use!). It contains the whole range of lactic acid bacteria, reckoned to be the most effective and appropriate micro-organisms tough enough to get through the stomach acids to where they are needed in the intestines. You can read more at the link below — and there are useful articles on site too. Works out to cost about £1 a day (so not exactly cheap…BUT I can say hand-on-heart it seems to have made a radical difference not only for me but many others with long tern so called ‘permanent’ IBS). Also once things get better you may just supplement the diet say every two or three days:
https://saferalternative.mionegroup.com/
Further explanation about probiotics and details about need for probiotic support here:
http://www.gonando.com/probiotics.html
and here
http://www.gonando.com/super-supplements
The other things to consider is trying to move anyone, child or adult, with problems like this onto a more ‘alkaline diet’. This may be difficult depending on how much of a fussy eater a child (or indeed an adult) is. But the pay-off can be well worth it in terms of impact on long term health. It would take too long to explain how and why this has proven so good for so many — including many children — but the video (split into 7 easily manageable chunks! 
) of a presentation by world-leading expert, and proponent of alkalization, Dr Robert O Young, is here, along with a helpful list of alkaline foods: http://www.gonando.com/alkaline-foods.html
With full details in his book here:
http://astore.amazon.com/usastore1-20/
I’d really like to know how you/she gets on — if you try any of these ideas. I also really hope it helps. I cannot tell you how much these strategies have improved a situation for myself that I had thought was a life sentence! Hope they may help your niece too.
(N.B. – I should mention that the problem of alternate constipation/diarrhea can actually turn out to be ‘one’ issue — constipation. Odd though it seems, the apparent diarrhea can simply be a symptom suffering that stems from from retention of impacted faeces, and consequent evacuation of only the liquid part of the stool. The hard, impacted mass can remain for ages in the gut, when it suffers low motility, and this process only makes matters worse. The probiotic should gradually work its magic, as gut flora improves. But it is good NOT to use laxatives as this causes unnatural evacuation that can end up with a see-saw effect and making constipation worse overall. Plus it IS important that she is well hydrated, which means encouraging her to drink plenty of good, clean water, every day (preferably mineral water, or even home distilled water). BUT Avoid pop/colas, tea, coffee (guess she doesn’t do these anyway, but the diuretic effect due to caffeine can encourage dehydration). Good hydration is important to properly formed/textured stools. A moist stool is easier to pass than a hard compacted one.
Just wanted to add those thoughts. Good luck.)
More Yahoo Answers posts will be added here from time to time, as and when considered relevant to the topics of family health or mind, body and spirit, in order to try and make sure these ‘nuggets’ of wisdom don’t simply get compacted in Yahoo’s virtual ‘pipes’! 