Peppermint will help both IBS diarrhea and constipation
01/29/04 08:49 PM
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Heather
Reged: 12/09/02
Posts: 7799
Loc: Seattle, WA
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It's a smooth muscle relaxant and pain killer. With IBS, most diarrhea comes from the gut muscle contractions coming too fast and too hard. Peppermint relaxes these muscles, and calms the contractions. With most IBS constipation (especially when there's cramping/spasms and pain), the gut muscles have contracted too hard and simply stay contracted, almost "seizing up" into something like a charley horse, and motility comes to a halt as a result. Peppermint relaxes the muscles and allows motility to resume normally and ends the spasms.
So, long story short, it will help diarrhea just as much as constipation, and won't exacerbate either one. It's not a laxative, just a muscle soother and pain killer.
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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