Pet Inflammatory Bowel Disease - IBS Herbs

Dear Dr. Lee,

About a year ago after several weeks .of diarrhea, my dog was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. His doctor began treating him with steroids and an antibiotic. She also put him on a special diet. At first he responded to the treatments, but now the medicine doesn’t seem to be working as well even though his doctor has made some adjustments. The diarrhea has returned and he even had several accidents in the house. Is there anything else we can try?

P. G.

Dear P. G.,

Inflammatory bowel disease is a fairly common affliction of both people and their pets. In modern Western medicine it is diagnosed with biopsies of the gut tissue taken either during surgery, or with an endoscope. Usually treatment is aimed at suppressing the body’s abnormal attack on itself and decreasing the inflammation in the gut. On occasion the treatment either doesn’t work, or it does, then the symptoms recur despite trying a variety of Western drugs.

In cases like these, where Western medicine seems to no longer be able to help the patient, or in fact, in most all cases of inflammatory bowel disease, holistic medicine is a powerful tool in helping the animal return to normal. In traditional Chinese medicine the underlying cause of disease is diagnosed on the pattern exhibited by the patient. The pattern is determined during the physical exam and through observations of the stool, diet, patient habits etc. Integrative practitioners can also get information from modern biopsies since them more knowledge you have the better. Treatment, which would include acupuncture, herbs, and diet changes, is then aimed at balancing the body and bringing the pattern back to normal. For example, some dogs with inflammatory bowel disease are young, strong and show a heat pattern. The treatment for this would be very different from an old dog with chronic diarrhea who is cold all the time. Being an integrative practitioner myself, I try to use whatever remedy available which will best help the patient with the least side effects. For problems of the bowels, I find holistic medicine to be more effective than western medicine. I don’t always use Chinese herbs, sometimes I use Western herbs, it just depends. (To be fair, I will say there are other problems for which I find western medicine more effective.) To quote Dr. Jen Hsou Lin “It matters not whether medicine is old or new, so long as it brings about a cure. It matters not whether theories are Eastern or Western, so long as they prove to be true.”

So go ahead and try a new approach, I’m betting your pup will improve.