As it’s thought that over a third of the UK population regularly suffers with digestive problems, I’ve been learning more about poo this week – well, more specifically about new stool sample tests to help patients with irritable bowel syndrome, overgrowth of candida in the gastro-intestinal tract, constipation, diarrhoea, and other digestive disorders, and about new formulations of probiotic and other natural products to help these problems.

Apparently, your body has around 10 trillion (that’s 10,000,000,000,000) cells, but your gut is host to ten times that amount of micro-organisms (mainly bacteria, but also funghi and protozoa).

Amazingly, between 33 per cent and a whopping 50 per cent of the faecal mass (that’s your poo) is made up of micro-organisms – bacteria.

Most of us now know that good gut health is important for our overall wellbeing, but did you know that it’s said that more than 70 per cent of the immune system is based in the gut? As well as helping with the digestion of particular substances in the diet, good bacteria are thought to help to protect us against infection, and to help to train the immune system to work properly, so a course of good quality probiotics is often worth considering at this time of year, before the winter cough and cold season starts.

The particular species of bacteria found in each individual’s gut varies from person to person, and also from geographical area to area – this is likely to be one of the reasons why foreign travel often results in a dicky tummy. If you’re planning a trip abroad, you can minimise these digestive health risks by taking good quality probiotics like Ecodophilus before you leave the UK, and by maintaining this protective shield throughout your travels, using an advanced probiotic formulation like Travla.

Diarrhoea can be helped by homeopathy, of course, but probiotics can also help: as a natural alternative to anti-motility drugs such as loperamide & Imodium (which block the intestines to stop the diarrhoea), I usually recommend a natural probiotic yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii which helps to flush out pathogens such as e.coli and salmonella from the intestinal wall lining, and stop diarrhoea naturally. One of the first over-the-counter products in the UK to include Saccharomyces boulardii is the anti-diarrhoea probiotic product DiarSafe – it’s entirely natural, and was cheaper than Imodium the last time I checked.

Thinking about it, I’ve seen a higher than usual number of digestive cases in the clinic recently: from chronic diarrhoea after a bug picked up while travelling, to cases of unexplained gastritis, IBS, and chronic constipation in people of all ages, from babies to the elderly.

I suppose this isn’t surprising: according to the British Society of Gastroenterology in 2006, 10 to 22 per cent of the UK population are affected by irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). As with any potentially serious disorder, it’s vital to make sure that symptoms are properly investigated, so patients who haven’t had conventional investigations and diagnosis are referred back to their GP to ensure that potentially serious problems aren’t missed.

However, the majority of patients who ask me for help with their digestive problems have already had all the recommended investigations and still have their symptoms, though no cause has been found. Patients like this have often tried everything else before they turn to homeopathy: we call them TEETH patients (tried everything else, try homeopathy).

For these patients, it’s brilliant when their symptoms just vanish with the help of the right remedy, and it’s particularly satisfying when the first or second prescription of homeopathic remedies solves a patient’s lifelong digestive problem, as happened this week.

In other cases, though, it can take time to get the remedy right – and probiotics can ease symptoms in the meantime.

For more information about how homeopathy may be able to help you transform your health and help your digestive problems, visit www.phoenixhomeopathy.com.

Disclaimer: Any views or advice in this weblog should not be taken as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, especially if you know you have a specific health complaint. Prescribed medication should not be stopped or varied without conventional medical advice. Please remember that homeopathic remedies and other health measures should be individually-selected to match the whole person, not just the unwelcome symptom. Seek professional advice rather than self-prescribing if your complaint is chronic, severe or long-standing, or if you are pregnant, elderly or on orthodox medications.