Home Remedy for an Upset Stomach

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is said to affect approximately one in five people. At an early age I learned that I was one of the unfortunate twenty percent. Since then I have struggled almost everyday to deal with the symptoms which range from bloating and gas to the most annoying of all, an upset stomach. Having suffered so long, I have tried several options to treat these upset stomach episodes with little avail. After exhausting all conventional medicines such as prescription Zelnorm, soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, an altered diet, and Imodium AD I decided it was just something I had to live with.

And then I went to college. No, not medical school. I went to a local university and participated in the right of passage every student of higher learning has partaken in since the dawn of the movie Animal House. I drank beer. Now many would not see the correlation between a home remedy for upset stomachs and beer especially given the more well known kinship between beer and a headache (IE. the following morning). But after a week of suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome with an upset stomach, a cold beer (or two) on a Friday night seemed just what the doctor ordered.

At the young age of 21 I had no idea why beer made me feel better. I assumed that it deadened the nerves in my stomach and in essence gave digestion a night off. However, with a little research I was able to learn that there is a sound medical explanation as to why beer is an effective home remedy. First, www.mayoclinic.com reports that there is evidence that "live" probiotics aid digestion and may help in the treatment Irritable Bowel Syndrome among other things. After some supplemental reading I discovered that probiotics are a byproduct of the fermentation of wheat used to make beer. However, that alone would not explain the sudden onset of relief after consumption as probiotics need to be continually ingested for maximum results.

Douglas A. Drossman, M.D a gastroenterologist and psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina has a likely explanation on www.mothernature.com. He explains that there is a very strong link between stress and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. For those of us social drinkers a couple of beers may take the edge off just enough, coupled with the probiotics, to effectively offer a home remedy for the upset stomach symptoms of IBS.

Regardless of the explanation this remedy works. Although it's not useful during work hours those nights of stomach ache free activities are proof enough. I like my theory of digestion getting the night off the best anyway, but I don't expect to see it any medical journals anytime soon.