i am trying to heal my digestive problems. I have given up on doctors as they are rubbish! and this is where my raw food diet began, trying to heal whats going on inside.

I am looking at doing a herbal detox clense, where you buy like a 10 day course of herbal capsules to take and its supposed to get rid of the bad stuff and help heal any problems there.

Just wonder if anyone has any experince with these?

Take great caution in picking one as most are very poorly formulated with harmful herbs.

Most are based either around psyllium husks fiber and/or stimulant laxative herbs such as senna, rhubarb etc. Stimulant laxative herbs should be avoided as they weaken bowel function even with short term use.

Im sure ive read some posts in the past from you mentioning IBS have you looking into bitter herbs on the back of the tongue to stimulate digestion and improve bile flow ?. Other good options are restoring your gut flora as IBS has been linked to a lack of gut flora. If you want a natural mild non-addictive/habit forming laxative then the Ayurvedic formula Triphala is a good choice.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

NOT JOKING, I know someone who took an "herbal blend" for about 5-6 days while juicing, and broke out in a TERRIBLE red/itching/burning/peeling rash all over the neck and upper body that has persisted for more than a month. It's quite terrible.

The only ingredient that looked suspicious was a black walnut extract... Now she is seeing other doctors. I hope it heals. It was quite eye-opening, too. Who doesn't want to do the best thing when they start out, learning about cleansing?

Do take care. I'd cleanse, but with fresh fruits, veggies, and juices. Mother nature knows best and she will take care of you.

thank you for the advice.

i have tried triphala... the aryvedic medicine. It didnt really work for me. but i will look into bitter herbs.

thank you

Bitters are great for digestion and cleansing the liver, they also help improve the flow of bile which is often stagnating in those with IBS. Bitters need to come in contact with the back of the tongue though or they won't work, so capsules are a no-no.

Swedish bitters should be avoided also as they contain stimulant laxative herbs. Grape or Chinese bitters are a good choice, pre-meal.

I have an article coming soon on bitters.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

ok thanks

I have done different cleanses all with some excellent results. I am loving the psyllium husk drinks and I've been doing those for over 2 months now. I have read a lot about doing the psyllium husk.

They do many good things besides brush out the digestive/colon track. They are a pro-biotic, it may lower blood pressure, levels blood sugars, and lowers cholesterol levels. The drink is not a laxative because it can also help diarrhea and it does not cause bowel dependency.
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[drpullen.com] says:
"Psyllium husk benefits digestion by keeping the colon contents moist, malleable, and in this way reduces cramps, pain, and bowel irregularity in irritable bowel syndrome. It is also helpful in managing chronic constipation, hemorrhoids and anal fissures by leading to soft but formed stool that is easily passed and reduces the need to strain. In cases of watery diarrhea the psyllium husk benefits by absorbing water and giving more texture to the stool which makes control of the bowels easier."
_________________________________

I've also taken the parasite tinctures cleanse. That contained black walnut hull, wormwood, and cloves. It worked so well that I did it at least another time after the first time. And I've been wanting to do it again.

I have not bought a kit for colon cleansing or used any strong herbs for that purpose. Cleaning your colon seems like it's not too complex to understand the "how to" of it. Enemas are cheap and you can do those at home and there are different things you can add to an enema if you want. Colon Hydrotherapy is good also, I've done a series of those before.

Eating lots of fresh fruits, vegetables work great of course without having to do anything else except it helps to cut down or out SAD foods.

Depending on how out of shape a colon is it may take a very long time and a big commitment to getting it back into shape.

The only time I've had those strange looking rope strand b.m.'s come out of me was after about 1 month or 6 weeks of taking a couple psyllium husk drinks daily. They only lasted 2 days. It was pretty cool actually Now after 2 months besides that first time, and it's happened only a couple times but the later times they weren't so dark and so much. But I've noticed that when I do have them, the dark thin spirley type are on the outside of the b.m. which makes me think my colon is still hanging on to some layers of old hardened fecal material.

So I wouldn't buy expensive herbal colon cleanse kits, or harsh herbs with what I know now. I may have before though, but not now.

I love the herbal tinctures though for various ailments like removing uric acid crystals (gout) from your body. You can find tinctures that don't have alcohol in them.

If you do the herbal cleanse please let us know how you liked it, what you used and the approx. price of doing it.

Love,
Prism



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2012 04:53PM by Prism.

Prism

Quote

I've ever had those strange looking rope strand b.m.'s come out of me was after about 1 month or 6 weeks of taking a couple psyllium husk drinks daily

It has been reported that those strange looking ropes are the psyllium husks themselves coming out, nothing special.

Madinah, explain to me why then if it's the psyllium husk themselves that make the rope like strands that they aren't doing it each and everytime? I've been taking at least 2 drinks per day of the psyllium husk drinks and while the first weeks showed only bulky type stools, I had after 6 weeks the rope type skinny strands that only lasted for the 2 days.

That alone made me a firm believer in colon cleansing with psyllium husks.

Love,
Prism

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

[themastercleanse.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2012 06:58PM by madinah.

Prism - sorry to derail thread but which gout uric acid crystal tincture do you refer to? To the OP, I have used the Arise and Shine cleansing program with good results.

I have always heard and seen these different cleansing/detox things but I never felt the need to use one. If there's something in particular that could be helpful, I would consider trying it.

Check out my raw food review blog at rawfoodland.com!

I used Burdock Root tincture for gout. I had classic gout in my big toe (of course other joints and tissues but big toe was very painful) and in the first year of raw foods I found info. about burdock root. I tried to get fresh but ended up having to get tincture. I took it as it said to and then bought another bottle and used that up.

I've used other tinctures also..dandelion (mostly I was able to juice fresh dandelion greens once I got used to the taste of green juices).

I bought mine from Boney's Marketplace in Oceanside, Ca. at the time. Health stores have their own propriety blends. Or find it online. Or make your own, or just use burdock root in your diet if you can find it.

Madinah, I did read the links you provided. If you could explain why you think that my experience is not what I think it was that may be more enlightening.

Love,
Prism

Yeah, it's called apple cider.

Prism
I am not saying your experience is not valuable, just that many reports have shown that the initial excitement of those ropes coming out of the colon could not be verified to be nothing more than the product itself.

I did colon cleanse in the past too and was very excited to see things come out but later realized that these things could not be observed in people with colon pb.
[quackfiles.blogspot.com]

salad's not bad, fiber, beans (i like lentils) but not too much

Quackfiles also tells people vaccinations are a good thing. Not a good enough unbiased source of info for me.

Louis Pasteur saved millions with vaccinations

I don't believe these type of colon cleanses work in the way they say they do i.e removing mucoid plaque as from most of the evidence out there suggests that it doesn't exist.

Increasing fiber intake for many will results in benefits such as increased bowel frequency, toxin elimination, bile formation and even some parasites can be expelled by increasing fiber intake to flush them out. But there are better choices of fiber in my opinion and psyllium husk is considered a harsh fiber to many. Rice bran is a milder choice and comes with the benefits of supporting nutrition as the bran is a rich source of B complex vitamins and antioxidents.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

Geen juices and green smoothies are also good choices for increased bowel frequency. And they are foods the body enjoy having not products the body is trying to get rid off. Also exercises can be useful to increase bowel frequency.

Gems, if you do the herbal cleanse, please give us an update on how it went..maybe in a new thread.

Love,
Prism

Yes sweetie, please do.

all great advice thank you. i have ordered one, my friend has done the same one and she had good results from it. a new thread with my experience is a good idea. i will do that. i am going to do it end of feb. i am eating mostly raw fruit and veg, but even sometimes on a mainly raw diet, and lots of fruit and veg (like the last 2 weeks) i am still very constipated. then last weekend i ate too many nuts and had the oppostie reaction! nothings really constant with my "IBS" symptoms. i am trying my best to listen to my body and give it what it wants. but i feel some kind of flush might help shift things... but i do understand this is a long jounrney to a healthy digestive system. i am not expecting a miricle just maybe a little help to move things along. i am positive in believing that through a (mainly) raw food diet i can and will heal up my poor tummy!

heres a link to the one im doing if anyones wants to have a look, and below some of the herbs used.

[www.iherb.co.nz]

• Black Walnut Hulls (from the black walnut tree)
• Wormwood (from the Artemisia shrub)
• Common Cloves (from the clove tree)

These herbs are the typical anti-parastical herbs, they are ok but i feel the parasite theory is overblown in the alternative movement. Many of these herbs have potent anti-bacterial properties which means that they kill off the gut flora much in the same way as pharmaceutical anti-biotics do.

This would be counterproductive if you do have true IBS which is thought to be caused by a lack of gut flora.

The cleanse also contains the herb Goldenseal which is contains an alkaloid known as Berberine which kills off the gut flora and depletes potassium. It is also an endangered species so from a herbalists point of view it is quite a lazy choice and not ethical.

The cleanse also contains 2 stimulant laxative herbs i.e Cascara sagrada and the Turkish Rhubarb which weaken bowel function even with short term use. They can also mess with electrolyte balance due to causing diarrhea.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2012 12:16PM by powerlifer.

oh! thanks for info powerlife... well my friend did this one and said it was ok. i am taking acidiphilus probiotics at the moment to help with gut flora.

taking probiotics and keeping my diet simple and mainly raw do you think this could help in any way at all? im quite willing to try the clense, as i know other people that do them and have good results, I dont know how my body will respond as i don;t know exactly whats wrong, but there is defintaly an inbalance somewhere, and weak digestive system to some extent.

friends have said it could be 'parasite' so I thought the clense could help with that. I understand what you said about it killing all gut flora. But maybe it could get rid of some of the bad stuff then i could work on building the good stuff up?

I tried one but it was not the miracle cure I thought it would be. I eat so much fiber on an 80/10/10 diet which keeps me clean and in a constant state of slow detox. I also found juice fasting to be effective for detoxification.

Have you heard about the 'coffee' enemas? It's highly recommended in the 'Gerson Therapy' book, and apparently can kill cancer. It works by releasing stored toxic substances into the bowel for elimination.

Oh, I didn't read every post, so if it has been mentioned already please forgive.

Cheers, geo

i did one yesterday geo!

Oh cool gems, I did one a couple of months ago and I did get a pretty good reaction, how about you?

just a little bit! ha! im a long way to go in getting my stuff moving but staying possitive about raw and excited for the future and healthy insides!