![]() And by that point, it's too late," says Gerard Mullin, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine. "The problem I see is that people don't take it every day. General advice: People with IBS should take peppermint oil capsules twice a day, every day, to get the full effects. ![]() This special coating allows the peppermint oil to mostly bypass the stomach and later be released in the intestines, where doctors believe it has the best effect. Shulman doesn't recommend any one brand of peppermint oil capsule over another, but be sure to get one with an enteric coating, otherwise you might experience heartburn. Although researchers are still investigating the exact mechanisms, peppermint oil has long been thought to have anti-spasm properties, he says, which may relax the smooth muscle tissue of the lower gastrointestinal tract in people with IBS. Peppermint oil may help IBS in a number of ways, Shulman says. There are virtually no prescription medications approved to treat IBS in children, Shulman says, so he often recommends peppermint oil to his pediatric patients. A 2019 meta-analysis found that people with IBS who took peppermint oil were 2.4 times more likely to experience overall symptom relief compared to those given placebo, and 1.8 times more likely to experience abdominal pain relief in particular. The use of peppermint oil to treat IBS symptoms, especially abdominal pain, has been supported in multiple human clinical trials. Irritable-bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex disease with multiple factors contributing to its symptoms, so the best treatment will vary from patient to patient.īut in addition to diet and lifestyle changes, doctors often recommend peppermint oil capsules before moving on to prescription medicines, according to Robert Shulman, MD, a board-certified pediatric gastroenterologist and professor of pediatric nutrition at the Baylor College of Medicine. Peppermint oil can be used as a treatment for IBS "It is also possible that the act of slow, deep breathing while inhaling peppermint oil is actually responsible for some of the perceived effects," Ravindra says. "I extrapolate this data to support using inhaled peppermint oil as an option to treat my primary care patients that may have nausea due to migraines, stomach viruses, food poisoning, or other conditions," says Ravindra.Īccording to Ravindra, the same muscle-relaxing qualities that peppermint oil offers for headaches are likely responsible for its nausea-relieving abilities. However, the quality of the study is somewhat lacking. Both groups experienced nausea relief, but those who chose peppermint oil alone had significantly more improvement. In a 2020 study, hospitalized patients could choose to treat their nausea with either peppermint oil alone or peppermint oil and a prescription anti-nausea medicine. Simply inhaling the scent of peppermint oil - or applying a few drops of peppermint oil to a cool damp washcloth and applying to the forehead - has been shown to alleviate nausea in pregnant parents, patients receiving chemotherapy, and patients recovering from surgery. If you aren't experiencing relief after 15 to 30 minutes of peppermint oil, Ravindra advises that patients use more traditional oral pain-relievers like Advil, Aleve, Tylenol, Excedrin, or any prescription headache medications you might have. "Additionally, topical peppermint has been shown to increase blood flow to the area it is applied to, which can speed up healing." "The associated cooling sensation also appears to distract nerves from the pain response," Ravindra says. Scientists aren't exactly sure how peppermint oil eases headaches and migraines, Ravindra says, but it's thought to help by relaxing muscles around the skull. In a small 2010 study, topical menthol was shown to be more effective than placebo at reducing pain for migraines without aura. "For my patients with headaches, I typically recommend initially treating pain with topical treatments like peppermint oil, or with a pain-relieving ointment like Tiger Balm, which contains menthol, a cooling substance derived from peppermint," says Lisa Ravindra, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and a board-certified internal medicine physician at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
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