Herbal medicinal products for functional disorders of the digestive tract organs

Abstract

Herbal medicinal products are very important in the treatment of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGD) and are very often used, both in self-medication and as recommended by the doctors. They have been used in the treatment of poor appetite (bitter drugs), dyspepsia (bitter drugs, holagogues, carminatives), irritable bowel syndrome (peppermint oil), acute diarrhea (tannic drugs), and constipation (bulk-forming and stimulative laxatives). The clinical studies proved the effectiveness of the peppermint essential oil in alleviating the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, stimulative (plant drugs with anthranoids; castor oil) and bulk-forming laxatives (linseed, ispaghula and psyllium seed) in the treatment of constipation, while the majority of the other drugs and their preparations that are used in the therapy of FGD, a traditional application was documented. Each herbal drug used in the treatment of any of these functional disorders has its own specific application restrictions (contraindications, special warnings, precautions, interactions and adverse effects).

Biljni lekoviti proizvodi su veoma značajni za terapiju funkcionalnih gastrointestinalnih poremećaja (FGP) i veoma često se koriste, kako u samomedikaciji, tako i po preporuci lekara. Koriste se u terapiji slabog apetita (gorke droge), dispepsije (gorke droge, holagozi, karminativi), sindroma iritabilnog kolona (etarsko ulje pitome nane), akutne dijareje (taninske droge) i opstipacije (zapreminski i stimulativni laksansi). Kliničke studije su pokazale efikasnost etarskog ulja pitome nane u ublažavanju simptoma sindroma iritabilnog kolona, stimulativnih (droge sa antranoidima, ricinusovo ulje) i zapreminskih laksanasa (semena lana, ispagule i psilijuma) u terapiji opstipacije, dok je za većinu ostalih droga i njihovih preparata koji se koriste u terapiji FGP, dokumentovana tradicionalna primena. Svaka biljna droga koja se koristi u terapiji nekog od pomenutih FGP ima svoja specifična ograničenja za primenu (kontraindikacije, specijalna upozorenja, mere opreza, interakcije i neželjena dejstva).