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Dr.--"Millions May Not Have IBS"

1K views 41 replies 16 participants last post by  pronin2 
I'm wondering if it was endometriosis and insulen resistence the doctor was talking about in relation to that ol' syndrome x that takes things like diabetes and HBP and endometriosis and a bunch of other stuff and puts it all into a catagory of being a metabolic disorder.Having just gone though surgically induced menopause my self, I can tell you that SSRI's and Tricyclic antidepresants do a good job with regulating certain body systems that are out of balance. The suff did wonders for my fast and furious hot flashes.(can't and don't take HRT)Effexor works even better and faster than what I got but for me we were also targeting the control of pain that was left over fom the surgery. So what do you think? Maybe syndrome X? However, from the little teenie bit I have read I don't know if there's any one test for that thing or not.Kamie
 
Oh, one more thought about endometriosis, insulin resistence and IBS.While Insulin resistence does not cause endometriosis, a lot of women who have endometriosis do have insulin resistence. And, even though they say there's no connection from having insulin resistence to IBS it seems to be that diabetics sure do have their fair share of real and diagnosed IBS problems.My whole female family has diabetes, HBP,they get hysterectomies, ovarian tumors and breast cancer.I have endo and IBS and I also have HBP.I can tell you that Endo most certainly did contribute to my jackpot of a case of IBS.Or, who knows, maybe I could be confused.It's really easy to be confused when your body systems are always going tilt.Well, anyway, it's my opinion, and the opinion of the gastroenterologist and the colon surgeon and the family practitioner that my endo and my IBS are joined in a partnership of bad physical health in my personal situation.My colon was attached and fusing to the Ovary and they were both plastered to the musculature of the pelvic girdle with the colon having a twist/fold/ crink? as it was around the ovary in a snug embrace.The surgery to get that mess cleaned up took 4 1/2 hours and we are still not sure that it's all gone.It was the growth of the endo that triggered the inner organs to produce adhesions that pulled the colon over around the ovary and stuck the two of them to the pelvic muscle.There's much speculation about my colon condition.starting my 3rd week into my hysterectomy healing my colon shut down and I had to have emergency surgery.So, after going through what I've been through I do think that endo really might play a role in certain types of IBS. Certainly, I wouldn't think this problem would apply to men, so as many things in life, the rules are different for women.However, I think that if my endo had never gone nuts that I might not have such a touchy case of the IBS today.After all, it's the place that was attached to the ovary that gets fecal matter stuck in the turn of the old fold and it's the same place that continually hurts.So who knows, in the world of IBS it seems that the rules and reasons are an ever elusive shadow of discomfort.Kamie
 
Diane, Has anyone talked to you about the endometriosis still growing or if the adhesions have reformed?My doctors are telling me that they think that is what is happening with me but they aren't sure and they think more surgery is a really bad idea since I've already had my bowel shut down once.Right now, I'd be happy to be able to miss my monthy appointment with the ER. Which by the way, seems to happen right about the time my only lonely ovary might be doing it's estrogen business.You know, I had the opportunity to choose whether I would have that right ovary removed or not.I wasn't real sure at the time. I mean, how clear is ones thinking when you've been put on a huge amount of drugs to keep your blood pressure down so you will not be a horrible surgical risk since ones history already involves one bad reaction to anesthesia for a previous surgery.Anyway, I hurt so bad at the time, I couldn't make a decision so I told the surgeon to do whatever she thought was best once she got inside.Well, she says the right ovary was looking too healthy and the apendix was looking too healthy(yes, they often remove the apendix for a hysterctomy because many women have the apendix go bad after hysterectomies)So she left the right ovary and the apendix in place.Well, it's now been 5 months since my 1st surgery and my bowels are still an issue and my bowels do their thing just about once a month.Actually, the bowel thing is a daily work in progress. It just gets worse about once a month and I go into tachycardia when it's time to visit the ER.I was there last week with a pulse of 119 and rising. It was my colon alright. Showed up on the X rays.They did a force drip of saline and demerol and phenegrin and when my BM returned and my urine function returned I was allowed to go home.Does your urine function stop when you get an IBS attack? I wish mine would stop stopping.Its bad enough to be worried about the pulse and being in tachycardia and wondering if the shoulder and chest hurt because one is having a heart attack or if it is yet again just that troublesome ol bowel being irritable.That Urine function thing just makes it all the more irritable and frustrating.Anyone else here experience the ceasing of Urine function from IBS-C?The urologist says that even though I have a small capacity bladder that my problem is not in the Urology department. I've had all those fancy tests where they fill you up with liquid and take x rays and then when they fill you upwith more liquid and stand around to see when you begin to writhe in pain and how hard you have to push to get a complete void.Nope, other than the bladder getting spastic along with the colon it's not a Urlogy problem.But after those things my lower back sure does hurt.And they said it was all in my HEAD last year when I first began to search for my answers.It took 6 months and 5 doctors to get even a portion of the right attention.Kamie
 
Luna,Thanks for the feed back. Sometimes one wonders if anyone else has the same stuff happen especially when we are told nothing is wrong with us or when we are dissed by people saying one thing has nothing to do with the other.I guess I've just had too many medical people tell me I was a head case. No one was more surprised than my surgeon when they went in to do my hysterectomy.She kept telling me that I was wrong about what I "felt" my problems were.My gastroenterologist and my urologist were my best and strongest advocates though.The gynecologist agreed to a hysterectomy because of my constant whining and moaning and with the consideration of my family history of female cancer.I'm currently having a hormone panel done (new gynecologist)to see if my estrogen is too high and maybe feeding endo.I'll have the results in about 10 days. They are doing an ultrasound tomorrow and I'm seeing a new gastroenterologist tomorrow too.It has been suggested to me that if the hormone levels are bad that maybe we'll do the endo starvation diet of Lupron,(i believe it is), to make the ovary shut down production.Personally, I wish my natural menopause would kick in and put that thing to sleep for good. I don't want another surgery to remove that thing and I've not heard good things about lupron.My jumpin jack flash backs to every traumatic experience in my life was bad enough on the first round of dropping hormone levels.It's like being married to the devil.So what do you think Lupron does to the whole IBS trip?Just wondering while considering my options and doing more personal research.Kamie
 
oh, one more thought, I would like to correct something I said earlier about men not having the estrogen problem. Me do have estrogen issues in the body.Men do get breast cancer and breast cancer is an estrogen fed cancer.While they have no uterus to cause the problems of the endometrium escaped and run wild in the pelvis, I wonder how an estrogen problem in a man might affect his gut and IBS symptoms.So do any of you knowlegable men out there know? Have any of you men ever dealt with the issue of too much estrogen in your male bodies? Do any of you have the typical estrogenic body with weight caught around the milddle or under arm fat or even slightly developed male breasts?Do the tummy and the love handles stay stay stay no matter what you do, think or eat?Just wondering?How does a man cope with an excess estrogen problem?Kamie
 
Hi Dianne, In many cases of a left over ovary or the continuation of endo and adhesion growth, surgery is the last and worse choice.Adhesions are caused by the body's response to what it interprets as a wound or a foreign invader.Hence another big connection to the autoimmune syndrome.Unfortunately, in some of us, the occurance of more surgery leads to more surgery which leads to even more surgery as every time the pelvis is entered with a surgical tool adhesions are given the signal to grow.There's a lot of medical debate on this and I don't have a bunch of studies to back up my thoughts and feelings, but the warning against more surgery has now been given to me by 1 family practitioner, 1 urologist, 1 internal medicaine doctor, 1 gynecologist and 2 gastroenterologists.Currently, in my case, my hormones are being reviewed.I have an appointment with the gynecologist in early October to see what the blood tests show and to review my inner and outer sonograms and the CT scans (upper and lower) that I'm getting Tuesday while my husband is getting his colonoscopy down the hall to see if they can locate the source for his internal bleeding.What fun!And it's our 1st year being married anniversary this weekend.We didn't get to have sex on our wedding night because I was so sick from all the female stuff.Maybe we should have picked a day better astrologically suited.So what to do abut that troublesome ovary and the estrogen it produces.Personally, I'm hoping the thing just goes into menopause and goes to sleep.Or they could do a suppressant drug that will starve out any remaining endo.I think the treatment goes for a number of months.I'm not wanting to even think about that right now with my husband being sick.The supression drug has it's own problems and there's usually some down time related to the treatments.Since I've been investigating the autoimmune stuff I've decided to take a lead from my dog who came down with the autoimmune disorder >PEMPHIGUS<It's a disease that people get too and I found great food information on their web site.For my personal situation I've decided to take the immune stimulents such as garlic out of my diet.Neither me nor the dog are going to die or suffer if we never eat garlic again.However, since I SAW my dog have a Pemphigus reaction to the presence of Garlic in the air when I was cooking a Spagetti dinner, including Garlic in her diet might could kill her because Pemphigus can be a deadly disease.And, so my irrational emotional logic leads me to believe that Garlic might could be a bad trigger for me too so, I'm just not doing Garlic anymore either.Here's hoping those adhesions will someday find the way to shut off other than subjecting ourselves over and over to the surgeons knife.Also, I am using some body work techniques, Yoga and TaiChi movements to also work with these issues from a complementary alternative perspective.It's a holistic integrative work in progress.Traditional medicine is my first course of action and everything else just makes the healing journey a bit more comfortable as I ride the train to my personal balance place.Kamie
 
oooopsie, one more thought, on that bladder thing, when I went to get all those tests on my bladder and it's irritation the fancy tests came bock to show that my bladder would spasm between 175cc and 200 cc.So what they did for that was simply verify, yes, I do get bladder spasms and they are keeping me on hyoscyamine for the bladder and the colon and the throat and the upper GI problems because Hyoscyamine works well for me for all that stuff.In trying to live an active life with a limited capacity bladder I now know for sure that trying to drink a large amount of liquid with out a way to void immediately will will send me into a whole systems breakdown regardless of the anti spaz meds.I had the unhappy lesson this week when I went for my sonograms and they wanted me to hold 500cc in my binkey bladder.OUCHOLLA!!!!!!!!!!!I had taken an extra hyoscyamine AND a Xanax as per doctors suggestion and STILL I spazed so bad I had to be run down the hall in a wheel chair to get on the sonogram table and let her do what she could while the nurse was inserting the catheter to let my Urine go because I had spazed to that point where my body systems try to shut down.I suppose I might have even enjoyed that fast ride in the wheel chair down the hall if I had not been in such agony.But ya know, that bladder business will put you there in a heart beat.....or in my case several heart beats very close together as I almost always get thrown into tachycardia.So the important thing to know about a irritable bladder is to know how much it holds and to try to balance the voids with respect to capicity.When the bladder and the colon are not playing off of eachothers spasms it seems to be a better day. I'm just now figuring some of this stuff out for my personal maintenance.I'm glad things have turned around for you Dianne.It gives me hope.Hugs,Kamie
 
So here's my two cents worth on the grain thing.Personally, I think whole pure and good grains are the most wonderful food ever. However, take those grains and refine the heck outta them, and then you have trouble.I don't think it is the wholesome grain itself that is the big dietary problem but the sad manufacture of the food crop.Additionally, we also have that ol Genetically Modified Organism mess going on in the agricultural debate of the century and, well, in my opinion; that's the core of the grain problem.So there's a lot of companies now making an effort to get away from that questionable grain stuff. You can type in GMO free food crops in a search engine and come up w/ companies that are just saying no to GMO's.Oh yeh, it's a pain in the rear to buy special foods but heck, if all that mutant seed business is giving us a literal pain in the butt then who knows, it might be worth the effort.Oh and those potatoes? Don't microwave them.I have no proof on this idea, it was something shared with me from someone who's into their nutrition. So the theory is that microwaving potatoes does this molecular change thing that makes it especially bad for diabetics.Anyone know anything about that?Heck, Potatoes bloat me up anyway. I quit eating those things a while back.I just say no to potatoe.No biggie. I'm absolutely sure that I won't die if I never eat another potato again. there are just so many vegetable alternatives.It's all a matter of perspective and conscious choice.Happy thinking and Happy Eating.Kamie
 
Oh and about those Eskimos, their Diet is specific to survival and probably has little to do with the needs of the common person living in a climate that doesn't present sub OHMYGOODNESSITSSOOOOOOOOOCOLD conditions.Yep, that Eskimo diet. That's one heck of a diet that is plenty good if ya wanna pack on a natural warmth and are planning an arctic adventure.all things considered, everything has it's place.Personally, I think we as individuals should take inventory of our real lifestyles and figure out what it is the body is calling for with respect to what we do with our day.Like the Eskimos.I just know that each of us has a very specific food need that is our reality key.The question is; how do we find that key?The answer is; with continued self evaluation and personal research and trila and error and realizing that one idea or diet or suppliment or miracle cure won't work for everyone and as individuals we need to get intoucvh with who we are genetically and personally and begin from scratch to build ourselves a new food identity structure.It's a continuing work in progress.So, heck, that' just my two ditzy cents.Kamie
 
So here's the binky bit I know about meat cows and the agriculture world.I'm not Farmer Kamie here so don't anyone get their panties in a wad, I'm just relaying what I've seen from my own personal life experiences.First of all, on the Agrucultural issue.....It all depends on the Farm.I used to board my horses at a farm that grew commercial meat stock.The cows, along with my horses were fed mainly pasture land grazing.The person who owned the farm was meticulous about taking care of the soil and keeing his pastures looking like a golfing greens.He rotated the pastures and he was very careful to not overgraze each pasture so as not to wear out the land.My hoses got feed only one time a day to give then a few extra trace mineraals that horses need.In addition to the good pasture and the small amount of grain they also got all the hay they wanted.For a horse or a cow it was a darn good life and the animals stayed healthy.His cows weren't given hormones. They had their medical needs tended but mostly they lived a basically simple and well fed life.So on the meat thing, from having horses living on a meat farm, I'd have to say that the whole meat question has to go back to the farms and finding ways for us as consumers to know which meat products come from good farms or from breed factories with little concern for the welfare and meat quality of the animal.Don't even get me started on that whole appalling Premarine issue and those poor Foals and Mares.That is a horror.And Salmon, again, that too depends on the Farm and the integrity of the fish farmer.Some farm bred fish is quite good.I know of fish farmers who take ultra wonderful care of the fish and their environment and even do labs on the water conditions so the fish have an optimim environment.And then it all comes down to land and if the land is good because the caretaker of the land is doing a good job at being a steward of the earth then that food is probably some good darn food.I buy a yogurt that I think is amazing stuff and they take very good care of their cows and don't use hormones and the cows live a nice life so their byproduct is ultra wonderful.So, in the spirit of all things considered, it all depends on individual integrity. Finding out where to find good wholesome well done food is indeed a bit of a challenge but heck, it's out there and all it takes is effort.As for the cost? Well, yes, some things are a bit expensive.However, otherthings are surprisingly competitive in market price and even sometimes amazingly much less money and in the long run we spend much less money because we aren't eating a meal that might make us sick and take us to the ER with unexplained symptoms.So, that's the little I know about the agricultural industry which, as we speak is going through it's own 21st century metamorphosis.Kamie
 
>>>>Just wondering... Are you saying IBS and Endometriosis can't be mistaken for one another?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------I was saying that neither IBS nor endometriosis could be mistaken for insulin resistance (sensitivity). ***********************************************Okay, one more thought from the peanut gallery over here while I sip the yogurt drink and pet the cow.I think we all know that IBS is IBS.Insulen Resistence is Insulin Resistenceand that Endometriosis is Endometriosis.Right?Is that correct?That's the way I see it.Do we know that now?Well, it seems clear to me.Unless of course I am mistaken in which case I have only that bottle of hair color to blame.As for Insulen Resistence, coming from a whole family full of people with Diabetes I can tell you that at least in my happy family many of the Diabetics seem to have what looks like one form or another of IBS.Yep. They fart and moan and groan and complain of either D or C and eating the right food is always a big issue.I also have a bunch of Estrogen dominant women in the family who suffer from estrogen fed conditions.And some have Diabetes and some do not, but it seems that the ones who went on to have Breast Cancer did either the endo trip or the ovarian tumor trip and the hysterectomy trip and the high blood pressure trip and the Diabetes trip and the IBS trip.So what that means to anyone....who knows.It's my family life story.Do these things arrive together?Well if my family were targeted for a survey I'd have to guess the answer might look like a yes.However, another family might not present in such a way.So the lumping together of all these body problems and symptoms that sometimes share the same descriptions, I can say that sorting it all out and coming to some huge conlusion of absolutes is a darn hard job that I don't think has been perfected as yet.From the last I heard, I don't think that even the doctors themselves have any one total agreement on these baffling body circumstances.However, I do think there are enough of us who are slipping in and out of syndromes to warrent at least a little suspicious research.As for IBS or Endometriosis being mistaken for insulen resistence.....well......with some of my symptoms the doctors are always wanting to do a diabetes test.I come up 80 on a 12 hour fast.Now what triggers the medical mind to ask?My family history?Maybe.But when I tell then that I always get tested for that because that's one of the first things they see in my family history, they say....well, lets just check to be sure.Now what is triggering them to look again is anyones guess.I never ask.Again,it must be that darned Clairol bottle interfering with quality medical research.Blame it on the malady of blondness which of course can not be confused with the Brunette syndrome of > out of the bottle artificial intelligence.So that's just my two cents.Kamie
 
ooops,oooops,ooops, one more thought here on crops>>>This is a well-known ruse. Nothing has changed with regard to what foods contain. The soil has not changed. There are enzymes in the food which themselves are digested by us when the foods are eaten. They have nothing to do with the digestion that occurs in humans. Isn’t this something that should be taught in junior high biology class?<<**********************************************Well, if I could inject my limited knowlege of soil and biology and crops one more time here.Now keep in mind, I'm no big expert. I only know what I know so if you need more explanation the library or on line resources are a good place to do research.So here's my thought on the comment on how the soil has not changed.Well, in addition to having had livstock in my life, I also deal in pure essential oils.These are oils that come from an agricultural crop. The oils I deal in are even sometimes marked food grade. So we are talking food crops here in some instances.In the essential oil world we experience the purchasing problem of good and bad crops.Yes, the soil does change. It changes with droughts and floods and the various cycles ofthe earth to which we often have little control.It is a relatively well known fact in the aromatherapy business that the constituents and qualities of oils depends largely on the growing region, the weather and again the same variables mentioned earlier.So if it's true for essential oil plants then the same might be true for general food crops and the things that happen as a concequence of nature or simply bad farming practices vs good farming practices.Any of us who has ever grown a garden knows that if you don't ammend the soil and work with the earth in a proper way, the soil will infact become depleated.So, essentially, yes, the soil does change.Soil is a part of nature and nature by its very nature changes constantly.Now I understand the thought that enzymes and basic qualities remain the same from plant species to plant species or animal species.A Bananna is a bananna is a bananna.However, because of differeces in growing region and farming practices, A plain ol every day run of the mill bananna is in fact quite different than maybe an organically grown bananna.I chose the bananna here because very recently we had a little grocery store lesson on the realities of food and their contribution to the human system as nourishment.My mother is a diabetic on insulin.Now she can eat a regular grocery store bananna just fine.In fact it's one of the fruits that works well for her with the continual juggling act of the whole sugar reality for diabetics.So recently we got these ORGANIC wholesome banannas.My mom got a few bites into the organic banannaand said that the bananna was too healthy for her because it contained much more sugar content than what she has been used to from the regular market.We were shopping at the Organic market.So my mom would prefer the bananna grown of poorly soil than the one grown under better conditions because the really "healthy" stuff just contains too much sugar.So, as is true for the bananna so is true for much in the world of plants and growing and even livestock.Yes, the soil does change.Often because we make it change and often because mother nature makes it change.This is not a new theory.It's what the legendary wine makers have known for centuries.That's why some wines are considered better than others.They sum it up with simplicity.It was a very good year.Kamie
 
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