Month: May 2014

What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)?

Posted by | May 14, 2014 | ,

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is referred to as a “disorder” by doctors and not a disease. People who have been given this diagnosis have frequent stomach pain and discomfort and bowel movements that are irregular in some way. It’s a catch-all term that has been coined for this problem that seems to have no cause and no cure (it is only diagnosed by systematically testing for other diseases and excluding them). But don’t succumb to the IBS diagnosis. There are alternative treatment strategies available and lifestyle changes that can bring relief from this “disorder”. But before you start cutting things out of your diet or trying prescription medication, consider doing a parasite cleanse using herbs like wormwood, cloves, and black walnut. Intestinal parasites can cause many of the same symptoms as IBS. Doctors say that IBS is caused by irregular movement of the intestine as food is being digested. Thus, it is a “functional” disorder (meaning that the intestines aren’t functioning properly). In the 1950’s when IBS was first introduced and doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with their patients using surgeries, scopes, lab tests, or ultra-sound a consensus was developed that the problems was “in the patient’s head”. Indeed, stress can cause the intestines to behave strangely and IBS can be caused by anxiety and stress, but the implication was that the pain and discomfort was imagined, which was insulting to...

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What is cystitis?

Posted by | May 14, 2014 |

Cystitis is a swelling or inflammation of the bladder wall. According to popular medical web sites, the bladder can become inflamed for a variety of reasons: -infection -irritation -general inflammatory response in the body -stress -hormonal changes -other reasons that have not been acknowledge by modern medicine yet (like intestinal parasites–see my article Can Interstitial Cystitis be cured? for more information.) When cystitis is the result of a bacterial infection, it is referred to as a Urinary Tract Infection or UTI and it can be treated with antibiotics, D-Mannose powder, or herbs like Uva Ursi. Basically, the difference between cystitis and Urinary Tract Infection has to do with evidence of infection in the urine. If you don’t have an infection (a UTI), then you just have discomfort or pain (interstitial cystitis) and as far as your doctor is concerned, there is no cause and no cure. If you ask your doctor about the possibility of a parasitic infection, he (or she) will probably scoff at you. There are few diagnostic tests on the market to test for parasites of any kind and the ones that do exist are unreliable. Luckily, you can treat yourself for parasites even if you just suspect that you have them by taking herbs like wormwood, black walnut, and cloves. These herbs are available online at Amazon or at your local Whole Foods of Vitamin Cottage. You can...

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Alternative Treatments, Lifestyle Changes, and Home Remedies for Cystitis

Posted by | May 14, 2014 |

Cystitis is one of those diagnoses that people don’t like to talk about. Unfortunately, this works to our disadvantage if we’ve received a taboo diagnosis (like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, as another example) with no known cause and no known cure because it’s through word-of-mouth (not your doctor) that you’re most likely to hit upon a combination of treatments that will work for you. It’s taken me many years to discover the root of my cystitis problems. Below are a list of lifestyle changes I made over about a decade’s time to help relieve my cystitis. The one’s listed below made the biggest difference in my symptoms: -Eliminating caffeine -Taking D-Mannose powder every day -Drinking plenty of water -Doing yoga every day (for 5 to 60 minutes, depending on my schedule) -Eliminating dairy (gluten caused swelling in my intestines which put pressure on my bladder) -Eliminating gluten (gluten caused swelling in my intestines which put pressure on my bladder) -Eliminating trans fats (also known as trans fatty acids, they cause increase the acidity of urine) -Taking Vitex Berry (also known as chaste berry. Vitex Berry helps regulate female hormones which seems to help)   Below are alternative medical treatments that I’ve used to help relieve cystitis. All were effective though they didn’t cure the problem: -Acupunture My acupuncturists was a magazine editor who suffered from cystitis. Her doctor couldn’t find a cure,...

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Thinking Holistically about Interstitial Cystitis

Posted by | May 14, 2014 |

Interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome are diagnoses that promise little help to patients in terms of treatment. Cystitis is roughly just a chronic inflammation of the bladder wall. What causes interstitial cystitis is unknown and doctors agree that women’s symptoms vary greatly. According to the Interstitial Cystitis Association, the problem occurs in both men and women and affects 4 to 12 million people in the United States. That’s 3 to 6% of the population. The statistics indicate that women are more prone to being diagnosed with interstitial cystitis, but that may only be because men are more likely to receive a diagnosis of chronic prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Doctors don’t have much to offer patients who receive this diagnosis, but if you’ve been told that you have chronic cystitis don’t give up hope yet. I received my first cystitis diagnosis years ago from a doctor who was irritated with me for showing up in his office without a urinary tract infection (UTI). I was very convinced that I had a UTI, but the tests showed otherwise. I wanted antibiotics, but he refused to give them to me. I went home with no relief from the irritation. Several doctors later, I was at least able to find drugs to relieve the bladder discomfort. This doctor told me about Cystex and AZO. Both drugs worked reasonably well, but...

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Thoughts on Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Posted by | May 10, 2014 |

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, also known as IBS is a common diagnosis these days and little wonder why. The American diet is hardly conducive to good digestive health! IBS is one of those diagnoses that doctors give patients when they’re tired to trying to find the answers to an upset stomach. It isn’t an acceptable diagnosis in my opinion because there’s no “cure” for IBS and there’s also no known cause (according to doctors). In other words, when your doctor says, “You have IBS,” it’s essentially synonymous with saying, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you.” But IBS isn’t an impossible diagnosis and it certainly isn’t worthy of stepping on the drug treadmill. Doctors will often prescribe anti-depressants to treat IBS. Patients then develop new problems including sexual dysfunctions as a result of the anti-depressant medications. Doctors then prescribe additional drugs with new side effects to combat the sexual issues. If you think critically about Irritable Bowel Syndrome, it seems probable that diet is a leading cause of the problem. Doctors may mention this fact in passing, but patients are rarely given guidance on how to go about making dietary changes that would diminish their symptoms. Years ago, my husband was given a flexible sigmoidoscopy that ultimately showed nothing causing the symptoms he was experiencing (cramping, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, gas, and bloating). The doctor indicated that my husband was...

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