What is and how to treat Enteric ganglionitis?

Enteric ganglionitis refers to an inflammatory neuropathy caused by paraneoplastic (including lung small-cell carcinoma, thymoma, and breast cancer), infectious (i.e., Chagas’ disease), or neurological (i.e., encephalomyeloneuropathy) means; connective tissue disorders (i.e., scleroderma); and inflammatory bowel diseases (i.e., ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), although some cases are idiopathic.

Enteric ganglionitis can occur throughout the alimentary tract and is associated with degeneration and functional impairment of enteric neurons. These alterations ultimately result in impaired gut motility and transit. Depending on the segment of the gastrointestinal tract that is involved, the clinical manifestations of enteric ganglionitis include esophageal and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) dysmotility, gastroparesis and intractable vomiting in the stomach, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, and megacolon in the intestine. Recent data suggest that enteric ganglionitis in the small intestine can be identified in patients with severe irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Treatment of Enteric ganglionitis:

* Once the diagnosis of an inflammatory neuropathy is established, usually steroids such as prednisolone at doses of 60–100 mg/day, methylprednisolone (up to 600 mg/day), or beclomethasone (200 µg three times daily), alone or combined with other immunosuppressive therapy (azathioprine or cyclophosphamide), can dramatically improve the clinical picture.

PLEASE NOTE: This is just a suggested treatment. NEVER take it for granted and ALWAYS consult your medic before taking any pills for ANY disease!

Alternative Medicine: What is Holistic Gynecology

Holistic medicine is an alternative branch of gynecology that uses massage, nutrition, biofeedback, acupuncture, herbs and other natural therapies to treat a variety of gynecological conditions. Holistic gynecologists believe that every person is a unique individual, rather than an example of a particular disease. Conditions like infertility, premenstrual syndrome (or PMS), menopause, HPV (human papillomavirus), and others – are understood to be the result of physical, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental imbalance. For that reason, most holistic gynecologists perform a thorough evaluation of a patient's diet, exercise habits, health history, occupation, family and life history. And, as strange as this might sound or as hard you might find it to believe in the 21st century, it usually works!

That is because many of the aforementioned gynecological and sexological problems or others like urine incontinence, chronic pelvic pains, vulvodynia, and lack of lust, excitement, and orgasm are resistant to standard medical treatment. Holistic Gynecology believes that vaginal acupressure, or Hippocratic pelvic massage, can help some of these problems. Technically, it is a very simple procedure as it corresponds to the explorative phase of the standard pelvic examination, supplemented with the patient's report on the feelings it provokes and the processing and integration of these feelings.
Such procedures helped patients to become present in their pelvis and to integrate old traumas with painful emotions. Holistic gynecology and sexology can help the patient to identify and let go of negative feelings, beliefs, and attitudes related to sex, gender, sexual organs, body, and soul at large. Shame, guilt, helplessness, fear, disgust, anxiety, anger, hatred, and other strong feelings are almost always an important part of a sexual or functional problem as these feelings are "held" by the tissue of the pelvis and sexual organs.

However, have in mind that acupressure through the vagina/pelvic massage must be done with great care by an experienced physician, with a third person present, after obtaining consent and the necessary trust of the patient. Which means that, if the holistic gynecologist is a scammer or has no idea what he or she does, you'd better avoid it as it can do more harm than good.

Too many calories send the brain off kilter

Being fat is a worldwide spread problem and, believe it or not, things are worst than many of us can imagine. Fat is simply bad, is pure evil and we have to do something about it if we want to live a healthy, happy lifestile and have a happy life.

An overload of calories throws critical portions of the brain out of whack, reveals a study in the October 3rd issue of the journal Cell. That response in the brain's hypothalamus—the "headquarters" for maintaining energy balance—can happen even in the absence of any weight gain, according to the new studies in mice.

The brain response involves a molecular player, called IKKß/NF-?B, which is known to drive metabolic inflammation in other body tissues. The discovery suggests that treatments designed to block this pathway in the brain might fight the ever-increasing spread of obesity and related diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.

"This pathway is usually present but inactive in the brain," said Dongsheng Cai of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cai said he isn't sure exactly why IKKß/NF-?B is there and ready to spring into action in the brain. He speculates it may have been an important element for innate immunity, the body's first line of defense against pathogenic invaders, at some time in the distant past.

" In today's society, this pathway is mobilized by a different environmental challenge—overnutrition," he said. Once activated, "the pathway leads to a number of dysfunctions, including resistance to insulin and leptin," both important metabolic hormones.

Earlier studies showed that overnutrition can spark inflammatory responses in the peripheral metabolic tissues, including the muscles and liver, and therefore cause various metabolic defects in those tissues that underlie type 2 diabetes. As a result, scientists identified IKKß as a target for an anti-inflammatory therapy that was effective against obesity-associated diabetes.

Yet whether metabolic inflammation and its mediators played a role in the central nervous system remained uncertain. Now, the researchers show that a chronic high-fat diet doubles the activity of this inflammatory pathway in the brains of mice. Its activity is also much higher in the brains of mice who are genetically predisposed to obesity, they found.

The researchers report that that increased activity of the IKKß/NF-?B pathway can be divorced from obesity itself -- infusions of either glucose or fat into the brains of mice alone led to this inflammatory brain reaction.

Further studies revealed that this activity in the brain leads to insulin and leptin resistance. Insulin lowers blood sugar by causing cells of the body to take it up from the bloodstream. Leptin is a fat hormone important for appetite control.

Moreover, the researchers found that treatments preventing the activity of IKKß/NF-?B in the animals' brains protected them from obesity.

While chronic inflammation is generally considered a consequence of obesity, the new results suggest the inflammatory reaction might also be a cause of the imbalance that leads to obesity and associated diseases, including diabetes. As Cai says, it appears that inflammation and obesity are "quite intertwined." An abundance of calories itself promotes inflammation, while obesity also feeds back to the neurons to further promote inflammation in a kind of vicious cycle.

The findings could lead to treatments that might stop this cycle before it gets started. Let's hope for the best. And, most important - stay healthy!

The risk factors of abdominal venous thrombosis

Abdominal venous thrombosis may present as BCS or SVT. Hereditary and acquired risk factors have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of abdominal venous thrombosis. Hereditary risk factors for thrombophilia include Factor V Leiden gene mutation, Prothrombin gene mutation, homozygous methyl tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutation and deficiencies of coagulation inhibitor Protein C, Protein S and Antithrombin III. There are few studies from South Asian region which have comprehensively evaluated prothrombotic risk factors in BCS and PVT.

A research article to be published on July 28, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Prof. Ashok Chacko at the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, India investigated the inherited and acquired risk factors causing clotting of blood in abdominal veins.

Thirty-six patients with blood clots in abdominal veins were studied. The patients were divided into BCS group and SVT group based on the veins involved. Twenty patients had SVT, 14 had BCS and 2 had mixed venous involvement. Inherited and acquired risk factors for blood clotting were evaluated in all patients. Overall, 10 patients (28%) had inherited and 10 patients (28%) acquired risk factors. The acquired risk factors were significantly more common in the SVT group while inherited risk factors though higher than controls did not show significant difference between the two groups. Multiple risk factors were present in one (7%) patient with BCS and 3 patients (15%) with SVT. No risk factors were identified in 57% of patients with BCS and 45% of patients with SVT.

Their result indicate that hereditary and acquired risk factors play an important role in etiopathogenesis of abdominal venous hrombosis. Acquired risk factors are significantly more common in patients with SVT while hereditary risk factors are similar in patients with BCS and SVT. Recognition and evaluation of these risk factors may help in therapy and prevention of disease progression. As a significant number of patients lack obvious etiology further research is required to identify as yet unrecognized risk factors.

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Reference: Dutta AK, Chacko A, George B, Joseph AJ, Nair SC, Mathews V. Risk factors of thrombosis in abdominal veins

Stem cells and inflammatory bowel disease curing

Investigators from a hospital in Massachusetts have found that infusions of a particular bone marrow stem cell appeared to protect gastrointestinal tissue from autoimmune attack in a mouse model, allowing the regeneration of the gastrointestinal lining in mice with a genetic mutation leading to multiorgan autoimmune disease. In other words, this means that bowel related problems such as irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel diseases could be controlled using these stem cells.

"Our findings suggest that MSC therapy could become a useful treatment for inflammatory bowel disease," said Biju Parekkadan, PhD, according to EurekAlert. "Several previous studies have observed these cells' ability to inhibit specific subsets of T cells and relieve symptoms in particular autoimmune disorders. But this is the first demonstration of their ability to suppress a broad-based autoimmune reaction and protect gastrointestinal tissue."

Autoimmune disease occurs when the immune system loses control over lymphocytes (white blood cells) that attack an individual's own tissues. Treatments for these diseases – more than 80 conditions, ranging from type 1 diabetes to rheumatoid arthritis to gastrointestinal disorders like Crohn's disease and IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) – are primarily directed against symptoms; and even those that target the immune system do not completely suppress the out-of-control response. Found in the bone marrow, MSCs give rise to tissues supporting blood cell development and secrete factors that can modulate several immune system activities. Their use has recently received FDA approval to treat severe graft-versus-host disease in children, which means that the first step has been made and there is a huge possibility we'll see more in the future!

Analysis of the animal's lymph nodes revealed that MSC treatment produced a significant reduction in inflammation of the colon. Surprisingly, cell-tracking studies indicated that the MSCs – which were administered by infusion into the peritoneum, the membrane lining the abdominal cavity – moved into abdominal lymph nodes rather than to the intestine itself. The presence of MSCs was associated with a reduction of activated T cells and changes in other indicators of immune system activity, indicating suppression of the out-of-control immune reaction. Let's all hope for the best. Stay helathy!

Colon and Colorectal Cancer Based on Family History

For a person like myself who has irritable bowel syndrome and all sorts of problems related to the digestive system, it’s not at all pleasant to talk about (or even think about) colon or colorectal cancer, but it’s the information that matters in the end, so I have to do it, especially because it appears that some people might be a bit more lucky with the treatment of colon cancer.

According to health magazine Medical News Today, there is a lower risk of recurrence or mortality for patients with stage III colon cancer who have a family history of colorectal cancer in a first-degree relative. It appears that out of the people with colorectal cancer, about 20 percent have a first-degree relative with colorectal cancer, too. Although your parent or sibling having colorectal or colon cancer doubles the risk of a person developing the disease, the influence of family history on cancer recurrence and survival is improved. So, to put it in other words: it’s a 50-50 chance you’ll have it, but if you do, you’re more likely to cure it. Here are the numbers and the detailed story:

All these were found following a study that analyzed 1087 patients with stage III colon cancer (cancer that has spread from the colon to the lymph glands but not to other parts of the body) who were taking part in a clinical trial of chemotherapy. Rates of recurrence and death were compared over a median follow-up of 5.6 years in the 195 patients (17.9%) with a family history of colorectal cancer in a first-degree relative with the 892 patients without a close relative with the disease.

Results showed that cancer recurrence or death occurred in 29% of the patients with a family history of colorectal cancer, compared to 38% of those without a first-degree relative with the condition. The risk of recurrence was 26% lower in patients with a family history of colorectal cancer, while their risk of death was 25% lower.

The reduction in risk of cancer recurrence or death associated with a family history became stronger as the number of affected first-degree relatives increased. Compared to those without a family history, patients with one affected relative had a 23% greater disease-free survival, increasing to a 51% in those with two or more affected relatives.

Of course, you should note that generally it is said that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) usually stays there and does not evolve to cancer. So put all the good ahead and try to change your life – live if healthy and try to prevent!

Bioresonance, Best Thing Ever or Biggest Scam?

You have probably heard about the latest miracle of modern and alternative medicine: Bioresonance Therapy. Also, if you're suffering from a strange condition like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (just like I do), you probably start to wonder if other things could cure you or not. Let's see if Bioresonance Therapy can help your IBS or not.

What is Bioresonance? According to Wikipedia, descriptions are pretty obscure and there is no real definition about this Bioresonance: Usually electrodes, linked to a box, are applied to the patient's skin. According to the manufacturer of these devices, they emit alternating currents which are claimed to be healing. They describe cells as resonating objects (with unknown frequency and energy however) having a natural resonance (ie bio-resonance). Generally using PC-based technology, these machines are said to be "repairing" the natural resonance withing the cells and therefore cure the diseases. Without medicine, without pain – without feeling anything, actually. Which sounds really great!

I must admit that I went to such a clinic and I was pretty excited about the prospect of curing my Irritable Bowel Syndrome and live a healthy life, after all. The medic told me that for IBS, I need to go four times to the Bioresonance machine and I'll be cured. Also, the doctor told me she will give me a bunch of naturist medicine to help speed up the process. Everything seemed to be trustworthy and apparently there was nothing for me to lose.

Since my condition was pretty bad (just a couple of bowel movements per week and big pain in the abdominal area), I hoped for the best. Actually, after the first visit to the Bioresonance Machine (called BICOM 2000 if I remember well), I felt better: the pain was of a lower intensity and I felt the need to go and defecate! So I thought it was
working! But I was wrong, unfortunately.

My situation didn't go any better in the future, even though I kept taking the naturist plants for my colon and doing everything the doctor told me. When I went to my third visit, I had a conversation with the doctor. She said "So... any improvements?" I said:
"Absolutely nothing, I have the same problems, it's not better". And she said: "No, you are felling better. At least a little better. Just think about it: you are feeling a little, little bit better, right?" And I said yes – it could've been a tiny little bit better...

When I was ready to leave, the doctor did the ultimate mistake and fully convinced me that Bioresonace Therapy is nothing but a scam: she told me that, in order to solve my problems, I have to visit her at least one more time (but she'd suggest two more visits, just to be sure) and then at least one visit per month. Well... you know what? She only wanted my money and had nothing to do with my Irritable Bowel Syndrome! So I never got back!

The thing is that it might be all placebo and I doubted the whole thing from the start. Or maybe Bioresonance Therapy is not good for colon related problems, but it helps with others. Or maybe I just was unlucky and got a crook of a medic. I don't know, I'm not the one to say that Bioresonance Therapy is a scam, but I do know it did not help me, not even a little. On the other side, it cost me a lot of money and that really makes me wonder: how can some people play with somebody's life, if they know that they can't help? Some people have no heart, I tell you! So, if you want my honest opinion: stay away from Bioresonance Therapy if you have IBS or other colon problems!

Things to Do for a Happy, Healthy Abdomen

I kept saying it: preventing is much easier than curing. Trust me, please, even if you are young and nothing bad seems to be possible to happen to you. I was just like you when I started to destroy my life bit by bit and now, at only 24 years old, I am trying hard to get it back on track and enjoy a painless, colon-healthy life. So please, invest just a little time in reading the following tips and try to follow them and you will be thankful at 60, when everybody else will have lots of problems. Because a healthy abdomen can't be had without a bit of interest from you.

So, if you want to reduce the risks of colon cancer or other complications, as well as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), here are a few easy steps you should follow as often as possible:

• Healthy diet: All research suggests that eating a diet rich in fiber and calcium may help prevent colon cancer and other diseases. Whole grains from breads and cereals, as well as nuts, fruits, vegetables and beans may also have protective effects (even though consumption of these foods is not recommended if you are having colon problems).

• While the cancer-fighting mechanisms in various foods are not completely understood, researchers continue to work on the connection between cancer and diet, with promising results. Studies show that calcium, vitamin D and folic acid (which can be found in cabbage) may keep colon cancer at bay. On the other hand, a diet high in saturated fat combined with a sedentary lifestyle may increase the risk of colo-rectal cancer.
  

• Exercise regularly: Scientific evidence supports the conclusion that regular physical activity can reduce the risk of several cancers — particularly colon cancer — among men and women. A 1997 study by the Harvard School of Public Health determined that regular moderate exercise, such as a daily hour-long walk, reduced the risk of developing colon cancer by almost 50 percent. However, it was recently discovered that the so called “good" walk right after dinner, is actually a real pain for your abdomen and digestive system and actually harms both digestion and colon. So try to take a little break between eating and walking.

• Quit smoking: Countless studies and researches have linked cigarette smoking to colon cancer (among other types of cancer, of course). The studies also found that smoking at a young age increases one's lifetime risk of colorectal cancer. And since your risk increases the longer you smoke, it's never too late to stop. Not to mention that, among with the decrease in IBS or other colon related problems, you will also reduce chances of getting other problems related to smoking.

• Limit alcohol drinking: Excessive alcohol consumption may increase your risk for colon cancer. Alcohol has also been linked to other gastrointestinal cancers. So if you drink, do so only in moderation and try to stay away from very strong alcoholic beverages.

• One aspirin: People who take aspirin regularly to keep their hearts healthy may reduce their risk of cancer. Taking an aspirin every other day for 20 years may cut the risk of colon cancer almost in half, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, research conducted by doctors from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York shows that a combination of aspirin and cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins may nip cells in the earliest stages of cancer.
  

So, as you can see, it's nothing too difficult: just a few easy steps that can be done if you care at least a bit about your health. And trust me, you should: it's much easier to prevent than to cure! I know.

Image credit: hypnofitmaui.com

Things to Know about Your Irritable Bowel Syndrome

When it comes to problems with your colon/intestines (just like with any other disease) it is best to know as much as possible about your problems, since that’s the first step into curing them. However, there are a few “must knows” when it comes to IBS – everybody has to start from somewhere, right? Here is a list with the most notable things you should know:

First of all, you can’t blame something specific for your irritable bowel syndrome: the causes vary. It can be anything from stress to a random way of living, to eating unhealthy food or lack of exercise.

It is necessary to have a specialist investigate your problems and make sure it is indeed an irritable bowel syndrome (I would recommend visiting two doctors, just to be sure you’re fighting against the right illness and you use the best weapons).

The symptoms could last for entire years, even if you stick to the diet and help your body with medicine. Support from the close ones is necessary, since there will be many moments you’ll be ready to give up to temptations (trust me it’s like that – been there, done that :D).

Fortunately, the irritable bowel syndrome rarely kills – there are very few cases in which patients who followed the treatment and diet had any complications.
Basically, that’s the secret for a healthy colon (and abdomen): a balanced lifestyle, avoiding excess of any kind (such as drinking, smoking, unhealthy, greasy food), taking your time to relax and don’t work too much, plus exercise. All doctors will tell you that these few things will help your overall health dearly.