Vitamin D & Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Was browsing over @ IBSGroup.org & found a blog post by user ‘absoluterob’ about Vitamin D deficiency. It is an interesting post on how Vitamin D can help reduce inflammation. Vitamin D is known as ”the sunshine vitamin” since most people produce it naturally by being out in the sun. I don’t get a whole lot of sunlight during my day & a lot of people in the northern hemisphere probably don’t get a lot either. Besides helping with inflammation it also helps with mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder which is basically seasonal depression is suspected to be caused partially by a lack of sunlight/Vitamin D production. So overall it would seem like supplementing Vitamin D would be a wise idea. Continue reading “Vitamin D & Irritable Bowel Syndrome” »
New Guide Coming Soon!
Haven’t posted in a bit on this blog. I am currently working on a comprehensive IBS guide that will be easy to navigate and have a whole host of information & links to products that could be helpful. There’s a lot of information out there about IBS and it’s hard to get it all in one place. I am hoping to unveil it soon :).
My Continuing IBS Story!
As far as my IBS story goes, I was tapering on to Nature’s Way Primadophilus for Children. I was a little leery due to it containing FOS(gassy sugars) . I slowly tapered from 1/8th teaspoon up to a full teaspoon. Things were going okay, until I forgot to close my fridge all the way one night and everything spoiled. Thinking that the probiotics were probably spoiled as well, I got a new container. It would appear that this container may have been a bit fresher than the other container. I got really bad gas & bloating from it. Perhaps I wasn’t getting as many probiotic bacteria into my gut with the old container. I then tried to switch out to FloraSmart, which has 6 billion CFUs(considerably more than Nature’s Way Primadophilus for Children), thinking perhaps I had worked through the burn-in period with the Nature’s Way Primadophilus for Children. I was hoping wouldn’t have the problems(constipation) I had with FloraSmart in the past. I was wrong. Took a single pill and it clogged me up for a day or two! So right now I am off the probiotic wagon, so to speak.
Hope is not all lost though. There are many different brands of probiotics out there to still try. I am still thinking of trying out Nature’s Way Primadophilus Junior. Yes I keep going for the kiddie brands because they contain less CFUs per serving, so it’s easier to manage dosages. Using the powdered form it was easy to taper using a set of measuring spoons and just moving up to the next spoon each week. The NNature’s Way Primadophilus Junior comes with 1 million CFUs per capsule & no FOS! I’ll update later once I’ve put it through a test run.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome linked to viral infection.
A recent study show as connection between a viral infection & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome(CFS). CFS is known to cause extreme fatigue, headaches & an overall feeling of illness. I’ve ready over the symptoms and I can’t quite say I have it. I do feel fatigued quite often nor do I feel very refreshed after sleep. I am not sure if other people have problems with stretching, but usually if I get up and stretch in the morning my muscle ache and I feel extremely fatigued after doing so. Sometimes I feel like I am almost going to faint. So maybe I have mild CFS? I can’t say for sure as I haven’t been diagnosed. Getting a diagnoses for CFS is probably just as hard as getting one for IBS, as many doctors think it’s all in your head. Mainly it’s just nice to see research progressing on an illness like CFS because it has similarities to IBS, what with how it is usually onset after a viral infection and many doctors don’t know how to treat or cure it. Perhaps in time they will find a link / cure for IBS. One can hope!
I received an e-mail today regarding a “new” prokinetic gastroparesis drug called “Metozolv”. I was thinking of even writing to the company behind it(Salix) to thank them for researching new drugs to treat gastroparesis. However, my jubilation was cut short upon further research I find that this is merely a new brand name for the same drug that is on the market now, called “metoclopramide HCI“. I know metoclopramide by the name of Reglan during my battle with gastroparesis. Reglan carries a “black box” warning from the FDA, which is the strongest warning a drug can carry. This is in relation dangerous side effects known as Tardive Dyskinesia. Reglan has been subject to a lawsuit due to these side effects.
What really angers me is the drug domperidone(also known as Motilium) has been proven to be much safer, but has failed to be marketed or approved for distribution in the United States. You can get it from a compounding pharmacy only if your doctor is willing to write the proper prescription. Most doctors aren’t willing to write a specific prescription for this task as it’s too much hassle and they like to live inside their safe bubble, even if their safe bubble means giving patients unsafe drugs. I tried with my doctor and he was much more willing to prescribe me Zelnorm as an alternative to Reglan. Zelnorm has actually been recalled due to adverse side effects! It’s main purpose was for IBS-C(constipation) where the patient is female. Firstly I am a male. Secondly the drug had problems where it apparently would cut off circulation to the intestines for some people.
Hopefully there will be further research done to improve treatments for gastroparesis sufferers. It would be nice if there really was a company out there blazing a new trail rather than trying to make money off of a dangerous drug.