A recent study coming out of Penn State University is showing more positive results for the opiod antagonist Naltrexone. They studied 40 people who had active Crohn’s Disease and gave them a daily, orally administered, 4.5mg dose of Naltrexone or a placebo. Eighty percent of those treated with Naltrexone stated that they had improvement in their symptoms, 78% had confirmed benefit via endoscopy & 33% went into remission. Naltrexone had a huge lead against placebo, for example while 33% went into remission on Naltrexone, only 8% went into remission while taking the placebo. Overall it looks like Naltrexone may be of great help to those with Crohn’s Disease. Hopefully the positive results will continue as more studies are done.
For those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Naltrexone might be of use as well. There is another opioid based antagonist that’s being studied called Mu-Delta. It’s somewhat different than Naltrexone & the manufacturer is focusing on Irritable Bowel Syndrome specifically.
More Info:
LowDoseNaltrexone.org
“WANTED: Crohn’s End” is a documentary that will feature people with various digestive conditions(Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease & Ulcerative Colitis) who are using natural alternative treatments. The director(Reid Kimball) has Crohn’s Disease himself. He has regained his quality of life after starting the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. During the documentary he will be taking part by trying out some of these additional alternative treatments in search of an effective cure for Crohn’s Disease.
The documentary will highlight the fact that for many, drugs may not be effective and might even make their situation worse. It will focus on the healing that can come from things like diet changes, herbs, supplements, probiotics or even alternative therapies such as Helminthic Therapy.
Overall this looks to be a fascinating documentary & could be a real eye opener for those who are struggling with these conditions, but may not know there are other things they can try outside the scope of modern medicine.
“WANTED: Crohn’s End” reached it’s Kickstarter funding goal on March 8th, 2011. There is no firm release date at this time, but for now you can view the trailer on the WANTED: Crohn’s End website.
If you’re in the Portland, Oregon area & you are dealing with Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis then you may want to check out the Oregon IBD Connection 2011. It will be held on Saturday, March 19th at the Buckley Center Auditorium on the University of Portland campus. Check-in begins at 11:45am while the event starts at noon and goes until 4pm. It is recommended that you pre-register online by Sunday, March 13th. It appears you will be able to also register when you arrive to the event if you are unable to do so in time online. The event is provided at no cost, will have light refreshments available & a many speakers discussing Crohn’s Disease research & treatment. You can register at the CCFA website.
Event Details:
Oregon IBD Connection 2011
Last year(2010), Ashley Hasty was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease causing her to be in and out of the emergency room for months. It was finally determined she would need resection surgery on her colon to alleviate her symptoms. This experience was very traumatic for her and during this time she felt alone as she did not know anyone else who had the disease. Continue reading “Purple Dress Project Looks To Raise Awareness About Crohn’s Disease” »
A joint study between multiple education & research institutions[1] has found two genome locations that both people with Crohn’s Disease & Celiac Disease share. The group of researchers found the new genetic locations through known genome data on both diseases. There are already two other genome locations that are different in those with Crohn’s Disease & Celiac Disease however they are independant of each disease, this new finding shows a genetic link between the two diseases. The findings shed more light as to the causes of bowel diseases & may very well improve techniques to identify those with the diseases or even lead to an eventual gene therapies.
1. Institutions Involved: University of Groningen, The Netherlands; the Broad Institute, USA; the Université de Montréal and Montreal Heart Institute in Canada
The Independant, a Santa Barbara based paper, has an interview with Ben Morrison, a comedian who has dealt with Crohn’s Disease since 1997.
… But for comedian Ben Morrison, who was hit with a Crohn’s disease diagnosis during his senior year of high school about a decade ago, finding humor in his situation has been the only way to stay positive and even keep the little known intestinal woe under control. He’ll be bringing his Crohn’s-related stand-up show “Pain in the Butt” to town this weekend, and he spent a few minutes chatting with The Independent last month.
Read the rest of the interview @ The Independant’s website.
You can also check out Ben Morrison’s website.
Review: DigestActiv Digestive Enzymes From Source Naturals
Digestive enzymes are an essential part of the digestive process. They are one of the three main things(enzymes,acid & muscle contractions) your stomach uses to breakdown foods into things like sugars and peptides which your small intestine can then absorb. Some are born with digestive enzymes up the wazoo while others may be deficient or as they age become deficient. Signs of enzyme deficiency are rather generic and may mimic many others issues. Usually the symptoms are bloating, belching, heartburn, nausea or indigestion. Digestive enzymes are used mainly in the stomach & don’t normally affect the intestinal tract, however upper digestive issues can manifest new or worsen existing problems in the intestinal tract. Continue reading “Review: DigestActiv Digestive Enzymes From Source Naturals” »
Inflammatory Bowel Disease is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the bowel. Usually Inflammatory Bowel Disease shows up as either Ulcerative Colitis or the potentially more serious Crohn’s Disease(neither is a cakewalk though). A new study by Northwestern University took a common probiotic(L. Acidophilus) & genetically modified it so that it lacked the gene “phosphoglycerol esterase” which normally causes inflammation in the gut. The probiotic was given to mice who had two different types of colitis. After a 13-day treatment the mice were almost completely free of inflammation and their disease was halted by up to 95%. The modified probiotic apparently works by acting as a calming agent on the autoimmune system so that it stops attacking the gut. Continue reading “Genetically Altered Probiotic May Help Inflammatory Bowel Disease” »
There seems to be some continual confusion about the differences between Irritable Bowel Syndrome & Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
The main difference between the two is that Irritable Bowels Syndrome is a functional disorder, meaning there is little to no physical evidence of the disorder besides it’s symptoms. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases are not functional disorders and are diagnosable based off of physical evidence. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is usually much less severe than Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Additionally “Inflammatory Bowel Disease” is not the actual name of a disease, but a classification for bowel diseases of an inflammatory nature. The two main Inflammatory Bowel Diseases are Ulcerative Colitis & Crohn’s Disease. They are not the same thing, though they have similar symptoms & treatments.
I made this handy chart below so people can get a better idea of the differences.
A recent study by the Boston School of Medicine has found that those who are dealing with Crohn’s Disease are more likely to be deficient in Vitamin D2 partially due to problems with absorbing it. The study found that those with Crohn’s had a absorption rate that was 30% lower than normal & approximately 70% of the patients had Vitamin D deficiencies. Vitamin D is often labeled as ‘the sunshine vitamin’ as it can be produced by the skin when exposed to sunlight or obtained from foods and/or in supplements.
If you’d like to try supplementing Vitamin D2 check out Now Foods’ 2000 IU Vitamin D2. Keep in mind that a lot of the Vitamin D on store or pharmacy shelves is Vitamin D3, not D2, so keep that in mind when buying a supplement.
You can review all the findings by reading the full study.
