Oregon senator Robert Kruse is sponsoring Oregon Senate Bill 777 which aims to reduce the number of ailments medical marijuana can be used for as well creating stricter criteria regarding it’s use with ailments that would remain allowable. Additionally it would require patients to have a doctor verify their illness & eligibility every six months. Continue reading “Oregon Bill Threatens To Restrict Patient Access To Medical Marijuana” »
Writer Lia Serbyn has written a funny, but all too real article on the toll Irritable Bowel Syndrome can take on one’s relationships.
IBS doesn’t exactly enrich your love life. It behaves like a stalker slapped with a restraining order; it’ll show up any damn time it pleases because it knows you have no serious protection against it.
Her experiences are similar to mine. Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects all relationships, not just romantic ones. Even close friends & family can seemingly turn on you, becoming frustrated with your illness. Maybe it’s a survival of the fittest animal instinct that comes into play. The desire to leave the straggling Wildebeest behind the herd as a “decoy” to the lions. Perhaps it’s not as sinister as that… Perhaps it’s just frustration. You’d love to go on that long road trip, you’d love to go over for dinner or go out to a movie, you’d love to go to the beach… But you… Just… Can’t. Continue reading “Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome Interfering With Your Relationships?” »
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.
For Now, FDA Blocks Approval Of Xifaxan for Usage By Those With Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Salix Pharmaceuticals confirmed on Tuesday(March 8th, 2011) that approval of their drug Xifaxan(aka Rifaxamin) for use in those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome was put on hold by the FDA for the time being. The FDA stated that they did not feel the drug was ready for approval in it’s current form & are requesting Salix provide them with additional information about the drug before they’ll reconsider. Salix’s stock price took an immediate hit on the news & has stayed down by about 25% since. Continue reading “FDA Puts Brakes On Approval Of Salix’s Xifaxan For Irritable Bowel Syndrome” »
A recent study suggests that those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome eat a diet that meets or exceeds UK Dietary Reference Values. The study surveyed the eating habits of 104 people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome & then compared their answers against nutritional guidelines to come up with their findings.
Essentially this means that someone with Irritable Bowel Syndrome is most likely not at fault for any nutritional deficiencies they may have as the foods they are eating should contain the nutrients they need. The study did not find any differences in nutrient intake between those with different subtypes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome(diarrhea dominant, constipation dominate or alternating). The study does not appear to have actually looked into if those surveyed actually had malabsorption of nutrients despite eating a nutrient rich diet.
This study just reaffirms what many already know, that people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome aren’t purposefully eating nutrient deficient diets.
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” »
Kirsten Tillisch a doctor of medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, along with her colleagues recently published the results of their meta-analysis on brain activity studies for patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. While reviewing these past studies they found that the brains of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome were more likely to experience activity in emotional arousal sectors(pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala) and endogenous pain modulation sector(midbrain cluster). The overall results of the analysis “support[s] a role for central nervous system dysregulation in IBS.” Continue reading “Irritable Bowel Syndrome Causes Emotion & Pain Sensitivity To Increase” »
