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Factors in autoimmune disease—IBD (Crohn’s and Colitis)

Is there a link between autoimmune diseases and IBD?

Naturopathic doctors take a holistic look at your Crohn’s disease (CD) or Ulcerative Colitis (UC) when helping patients with IBD. Naturopathic doctors are experts in holistic medicine, and are trained to treat the root cause of your abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea, or even fistula. As you may know, there is a lot of inflammation in IBD, and that is why many gastroenterologists treat IBD with anti-inflammatory drugs. But the drugs don’t treat the cause of the inflammation, which is an altered immune system. A healthy body doesn’t attack itself and cause inflammation. That wouldn’t be normal! So why is the digestive tract being attacked by the immune system in IBD (Crohn’s and Colitis)?

The first factor is an abnormal hormone system. How is the hormone system related to IBD and how can we use this knowledge to treat IBD?

Did you know that IBD has a peak age of onset from age 14 to age 24? Guess what happens in boys and girls around age 14? You guessed it, puberty! Puberty should not cause IBD, and in most people it doesn’t cause IBD, of course. Only if there is a problem with hormones will there be a problem in the body. But, any condition that starts around puberty probably has a hormonal component and has to be addressed in any treatment of IBD (UC or Crohn’s Disease).

Instead of addressing this underlying cause, most patients receive a prescription for a medication that merely covers up the symptoms of their disorder. If there is a way that you can find relief from a disease naturally, why wouldn’t you want to try it?

Naturopathic medicine encompasses a number of different techniques. Read about some of the services our office offers.

Blog IBS Irritable Bowel • • • • • By Julie Lachman 0 Comments

Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) and you

Is drug free relief from IBD possible?

If you suffer with Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) chronic diarrhea, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain are all too familiar and unwelcome. IBD includes Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). You know where all the bathrooms are in the businesses and homes you frequent. You may have gas and bloating, and feel generally sick. Treatments for IBD can also lead to other problems.

One drug commonly used to treat IBD is called 5-ASA.  This drug lowers inflammation in your body, and inflammation is causing the diarrhea and other symptoms. It does not regulate the inflammation to get you better, but temporarily lowers it while you take it. Unfortunately there are many side effects to this drug, including lowered sperm count in men, nutrient absorption problems (which, of course, leads to any number of other health issues), and can cause severe liver problems.

If you are taking this strong drug you know you need to take a vitamin called folate (folic acid) with this drug to prevent at least one deficiency. Unfortunately, 40% of people can’t use folate from a standard vitamin, and need a special kind of folate called methylfolate, which you can easily order online or find at a pharmacy. Even if you take a drug and it seems to help with your symptoms, it will never really get rid of the IBS because it doesn’t treat the cause. If you want to get rid of your IBS once and for all, you have to heal it from the inside. The drug is there to control the symptom, and that’s great if it works, but instead of asking, ‘What drug do I take for IBS?’, we can ask, ‘Why do I have IBS?’. 

Naturopathic doctors are experts in holistic medicine. IBD can dictate your life. Don’t let it.

Read on for more in the next post.

Blog • • • • By Julie Lachman 0 Comments

IBD and Prescription Medication

If you have IBD, with diarrhea, abdominal pain, or gas, you know that it is no fun to have to run to the bathroom all the time. Whether you have ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD) you are suffering with severe digestive problems. You have a severe digestive issue that needs comprehensive care. If you just treat the inflammation with a steroid of 5-ASA, you have only covered up part of the problem. Hopefully you feel better! But, the problem will likely come back unless you address the underlying issues that caused the problem.

The purpose of the drugs your gastroenterologist may recommend is to decrease inflammation, or to suppress your immune system. None of the drugs will balance your immune system or get you healthy. In fact, drugs mostly have side effects, so you are actually getting less healthy by taking them in some ways. Whether you are taking a drug for IBD or not, you want to work on getting to the root cause so you can heal your diarrhea, abdominal pain, urgency, and get back to a normal life. When you are looking for treatment for IBD, you want to get to the root cause, not just stop diarrhea or pain. That’s important, but the symptoms will likely come back.

Naturopathic doctors are trained to look at you holistically. We take a holistic picture of all your symptoms. You’re more than just your colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy! Those test are important, but Naturopathic doctors treat you, not just your test results.

IBS Irritable Bowel By Julie Lachman 0 Comments

IBD and Autoimmune diseases

Do you have an autoimmune disease and IBD?

IBD includes Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) Many people have suspected that Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), which is characterized by belly/abdominal pain, diarrhea, mucus in the stools or even blood, or gas pains, is an autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune means that the body is attacking itself. In Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, for example, which is the leading cause of hypothyroidism, the body attacks and continues killing the thyroid until you need thyroid medicine. In rheumatoid arthritis, the body attacks the joints, making them deformed and painful. Almost all of us know at least one person that is suffering with an autoimmune disease.

Many IBD patients also have autoimmune diseases. The most common ones seen in IBD are ankylosing spondylitis (a joint disease), joint pain, eye problems (uveitis), and liver and gall bladder problems. The body is fighting itself in one organ, and my suspicion is that in IBD, the body is fighting itself again. If you have an auto-immune disease, it means that the body is attacking itself. To think, their is a war going on inside of your body and it is self vs. self. 

Things in the immune system are out of balance. The goal, therefore, is to balance the immune system, not just treat the inflammation. If you take steroids, your inflammation will go down but your immune system is still attacking itself. It’s not a long-term solution.

Naturopathic doctors are trained to treat the cause, which in this case, is an altered immune system. There are three main causes of autoimmune diseases, and if we attack all three, the body can heal itself. Keep reading for more information on IBD.

Blog By Julie Lachman 0 Comments

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