LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Diarrhea / Constipation / Irritable Bowel

USE OF PROBIOTICS IN THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH IBS – (01-09-06)

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The efficacy of Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 55730 in the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome a double blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study

This is the kind of poorly thought out study that ends up confusing patients. This study found no benefit in 6 months’ use of probiotics at 200 million CFU per day.

Consider that studies in infants on effecting rotavirus use 2-3 BILLION per day, the idea of using 200 million and not seeing a significant effect would be no big shocker. The problem is that physicians who do not know any better will look to studies like this and say, “See-I told you this stuff isn’t effective.”

Read entire article here

EFFECTS OF ZINC SUPPLEMENTS ON PNEUMONIA AND DIARRHEA – (10-31-05)

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Effect of weekly zinc supplements on incidence of pneumonia and diarrhoea in children younger than 2 years in an urban, low-income population in Bangladesh

Whether a study done on poor Bangladesh children will have the same effects as healthy kids in the US is unknown. But the results from something as safe and inexpensive as zinc were pretty impressive. The kids taking zinc once weekly had a much lower rate of pneumonia, and while there were 14 deaths in the placebo group, the zinc group had only 2. Quite a reduction.

Read entire article here

MELATONIN IS A STRONG ANTIOXIDANT IN THE BRAIN – (10-31-05)

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Melatonin improves abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome patients who have sleep disturbances

I know that when I hear melatonin, I used to only think of a natural hormone that can help with sleep. Now, years later, we’ve found so many other physiologic roles for melatonin. It’s a very strong antioxidant in the brain; it’s found in certain vegetables; and now, helps to regulate GI motility.

As such, in this study, 3 mg at bedtime lowered abdominal pain in patients with IBS. Interestingly, there were no beneficial effects on sleep quality. While this may not have had a bearing, I have recently moved to starting patients on a lower (.5 mg) dose to start with and this seems to result in less side effects.

Read entire article here

A BETTER AND CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE : MELATONIN – (02-27-06)

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Melatonin improves bowel symptoms in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome

While at first glance this may seem a little surprising, melatonin is created from serotonin, and serotonin plays a large role in regulation of GI motility. Some of the new “wonder” drugs for IBS affect this pathway. So, might the important factor not be serotonin, but rather the melatonin? And a serotonin deficiency in the gut would lead to less melatonin production? Seems like a logical thought process.

By the way, melatonin is a very inexpensive supplement and much cheaper than the new drugs for IBS affecting the same pathway.

Read entire article here

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE FROM ANTIBIOTIC OVERUSE – (02-27-06)

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Specific probiotic therapy attenuates antibiotic induced visceral hypersensitivity in mice

While this is a mouse study, many human irritable bowel disease patients recall their symptoms starting shortly after antibiotic use or stressful time. These two factors can greatly alter the makeup of the bacteria in the gut. The composition of the gut can change in a matter of hours, so short term abuses to our body can greatly affect our GI health. Then, if you look at how important the GI tract is in the health of the liver, the maintanence of proper immune system balance and detoxification of toxins in the GI tract, disturbances in healthy flora can open a Pandora’s box of potential problems.

This is still one of the aggrevations I have with concern over antibiotic resistance from antibiotic overuse. It is not resistance that is the greater health concern, it is destruction of normal flora.

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Current Gallbladder Pain – Blame Your Younger Years

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Sure-you remember fondly back on your youth, high school and college days.  I remember doing things as a child that, if I saw my son doing them, I would think he’s out of his mind and I was doing a poor job as a father.  Then there’s the near-permanent frontal lobe damage so many seem to accomplish in college (which, by the way, is not true–the brain remains plastic long into our adult years).  But did you ever think about about what damage is being done to our gallbladders?

Given the state of medicine today, one would think that the gallbladder is near-vestigial and can be taken out on a whim with nary a price to pay. 

First, we need to understand some of the basic functions of the gallbladder.  The absolute most important job of the gallbladder is to store the bile that is constantly produced in the liver and release bile in response to the hormone CCK in response to a fatty meal.  The bile released then helps to emulsify and absorb the fat and fat soluble nutrients of our meal.

So what happens after a cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal)?  There are several negative consequences.

  1. Most common is diarrhea.  This is because there is now unabsorbed fat in the intestinal tract (no bile to help with the absorption) which contributes to the osmotic diarrhea commonly seen.  Luckily, supplements containing bile acids can very successfully relieve the diarrhea.
  2. Fat soluble nutrient absorption problems.  This includes the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, but also fat soluble phytonutrients like lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes that are known to protect the prostate and heart) and a long list of others.  Supplementation with certain vitamins is essential.
  3. Increased risk of colorectal cancer.  The reasoning is not quite worked out, but it likely has to do with the constant slow release of bile acids from the liver that are no longer stored.  Because they aren’t stored and released to bind up with fats as needed, they are free to float down into the intestinal tract and create problems among cells that are not designed to handle the acids. Eating certain foods regularly may help bind up the bile acids and lower the risk of harm.

These little tidbits are rarely shared with patients prior to their surgical removals (which, by the way, is actually required–it’s called informed consent and is grounds for malpractice).  All too often, even severe gallbladder attacks are NOT grounds for gallbladder removal, despite popular opinion.  Recent studies suggest less than a third of patients with severe symptoms will continue to have problems.  This means that more mild symptoms should not even initiate the conversation.

Of course, the real answer is not damaging our gallbladder in the first place.  And this, while trying to avoid sounding like a broken record, is almost always a result of being prediabetic.  I’ve always told patients that gallbladder problems can occur decades before someone actually becomes diabetic.  So, of course, fixing the gallbladder has everything to do with pulling back from a pro-diabetic lifestyle.

This particular article gives us some insight into just how early this process starts.  Researchers found that obese preadolescents actually began to have problems with gallbladder motility long before they became an adult. 

I do not need to stress to anyone just the life altering importance of raising our children with good lifestyle habits and maintaining an ideal body composition.  If your child is NOT in this category, you need to understand fully that the damage to their delicate bodies has already begun.

CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME – (03-06-05)

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Chronic fatigue syndrome: assessment of increased oxidative stress and altered muscle excitability in response to incremental exercise

For many years, conditions like chronic fatigue and irritable bowel were considered psychogenic because no physiological alterations could be found.  Well, it’s not that they weren’t there–we just didn’t know where to look.

This study just confirms what many of us in manual medicine have known for some time–these patients are very prone to “overtreatment.”  Do too much, exercise too much or go too deep and the patient will be very sore the next day.

Following the results of this article, it is logical to assume that these patients would respond very favorable to interventions designed to support the mitochodria and reduce oxidative stress.

Read entire article here