Polyps Are Our Friend

Polyps in our colon are our friend. They are there to protect us. The conditions that bring them about are unnatural but they are natural and we can thank nature for them.

Our colon is supposed to be protected by the mucosal lining. When we have antibiotics they kill off this lining and we no longer have anything protecting the tender skin that makes up the colon wall. It is just skin that is no different than the skin on the palm of your hand. This allows the harsh stomach acids and passing food to make direct contact with it. This irritates the tissue and over time will cause damage.

To prevent or minimize this the body will create polyps which are nothing more than extra layers of skin to protect this tissue. A good analogy is if we are shoveling a hole. If we take our gloves off and keep digging we will eventually develop blisters. If we keep digging we will eventually develop calluses on our hands. A polyp is a callus. If we don’t get calluses in our colon what we get is colitis. If we don’t get the proper care (putting the gloves back on) which is replacing the mucosal lining we will get a colon full of calluses / polyps. At that point the polyps will no longer be our friend. We will loose the function of our bowel and if left unattended we will be a higher risk for colon cancer.

How do you prevent all of this? By putting our gloves back on and keeping them on.

Don’t Ignore the 5 Primary Symptoms of Colitis

The symptoms of Colitis are no fun. They include severe stomach pain and diarrhea to name a few. Colitis is a serious problem that causes the lining of the large intestine to be inflamed and swollen.

The primary cause of colitis is our exposure to synthetic manmade antibiotics which our environment is saturated with whether through prescription oral or topical antibiotics or from our tainted food and water supply and also antibacterial home cleaning products. Antibiotics destroy the mucosal lining of the intestines. Without this lining the health of our colon declines dramatically, since the lining protects the tissue in our gastrointestinal tract.

Once damaged our body’s digestive enzymes start eating and irritating the bowel lining. This is exactly what inflammatory bowel conditions like IBS and Crohn’s are and how we get them.

These are the five most common symptoms of Colitis.

1. Diarrhea: This can range from mild and occasional to frequent with unpredictable urgency. Diarrhea is often triggered by eating and then having to run to the bathroom. Some people have a condition known as IBS-C, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome with constipation. This latter condition is found most commonly in people genetically pre-disposed to constipation. Constipation is caused by the body failing to properly hydrate the stool. This is never caused by something that you are doing wrong. It is who you are and you can perfectly manage it-but you cannot not cure it the way you can with diarrhea.

2. Intestinal and stomach pain: While sometimes this may indicate a stomach bug or food poisoning if it persists it may be from colitis.

3. Bloody stools: That’s a dead giveaway that you have ulcerative colitis.

4. Mucus in stool: This is a dead giveaway that you are headed for Crohn’s Disease.

5. While not a physical symptom, this last one may be the most paralyzing side effect of colitis and any IBD.

6. Paranoia: This is seen in someone who is too afraid to leave home to attend social events, go the mall, go out to eat, or go to a movie. They have lived with this problem for so long that they have become shut-ins. Paranoia is most commonly found in those suffering from more than just IBS. Many have had accidents and even when cured find it difficult to leave the safety of their home for more than a short period of time.

The bottom line is that you don’t have to tolerate this pain, physical and psychological, any longer. Taking drugs isn’t the answer, you have already tried that. Look for alternatives. Do some research. Ask questions. In the meantime, don’t ignore these five primary symptoms of colitis.

Leaky Gut Syndrome – What A Mess

I have been trying to figure out the exact cause of this condition for a long time. I now realize why it was so difficult to crack the code. There are many causes of this increasingly common gastrointestinal problem. It is the result of a GI tract that has been attacked by numerous vagaries of modern living.

Poor quality food as well as a severely restricted diet. Our ancestors ate a much wider variety of foods. One example is in the 1920’s they ate as many as 30 different berries and 10-15 types of nuts. And they ate the whole food. We only get what is left over after it is processed to death. Our body needs the unique nutrients that are contained in those foods.

A chemical saturated environment: everything we ingest and touch is laced with chemicals that have many altering effects on our own biochemistry. The explosion over the last 20 years of new synthetic antibiotics is everywhere, including our food and water supply, and all of our health and beauty and toiletry products. We are a bacteria phobic culture.

Because of the unavoidable facts above, we are falling apart. We have become a walking semi-food/semi-hemical blob staggering around. We are a culture whose immunity is so weak we can’t stop things from growing on us and in us (give me more antibiotics in my antiperspirants, mouthwash, tooth pastes, and household cleaners please!) Because of this we can’t properly heal and maintain the integrity of our bodily tissues.

Hence, Leaky Gut Syndrome. Why the term ‘syndrome?’ That is used because there are many contributing causes as stated above. We have holes in the wall of our stomach. Because of this undigested food particles as well as preservatives and whatever else we swallow pass unprocessed directly into the blood stream causing our immune system to freak out and to set off all kinds of alarms = food allergies / intolerances.

There is a long list of other symptoms such as malnutrition, fatigue, skin issues, learning issues, pain syndromes, headaches, high cholesterol, sugar management, all types of allergies - you name it! Do you have one of those kids that seems to react to everything? Why do we need peanut-free zones all of a sudden?

We have sprung a leak at the top of the biochemical assembly line, the gut, where it all begins. The complicated part is figuring out what causes this and how to live with it.

The easier part is healing it. Supplements and herbs are what we need to heal this. This can require quite simple nutrients, but we must know how to dispense them and what ones to use (typically ones that are predigested so as to not stress this broken system and set off the alarms.)