Digestive System Issues

If you haven’t read this already, now is a good time to understand “Probiotics for EASY Digestion and STRONG Immunity

You might like to listen to or read:
Podcast 439: Seven Secrets to a Healthy Microbiome – Part 1

Diarrhea

Flushes out your good intestinal microorganisms, leaving you vulnerable to opportunistic infections.

Probiotics replenish your beneficial bacteria and help prevent new infections – invaluable to help prevent AND treat Traveler’s Diarrhea.

A good intestinal bacteria balance provides protection against a broad range of pathogens, including certain forms of Clostridia, Escherichia Coli, Salmonella, Shigella and Pseudomonas, as well as yeasts such as Candida albicans.

Yeast Infections (Candida Albicans)

Probiotics help prevent yeast infections in all mucosal membranes. This includes your mouth, nose, eyelids, trachea, lungs, stomach, intestines, ureters, urethra and bladder. If you have any discomforts in these areas, Probiotic Supplementation can help.

Candida Overgrowth can cause “Leaky Gut”

The real problem with candida overgrowth is what it does to you over time.

When left alone, candida grows into the rhizome stage. It sprouts into a long, finger-like fungus that punches holes in your entire digestive tract. This condition is called Leaky Gut, or Permeable Bowel Syndrome. It allows toxins to enter your bloodstream. Then your immune system, lymphatic system and liver must work very hard to deal with these toxins.

Digestion slows down, and you end up with a vicious cycle that creates even more candida, liver congestion and Leaky Gut. Candida eats sugars and excretes alcohol. Your liver is stressed from dealing with all the alcohol. Many people call brain fog “die off” and often die-off is involved, but really, it’s all those toxins passing through the blood brain barrier. Whenever you feel fatigue and brain fogged, cleanse your colon.

Normally, every body has some level of candida. Typically found in the digestive system, that extends from your mouth to your rectum. A healthy level of Candida Albicans is kept in check by friendly bacteria in your intestines.

In some people, candida can easily overgrow. Can be the source of a multitude of ailments and diseases. Most people think that they have to “fight” candida as if it were some external invasion. It’s not. The overgrowth is your body’s reaction to digestive imbalance. When corrected, the candida problem will go away.

Stomach Ulcers

Results from a Hong Kong animal study suggest that people with stomach ulcers may benefit from Probiotics. Could speed their recovery. The report, was published in the European Journal of Pharmacology. It looked at the effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. A most extensively studied strain of probiotic effects on gastric ulcer induced in rats. “In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that a probiotic strain L. rhamnosus GG is capable of accelerating gastric ulcer healing”. By lead author Emily Lama from the University of Hong Kong.

Stomach or peptic ulcers are defined as a small hole or erosion in the gastrointestinal tract. Most stomach cancers are caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria. Some studies already show probiotic benefits against this bacteria. According to statistics from the US National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, peptic ulcers affect 14.5 million Americans.

The new research, if it can be reproduced in humans, suggests that probiotics may also offer benefits for people already suffering from stomach ulcers. Lama and coworkers used acetic acid to induce ulcers in rats and the animals were then given L. rhamnosus GG intragastrically for three days. It was observed that the Probiotics successfully colonized in the stomach lining, especially around the ulcer.

A mechanistic study suggested that the probiotics influenced protein expression in the stomach wall cells. This led to increased formation of new blood cells. And increased healing of the ulcer. The proteins identified were classified as ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). “It is still uncertain whether it is the live L. rhamnosus GG, its metabolites, its cell wall components and/or its DNA signal the ulcer healing processes in the stomach,” said the researchers.

“It is important to note that L. rhamnosus GG supplementation did not result in any observable changes in the sham-operated groups regardless of the parameters measured. This is particularly important that L. rhamnosus GG supplementation does not affect the physiological function of a normal gastric mucosa but normalize those with abnormal changes during ulceration,” they added.

References:

  1. European Journal of Pharmacology (Elsevier), Volume 565, Issues 1-3, Pages 171-179
  2. “Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG enhances gastric ulcer healing in rats”
    Authors: Emily K.Y. Lama, L. Yua, H.P.S. Wonga, W.K.K. Wuc, V.Y. Shina, E.K.K. Taia, W.H.L. Soa, P.C.Y. Woob and C.H. Cho

Crohn’s Disease

The Story of Jordan Rubin’s Health Recovery

Original Article Published in
“TOWNSEND NEWSLETTER for Doctors & Patients” August/September 1997, Issues 169/170

by Dr. Morton Walker

Crohn’s disease is a long-term swelling bowel disorder of unknown origin that affects the lower part of the small intestine (the ileum), the main part of the large intestine (the colon), or both structures simultaneously. Jordan Rubin was experiencing every sort of discomforting symptom associated with it: a minimum of one dozen attacks of diarrhea daily, severe stomach pain, generalized abdominal cramps, nausea, fever, chills, weakness, emotional depression, disappearance of appetite, and dramatic weight loss.

He had malabsorption of food nutrients, but nonspecific laboratory findings which included a serum iron level at zero for over a year, an elevated serum candida antigen, positive tests for amoebiasis (amoebae infection), cryptosporidiosis (protozoa infestation), and extreme intestinal dysbiosis, hypoalbuminemia, electrolyte imbalance, leukocytosis, anemia, and elevated C-reactive protein. Definitive x-ray studies and endoscopy testing by gastroenterologists confirmed the young man’s condition. Acting on my published information, Jordan Rubin went to Bad Steben, Germany to receive treatment from Helmut G. Keller, MD, the developer of Carnivora. But it turns out that the young Floridian became a statistical exception: perhaps one in twenty-five who may not respond to the therapy. He returned to the United States feeling worse, needing to come home in a wheelchair.

Jordan Rubin Tells of His Treatments for Crohn’s Disease

Jordan Rubin“I grew up under the supervision of a wholistic health exponent, my dad, who never allowed sugar or processed food in our home. I hadn’t ever experience any bowel problem in my life-no stomach or intestinal flu, no diarrhea-but one day I began feeling abdominal discomfort to the extreme. It happened when I was in my first year of college, under a lot of stress and eating junk food,” states Jordan.

“I began seeking treatment from many different healers, nearly seventy in all, including allopathic physicians, chiropractors, herbalists, homeopaths, acupuncturists, osteopaths, nutritionists, and numerous other health professionals. The dozens of pharmaceuticals prescribed by medical doctors, especially prednisone, only made my symptoms worse. I took over two hundred different nutritional supplements each day,” Jordan explains. “Because of an attack of thrush (candidiasis), my tongue looked like it was wearing a polar bear pelt. From a body weight of 180 pounds, within a few weeks I dropped to 150.

“An osteopath, having tested me for every kind of disease-including AIDS, misdiagnosed my weight loss as some kind of bacterial infection. He prescribed antibiotics and sent me back to school, where my symptoms worsened. As terrible joint pains struck me, I ran fevers of 104 F. When my body temperature spiked 106 F, the college authorities became really alarmed and had me flown home. I was given emergency treatment in a Palm Beach hospital.

“That was my first hospitalization which lasted two weeks. Here is a short list of drugs I was prescribed thereafter: intravenous (IV) hydrocortisone, multiple forms of broad-spectrum antibiotics, IV metronidazole (Flagyl), anticholinergics, and antidiarrheal loperamide. By then my body weight had fallen to 140 pounds. I felt exceedingly weak. From a biopsy of the large intestine, my diagnosis of ‘Crohn’s colitis,’ accompanied by ‘marked duodenitis,’ was made during this hospitalization. Thus, the condition was affecting my bowel from the duodenum to the rectum. Surgery involving a colostomy wasn’t an option,” Jordan advises. “The treatment offered was more drugs with their various adverse side effects. Therefore, my parents and I started to search at that time for alternative methods of healing the condition of Crohn’s colitis.

Jordan’s Search for Effective Alternatives

“I began to journey around the world to different clinics and physicians,” the young man said. “Over almost three years, here is what I tried as alternatives to conventional allopathic medicine: cell therapy; seven daily intramuscular injections of vitamins and minerals; IV adrenocortical extract; blood transfusions; immunotherapy; chelation therapy; daily IV drips with several grams of vitamin C; energy medicine with the Voll energy machine, the Rife machine, and interotherapy; classical homeopathy; most of the herbals known to man, including suma, Chinese herbs, and South American herbs, such as Cat’s Claw (Uncaria tomentosa).”

His search for treatment also brought Jordan to use other biological therapies too numerous to include here, but he did hint at a few. “I took shark cartilage; the anti-yeast diet plus the anti-candidiasis drugs nystatin and Diflucan; massive doses of L-glutamine amino acid; applied kinesiology; hormone replacement therapy; injectable thymus; the rotation diet; acupuncture; oral enteral feedings; gluten- and dairy-free dieting; UltraClear sustained dieting; almost every available food supplement, and any form of immune-stimulating product,” Jordan says. “But nothing out of all these seemed to help!”

“By now, I was experiencing as many as thirty bowel movements during a twenty-four-hour period. I was fatigued and terribly dehydrated. My body weight fell to just 104 pounds; my resting heart rate galloped at 220 beats per minute. Almost no electrolytes were detectable in my body. This resulted in emergency hospitalization; it took the nurses three hours to get blood from me. That’s when my dad telephoned you, Dr. Walker, to learn more about IV and oral Carnivora. And I did make the trip to Germany.”

“At the time of that second hospitalization during the late fall of 1995, the hospital staff was convinced that I was about to die,” Jordan says. “I asked God in prayer to help me, and those prayers were answered by his sending a solution for my suffering. Upon my leaving the hospital two weeks later weighing 111 pounds (see Jordan’s photograph at age 20), I learned about God’s gift to me – it was certain soil-based organisms present in a brand of a product named Nature’s Biotics.”

Crohn’s Disease Healed with SBOs

“I ordered the encapsulated soil-based product and started to take more than what was recommended. Improvement didn’t come on immediately; I had somewhat of a Herxheimer reaction,” suggests Jordan.

Also referred to as “die-off,” the Herxheimer reaction is an allergic body response resulting from the death of large numbers of pathological organisms. Their cell-wall proteins become absorbed through the patient’s chronically weakened mucous membranes which absorb toxic products from these dead organisms. The collective effects of organism die-off often temporarily worsen one’s symptoms. Wholistic physicians who practice environmental medicine believe this die-off reaction indicates that the patient is having an excellent backlash effect to good treatment. [1]

“About 30 days after taking Nature’s Biotics, I eliminated this shiny, black, tar-like material. After experiencing about seven thousand bowel movements in a year, one would think my colon was pretty much cleaned out. But it wasn’t,” Jordan states. “For about thirty days, I didn’t really see much improvement but stuck with those soil-based organisms, primarily because I had never before read such convincing research on any product. Within a month, I began feeling new surges of energy. My immune system started to restore itself. My appetite returned, and each week I’ve put on a few pounds as well as good muscle mass. Today, a year after finding Nature’s Biotics, I weigh 184 pounds. And I am pursuing a career in the health field.”

“From the ground up, these soil-based organisms have kick-started my immune system into re-functioning again. Nothing else has helped me like them,” Jordan Rubin concludes. “Unquestionably they’re a gift from God for me. From spending as much as $100 a day on nutritional supplements, now I’m down to taking almost nothing else except Nature’s Biotics. All I require to keep a healthy bowel is to stay on a diet of whole foods which includes meat and dairy and a daily nutritional supplement of soil-based organisms as the foundation of my eating program.”

Nutritional researchers now are convinced that as much as 90 percent of known systemic diseases may be caused or exacerbated by gastrointestinal imbalance. Jordan Rubin’s Crohn’s disease is an overly severe example of what can occur from gut imbalance. Other examples are allergies, chronic candidiasis, food sensitivities, asthma, hormonal dysfunction, intestinal gas and bloating, certain skin diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, and more.

References

[1] Trowbridge, J.P. and Walker, M. The Yeast Syndrome (New York: Bantam Books, 1986), pp. 38 & 39.

Autism

Probiotic bacteria given to autistic children improved their concentration and behavior so much that medical trials collapsed because parents refused to accept placebos, a scientist revealed.

The effect of the bacteria was so pronounced that some of the parents taking part in what was supposed to be a blind trial realized their children were taking something other than a placebo. A number then refused to give their children the placebo when they were due to switch, resulting in the collapse of the trial.

Prof. Glenn Gibson, a microbiologist who ran the study of 40 autistic children aged between four and eight, said this meant it was difficult to draw any firm conclusions and he is planning to carry out further research. However, he said parents had told him the probiotic bacteria was having a beneficial effect, resulting in better concentration and better behavior.

One parent said it was “heartbreaking” to have to stop their child taking it.

“It was really challenging for us and the parents. I’d really like to go back to it and do it in a better way, with perhaps more professional help from people who know how to deal with autistic children,” said Prof Gibson.

“The trial ultimately failed because of the large number of dropouts. About half the kids dropped out. Some of the parents worked out their child was on the test and didn’t want to move on to the placebo.”

Autistic children often suffer bowel conditions and Prof Gibson said a previous study had found high levels of a “bad” bacteria called clostridia in the gut.

The probiotic was then designed to reduce the levels of clostridia and promote “friendly” bacteria instead to see what effect this would have.

Prof Gibson, from Reading University, said the children appeared to show fewer signs of autism when taking the probiotic supplement, which was given in a powder once a day.

“Very subjectively, we asked the parents to fill in diaries about the mood of the children. We got very positive feedback generally,” he said.

He said that certain kinds of clostridia produced neurotoxins, which potentially could be the cause of autism or a contributory factor.

However, he said this was speculation and the apparent improvement could also simply be because the children had felt better.

“If your gut is not behaving itself, you feel rough,” Prof Gibson said.

The first bacteria in the gut is received from the mother during birth and then comes from the outside environment, with diet playing an important role.

“They [infants] may be under medication for an infection and that may have an effect,” Prof Gibson said.

“There are all sorts of different factors that may affect that [the bacterial make-up of the gut].”

There was a scare over widely discredited claims that autism was linked to the MMR – measles, mumps and rubella – vaccine given to children.

Asked whether he thought childhood vaccines could have an effect, Prof Gibson said: “No. I don’t think there is anything in this MMR business at all.”

It is estimated that 535,000 people in the UK have some kind of autism, including a milder form called Asperger’s Syndrome.

The condition affects four times as many boys as girls for reasons that are not clearly understood.

A spokeswoman for the National Autistic Society (NAS), the UK’s leading charity for people with the condition and their families, said it followed new research into possible treatments with great interest.

She went on: “There is anecdotal evidence that certain vitamins and diets do have benefits for some people with autism. However, a great deal more research remains to be done in this area.

“The NAS looks forward to seeing the results of the further research that Professor Gibson hopes to conduct in the future.”

She said that “rigorous scientific evaluation” was necessary to gauge the effects of any new treatment.

A whole range of therapies had been tried in the past, from medication and behavioral therapy to aromatherapy and swimming with dolphins, with varying degrees of success.

Below is from the book: “The 24-Seven Health Plan”
by Christopher Pick, ND

There are literally hundreds of problems could be included under Specific System Breakdowns…

Colon and Intestines

There are literally hundreds of problems that could be included under Specific System Breakdowns. However, the purpose of this book is not to document them all – even if this was possible. My message is to highlight the indisputable fact that, basically they are ALL caused (genetic Inheritance aside) by our toxic environment and toxic and nutrient depleted food and water chain; and that we can do something about it – simply.

Please think about this: If the substances that nourish, support, build and repair us are heavily contaminated, how can we not also be contaminated? I have previously stated that millions of us are walking time bombs, waiting to explode. Thousands of men, women and worst of all, children, are exploding every single minute, every hour, day, month and year. Please don’t be one of them. Take action now.

Ulcerative Colitis

With this condition the mucous membranes that line the colon become ulcerated and inflamed and in some cases, infected. This causes pain, bloating gas and wind, bleeding and diarrhea. In some sufferers, the stools become very hard. This means that an extra burden of muscular work is placed upon the colon to move these hardened stools. Eventually, the mucous lining can bulge, causing a projection called a diverticula, adding further to the problem.

Poor general diet, which includes a lack of fiber, a lack of pancreatic and food digestive enzymes, a lack of stomach acid, toxic bowel, bacterial infection, imbalance of bowel flora, food allergies, candida, and the overuse of antibiotics are all implicated in this condition. Antibiotics can cause a gut overgrowth of an organism called Clostridia difficile that can cause recurring colitis.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has spread like the plague over the last few years. It is one of the most common complaints made to all types of health practitioners. Symptoms are many and diverse, they include constipation, diarrhea (these may alternate), bloating, gas, wind, mucous and/or blood in the stools, pain, abdominal distention, vomiting, nausea, headaches, etc. The colon may well become partially obstructed with impacted fecal matter. Absorption of nutrients is seriously affected with this type of bowel problem, further compounding the problem.

A healthy bowel moves food and waste through its length by rhythmic muscular waves called peristalsis. With IBS this action becomes weakened and irregular. Putrefying waste cannot be expelled correctly, this delay creates a potential for the reabsorption of carcinogens, toxins and bacteria. Some scientists think that a virus or bacteria may play a part in causing a loss of peristaltic action. This may well be so, but it is in my view, due to the overall decline in nutritional status. This results in soft, flabby muscles both outside and inside the body – peristalsis is an internal muscular contraction. The same problems that are implicated in ulcerative colitis, as listed above, are implicated with IBS. Having a toxic bowel (impacted fecal matter in the colon) may be the most important factor here, together with very poor nutritional status.

With a toxic bowel and/or an extended fecal transit time, an extra burden is placed on the immune system. There is a large mass of lymphoid tissue on the mucous membrane lining the intestines, called Peyer’s patches. These are an important part of the immune system as they produce antibodies to deal with immune challenges. Following The 24 Seven Health Plan, with particular emphasis on a toxic bowel test, the cleaning and detoxification of the colon and the liver, essential fatty acid and fiber intake will help to cure ulcerative colitis, and other bowel problems, in most cases. I suggest that you consult a health care professional such as a nutritionally aware doctor, naturopath, clinical nutritionist, or nutritional practitioner.

Note: With conditions such as Ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis inflammatory bowel disease, leaky gut, and Crohn’s disease, the amino acid L- glutamine is very beneficial. I suggest taking 500mg four times daily with water, half an hour before food. This is in addition to the action outlined above.

Leaky Gut Syndrome

After food leaves the stomach its continuing digestion takes place in the gut. Thereafter, nutrients are carried through the gut mucosal barrier into the bloodstream, from where they are utilized as required in thousands of metabolic reactions. Large amounts of lymphoid tissue termed Peyers Patches are located on the intestinal (gut) mucous lining. These produce antibodies to deal with any substance that the body believes to be foreign and are a highly important part of the immune defense system.

The gut lining can be damaged or breached by, among others, infection, toxins, a lack of digestive enzymes, an overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria such as Candida albicans and Clostridium difficile, by antibiotics, processed foods, additives, excess alcohol consumption and poor general diet and nutrition. It is known also, that NSAID’s (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) inflame the gut lining, as do aspirin and Neurofen. The overuse of these substances can be the prime cause of leaky gut syndrome.

An inflamed or breached gut allows improperly digested (large) food molecules, toxins (particularly if the sufferer also has a toxic bowel), bacteria, viruses and yeast’s to pass into the bloodstream with unpleasant and sometimes dire consequences. An allergy to all sorts of substances including normal foods can manifest. This is because incorrectly digested food is treated by the body as a “foreign” substance and an antibody is produced to fight it, much as it would be against bacteria. This immune response is then activated every time this ‘foreign’ food is eaten.

With leaky gut syndrome, as with other gut problems, the absorption of vital nutrients is severely compromised. The liver and the lymphatic system fail to adequately detoxify an increasing toxic load and we have a situation that can snowball out of control. Leaky gut syndrome can be cured or at least controlled in most cases. Following The 24 Seven Health Plan will help in many ways, but it would be wise to seek the help of a naturopath, clinical nutritionist, nutritionist or a healthcare professional who is familiar with this problem.

Notes: Many practitioners have access to laboratories that can undertake a gut permeability screen. Leaky gut syndrome may possibly be the cause of autoimmune diseases that include multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Toxic bowel

I have already stated in the chapter on Toxic Bowel, that recent scientific evidence suggests that the ‘bad’ bacteria produced by bowel toxins from impacted fecal matter in the colon, can create an increase in the bacterial enzyme beta-glucuronidase that can reactivate ‘dead’ oestrogens. These may then be reabsorbed into the bloodstream, further elevating levels of circulating oestrogens.

Remember, that forty-seven per cent of people that I have tested had a toxic bowel. It is an easy matter to clear this condition either with colonic irrigation and / or a course of fiber colon cleanse. You will find details on how to undertake a simple urine test to determine if you have this condition in the ‘services’ section at the back of this book.

Author: Christopher Pick ND, Dr. Morton Walker and Life-Enthusiast Staff