A few days ago, Thanksgiving Eve, a cherished friend died of a massive heart attack.
Maryann P. was only 54 and seemed like she was in good health.
She was a nurse and even with her vast medical knowledge was not apparently aware of a pending collapse in her health. She did not smoke, drank socially, was eating healthier and took care of others as well.
As I write this, I have a few leads on my arm to a pic line for intravenous nutritional feeding for Crohns complications. I feel vulnerable health wise and can't seem to stop crying about my friend. I imagine most of my fear comes from family history of heart disease. Crohns issues involving pic line placement left me with several blood clots.
We really have no control over our longevity or lack there of but it is something we all think about at least once. I ask myself after every surgery (which are many) "Why am I still here?" "What is my purpose?" There must be a reason. I've never really given in to feeling sorry for myself, in fact the opposite.
The last few days I've felt sorry for my own situation dealing with CD. I've suffered for over 30 years and still manage to push on. Other Crohns patients have died from CD and complications. Today I am terrified when all these years I "thought" I wasn't afraid.
Am I alone in my feelings of vulnerability? Do you believe people can sense when their time in earth is coming to an end? I remember before my grand pop died, he started talking about my grand mom who passed away 20 years prior. I knew he was sensing his final days. He died the following month. He helped me prepare for his death if that makes sense.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
The View - Amy Brenneman, Colitis
Amy Brenneman has stepped up as the spokeswoman for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America after suffering from inflammatory bowel disease for years.
The Private Practice star underwent surgery in 2010 to have her colon removed and she has been in good health ever since.
Brenneman was recently approached by organisers behind the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation to help raise awareness about the disease and she agreed to film a public service announcement to encourage others not to suffer in silence.
During an appearance on U.S. talk show The View on Monday (01Oct12), she said, "A lot of people suffer from it, it is not a glamorous disease. They (Foundation officials) wanted it to get some traction because there is something really private and embarrassing and strange about (inflammatory bowel disease)".
IBD sufferers are prone to ulcers and sores on their large intestine or colon.
Letter from Rick Geswell, CCFA President
We have a number of exciting projects in the works at CCFA this fall, including a new teleconference next month exploring the latest breakthroughs in research. We're also working to raise awareness by making sure our legislators are helping us find cures. You can help by asking your legislator to join others in support of issues important to our patients and loved ones. In addition, we've created a new way to fundraise through personalized fundraising pages.
Finally, we're excited to announce the launch of Campus Connection, a website designed for students with IBD. This site will connect students with IBD and create a community of shared experiences to reinforce that you are not alone!
Finally, we're excited to announce the launch of Campus Connection, a website designed for students with IBD. This site will connect students with IBD and create a community of shared experiences to reinforce that you are not alone!
My CCFA Fundraising Page
Is my donation tax deductible?
Yes. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record. We'll send it to you upon successful completion of your donation.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Digestive System Determines Your Health
A healthy digestive system determines
vitality and outstanding health.
The nutrients in your food provide both the energy that fuels your life, and the building blocks needed to continuously maintain your physical body in its peak condition.
It's your digestive system that extracts the nutrients from your food and absorbs and assimilates them into your body.
A healthy digestive system is necessary to maximise your nourishment from the food you eat.
Nourishment is the source of life. The quality of your nourishment is what determines your ability to live and love to the full, and to look and feel great.
And it's not just what you eat that matters (though that's crucial).
For optimum nourishment you need to keep your digestive system in peak performance.
But mostly we take our digestive system for granted.
Because digestion happens more or less automatically, without our conscious thought or intent, we mostly don't even think about it.
We overload ourselves with food and drink taken on the run and under stress, and wonder why we end up feeling down and depleted of energy.
The symptoms of indigestion are unpleasant and all too common.
We all know what it's like when our digestive system is not working properly.
The symptoms of indigestion are all too common. A burning sensation in the upper abdomen, abdominal pain, belching, flatulence, vomiting, heartburn, bloating of the stomach and nausea - we've all experienced them.
Of course these symptoms can indicate a more serious health condition. If they persist or if for any reason you're worried about them, seek professional advice. Self diagnosis and medication can be unwise.
But more often than not, stomach problems are self-inflicted. We overeat, drink too much alcohol, mix incompatible foods or eat foods that 'don't agree' with us. We eat too many unhealthy foods - 'junk' foods - and we rush them down while stressed and on the run.
We can probably blame only ourselves for our tummy troubles.
And we ought to know better. We all know from experience that when we mistreat our digestive system it gets back at us. This is certainly one body system that knows how to communicate.
Clearly it's got something important to say.
Learn to listen to the wisdom of your body. Your health depends on it. Symptoms are signals that something is not right. And when all is not right with your digestive system, you need to know.
We're easily tempted to overeat. Our bodies evolved at a time when the steady availability of food was by no means certain. We had to cope with cycles of feast and famine, so in good times we needed to eat enough to tide us over. We stored the excess calories as body fat (we still do!) until needed.
We're easily tempted to eat more than we can comfortably digest. We pay the price.
But if your digestive system can't cope with your current food intake - what you eat and drink, how much and how quickly, in what mixtures and under what conditions - your digestion simply won't work properly.
It won't extract the full nutritional benefit of your food. Your body won't get the nourishment it needs to serve you faithfully and well, and to keep on going.
Clearly this is critical for your health and vitality. It seems only natural that your stomach should be programmed to kick up a stink when you neglect its needs.
The better your digestive system works, the better the use your body can make of the nutrients in your food. The healthier you will be. Good, healthy digestion is crucial to provide you with great levels of energy and vitality, productivity and creativity. And it will help ensure your longer term prospects for lasting health and longevity.
Let's just take a brief look at your digestive system, what it does and how it works. This brief overview will help you understand how you can help your digestive system to work better for you. Your body will love you for it.
Your Digestive System
Your digestive system takes the food and drink you put into your mouth, and breaks it down into its smallest units (amino acids, simple sugars and fatty acids). This enables the fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in your food to be absorbed into your bloodstream and carried to cells throughout your body.
There they're reassembled into the materials your body needs to provide the energy for both your conscious activities and your unconscious automatic body processes such as pumping your blood, breathing and maintaining your body temperature. Digestion of your food also supplies the raw materials needed for your body's maintenance and growth.
Finally, undigestible material (fiber and some starches), is prepared for elimination as feces.
It helps to think of your digestive system as having two parts - a digestive tract through which your food passes to be processed, and a group of accessory organs that provide the chemical substances - acids and enzymes - needed for digestion to take place. Let's look at each of these.
The Digestive Tract
Your digestive tract (also called the gastrointestinal tract) is basically a long muscular tube that starts at your mouth and travels down through the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and rectum, finishing at the anus.
For the average person it's about 30 feet in length. Its full of twists and turns as it coils around and about on itself to fit snugly inside your body.
The food you eat travels through this tube, is 'digested' along the way, and then absorbed into your bloodstream through the walls of the tube.
The Accessory Organs of Digestion
This is a group of specialised cells and organs, which produce and secrete digestive enzymes into the digestive tract. Several of the digestive glands are located in the walls of the digestive tract. Others, for example the salivary glands, pancreas, liver and gallbladder, are located outside the tract but secrete into the digestive tract through small tubes called ducts.
The digestive system performs five important functions.
1) Ingestion
This is the first step in digestion. It's when you take food or drink into your mouth.
2) Movement of food
Once the food leaves your mouth, waves of muscular contraction continually push your partially digested food along through the various sections of the digestive tract. The process is called peristalsis.
3) Digestion
The breakdown of the food by both mechanical and chemical processes that began in your mouth, continues once the food reaches your stomach. Most of the digestive action takes place in the stomach and, especially, in the small intestine.
4) Absorption
The small units into which your digested food has been broken down, pass through the walls of the digestive tract, moving from the digestive system into the bloodstream for distribution to your cells and organs throughout the body.
5) Defecation
Some components of your food are indigestible substances. Dietary fiber is an example. These substances travel the entire length of the digestive tract, and are ultimately eliminated as feces.
The Digestive Tract
There are five major parts to the digestive tract.
1) The Mouth
The work of the digestive system actually begins in the mouth, where you begin the digestion process of breaking the food down into smaller components. You do this in two ways.
a) Mechanically. The first thing you do when you put food into your mouth is attack it with your teeth. You bite, grind and chew your way through it until it's ready to swallow. This is called mastication. Your tongue helps in this by acting like a tumbler to move, churn and reposition the food between our teeth and against the roof of your mouth (your palate). The process of chewing our food is the only process within the digestive system (other than choosing when to defecate) that you can control consciously.
b) Chemically. This is an unconscious, automatic, process. Your salivary glands infuse of saliva which mixes with your food and begins the process of chemically breaking it down.
After you chew your food you swallow it. Swallowing is actually an automatic reflex that occurs when you have finished chewing and pass the mass of chewed up food to the back of the mouth into the opening of the pharynx. The mass of food that has been chewed and swallowed is called a bolus (from the Latin for a ball).
2) The Esophagus
This is a muscular tube connecting the mouth with the stomach. It's about ten inches long in the average person. The mouthful of food you have just chewed and swallowed, the bolus, moves down through this tube pretty quickly, helped by the action of peristalsis and by gravity (unless you're lying down!). The role of your esophagus is simply to get your food down into your stomach, where the processes of your digestive system begin in earnest.
3) The Stomach
This is where the real action begins. The average person's stomach has a capacity of about four cups. When the stomach receives food, it is swept by powerful waves of muscle contraction. These waves churn and mix the bolus as it arrives, causing it to break down into smaller and smaller particles.
After a while these particles are moved, little by little, down from the upper to the lower portion of the stomach. Here juices containing hydrochloric acid and other enzymes are added to the food and it is ground into a semi-liquid mass called chyme.
A stomach enzyme called pepsin combines with the strong stomach acid to uncoil proteins and partially break them down.
The strong acidity of the stomach prevents bacterial growth and kills most bacteria that enter your body with food.
The stomach releases the chyme bit by bit through a the pyloric sphincter, a valve which opens into the small intestine and then closes behind the chyme.
4) The Small Intestine
Most of the absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream takes place in the small intestine. It's a long narrow tube, typically up to about 11.5 feet long and about an inch in diameter.
When partially digested food enters the small intestine from the stomach, its acidity stimulates the both pancreas and cells of the small intestine to release a number of different types of digestive enzymes into the intestine. These enzymes play an important role in digestion. They assist chemical processes that break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins into molecules small enough to be absorbed through the wall of the small intestine into the blood.
In addition, the pancreas secretes sodium bicarbonate. This is a strongly alkaline substance that neutralises the acid from the stomach.
The entry of food (particularly fat) into the small intestine also causes the secretion of bile, which has been produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Bile is not an enzyme. It is a complex solution of salts and other substances. Bile breaks large fat droplets down into much smaller droplets, which in turn allows the digestive enzymes to break down fats more effectively.
Food remains in the small intestine for somewhere between three and ten hours. By the time it has reached the end of the small intestine some 95% of the nutrients that were in the food will have been absorbed into the blood.
The small intestine is responsible for 85-90% of the water absorbed from the digestive system. Only a small amount of water remains in the still undigested material that passes from the small intestine to the large intestine.
5) The Large Intestine
The remnants of digestion that enter the large intestine are the remaining water, some minerals and undigested fibers and starches. Only a minor amount, around 5%, of carbohydrate, protein and fat generally escapes absorption from the small intestine.
The large intestine is a wider tube than the small intestine, but ii's only about 3.6 feet long.
The large intestine mainly absorbs sodium and potassium, along with some water.
Bacteria living inside the large intestine ferment different dietary fibers and undigested starches to produce short-chain fatty acids. Many of these are actually used by the cells of the large intestine as an energy source.
Bacterial fermentation inside the large intestine also produces vitamin K and biotin (a B-group vitamin).
Food generally takes about 24-72 hours to pass through the large intestine.Occasionally the intestine becomes irritated and peristalsis moves material through it too fast for enough water to be reabsorbed into the bloodstream from it, causing diarrhea. On the other hand, if material moves through the large intestine too slowly, too much water is reabsorbed from it, and constipation is the result. An adequate amount of dietary fibre should provide the bulk needed to stimulate enough peristalsis in the large intestine to prevent constipation.
The last part of the large intestine, the rectum, serves as a storage chamber for the feces until defecation takes place through the anus.
More on Healthy Nutrition
Knowledge is the key to taking personal responsibility for your health.
Modern scientific studies have overturned traditional notions of a 'balanced diet' based on the Five Food Groups and the Nutrition Pyramid.
The key to fighting stress is to understand what it is and how it affects you. Learn about the causes and symptoms of stress.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward.
vitality and outstanding health.
The nutrients in your food provide both the energy that fuels your life, and the building blocks needed to continuously maintain your physical body in its peak condition.
It's your digestive system that extracts the nutrients from your food and absorbs and assimilates them into your body.
A healthy digestive system is necessary to maximise your nourishment from the food you eat.
Nourishment is the source of life. The quality of your nourishment is what determines your ability to live and love to the full, and to look and feel great.
And it's not just what you eat that matters (though that's crucial).
For optimum nourishment you need to keep your digestive system in peak performance.
But mostly we take our digestive system for granted.
Because digestion happens more or less automatically, without our conscious thought or intent, we mostly don't even think about it.
We overload ourselves with food and drink taken on the run and under stress, and wonder why we end up feeling down and depleted of energy.
The symptoms of indigestion are unpleasant and all too common.
We all know what it's like when our digestive system is not working properly.
The symptoms of indigestion are all too common. A burning sensation in the upper abdomen, abdominal pain, belching, flatulence, vomiting, heartburn, bloating of the stomach and nausea - we've all experienced them.
Of course these symptoms can indicate a more serious health condition. If they persist or if for any reason you're worried about them, seek professional advice. Self diagnosis and medication can be unwise.
But more often than not, stomach problems are self-inflicted. We overeat, drink too much alcohol, mix incompatible foods or eat foods that 'don't agree' with us. We eat too many unhealthy foods - 'junk' foods - and we rush them down while stressed and on the run.
We can probably blame only ourselves for our tummy troubles.
And we ought to know better. We all know from experience that when we mistreat our digestive system it gets back at us. This is certainly one body system that knows how to communicate.
Clearly it's got something important to say.
Learn to listen to the wisdom of your body. Your health depends on it. Symptoms are signals that something is not right. And when all is not right with your digestive system, you need to know.
We're easily tempted to overeat. Our bodies evolved at a time when the steady availability of food was by no means certain. We had to cope with cycles of feast and famine, so in good times we needed to eat enough to tide us over. We stored the excess calories as body fat (we still do!) until needed.
We're easily tempted to eat more than we can comfortably digest. We pay the price.
But if your digestive system can't cope with your current food intake - what you eat and drink, how much and how quickly, in what mixtures and under what conditions - your digestion simply won't work properly.
It won't extract the full nutritional benefit of your food. Your body won't get the nourishment it needs to serve you faithfully and well, and to keep on going.
Clearly this is critical for your health and vitality. It seems only natural that your stomach should be programmed to kick up a stink when you neglect its needs.
The better your digestive system works, the better the use your body can make of the nutrients in your food. The healthier you will be. Good, healthy digestion is crucial to provide you with great levels of energy and vitality, productivity and creativity. And it will help ensure your longer term prospects for lasting health and longevity.
Let's just take a brief look at your digestive system, what it does and how it works. This brief overview will help you understand how you can help your digestive system to work better for you. Your body will love you for it.
Your Digestive System
Your digestive system takes the food and drink you put into your mouth, and breaks it down into its smallest units (amino acids, simple sugars and fatty acids). This enables the fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in your food to be absorbed into your bloodstream and carried to cells throughout your body.
There they're reassembled into the materials your body needs to provide the energy for both your conscious activities and your unconscious automatic body processes such as pumping your blood, breathing and maintaining your body temperature. Digestion of your food also supplies the raw materials needed for your body's maintenance and growth.
Finally, undigestible material (fiber and some starches), is prepared for elimination as feces.
It helps to think of your digestive system as having two parts - a digestive tract through which your food passes to be processed, and a group of accessory organs that provide the chemical substances - acids and enzymes - needed for digestion to take place. Let's look at each of these.
The Digestive Tract
Your digestive tract (also called the gastrointestinal tract) is basically a long muscular tube that starts at your mouth and travels down through the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and rectum, finishing at the anus.
For the average person it's about 30 feet in length. Its full of twists and turns as it coils around and about on itself to fit snugly inside your body.
The food you eat travels through this tube, is 'digested' along the way, and then absorbed into your bloodstream through the walls of the tube.
The Accessory Organs of Digestion
This is a group of specialised cells and organs, which produce and secrete digestive enzymes into the digestive tract. Several of the digestive glands are located in the walls of the digestive tract. Others, for example the salivary glands, pancreas, liver and gallbladder, are located outside the tract but secrete into the digestive tract through small tubes called ducts.
The digestive system performs five important functions.
1) Ingestion
This is the first step in digestion. It's when you take food or drink into your mouth.
2) Movement of food
Once the food leaves your mouth, waves of muscular contraction continually push your partially digested food along through the various sections of the digestive tract. The process is called peristalsis.
3) Digestion
The breakdown of the food by both mechanical and chemical processes that began in your mouth, continues once the food reaches your stomach. Most of the digestive action takes place in the stomach and, especially, in the small intestine.
4) Absorption
The small units into which your digested food has been broken down, pass through the walls of the digestive tract, moving from the digestive system into the bloodstream for distribution to your cells and organs throughout the body.
5) Defecation
Some components of your food are indigestible substances. Dietary fiber is an example. These substances travel the entire length of the digestive tract, and are ultimately eliminated as feces.
The Digestive Tract
There are five major parts to the digestive tract.
1) The Mouth
The work of the digestive system actually begins in the mouth, where you begin the digestion process of breaking the food down into smaller components. You do this in two ways.
a) Mechanically. The first thing you do when you put food into your mouth is attack it with your teeth. You bite, grind and chew your way through it until it's ready to swallow. This is called mastication. Your tongue helps in this by acting like a tumbler to move, churn and reposition the food between our teeth and against the roof of your mouth (your palate). The process of chewing our food is the only process within the digestive system (other than choosing when to defecate) that you can control consciously.
b) Chemically. This is an unconscious, automatic, process. Your salivary glands infuse of saliva which mixes with your food and begins the process of chemically breaking it down.
After you chew your food you swallow it. Swallowing is actually an automatic reflex that occurs when you have finished chewing and pass the mass of chewed up food to the back of the mouth into the opening of the pharynx. The mass of food that has been chewed and swallowed is called a bolus (from the Latin for a ball).
2) The Esophagus
This is a muscular tube connecting the mouth with the stomach. It's about ten inches long in the average person. The mouthful of food you have just chewed and swallowed, the bolus, moves down through this tube pretty quickly, helped by the action of peristalsis and by gravity (unless you're lying down!). The role of your esophagus is simply to get your food down into your stomach, where the processes of your digestive system begin in earnest.
3) The Stomach
This is where the real action begins. The average person's stomach has a capacity of about four cups. When the stomach receives food, it is swept by powerful waves of muscle contraction. These waves churn and mix the bolus as it arrives, causing it to break down into smaller and smaller particles.
After a while these particles are moved, little by little, down from the upper to the lower portion of the stomach. Here juices containing hydrochloric acid and other enzymes are added to the food and it is ground into a semi-liquid mass called chyme.
A stomach enzyme called pepsin combines with the strong stomach acid to uncoil proteins and partially break them down.
The strong acidity of the stomach prevents bacterial growth and kills most bacteria that enter your body with food.
The stomach releases the chyme bit by bit through a the pyloric sphincter, a valve which opens into the small intestine and then closes behind the chyme.
4) The Small Intestine
Most of the absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream takes place in the small intestine. It's a long narrow tube, typically up to about 11.5 feet long and about an inch in diameter.
When partially digested food enters the small intestine from the stomach, its acidity stimulates the both pancreas and cells of the small intestine to release a number of different types of digestive enzymes into the intestine. These enzymes play an important role in digestion. They assist chemical processes that break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins into molecules small enough to be absorbed through the wall of the small intestine into the blood.
In addition, the pancreas secretes sodium bicarbonate. This is a strongly alkaline substance that neutralises the acid from the stomach.
The entry of food (particularly fat) into the small intestine also causes the secretion of bile, which has been produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Bile is not an enzyme. It is a complex solution of salts and other substances. Bile breaks large fat droplets down into much smaller droplets, which in turn allows the digestive enzymes to break down fats more effectively.
Food remains in the small intestine for somewhere between three and ten hours. By the time it has reached the end of the small intestine some 95% of the nutrients that were in the food will have been absorbed into the blood.
The small intestine is responsible for 85-90% of the water absorbed from the digestive system. Only a small amount of water remains in the still undigested material that passes from the small intestine to the large intestine.
5) The Large Intestine
The remnants of digestion that enter the large intestine are the remaining water, some minerals and undigested fibers and starches. Only a minor amount, around 5%, of carbohydrate, protein and fat generally escapes absorption from the small intestine.
The large intestine is a wider tube than the small intestine, but ii's only about 3.6 feet long.
The large intestine mainly absorbs sodium and potassium, along with some water.
Bacteria living inside the large intestine ferment different dietary fibers and undigested starches to produce short-chain fatty acids. Many of these are actually used by the cells of the large intestine as an energy source.
Bacterial fermentation inside the large intestine also produces vitamin K and biotin (a B-group vitamin).
Food generally takes about 24-72 hours to pass through the large intestine.Occasionally the intestine becomes irritated and peristalsis moves material through it too fast for enough water to be reabsorbed into the bloodstream from it, causing diarrhea. On the other hand, if material moves through the large intestine too slowly, too much water is reabsorbed from it, and constipation is the result. An adequate amount of dietary fibre should provide the bulk needed to stimulate enough peristalsis in the large intestine to prevent constipation.
The last part of the large intestine, the rectum, serves as a storage chamber for the feces until defecation takes place through the anus.
More on Healthy Nutrition
Knowledge is the key to taking personal responsibility for your health.
Modern scientific studies have overturned traditional notions of a 'balanced diet' based on the Five Food Groups and the Nutrition Pyramid.
The key to fighting stress is to understand what it is and how it affects you. Learn about the causes and symptoms of stress.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
How to Manage Gout
Gout is a type of arthritis that results from the deposit and buildup of glass-like crystals of uric acid in your joints. Uric acid is a by-product of the breakdown of certain proteins. Normally, uric acid is broken down in the bloodstream and then eliminated in the urine.
It is estimated that over 2 million Americans have gout. A severe gout attack is extremely painful and, if left untreated, can cause permanent and severe joint damage. Fortunately, gout can be managed or controlled.
First things first: risk factors
Are you at risk for gout? Although gout can occur in men and women of any age, it most often occurs in men over age 40. Gout usually does not affect women until after menopause. Lifestyle factors increase the risk of gout, including being overweight, fasting or crash dieting, drinking alcohol in excess and eating a diet that includes foods high in purines (proteins which make up uric acid):
Organ meats (e.g., liver, kidney, brain, sweetbread, heart)
Fish roe
Mussels
Anchovies
Herring
Sardines
Legumes (e.g., dried beans, peas, soybeans)
Meat extracts
Consommé
Gravies
Mushrooms
Spinach
Asparagus
Cauliflower
Poultry
Drinking high-fructose beverages, like sugar-sweetened sodas and orange juice can dramatically increase your risk of gout. There appears to be a genetic component as well, but not a large one. Six percent to 18% of people who have gout have relatives who also have gout. (In a small number of people, the risk of gout is increased by an enzyme defect that interferes with the way the body breaks down purines.) That means that 82% to 94% of the people with gout do not have a genetic link to the disease; it is primarily a lifestyle issue.
Certain medications can increase the risk of gout. These include:
Diuretics
Salicylates and medicines made from salicylic acid (such as aspirin)
Caffeine, including medicines containing caffeine
Levodopa (used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease)
Aminophylline
Withdrawal of corticosteroid medications
Cyclosporine (used to help control rejection of transplanted organs)
Niacin in doses of 1000 mg per day may trigger an attack in someone with gout
In addition, surgery, trauma, and cancer treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy may also increase your risk of developing gout.
It is possible to develop gout with or without the risk factors listed above. However, the more risk factors you have, the greater your likelihood of developing gout. If you have a number of risk factors, ask your doctor what you can do to reduce your risk.
Reducing uric acid
It is known that Vitamin C reduces uric acid in people with gout – and there is simply no better form than Dr. Libby’s Vital C™. As little as 500 mg of Vitamin C daily can help the body reduce uric acid levels over time and a Vital C flush is a common solution recommended by Dr. Libby for people with gout. Folic acid is also a time-honored solution for the symptoms of high uric acid. And, according to legendary naturopaths Dr. Murray and Dr. Pizzorno, essential fatty acids like those found in OmegaPrime® can also be very useful.
Check out Trivita Products for relief of many ailments.
It is estimated that over 2 million Americans have gout. A severe gout attack is extremely painful and, if left untreated, can cause permanent and severe joint damage. Fortunately, gout can be managed or controlled.
First things first: risk factors
Are you at risk for gout? Although gout can occur in men and women of any age, it most often occurs in men over age 40. Gout usually does not affect women until after menopause. Lifestyle factors increase the risk of gout, including being overweight, fasting or crash dieting, drinking alcohol in excess and eating a diet that includes foods high in purines (proteins which make up uric acid):
Organ meats (e.g., liver, kidney, brain, sweetbread, heart)
Fish roe
Mussels
Anchovies
Herring
Sardines
Legumes (e.g., dried beans, peas, soybeans)
Meat extracts
Consommé
Gravies
Mushrooms
Spinach
Asparagus
Cauliflower
Poultry
Drinking high-fructose beverages, like sugar-sweetened sodas and orange juice can dramatically increase your risk of gout. There appears to be a genetic component as well, but not a large one. Six percent to 18% of people who have gout have relatives who also have gout. (In a small number of people, the risk of gout is increased by an enzyme defect that interferes with the way the body breaks down purines.) That means that 82% to 94% of the people with gout do not have a genetic link to the disease; it is primarily a lifestyle issue.
Certain medications can increase the risk of gout. These include:
Diuretics
Salicylates and medicines made from salicylic acid (such as aspirin)
Caffeine, including medicines containing caffeine
Levodopa (used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease)
Aminophylline
Withdrawal of corticosteroid medications
Cyclosporine (used to help control rejection of transplanted organs)
Niacin in doses of 1000 mg per day may trigger an attack in someone with gout
In addition, surgery, trauma, and cancer treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy may also increase your risk of developing gout.
It is possible to develop gout with or without the risk factors listed above. However, the more risk factors you have, the greater your likelihood of developing gout. If you have a number of risk factors, ask your doctor what you can do to reduce your risk.
Reducing uric acid
It is known that Vitamin C reduces uric acid in people with gout – and there is simply no better form than Dr. Libby’s Vital C™. As little as 500 mg of Vitamin C daily can help the body reduce uric acid levels over time and a Vital C flush is a common solution recommended by Dr. Libby for people with gout. Folic acid is also a time-honored solution for the symptoms of high uric acid. And, according to legendary naturopaths Dr. Murray and Dr. Pizzorno, essential fatty acids like those found in OmegaPrime® can also be very useful.
Check out Trivita Products for relief of many ailments.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
How to Reduce Allergy Symptoms
Allergic rhinitis is the set of symptoms that occurs when you breathe in substances you are allergic to. These substances are called allergens and are small proteins.
Seasonal allergy (sometimes called hay fever) occurs during times of the year when allergens are in the air, like spring, summer and fall. The most common allergens are tree, grass or weed pollens.
Perennial or persistent allergic rhinitis is caused by allergens that may be present year-round. These may include chemicals, dust, dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander or mold spores.
Causes
An allergic reaction occurs when your body's immune system overreacts to an allergen. People at highest risk are those who already exhibit some signs of other immune system irregularities, such as food allergies, eczema or asthma.
When you breathe in an allergen, mast cells in your nasal passages release a chemical called histamine. Histamine causes your nose to feel itchy and also causes swelling and mucus production in the nasal passages, runny nose, nasal congestion, sinus pressure, postnasal drip and cough, headache and dark circles under your eyes.
Diagnosis
The two most common tests for airborne allergies are:
Skin prick test
A tiny bit of an allergen is placed under the skin with a needle. The doctor watches to see if the skin in that area becomes red, raised and itchy. This can be done for multiple allergens at the same time.
RAST testing
A small sample of blood is taken and tested for different allergens.
Help reduce symptoms
Four studies in the medical literature have shown us ways to stabilize these mast cells and reduce the symptoms of allergies.
The first study was conducted in Korea on the Nopal fruit (Opuntia ficus indica). It showed significant benefit of Nopal fruit against allergies.
The second study was from Japan. This was an animal study that showed Vitamin B-12 reduced the allergic response in those with allergy to the same levels as those without allergy.
One group of physicians in Dallas, Texas used this information to treat humans by giving them 3 milligrams of Vitamin B-12 sublingually. They report in Men’s Health that allergy symptoms decreased by 50% the first year and by 50% more the second year of sublingual B-12 use.
The third study in Helsinki, Finland used probiotics to stabilize mast cells and reduce allergy symptoms.
One of my best, time-tested approaches for allergy came from an older article out of Brussels, Belgium. It shows the absolute necessity of essential fatty acids (EFA) for allergy. A more recent article from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil also commented that EFA and probiotics together are even more effective.
Conclusion
So, what is your opinion: In recent years, have people become more allergic or less? Likely, you will notice more people suffering with allergies. As our world becomes more toxic, we become more sensitive. And as we become more deficient – especially in bioflavonoids, Vitamin B-12, probiotics and essential fatty acids – we are more prone to allergy.
Read more at Trivita Wellness
Seasonal allergy (sometimes called hay fever) occurs during times of the year when allergens are in the air, like spring, summer and fall. The most common allergens are tree, grass or weed pollens.
Perennial or persistent allergic rhinitis is caused by allergens that may be present year-round. These may include chemicals, dust, dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander or mold spores.
Causes
An allergic reaction occurs when your body's immune system overreacts to an allergen. People at highest risk are those who already exhibit some signs of other immune system irregularities, such as food allergies, eczema or asthma.
When you breathe in an allergen, mast cells in your nasal passages release a chemical called histamine. Histamine causes your nose to feel itchy and also causes swelling and mucus production in the nasal passages, runny nose, nasal congestion, sinus pressure, postnasal drip and cough, headache and dark circles under your eyes.
Diagnosis
The two most common tests for airborne allergies are:
Skin prick test
A tiny bit of an allergen is placed under the skin with a needle. The doctor watches to see if the skin in that area becomes red, raised and itchy. This can be done for multiple allergens at the same time.
RAST testing
A small sample of blood is taken and tested for different allergens.
Help reduce symptoms
Four studies in the medical literature have shown us ways to stabilize these mast cells and reduce the symptoms of allergies.
The first study was conducted in Korea on the Nopal fruit (Opuntia ficus indica). It showed significant benefit of Nopal fruit against allergies.
The second study was from Japan. This was an animal study that showed Vitamin B-12 reduced the allergic response in those with allergy to the same levels as those without allergy.
One group of physicians in Dallas, Texas used this information to treat humans by giving them 3 milligrams of Vitamin B-12 sublingually. They report in Men’s Health that allergy symptoms decreased by 50% the first year and by 50% more the second year of sublingual B-12 use.
The third study in Helsinki, Finland used probiotics to stabilize mast cells and reduce allergy symptoms.
One of my best, time-tested approaches for allergy came from an older article out of Brussels, Belgium. It shows the absolute necessity of essential fatty acids (EFA) for allergy. A more recent article from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil also commented that EFA and probiotics together are even more effective.
Conclusion
So, what is your opinion: In recent years, have people become more allergic or less? Likely, you will notice more people suffering with allergies. As our world becomes more toxic, we become more sensitive. And as we become more deficient – especially in bioflavonoids, Vitamin B-12, probiotics and essential fatty acids – we are more prone to allergy.
Read more at Trivita Wellness
Sunday, February 12, 2012
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