There Are So Many Different Digestive System Illnesses, But Here Are The Major Players

IBS: A common long term gastrointestinal illness is Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The main symptoms include stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation. IBS can also cause fatigue in sufferers, as well as backache and bladder problems. The symptoms tend to come and go over time and bad periods can extend up to months at a time. The exact cause is still unknown, however there’s no known cure and it affects the individual for life – not good.

IBD: The two chronic long-term conditions; ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are commonly described by the blanket term, Irritable Bowel Disease, but there are other illnesses included in this term. Ulcerative colitis affects the large intestine whereas Crohn’s disease can happen any part of the digestive system from the mouth to the anus. On top of the main digestive illness symptoms mentioned earlier, other symptoms include fever, vomiting, anaemia, arthritis, jaundice and dry skin on the hands/feet. There are usually periods of severe symptoms called flare-ups, followed by long periods with little to no symptoms at all called remission. People with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease also have an increased risk of developing bowel cancer. The exact cause is still unclear however there are factors that are thought to play a part such as genetic predisposition or your immune system.

These symptoms of these illnesses can range drastically from manageable without any medication, all the way to requiring a host of medications such as antibiotics, steroids, immune system suppressors and anti-nausea or diarrhoea drugs.

Now when you’re on this many different medications, there’s always going to be nasty side effects, and when you’re taking them all at the same time it can result in pretty undeserable problems like weight gain or weakening of the bones. If you want an active lifestyle you don’t want anything additional getting in the way of your fitness.

It’s no surprise then that people look elsewhere for alternative treatments, and that leads us to CBD.

How Does CBD Compare To Normal Treatments out there?

It’s been no secret in the science community that people who suffer from IBD or IBS routinely turn to cannabis, and there are studies that have looked at how this alternative medication helped them. In Israel in 2011, a study monitored 30 patients suffering from Crohn’s disease, and found that of these, 21 participants showed a significant improvement in the symptoms and quality of life through using cannabis. This study however was small like most still are, but these results are promising.

CBD as we’ve mentioned before, has none of the psychoactive effects associated with cannabis and THC, allowing you to benefit from the medical therapies of CBD without any of the side effects or paranoia you’re warned about. CBD works by interacting with the endocannabinoid system, that spans throughout all your major body systems such as the immune system, the digestive system and your central nervous and pain signalling systems. CBD is thought to help regulate the natural bodily homeostasis, allowing your body to fix itself rather than relying on a medication to turn off a specific function, which could lead to side effects. CBD is also natural and generally seen as safe, with a high maximum dosage and very few minor side effects.

Additional research in 2011 looking at the effect of CBD on intestine biopsies from sufferers of ulcerative colitis found that CBD actually managed to reduce the inflammation and concluded it may have some potential for therapeutic uses for gastro-intestinal inflammation.

Here’s Some Other Remedies You Can Try To Treat Bowel Pain (Without Any Marijuana Or CBD)

If you’re suffering from some tummy pain not caused by an underlying illness (probably all that protein!), you could always try out these natural below to see if they help:

• Peppermint or Chamomile tea – These tea’s not only taste good and are GREAT for reducing stress at the end of long day, they’re also strong anti-oxidants with anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea properties. They can help as muscle relaxants that can relieve those painful stomach cramps or spasms.
• Over-the-counter medication – Things like ant-acids or Gaviscon if you’re suffering from heartburn, or paracetamol for the stomach pains. These may seem like no-brainers but one thing you gotta take from this is DON’T take NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or aspirin, as this can further irritate your stomach.
• Eat low-fibre, high-binding foods: These foods include things like Bananas,, Ginger and bland carbohydrates such as rice / oatmeal / crackers & toast
• Stay Hydrated (with water!) – And if all else fails and you’re still left visiting the bathroom more often than you’d like, remember to drink additional water (and maybe even rehydration salts) to stay properly hydrated!

References

• Ahmed, W. and Katz, S. (2016) Therapeutic Use of Cannabis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Gastroenterology & hepatology, 12(11) 668–679. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28035196.
• De Filippis, D., Esposito, G., Cirillo, C., Cipriano, M., De Winter, B.Y., Scuderi, C., Sarnelli, G., Cuomo, R., Steardo, L., De Man, J.G. and Iuvone, T. (2011) Cannabidiol Reduces Intestinal Inflammation through the Control of Neuroimmune Axis S. Gaetani (ed.). PLoS ONE, 6(12) e28159. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22163000.
• Naftali, T., Lev, L.B., Yablecovitch, D., Yablekovitz, D., Half, E. and Konikoff, F.M. (2011) Treatment of Crohn’s disease with cannabis: an observational study. The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ, 13(8) 455–8. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21910367.

First Things First – A Break Down On Fibromyalgia

If you’re unfamiliar with fibromyalgia, it’s a medical condition that is defined by chronic muscle and joint pain spread across the body. Other symptoms include increased sensitivity and pain response to pressure, fatigue, sleep problems and can even affect memory. The cause of fibromyalgia is largely unknown, however is it commonly associated with depression, anxiety or PTSD. Roughly 2-8% of the population suffer from fibromyalgia, with women being affected twice as much as men. The treatment for fibromyalgia isn’t as straight forward as others, and normally centre around general life-improvement advice such as getting proper sleep, exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.

So Where Does The Gut Bacteria Come Into It?

Your digestive system is a complex machine with thousands of tiny but important parts that extends past the more familiar components such as your digestive organs, the stomach, pancreas and intestines. There’s a lot of scientific research being carried out recently on the population of the friendly, and not-so-friendly bacteria that is present in your intestines.

This ‘Microbiota’ is composed of some 100 TRILLION bacteria – it’s unique to you and it has a much bigger effect on your health that previously thought. From digestive system diseases and obesity to problems with your immune system and even mental health, studies have found evidence that the presence or lack thereof of certain species of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ bacteria can be indicators or causes of illness.

In a recent article, researchers based in Montreal have published online findings in the journal Pain that have suggested that patients with fibromyalgia showed different presence of certain gut bacteria from people without fibromyalgia, and that the severity of the symptoms also directly correlated with the presence of certain species of microflora.

While these results do not indicate any causal role of gut microbiota on fibromyalgia, and the study was relatively small involving total of 156 subjects. Nonetheless, this could be a huge first step in the direction of improving fibromyalgia diagnosis – which is normally a process that takes as long as four to five years to fully diagnose normally, and is routinely disbelieved by some.

It Wouldn’t Be A Nordic Botanics Blog If We Didn’t Talk About CBD …

We’re still in the early days right now and there’s not yet a wealth of studies around the combination of CBD for the treatment of fibromyalgia related pain, however in 2011 a clinical trial in Spain found that treatment with medicinal marijuana was found to improve symptoms of fibromyalgia. This study wasn’t carried out with CBD Oil, but instead used medicinal marijuana (THC + CBD). Otherwise, most fibro sufferers seem to rely on opioids for pain relief.

References

• Baothman, O.A., Zamzami, M.A., Taher, I., Abubaker, J. and Abu-Farha, M. (2016) The role of Gut Microbiota in the development of obesity and Diabetes. Lipids in health and disease, 15 108. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27317359.
• Belkaid, Y. and Hand, T.W. (2014) Role of the microbiota in immunity and inflammation. Cell, 157(1) 121–41. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24679531.
• Fiz, J., Durán, M., Capellà, D., Carbonell, J. and Farré, M. (2011) Cannabis use in patients with fibromyalgia: effect on symptoms relief and health-related quality of life. PloS one, 6(4) e18440. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21533029.
• Minerbi, A., Gonzalez, E., Brereton, N.J.B., Anjarkouchian, A., Dewar, K., Fitzcharles, M.-A., Chevalier, S. and Shir, Y. (2019) Altered microbiome composition in individuals with fibromyalgia. PAIN, 1. Available from http://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00006396-900000000-98647.
• Rogers, G.B., Keating, D.J., Young, R.L., Wong, M.-L., Licinio, J. and Wesselingh, S. (2016) From gut dysbiosis to altered brain function and mental illness: mechanisms and pathways. Molecular psychiatry, 21(6) 738–48. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27090305.