Some interesting Info i have learned recently

I know people are always wondering where UC comes from and what causes it.  And i am NOT saying this is what causes it, i have just seen and heard some studies lately that were very interesting. 

My Mom actually heard this one.  3rd world countries where there is not as good medical treatment and people aren't taking antibiotics and other meds there is a MUCH lower rate of UC, crohns and other Irritable bowel diseases!

I read this on Yahoo news a few weeks ago.

That countries that dont have all the cleaning craziness that we do in the "developed" countries, also have much lower rates of those diseases, and they often have certain types of parasites in their bodies.   The thought on what i read was that here and in other developed countries we have treated out water and sanitized so much that we are losing immunities against things and that we are NOT getting the benefits of certain worms and other bacteria.

Its the thing you might have heard "a little dirt won't hurt" 

The study actually said, "let your kid eat some dirt, let them eat that cookie off the floor" that those kids will be healthier!  If nothing else made me feel better about my mommy skills!

I know alot of this has probably been said before, and i am certaintly not saying these things are the sole cause, i just thought it was interesting!

Yep.

Me too. I work in development and had three bouts of stomach parasites over a couple of years (once from Bangladesh, once from Angola and once from Palestine). After various courses of antibiotics I started to develop IBS symptoms. Then another course of broad spectrum antibiotics a few years later was shortly followed by emergence of UC symptoms.

Hmm. I don't think this is for all countries. I used to live in Asia.

If Chinese did have digestive issues, they would probably go to Chinese doctors and take herbal medicines.

I had national health insurance when I was in Taiwan even though I was just a permanent resident and not a citizen.

I wouldn't be surprised if Chinese start getting IBS. Bubble tea drinks (which contain high amounts of HFCS) have become a very popular beverage over the last 15 years. Deserts and junk food are also becoming more popular in Asia.

thats the worms that were in the paper! i couldnt remeber for anything, lol.

It took into account that some people were not being able to get treatment or diagnosis also, because thats what i thought after i read the paper, but the one my mom heard on the radio adressed that issue.

I also got UC right after taking an antibiotic for a sinus infection, and everytime i would take one after that i would go into a huge flare! Even colonless now i am terrified of having to take one!

I agree that for many people it's inherited. However...

Antibiotics can cause colitis. It's called Pseudomembranous colitis, antibiotic-associated colitis, C. difficile colitis.

Antibiotics can kill the good bacteria in the colon.
Antibiotics can permit the overgrowth of a resistant bacterium called Clostridium difficile.
Certain foods support colon health. Others do not.

The math does add up. Taking antibiotics makes it more likely to get colitis due to an imbalance of fecal floral. However, genetics also makes it more likely to get colitis. It is this interplay that can be a determinant in just how much antibiotics one can have before one gets colitis.

For me, I was able to take antibiotics for years without getting any colitis flare ups. Once I took antibiotics every day for two years. As a result, every time I got a cut, it would get infected. I also had a chocolate and HFCS beverage addiction. That's all I ate and drank. I had terrible gas. My stomach would get huge. And I was constantly having diarrhea. I ignored it. I didn't know it was possible to bleed out the butt. I wish someone had told me.

My colon is getting healthier now that I did fecal transplantation, am eating right, and am taking Probiotics. I barely have any gas at all anymore. My abdomen no longer gets bloated. I rarely have diarrhea.

I still have issues with digesting foods high in fructose, but I can eat bananas, pineapple, strawberries, and lemons with no problems.

There are no scientific studies that show a correlation between antibiotic use and steroids. There has to be an existing abnormality that already exist within us that is triggered by antibiotics. Simply put, our systems were already compromised before our exposure to the trigger, there was no preventing it.

I believe this to be true. First of all in non developed countries there is not the greasy fried food, dairy and take aways that I was broght up on. These foods do effect us. Since I have experimented cutting these foods out my UC has improved and Im on minimal medications (at the present). I’m still not perfect but I am better.

The other reason I believe this to be true is that I grew up with asthma. I was always on medication for this and I would get frequent chest infections whenever I got a cold or flu. If I had grown up in non developed country I believe I would have died. Although it is sad to think that you would have died, it still would have gotten rid of the bad genes I may pass on. I believe that because we can survive with illness it is weakening the gene pool.

the food we eat is def alot of what causes all the health problems in the US.
There was a study on Asian women who came here in like their mid 20s and were perfectly healthy, on their high carb diets, lol. And within like 5 years, even still eating the same kind of food, their health had declined because the food they were getting to cook with was treated and had all kinds of chemicals and such in it. And also most of them did add "american" foods to their diets. Their life excpecantcy cut by like 10 years or something too, and their risk for cancers sky rocketed.
It's impossible to say that our foods aren't causing us problems. Another thing was that the reason so many children are getting food allergies in the US is because of how foods are introduced one at a time. Kids in poorer families and other countries who are just giving them lots of dif things aren't getting the stomach problems or the allergies.
I think we are doing so much to keep ourselves healthy that we are really hurting ourselves.

qsam6 said...
There are no scientific studies that show a correlation between antibiotic use and steroids. There has to be an existing abnormality that already exist within us that is triggered by antibiotics. Simply put, our systems were already compromised before our exposure to the trigger, there was no preventing it.

I agree, this is how I see it as well, otherwise why wouldn't other people that over-use antibiotics and/or have a poor diet most all of their lives not get it as well unless they were predisposed to getting it.

There is still so much to learn though so at this point it's still hard to say exactly why it is the way it is.

:)

Folks this is called the Hygiene Hypothesis here is one article.
Old Mike
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2675108

I did find this info specifically related to Pseudomembranous colitis (aka antibiotic induced colitis/C-Diff....

Once the diagnosis of pseudomembranous colitis is made, your doctor will stop the antibiotic that was associated with development of the disorder. Sometimes, this may be enough to resolve your condition, or at least ease signs, such as diarrhea.

If you have severe symptoms and your doctor suspects pseudomembranous colitis, you may be started on treatment before stool tests confirm the diagnosis. Once you begin treatment for pseudomembranous colitis, signs and symptoms may begin to improve within a few days, and they often resolve completely within two weeks.

To treat more-severe cases of pseudomembranous colitis, your doctor will choose from among a number of medications, particularly antibiotics other than the one associated with your illness.

Most common medications
The antibiotic metronidazole (Flagyl) is the first drug of choice for treating disorders associated with C. difficile bacteria. However, recent research suggests that the antibiotic vancomycin (Vancocin) may produce a faster response and may be associated with a lower risk of recurrence. If your condition is severe, your doctor may prescribe vancomycin first because of its rapid response rate. However, vancomycin only works when it's given as a pill. If you are very ill and not eating, your doctor may prescribe intravenous metronidazole.

If you're a pregnant woman in your first trimester, don't take metronidazole because of the risk of birth defects. It's also a poor choice if you're breast-feeding because the drug's effect on babies is unknown. Doctors also generally avoid prescribing this medication in children younger than 10 years old. In certain cases, doctors may give a combination of vancomycin and metronidazole.

Rifaximin (Xifaxan) is another antibiotic that doctors sometimes use to manage pseudomembranous colitis.

The antibiotics used to treat pseudomembranous colitis are usually given by mouth. However, depending on the severity of the inflammation and the medication, you may be treated with these drugs intravenously, via an enema, or through a tube inserted through your nose and threaded into your stomach (nasogastric tube).

Recurrent inflammation
Even in people who are treated successfully, pseudomembranous colitis may recur in up to 20 percent of cases within weeks to months after treatment has been completed. You may need a second or third round of drug therapy to resolve your condition.

If your infection comes back, your doctor may treat you again with metronidazole. If it comes back still again, you may receive a prolonged course of vancomycin to get rid of the infection.

Your doctor may also give you a yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii (Florastor) or another probiotic to help restore your colon's normal bacteria. Probiotics are dietary supplements or foods that contain beneficial bacteria normally found in your intestinal tract. Small studies have suggested that probiotics may shorten the duration of diarrhea related to antibiotic use and may prevent a relapse of C. difficile infection, but more research is needed.

Why antibiotics as a treatment?
Antibiotics cause pseudomembranous colitis because they kill the normal bacteria in your colon and allow toxic C. difficile to grow. Although it may seem strange to use antibiotics to treat a disorder caused by antibiotics, treatment with antibiotics eradicates the C. difficile and allows the normal bacteria to grow back, restoring the balance of bacteria in your colon to what it was before any antibiotics were given.

Dealing with dehydration
If you become dehydrated due to diarrhea, your doctor will prescribe electrolyte solutions to replace lost fluids. At times, these rehydration solutions will be administered intravenously.

Don't take anti-diarrheal medications — such as loperamide (Imodium) or the combination drug diphenoxylate and atropine (Lomotil) — without your doctor's knowledge. These drugs could worsen the signs and symptoms of pseudomembranous colitis.

When surgery is an option
If antibiotic treatment doesn't reduce colonic inflammation and ease your symptoms, and your condition worsens, your doctor may recommend intestinal surgery. This is rare, however; surgery is needed in less than 4 percent of people with pseudomembranous colitis.

Surgery becomes an option in people who have progressive organ failure, rupture of the colon and inflammation of the lining of the abdominal wall (peritonitis). Surgery typically involves removal (resection) of the diseased section of the bowel (subtotal colectomy).

So it does seem that this form of colitis can be completely treatable for most.

:)