Do you have any info on Adrenal Function and UC or IBD etc. from Pub med? Something from a real source... I really can't find anything good except for a paper posted at the end of this and a smattering of natural health sites talking about
chronic adrenal suppression/Insufficiency in autoimmune disorders.
Sorry for the length of this...
Here's what's bothering me: Over the last few weeks I've been thinking about
this whole "Dysbiosis" thing and UC and such. Still on the AA treatment, and can't rule it out, but can't rule it in as a valid option - the only thing I can say for sure is that it certainly increased my tolerance to a lot of foods and seems to have kept me from the most severe of flares that I usually end up in over the last 8-10 years. More so it's the longest I have gone Med free since coming down with this disease. Also it seemed to fully resolve and close my fistula (which is crazy since nothing else has) that being said I did however land in a strange flare eventually.
Mucus became my issue. Terrible amounts of mucus. Over the last few weeks I began producing crazy amounts and having 5-10 mucus only bowel movements a day. The inflammation was getting deeper and bowel movements became painful again. Not much blood (if any at all) but I had trouble even making it to the bathroom before the mucus comes flying out. Carb tolerance decreased substantially as well during the last week - although the addition of Psyllium and RS seemed to produce some solid stools if I ate carbs with it.
Sooo
What's been bothering me for some time now is Carb/Food intolerance everyone seems to have to varying degrees. It just does not make sense. In fact it makes zero sense whatsoever. Bottom line is one day we can all eat anything we want really and the next we're done... Like something switched of. Be it the immune system or a tipping point of the bacterial imbalance or who knows. But it's like an overnight change and we just spontaneously lost the ability to digest certain foods or ingredients in foods - and not just isolated to carbs. Some people it's certain proteins and such and some it's sugars and so on.
Last week I started to doubt a bacterial imbalance was really the cause of this. And here's why:
As soon as the pain became worse and the mucus substantial I knew I had to get on top of this. I called both Dr. Stein (the Florida doc) and my real GI up at the University Hospital. With Dr. Stein and the AA side of things, he got a hold of the person that developed the treatment and that person (Dr Marty Heinz) sent me an email telling me that part of the problem is that I waited for long periods in between urine samples (which I did because I was feeling better) - anyway he said they need them to be every two weeks on the dot for 4-5 samples before then can really get a handle on what the proper dosing should even be and what it's going to take to get both Dopamine and Serotonin into what they call the "competitive inhibition state." - So ok, I'll buy into that and do 4-5 more tests every two weeks on the dot and see if I can rule this AA thing valid option or not. I'm already into it this far anyway - so I'll do exactly as they say. I gotta know one way or the other...
Now -
I got to thinking and wanted to try an experiment. First and foremost I know I have to get on top of this inflammation ASAP. So I spoke with my normal GI and asked him if he would be ok with me doing another course of Prednisone. 40mg/daily for two weeks then tapering to try and get out of this inflammation flare. At the very same time I was thinking about
this carb/food intolerance thing and my recent flare and all the stuff that has been dug up on bacterial imbalances and such. I thought maybe I have some sort of intense bacterial imbalance that I somehow triggered - something more off kilter than what I would normally have.
So here is what I did.
I dragged my butt to the pharmacy and picked up the Prednisone. I came home and took the first dose right away and continued my AA treatment as directed by the dosage change from Dr. Marty Heinz this time. Then I waited about
3 hours or so and I wanted to see about
this carb/food tolerance thing. So I went to the local Thai place and ordered beef stir fry on white rice, spring rolls (battered pork and shrimp etc.), crispy fried spicy chicken and peanut sauce and grabbed a bad of Bold BBQ Doritos and some Organic Chocolate milk on the way home.... Enough food for two people and enough bad stuff to take me out of commission for good....
I ate every last bit in one sitting... and went to bed. (Man I gotta say it was the most satisfying meal I've had in ages!) soooo awesome tasting...
Next day (i.e. this morning and today). Normal fully digested food (carb stuff and all), no foul smell or “putrification” or whatever one would call it when things just aren’t right, hard/semi-hard stool, a bit of pain during BM in the am but nothing like before, minimal mucus, and zero blood. One slight mucus only BM at one point today (mid-morning) and no BM/Urgency discomfort at all up till now - almost 3pm.. But generally in quite good shape. Almost normal feeling. The time frame from taking the Pred to this morning’s BM was about
12 hours or less.
So I question this... There's no way whatsoever that if a bacterial imbalance was behind my previous symptoms that it could have shifted in that sort of time frame (12 hours or less) to allow me too spontaneously and properly digest all this food. And unless the Pred flipped some immune switch I doubt... well... I can't help but wonder what caused this immediate change.
I know not everyone responds to Pred (and I feel at this point the Pred and the AA treatment is like some sort of double whammy for the better which may have contributed to this dramatic change) - but did some looking around and on Pub Med I found a few papers summarizing the various medical treatments for all forms of IBD (including antibiotics and biologics etc) and they all came to the same conclusion that Corticosteroids remain the most effective drug in severe attacks of all forms of IBD.. Just that people can't remain on them for maintenance.
They seem to impart their effects on the Adrenal Glands...
Could it be there is a simple issue with our Adrenal Glands?
All I can find of information about
the function of the Adrenal Glands and that they seem to regulate immune response and are responsible for the mobilization, and ultimate digestion/absorption of fats, carbs and proteins and seem to regulate sodium and potassium as well as certain specific hormones.
I can't for the life of me find anything in regards to Adrenal Gland function on UC or Crohn's or improper Adrenal function in IBD... other than this interesting paper suggesting researches take another look at stress and the role of it in developing/flare ups of IBD.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1774724/ especially the part about
stress and epithelial barrier function.
Anyway - Just something that has struck me as really odd... one day flare, next day pretty darn close to normal... just like the opposite of how this darn disease came on in the first place.