Are You Headed Towards a Digestive Disorder? | Dr. Eric Siegal and Megan Rall

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) causes pain and discomfort, embarrassment, anguish, debilitation and ruins the quality of life of millions of its victims. It is estimated that one in five suffer from one form or other of IBS and that women appear to be more prone to it.2 The truth of the matter is that, all kinds of digestive disorders like reflux, ulcers, gas, stomach pain, etc. are all wrapped around similar causes.

Doctors call IBS a functional disorder because there is no sign of disease when the colon is examined. IBS also tends to occur with other pain disorders, such as fibromyalgia (49 percent of patients also have IBS), chronic fatigue syndrome (51 percent), chronic pelvic pain (50 percent), and temporomandibular joint dysfunction (64 percent).3 

People with IBS appear to have hypersensitive nerves within the large intestine. Under certain conditions (such as stress or consumption of certain foods), the normal passage of stool and gas may cause pain. Research has suggested that IBS patients have extra sensitive pain receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, which may be related to an abnormal level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in regulating digestion and mood. Their level of serotonin may help explain why people with IBS are likely to be anxious or depressed.4

Within the brain, serotonin is localized mainly in nerve pathways emerging from serotonergic pathways that spread extensively throughout the brainstem.5 Although the connection is still poorly understood, emotional stress is also often a significant component of IBS.6

Digestive disorders are painful and since all organs require nutrients to function, if digestion is off; so is total body health.  So do something about digestion now.  Thankfully, qualified ML doctors get great results with IBS and digestive disorders.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Nutritional and lifestyle choices. If you have IBS, then cutting out not only gluten, but grains is important to recovering. 

2. Eliminating alcohol, caffeine, refined sugars, and fatty foods can significantly reduce symptoms.

3. It is also important to remove known food allergens or irritants.

4. Take a daily probiotic.  The ML Vitamin D3 with Probiotic and is something we recommend you take daily.  Several studies recently prove that probiotics are not only safe, but effective, in improving symptoms of IBS and bowel movement frequency.

 5. Locating a Maximized Living doctor in your area can help you get to the cause of IBS through a thorough spinal examination and analysis.  As the study above revealed, sensitive nerves are a key part of digestive disorders and IBS type syndromes.  

The 5 Essentials of Maximized Living also address the chiropractic cause of digestive problems along with teaching a maximized mind for the emotional stress, and maximized nutrition to further help for prevention of this common condition. 

Changing the way you think about and experience health through 5 Essentials of Maximized Living.

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2 American College of Gastroenterology Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders Task Force (2002). Evidence-based position statement on the management of irritable bowel syndrome in North America. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 97(11, Suppl): S1-S26.

3 Whitehead WE, Palsson O, et al. Systematic review of the comorbidity of irritable bowel syndrome with other disorders: What are the causes and implications? Gastroenterology. 2002 Apr;122(4):1140–56.

4 Kasper DL, Braunwald E, et al. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 16th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2005:2298–303.

5 http://www.brainexplorer.org/neurological_control/Neurological_Neurotransmitters.shtml

6 Delvaux M. Alterations of sensori-motor functions of the digestive tract in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2004 Aug;18(4):747–71.

7 Floch MH, Narayan R. Diet in the irritable bowel syndrome. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2002 Jul;35(1 Suppl):S45–S52.

8 EurekAlert Oct. 6, 2008

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