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Post by cherry on Dec 20, 2007 21:49:11 GMT -5
If you find an article that you think would be useful, please feel free to post it here, or if it fits a specific thread, put a link in the thread as well/instead. It's a great way to share ideas and any advances we may come across whilst browsing the web!
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Post by cherry on Dec 20, 2007 22:06:34 GMT -5
Found an article here about PMS and the underlying cause that may make it more severe and present as premenstrual dysphoric disorder. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7149717.stm?lsmIf this or any other article raises any questions, of course discuss it with your doctor. It's so easy to get panicked over things you read on the internet. But take it with a pinch of salt and make time to discuss it with someone. Not everything you read is written with good authority or with the best of intentions, not even from the big news corporations that we trust such as CNN or the BBC.
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jjd
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by jjd on Mar 18, 2008 7:26:07 GMT -5
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Post by cherylann on Apr 26, 2008 10:06:01 GMT -5
I found this articleon IBS today on Dr. Andrew Weil's website. He is a world renowned natural health/therapies Harvard educated doctor. I have been an avid follower of his for many years. www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00680
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Post by lmk1019 on Aug 8, 2008 10:27:14 GMT -5
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Post by Karen on Feb 7, 2010 8:42:40 GMT -5
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common and chronic disorder. The 27th edition of Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines it as a chronic non-inflammatory disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits ranging from diarrhea to constipation. There is no detectable pathological change with IBS. This condition is often referred to as Spastic Colon or Spastic Irritable Bowel. Painless diarrhea or constipation may also be referred to as Irritable Bowel. It is estimated that l0 to 20 percent of the adult population is afflicted with IBS in some form and degree. The percentage is probably much higher because the symptoms are mild and often go untreated. Proper diagnosis and treatment are important because continued irritation of the bowel is a progressive condition that may lead to diverticulosis, ulceration of the bowel, and ultimately result in surgery. About 23,000 colostomies are inserted in this country annually. The difference between Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis is that Crohn's is considered to be a chronic inflammatory condition of a section of the bowel wall, while Ulcerative Colitis adds ulceration of the wall in addition to chronic inflammation. Early recognition is important to relieve symptoms and to decrease the absorption of food that is associated with an irritable bowel, which may lead to weakness, anemia, and malnutrition (weight loss) as well as produce associated conditions such as gallstones, kidney stones and arthritis. The cause of this insidious problem is the presence of inadequately digested sugars that remain in the bowel attracting water and resulting in diarrhea. Both lactose (dairy) and maltose (grains) are sugars that attract water, which results in severe distention and pain. One way to halt symptoms associated with IBS is to reduce the amount of sugar that is consumed in the diet. This includes dairy products and grains, as well as white sugar and flour. In order to get the best results, you should also supplement the appropriate food enzymes. Normally, bacteria in the large intestine digests sugars that were not completely digested in the small intestine. This results in a large amount of gas formation. Gas and toxins are absorbed into the blood, detoxified in the liver and discarded in the urine. The gases are not readily absorbed into the blood and are expelled rectally. These irritants affect the bowel and produce an inflammatory response that can cause bleeding and excess mucous formation. The consumer market has recently been flooded with lactose-digesting enzyme products. Manufacturers suggest that with their product, everyone can enjoy all of the ice cream and dairy products that they want. This is simply not true because of the complexity of the digestive system. They may help, but because they address only lactose, they do not solve the whole problem. In order to solve this problem, we must be conscious of our diet and use the appropriate enzyme supplements that focus on improving digestion rather than targeting one specific digestive problem. (from www.loomisenzymes.com/articles.aspx?i=9 - they're makers/sellers of digestive enzymes so it may be biased, but perhaps may a route some of you consider.)
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sickandtired
New Member
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
Posts: 11
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Post by sickandtired on Jun 7, 2010 22:22:58 GMT -5
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460130_3Laboratory Tests Multiple attempts have been made to identify serum markers that would serve as reliable screening tests for endometriosis. However, to date, none of the evaluated serum proteins, including CA-125, has adequate sensitivity and specificity to function as a screening tool. At present, there is limited evidence supporting selective use of laboratory tests for therapy follow-up and monitoring of endometriosis recurrence in selected populations at risk. CA-125 CA-125 is the cell surface antigen expressed by derivatives of coelomic and m¨¹llerian epithelia, including endocervix, endometrium, fallopian tube, peritoneum, pleura, and pericardium. This antigenic determinant of high-molecular-weight glycoprotein is detected by monoclonal antibody OC-125. In the mid-1990s a second-generation CA-125 assay of greater precision at low concentrations and reduced variability was introduced. In the CA-125 II assay, the M11 murine monoclonal antibody is used as the capture antibody, followed by labeled OC-125 tracer antibody. Originally, the increased serum levels of CA-125 were detected in patients with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer. However, elevated CA-125 levels have also been observed in serum, menstrual effluent, and the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis.[91-97] Although CA-125 is often elevated in advanced endometriosis, the low sensitivity of this assay limits its usefulness in the detection of minimal and mild disease. Several studies performed in populations at high risk for endometriosis have demonstrated that serum CA-125 has good specificity (86-100%) but poor sensitivity (as low as 13%; Table 2 ).[177] Sensitivity was improved with the introduction of the new CA-125 II assay as well as other assay modifications.[97,98] The combination of elevated serum CA-125 with positive clinical findings (detection of pelvic nodularities) further improved the diagnostic power of this test, achieving a sensitivity of 87%.[84] In a meta-analysis of 23 studies (1986-1997) comparing serum CA-125 levels and laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis, the estimated summary receiver operating curve (ROC) revealed a poor diagnostic performance of this test.[99] For example, for a specificity of 90% the sensitivity was only 28%, and the improvement of sensitivity to 50% resulted in a drop in specificity to 72%. CA-125 measurement was a better screening test for diagnosis of moderate to severe endometriosis (stages III and IV). For a specificity of 89% the estimated summary ROC curve showed a sensitivity of 47%, and the increase in sensitivity to 60% was associated with a drop of specificity to 81%.[99] However, the meta-analysis did not account for the effects of the phase of the menstrual cycle. Studies assessing correlation of the assay with clinical parameters (such as pelvic nodularities) are lacking. Timing of blood collection for CA-125 in relation to the menstrual cycle significantly affects this test. Both in healthy women and in patients with endometriosis, the highest concentrations of CA-125 were detected during menstruation whereas the lowest levels were encountered during the midfollicular and periovulatory phases.[100,101] Koninckx et al[94] suggested that testing in the late luteal phase or during menstruation may be more reliable than testing in the follicular phase. The same group observed that women with superficial disease have pronounced variations in CA-125 levels, whereas women with deep endometriosis and endometriomas have continuously elevated CA-125 throughout the cycle.[94] Interestingly, a subsequent study indicated that the midfollicular CA-125 may be more reliable than the menstrual or the luteal CA-125 in detecting deep endometriosis and endometriomas.[84] Hornstein et al[95] observed that the sensitivity and specificity of the CA-125 assay were comparable during menstruation and in the midfollicular phase, with CA-125 levels consistently higher during menstruation. The reproducibility of CA-125 serum sampling during consecutive menstrual cycles was assessed in a prospective multicenter study.[102] The reproducibility of the test was good during the midfollicular phase in both controls and endometriosis patients, and the CA-125 concentrations during menstrual phase were not reproducible in patients with endometriosis and did not correlate with the disease severity. This study suggests that the best diagnostic accuracy may be achieved by CA-125 determination during the midfollicular phase. O'Shaughnessy et al[96] proposed using the ratio of menstrual to midfollicular CA-125 concentrations (cutoff at a ratio ¡Ý 1.5) as a better test predicting endometriosis. However, this observation was not confirmed by Hompes et al,[102] who found that the CA-125 menstrual/midfollicular ratio was not reproducible. Despite the poor sensitivity, several reports have demonstrated that serum CA-125 level correlates with the severity of endometriosis and may predict the response to medical and surgical treatment.[92,103,104] In infertile women who underwent surgical treatment of endometriosis, persistent postoperative elevation of CA-125 independently predicted a poor prognosis, even after accounting for the stage of endometriosis.[105,106] Yet, Chen et al[107] found that CA-125 was not a reliable marker of the effectiveness of medical therapy and observed persistent endometriosis at laparoscopy performed during danazol treatment, despite a reduction of serum CA-125 to normal levels. Serum CA-125 may also be helpful in differentiating endometriomas from nonendometriotic benign cysts.[108] In a prospective study, most endometriomas contained very high levels of CA-125 (>10,000 U/mL in 78% of cases) while the contents of blood-filled corpus luteum cysts invariably had lower CA-125 concentrations.[109] Other Laboratory Markers The search for a reliable marker for endometriosis has been extended to various proteins either naturally secreted by the endometrium or produced in the course of an immune reaction to endometrial and endometrium-related tissues. Markers evaluated for their diagnostic potential in detection of endometriosis comprised CA-72, CA-15-3, TAG-72, and CA-19-9, all of which demonstrated unacceptably low sensitivity.[110-112] One initially promising marker, a product of late secretory endometrium -- placental protein 14 (PP14) -- was shown to be elevated in endometriosis and to correlate with the severity of the disease.[113] However the relatively good sensitivity (59%) of PP14 assays in the diagnosis of endometriosis obtained in the original report was not substantiated by further studies. In a prospective study, serum levels of tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) were found to be elevated in patients with endometriosis and positive correlation with the stage of endometriosis was described. TATI is not a useful screening test, but it may constitute an adjunct diagnostic tool because its combination with the CA-125 assay showed a sensitivity of 59% in detection of all stages of endometriosis and 89% for stage III/IV.[114] Elevated levels of acute inflammatory phase proteins (C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A) have also been demonstrated in severe endometriosis, but the usefulness of these assays remains to be elucidated.[115] Despite the early promising observations of elevated serum antiendometrial antibodies in patients with endometriosis,[116,117] subsequent studies have failed to show the difference in the antibodies' concentration using immunofluorescence, hemagglutination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and protein blotting.[118,119] In addition, the correlation between the levels of antiendometrial antibodies and the severity of the disease is very poor.[118]
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sickandtired
New Member
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
Posts: 11
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Post by sickandtired on Jun 8, 2010 3:26:00 GMT -5
For several decades, endometriosis has been suspected of playing a role in the aetiology of ovarian cancer. The literature concerning a possible histogenesis of ovarian cancer from benign endometriosis is reviewed in this chapter. Epidemiological evidence from large-cohort studies confirms endometriosis as an independent risk factor for ovarian cancer. Further circumstantial evidence for this link was found in the common risk factors for ovarian cancer and endometriosis. These risk factors influence retrograde menstruation and endometriosis in the same positive or negative way. Based on data in the literature, the prevalence of endometriosis in epithelial ovarian cancer has been calculated to be 4.5, 1.4, 35.9, and 19.0% for serous, mucinous, clear-cell and endometrioid ovarian carcinoma, respectively. The risk of malignant transformation in ovarian endometriosis was calculated at 2.5% but this might be an underestimate. In addition, some authors described atypical endometriosis in a spatial and chronological association with ovarian cancer. Finally, molecular studies have detected common alterations in endometriosis and ovarian cancer.
These data suggest that some tumours, especially endometrioid and clear-cell carcinomas, can arise from endometriosis. Moreover, endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer represents a distinct clinical entity, with a more favourable biological behaviour, given a lower stage distribution and better survival than non-endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer.
An Abstract from "Volume 18, Issue 2, Pages 349-371 (April 2004) Endometriosis and the development of malignant tumours of the pelvis. A review of literature"
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sickandtired
New Member
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
Posts: 11
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Post by sickandtired on Jun 8, 2010 3:41:10 GMT -5
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Post by hellsbells on Oct 28, 2010 15:55:59 GMT -5
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Post by rhodygirl on Jan 10, 2011 12:50:08 GMT -5
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Post by rhodygirl on Jan 19, 2011 22:07:26 GMT -5
Don't believe there's no cure"This is so important for women. I just read a major medical journal – one that goes to thousands of doctors nationwide – saying that inflammation and overgrowth of the uterine lining has no cure. It advises doctors that women just have to learn to manage the symptoms or live with the pain. This is the most amazing (and disturbing part)… They never mention the cause. All these experts were consulted and not one said a word about what causes the problem. This condition called “endometriosis” is just one sign you have too much estrogen. And excess estrogen can be lowered naturally. I’ll show how you can bring your estrogen – and your symptoms – under control. In recent times, endometriosis has become an extremely common condition. I see it in patients daily. When you have endometriosis, the cells that line the inner walls of your uterus begin to overgrow inside the uterine lining or on the outside of it. The result is chronic pelvic pain, bloating and sometimes abnormal bleeding, lower back and abdomen pain, too. In some women the pain only flares up during their menstrual cycle… for others, pain may seem completely unrelated to menstrual cycles. Doctors will usually prescribe drugs or surgery to treat the painful symptoms of endometriosis. Neither has any chance of curing the cause and both treatments create other problems. Pain management drugs usually include over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or Cox-2 inhibitors. Advil and Aleve fall into the first category. Prescription drugs like Celebrex and the now recalled Vioxx fall into the second. Whenever you take NSAIDs for ongoing pain, you run the risk of damage to your stomach lining. Sometimes this damage causes chronic stomach upset. Other times, it can result in internal bleeding. The dangerous side effects of Vioxx and Celebrex include increased risk of death and heart attack. Surgery is equally inappropriate. It’s a drastic measure and no doctor can guarantee your endometriosis won’t recur after surgery. Many of my patients had surgery before coming to me only to discover their pain returns a short time later. This can lead to an upsetting cycle of failed surgeries that are risky and expensive and often lead to total hysterectomies. Conventional medicine maintains that the cause of endometriosis is unknown. I have read some Ob/Gyn “experts” claiming that all women have endometriosis, but only some women develop symptoms. This absurd point of view is actually very common among doctors. It’s part of an overall ideology that nature is broken, or God has made a blunder and it’s up to them to fix your inherently defective part. You’ll see this view if you ask doctor’s why you can’t lose your body fat or why you have suddenly come down with diabetes. Don’t be fooled… This is hardly ever the case. Usually if something goes wrong with your body, it happened because we did something to it that was unnatural. In this case, we have added a huge deluge of synthetic estrogens to our environment. The FDA insists it’s safe to put estrogen in your food. But really… How could anyone know that that’s safe? I’ve helped thousands of women over the years successfully cure their endometriosis by bringing their estrogen levels into balance. In most cases, they eliminate the problem and live pain free. The lining of the uterus is developed and maintained with estrogen. Too much estrogen and it overgrows and becomes inflamed and painful. Pain pills or anti-inflammatory drugs won’t cure it because the high blood estrogen creates a never-ending cycle of continually stimulating new endometrial growth. But there’s a simple supplement that naturally removes excess estrogen. It’s called DIM (diindolylmethane.) DIM gently cleanses excess estrogens from your body by making estrogen more excreted in the urine. Derived from cruciferous vegetables, DIM is natural and safe. I think it’s one of the reasons broccoli and cauliflower have been found to lower risk of cancers of female tissues that are also caused by excess estrogen. But to get the levels of DIM that I can prove cures artificially elevated estrogens, you’d have to eat 50 or 60 servings of broccoli a day. You can ask your doctor to measure your total blood estrogens. When I find them elevated, I use 100 mg DIM once a day and recheck in about 6 weeks. If symptoms are apparent I will sometimes use DIM before blood results are back because it is such a benign therapy. DIM is inexpensive and available at most health-food stores. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD" www.alsearsmd.com/dont-believe-theres-no-cure/
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Post by omaklackey on Jun 1, 2011 21:29:28 GMT -5
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Post by hibiscus on Dec 12, 2011 2:46:48 GMT -5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16107978article about the scale of under reporting of bad side effects of drug treatments. In this instance Aromatase Inhibitors. But will doubtless be the same for all anti-oestrogen drug regimes which we endo gals endure.
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Post by 1234 on Dec 12, 2011 9:39:51 GMT -5
Karla, I just saw this article. Thanks for posting it. and thanks, hibiscus!
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