What cause’s Crohn’s and Colitis?
Introduction:
I know that being diagnosed with IBD (Crohn’s or Colitis) can be confusing, furstrating and frankly, hopeless. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Once you understand what’s causing it, you can have the power and the tools to begin reversing your disease.
My views on bowel diseases are controversial (as in they are totally fixable), but I believe this is only because the “system” has yet to catch up to our research and what we see in practice, as to what is driving bowel disease.
What’s inflaming you?
We already know that lots of things can contribute to UC, which is part of why it's now being called an "immune mediated response" rather than “autoimmune”, in many cirlces; which is a huge step forward!
Antibodies are not as common as you think in IBD. In fact you’ve probalby been told your condition is autoimmune and therefore, nothing can be done. But we only see antibodies roughly 50-70% of the time, and most of the antibodies we do see are not all “auto-antibodies”, which means your immune system may not be attacking you/your body and bowels. This is also very exciting because this means there is so much more hope!
This is bad news is that you’ve been told it’s just a genetic, autoimmune condition, but the good news is that it’s probably not, which means there is hope that your body may not be attacking itself and that your immune system is just a little “overdone”.
What’s causing such immune responses?
Certain infections such as mold and parasies tend to drive specific immune responses, which can worsen the symptoms you're experiencing. This also means it's very important to look at your inflammation and disease holistically to identify what else may be contributing to it.
If you think of your immune system like an octopus with many arms, and each arm is designed to do a different thing. One deals with cancers and the common cold, another arms deals with mold and parasites, etc.
In Crohn’s and Colitis, we see a lot of 2 particular arms that we call "Th2” and “Th17". These arms do a lot of the same things and Th17 is often considered a "more powerful Th2. responses in IBD, which are immune pathways which can be drived by thing like mold and parasites.
In fact, we’ve seen MANY cases of bowel disease that were striclty a mold and parasite problem, and by removing these two infections, they were able to reverse their disease. I’ll attach their post program interviews (YouTube and Podcast) below this article.
The long and short of what I'm getting at is that there's much more to the picture than you’ve been told by your doctor, and I believe it's because the medical world doesn't quite understand IBD the way we do…yet. But I have high hopes that as this information gets out there and we see more case studies, research and understanding, that the world will know what we do: that Crohn’s and Colitis can be reversed.
Symptoms of Mold and Parasites
This is by no means a conclusive list, but if you have a collection of these symptoms along with your IBD, there’s a good chance you mave mold or parasites.
Mold
Neurological issues like light and sound sensitivity, dizziness, brain fog and fatigue
You’re easily shocked by static (cars, doorknobs, etc.)
Mood disturbances
Allergic reactions, histamine issues
Difficulty digesting fats
Known moldy environment, or allergy to mold/musty spaces
Parasites
Symptoms worsen around the full moon or otherwise cyclical in nature
Early hair loss, early menopause
Elevated Eosinophils
Pain or discomfort when you press around your liver, gallbladder or belly button
Difficulty digesting fats
Psoriasis, eczema or otherwise dry skin
Again, this is far from a conclusive list, but these are some obvious ones.
I hope this helps!
And if you’d like to reach out to me and my team, you can always schedule a call to see what we can do to help.
Or send me an email: josh@gutsolution.ca
