Does anyone have this?

Hi Mom30,

Your symptoms sound classically hormonal to me. IBS is a very common female problem intimately tied to the endocrine system. I’m going to have an amazing story to tell before too long regarding female hormonal disorders and the natural substances that cure them. But for now, I’ll tell you about something that is helping me tremendously.

Several months ago it was suggested that I start taking Maca - a brazilian root considered to have profound effects on female pelvic complaints - for my LS symptoms. I was talked into buying a large jar of capsules but never opened it before a few days ago.

I believe I’ve discovered something very useful for LS, but because it’s very noxious I couldn’t take enough internally, and therefore knew I needed another way to balance my endocrine system. So for the heck of it I started taking the Maca. I felt better almost immediately and today - four days later - I feel better than I have in years.

Maca is an “adaptogen”, a term herbalists use to describe plants that have strong balancing abilities. Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

"It is claimed that adaptogenic herbs are distinct from other substances in their ability to balance endocrine hormones and the immune system, and they help the body to maintain optimal homeostasis. Adaptogens are proposed to have a normalizing effect on the body and to be capable of either toning down the activity of hyperfunctioning systems or strengthening the activity of hypofunctioning systems. However, they are also proposed to be functional at the level of allostasis, which is a more dynamic reaction to long term stress, lacking the fixed reference points of homeostasis."

I’ve taken the occasional herb class over the years and learned about adaptogens, but for some reason dismissed the information. Our ties to pharmacology and medicine - as well as our disconnection from natural substances - is very strong. Even if we want to believe in natural cures, sometimes it’s very hard.

I’m so astonished and feel a huge reverence for Mother Earth and all that she provides for our health and well being. I’ve struggled for years with this wretched condition and am filled with hope that I will be cured.

I’ve been researching scientific literature around this issue for quite some time and may never know why one woman develops IBS, another rheumatoid arthritis, and yet another LS. But I think it’s possible that one day many different branches of disease will be cut off at the same root.

Anyway...I just noticed Wikipedia has a nice write up and pictorial on adaptogens. You might try Maca or find a good herbalist to work with. A problem with our medical system is that these disorders are not confined to any one place, like the gut, while our specialists most certainly are.

:) Christine

Just an additional thought to Christine's post (which is so exciting!!!!!)

I think that doctors have a tendency to look for something to blame, and why not prolapses if that's the first they see! makes it easy for them, and then they don't have to look any further. But if you take the huge no. of women with prolapses, then if it was going to cause these problems most women would have them...

i had horrible stomach issues for years. i went to tons of doctors, and they didn't come up with anything useful. one natural doctor suggested candida, but i couldn't stick to the diet long enough to find out. but other than that they didn't have any ideas. i then developed irritable bladder problems (like intercystial cystitis) and was sent to a specialist who only wanted to operate to do a biopsy.

well in the midst of this all, having developed horrible panic attacks, constant bladder infection like symptoms, and ongoing stomach issues, i just kept thinking there must be a clear answer. one day i gave up gluten, and that was it--i was a whole new person. it took a week to really feel a difference, but i regained my energy, my stomach got better, my bladder symptoms disappeared, panic attacks stopped. it was incredible.

what was also incredible is how the doctors dismissed this. the bladder specialist "had never heard of food having this effect" (a few years later, when i mentioned to a pediatric allergist that my son bed wet when he ate gluten, she told me foods can have a huge impact on the bladder), and a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist dismissed the idea that my panic attacks could just disappear when i stopped eating certain foods. The gatro just wanted me to start eating gluten again so he could do biopsies of my gut (no way! there's a risk of mortality with that! and what would be gained??? but they wanted to...and still do)
But the proof was in my body...

Anyway, I would just say--keep looking for an answer, and don't let everyone just blame our lovely POPs. For parasites they need to do a proper stool sample, ideally several. Food allergies--all you can do is experiment. Cut out the main suspect foods (wheat, dairy, soy, and anything you crave a lot of) for 2 - 3 weeks and see if you feel better. If you do, add them in one at a time slowly and see what happens.

hope that helps, along with Christine's fab wisdom

I kept meaning to ask if you'd tried this after mentioning it ages ago...
I've been thinking about it a lot as my periods are all over the place--26 days apart, then 33 days, then 21. and for the first time ever get heavy again when they are nearly done. STarted taking Starflower oil to see if that helps (I've never had hugely regular periods before and this helped so worth a try...but even so, this pattern is beyond my norm).
anyway, been thinking about the miracle Maca and wondering if I should try it.
I know it says breastfeeding safe, but I'm still overly cautious. But I'm heading towards weaning (i think i'll keep going with it...) and thought i might try it.

My only question is always...I'm 35. how long can you take these things for? and if you take them for a while, what happens when you stop?

have you read anything on that?

So glad to hear that you feel so well! Please keep us updated...and may it last last last!

Kiki

I remember you writing about gluten in the past...surely you’ve tried eliminating it? Kiki’s right, that would be the first place to start...

Not sure...Maca seems very nourishing...would be great if it could be consumed as often as...beets!

i read a bit about it last night, and apparenlty it's safe in pregnancy and you can give it to a two year old...so a wee bit in breastmilk to me seems safe.
so, i'm ready to give it a try.

christine--any ideas what is best form / what to look for?

coeliac is only one kind of gluten intolerance. my little one gets very very ill from gluten, but tested negative for coeliac. he was diagnosed witha delayed gluten allergy, meaning it shows up full force 12 oto 24 hours later, not right away. they do that based on the symptoms, not any test. give him gluten, he's sick. take it away, he's fine after it gets out of his system (a few days to a week).
i don't know if i have coeliac, but chances are i don't if he doesn't. however, i do get incredibly ill as i said (can barely go to work kind of ill).

so, i wouldn't take that blood test as no allergy--just no coeliac.

also, can be dairy, soya, or loads of other things. in a way, since it's such a pain to find out, you are best having a rough two weeks and eliminating everything at once, and see how you go. if you feel better you know it's food, and can try to figure it out... not fun, but only a few weeks rather than taking otu one thing every two weeks which goes on forever...

btw, i would try this or the maca first, not at the same time, or you are left not knowing what worked...

i've ordered powder in the end as it seems stronger from what i read.
i await excitedly!

just out of curiosity Christine, you say you feel better than in years.
how are the LS symptoms? Is it just general betterness, or is there a difference in the LS symptoms, and if no, how much?

fingers crossed...

I’m taking the maca, Kiki, but I’m also using something topically that’s helping tremendously. I really don’t want to spill the beans because I don’t have all the data yet and there’s no use getting people’s hopes up - like with pregnenolone. When you come here I’ll share what it is, give you a sample, and also show you the science behind it.

Hi Mom30

Just a thought. Your lower left abdominal pain isn't ovulation pain, is it?

Louise

This is something for your gyn to check out. The middle hemorrhoidal artery and vein are in the area you describe and pelvic varicose veins are not uncommon.

Not if you have a uterus. In some women the intestinal cul-de-sac at the top of the back vaginal wall is low - creating a slight enterocele, or more accurately, “peritoneocele”, with or without intestinal contents. For these conditions to take on any kind of severity, the uterus has to be removed or the front vaginal wall pulled forward.

Listen. I have been reading this and haven't been sure what to tell you. I know what you are going through is very abnormal. It sounds like you are doing the right thing by seeing specialists. Hair loss and thinning could be your thyroid- the IBS like symptoms could be anything- except your prolapse. Prolapse can come on because of the straining associated with IBS and constipation- but IBS can't be caused by prolapse. All prolapse is is a shifting around of pelvic organs-by loss of support that is all- it isn't a chemical process in the body.

Your "vein" thing worries me. Veins are not very big- if you are feeling something long and bulging but very small and thin at the top left of your vagina you need to have that checked out. NOT dismissed. If the doctor can't find it- get a second opinion-

I know you are headed down the GYN route for this- colorecto and urogyn and all that- and they may be able to discover what is going on with your IBS and your lower left quadrant pain- but maybe not.

You are having so many worrying symptoms at one time it may be wise to get a full blood work up. Have your thyroid tested. Everything.

While you are considering all this- please consider making some very drastic life changes. Stress, food, etc.. try moving away from the norm in all things. If you are not already start meditating- start eating only live foods- think drastic. You need to restore your body to health. Often times the body sends very small quiet signals for a time- and if we don't listen it basically starts yelling. Your body is yelling at you now- time to listen up.
I hope you start feeling better soon.

I know that it is normally on the right, but could it be your appendix. Would explain the association with eating.

L

sorry to jump in but just wanted to share this in case......
my MIL got tested for celiac because her doctor wanted to rule it out a while back. it came back fine but then she found out you are supposed to be eating wheat (the form of grain with the most gluten) for four weeks leading up to the test. my nutritionist agreed and said the test is very unreliable and your best bet to get an accurate reading is to eat a lot of wheat for at least four weeks before the blood test so that it can pick up the inflammation response etc. did you make sure you were eating gluten before the test??

i was told 3 months! here they recommend lots of wheat for three months before the test--the result being, i've never been tested. they have newer blood tests that are more accurate, but still nothing is 100%
but, even if it's not coeliac, you can be gluten intolerant. one of my kids came up negative for coeliac, but has a horrible reaction every time it's eaten. so blood tests don't say everything--docs diagnosed delayed gluten allergy.

I know you wrote this over one year ago and I am new to this forum, but I thought my experience might be useful for you or others. I had the soft, mushy stools (not diarrhea) for a year or so around menopause and I had all the GI tests to rule out pathology and all the alternative care I could find trying to correct my stools. Even though there was no pathology that the Western Medicine could diagnose I felt that it was not right. I couldn't be assimilating nutrition from foods very well. My diet was good as I have been buying my food at health food stores since I was in college in 1971! (And health food stores had only healthy food back then -- none of the junk food items you see now).
Then something happened and I didn't take any vitamins for a short time, possibly a week or so and my stools were normal again. After a lot of experimentation I determined that the main culprit was calcium and magnesium, but for me particularly calcium. I found that I could handle calcium lactate but not the citrate and other types. I have since learned that other women have been unable to tolerate vitamins during menopause.

HOWEVER, I also had an elevated TSH and presence of antibodies a year after menopause. Once I got on the thyroid hormone I noticed that many of my little digestive complaints (gassy, pain in area of gallbladder etc.) were disappearing. So, I don't know if the thyroid was the main culprit or the menopause but what I do know is that your other symptoms: hair loss and dry skin are classic thyroid symptoms. It is important that you know that you can have normal blood levels on the day of your blood tests and still have the autoimmune disorder. I believe this is because your thyroid has not yet been depleted by the autoimmune attacks but you are experiencing the somatic effects of the fluctuations from day to day. Once your thyroid is depleted it is much easier to diagnose.

If you have not already resolved these problems, my advice to you is to find an endocrinologist with lots of experience with Thyroid problems and who does not rigidly adhere to tests and protocol. That doctor will listen to you regarding your symptoms and will be willing to work with you to help stabilize your endocrine system. There are two good web resources: Thyroid.about.com and thyroidbalance.com

I wish you well.