Colonoscopy Without Sedation

The following is a post I made about my experience of having a colonoscopy without sedation on the IBDSupportFoundation online community website.

Hi, Anyone ever had a colonoscopy while awake? What are the considerations [...]

Posted by @rochel in IBDSF Online Community

Hi,
Anyone ever had a colonoscopy while awake? What are the considerations for doing so and how did it go?
I am being scoped soon and plan to try to do so while awake. I hate being put to sleep. It is very traumatic for me, probably due in part to post traumatic stress from a previous incident.
Any tips for getting through the procedure while awake are welcome.
Would be interested in hearing if anyone knows how sensitive the scope is. I am told I am not allowed to move, but how fussy are they about that? My goodness, we move even just by breathing! And talking! Any of that allowed?

Posted by @motherfish

Yes. I did it.

I did it for very similar reasons. I was traumatized by having general anesthesia for an operation and not being able to wake up well. I also did it because cumulative anesthesia events are a risk factor for dementia.

So how was it for me? Well....I thought it was pretty hard to do. I could do it again, but it was a thing to get through. It is uncomfortable, although not extremely painful, at least for me. It is naturally highly invasive, and that is the most negative aspect to it. It just feels really weird and crampy. The worst part was getting through to the ileum area and getting biopsies there, but that was critical to my diagnosis. I don't remember being told not to move.

I also tried doing the endoscopy (upper scope) at a later time without anesthesia. That did not work at all. That was really awful and I had to be put out for that! The gag reflex! I wouldn't try that again without anesthesia.

So I would say that if you are determined to do it and feel strongly about it, you can get through it, but it is kinda hard, and kinda long for so much hard. But it is possible to get through.

BTW, I am a woman and I consider myself sensitive and squeamish, but very determined. So that's how I got through it.

Also, I made sure my hospital used the kind of cleaning method talked about on mercola.com for cleaning the endocopes. And one more thing. I did not use the colon prep stuff they recommend. It is toxic, and I just used milk of magnesia and electrolytes. I also cut way down on eating for several days beforehand. I got no comments on how my colon wasn't cleaned out enough.

NAET and Crohn's Disease: Can Allergy Elimination Help?

When I first heard about Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) I laughed at the ridiculousness of it. But the person telling me about it was Dr. Nelson, of the Center for Advanced Medicine, in Encinitas, CA, and I actually had a great deal of respect for this man. So I decided to give it a try.

The idea behind NAET is that if you balance your body energetically in the presence of an allergen, that your body developes an acceptance of it. This is accomplished with acupuncture or acupressure, and the patient holds small vials of water that have the "energy signature" of a substance.

I have been around for quite some time, but this was a new paradigm to me, the idea that there was an "energetic" side to me, that is unseen on the body, but has meridians that have very specific pathways throughout the body.

After "clearing" to the first couple of "mixes", I tried the vitamin C mix. This clearing caused me to have dizziness, light flashes, nausea, and most disturbingly, angioedema, which frightened me enough to go to the emergency room.

Now I knew there was something real to this. And in my typical steely determination, I was going to conquer this and move ahead in my health. I went on to try the calcium mix. This caused a week long bought of illness, but in the end overcame an allergy to milk! I was hooked!

Then I tried the sugar mix. This time, immediately after being treated, I began to get very ill. I was so ill that I couldn't drive home from the appointment for three hours. I went on to have a week long period where I was extremely ill, as ill as I have been with a bad flu. I also had angioedema then too, just not as bad. Toward the end of the week, my blood pressure spiked very high and my heart hurt, and I almost went to the emergency room. But it got better.

After that, I continued to have feelings of hand tingling and throat closing, constantly for months, then only when I was sick. It has been ten years now, and I basically have never recovered from it. I even visited Dr. Nambudripad up in Buena Park, but she could not help me recover.

So...I do not really like NAET. It is tremendously powerful, and it taught me the power of the energy system of the body. It is not a silly parlor trick. My experience though is not typical. Most people do not have this much trouble!

Can NAET help Crohn's disease? I would definitely recommend other therapies first, over NAET. For one thing, many food allergies and sensitivities can be resolved by resolving leaky gut using such things as Restore, Enteragam or probiotics. I would recommend trying NAET after you have done everything else, and there is a pesky food allergy you want to get rid of.

Review of Primal Defense from the Perspective of a Crohn's Patient

Primal Defense is a probiotic by Garden of Life. It debuted in late 1998 as Prime Defense at first and was promoted by Jordan Rubin, who wrote a book called Patient Heal Thyself, and later, another book called The Maker's Diet. He was a Crohn's patient whose condition became so severe that he nearly died. He traveled the world over and tried many alternative treatments which did not help him, until he discovered what he called, "black gold". It contained soil organisms as probiotics, which was very uncommon to use at that time. He claims this probiotic formula, plus a modified SCD diet that included raw milk and coconut oil, helped him regain his health and start the Garden of Life company.

I discovered Primal Defense after reading a book in a health food store called Beyond Probiotics in early 1999. I had tried many probiotics in the past, after feeling that I had dysbiosis from taking multiple rounds of antibiotics. I had chronic diarrhea and felt sick most of the time. I was later diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I was sure I had too much bad bacteria, so I thought that taking good bacteria might help balance things. But none of the probiotics I took helped me. However, after taking an entire year to work slowly up on Primal Defense because of die-off, my diarrhea was gone, and I felt really quite well.

Primal Defense has worked really very well for me. The only thing I have noticed, is that during times when I would temporarily stop taking it for some reason, my disease would come back with tremendous force that wasn't there before I started taking it. My theory is that Primal Defense is so strong that it can also displace good native flora in your gut. Then if you stop taking it, the bad flora which are more hardy and virulent come back and take over gut real estate.

The probiotics in Primal Defense are not resident bacteria, but transient. I am currently exploring the Natren probiotics, which they claim are actual human origin strains that will implant in your gut.

After so very many years of taking Primal Defense, I discovered that I am allergic to one of the probiotics in it called Lactobacillus casai. This bacteria also happens to create histamine in the gut, which can lead to the many symptoms of Histamine Intolerance. Because of this, I am not doing quite as well on Primal Defense, but it is still necessary for me to take it to avoid becoming very ill. So I am currently looking into histamine reducing probiotics to help balance out the histamine problem.

I felt that Primal Defense was absolutely revolutionary when it first came out. Its popularity caused Garden of Life to rise to become a huge company. It was a probiotic that actually worked, and it changed many people's lives. What I have noticed, is that now, many companies have come out with very similar formulations in their probiotic products. Even the prescription VSL#3 has a similar line-up of probiotics to Primal Defense.

The important thing to remember when taking Primal Defense is that, if you are a Crohn's patient, you may react to it with the die-off of bad bacteria, and feel even sicker for awhile. This is actually a sign that the product is working, and you can back down on the dosage for awhile until you are able to tolerate higher amounts.

Primal Defense also contains "Ionic Plant Based Minerals". My understanding of what this is is that this is an ingredient that is similar to Restore:

http://restore4life.com/

which is the remains of ancient bacteria that grew on peat moss. The product contains the "signals" of bacteria that work in your gut to close the tight junctions that cause leaky gut when they are open.

This "Ionic Plant Based Minerals" ingredient likely makes Primal Defense even more powerful for healing a damaged gut.

Overall, I do recommend Primal Defense, but I also recommend that it is not your only probiotic, and that you incorporate other bacteria that are resident into your diet.

Avoiding Infections as a Crohn's Patient

Crohn's patients are often more susceptible to all kinds of infections than the average population. This is due partly to the fact that Crohn's disease is considered an immune-deficiency disease, a disease that arises due to a faulty immune system. One portion of the immune system is defective, which causes the rest of the immune system to go into overdrive.

Many Crohn's patients are also on immunosuppressive drugs such as prednisone and biologics. These drugs cripple the immune system in order to stop the symptoms of Crohn's disease. However, they leave the patient more susceptible to various infections.

Below are some tips for living in a pathogen filled world that can a long way towards protecting your health from infections.

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1. When out in public, try to avoid touching your face at all. Germs can enter the body through the eyes, nose, mouth, open wounds, and possibly the ear canal. Cover open wounds and try to avoid touching these other areas of the body.

Everyone however gets an itchy nose or something in their eye or ears. If you need to relieve this itch, try using the back of the hand, and avoid the actual opening (the mucous membranes) where germs can multiply easily.

2. When you arrive home from a public place, use a hand sanitizer first to kill germs on the hands and to kill germs under fingernails and other crevices that are hard to get with soap and water.

Also helpful is digging your fingernails into a soft soap bar and then brushing them with a nail brush. Hand sanitizers do not kill norovirus and other intestinal viruses, so soap and water is also necessary.

3. Wash your hands and forearms, and your face as well. Your face will have germs on it if you have touched your face while you are out, and could then be transferred to the mucous membranes.

Lotion can be applied to face and hands after washing if necessary to prevent dryness.

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These three simple steps can go a long way toward preventing infectious disease. Other tips about avoiding intestinal pathogens, are to be careful about eating in restaurants. Choosing to eat only hot foods, and not eating with your fingers will eliminate many pathogens.

It is quite possible to enjoy all the world has to offer, without taking in all of the pathogens that make life miserable. Just a bit of self-control and awareness of germs can greatly enhance your life.

Healing Leaky Gut: Analysis of "Eating Dirt" video by "Dr. Axe"

This is a interview about his new book called "Eat Dirt", a digital copy of this book is only $1.99 right now.

• He is against soaps, hand sanitizers and personal cleaning products because they can disrupt the microbiome and can be toxic. However, he uses essential oils such as tea tree oil instead of soap to clean his hands from public bathrooms, etc. He also recommends frankincense essential oil.
• He is also is for eating raw and unwashed produce, says that organisms that are found in the dirt on produce such as carrots can assist you in digesting them, 
• Unlike Jinni Patel Thompson, who is against soil microorganisms in probiotics, he says that soil microorganisms are the "king of probioitics" and suggests getting probiotics with Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus clausii, and Bacillus coagulans.
• He recommends raw foods such as fermented raw milk, and raw honey, and says that raw honey bacteria can take up residence in the gut.
• He recommends fermented foods such as miso, sauerkraut
• He recommends powdered bone broth and powdered collagen, especially fish collagen, for healing the gut
• His book has a Chinese medicine viewpoint, and will suggest foods based on several gut types you might fall into. He recommends Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford for further Chinese medicine information.
• He has a webpage about leaky gut right now.

He has a philosophy that I feel is too blasé about the real dangers that certain microorganisms in your environment could pose to your health. People who have weakened guts are especially susceptible to infections. However, certain foods, like raw honey, have built-in antimicrobial aspects that make the product generally a safe bet. I believe that sauerkraut also has some aspect that keeps dangerous microorganisms from growing. However, raw milk kefir seems like a more dangerous choice. It is worth more research.

How to Heal Leaky Gut Syndrome: Review of John Bergman Video

According to this video from John Bergman, leaky gut (and by extension, Crohn's and other IBD) is caused by:

• vaccines causing an improper immune response (Th2 response)
• GMO produce and meat from animals that eat GMO produce
• antibiotic use (decimates the gut microbiome)
• prescription drugs (not specified - seems to be against drugs in general)

How to fix it:

• restore the microbiome by raw eating vegetables, raw milk (for the bacteria)
• refusing to eat GMO
• saturated fats such as coconut oil
• adequate vitamin D
• iodine (he recommends ancientpurities.com)
• large amounts of vitamin C (4,000 mg)
• probiotics
• exercise and stress relief

He mentions getting bacteria for your body from raw milk and raw vegetables. It seems a bit dangerous to me. He claims that traveler's diarrhea is often the body getting rid of bacteria that it doesn't want and taking in bacteria that it does want. 

Listen To Your Gut - Jinni Patel Thompson: Oregano Oil and Probiotics

We are now reading Jinni Patel Thompson's book, Listen To Your Gut, and exploring her theories on natural methods of overcoming Crohn's disease. Jinni basic protocol is to use oregano oil to kill the infections in your body that are causing the Crohn's disease, and to use probiotics to replace the gut flora. She also says that probiotics will act to kill and crowd out bad bacteria in the gut.

http://www.listentoyourgut.com/

She believes that to kill the infection that could be causing your Crohn's disease you need to take 30-60 drops of oregano oil daily for as long as six months or until the infection is conquered. The problem with this recommendation is that many websites do not recommend long term oregano oil internal usage, saying that it can cause clotting issues and problems with toxicity with the liver.

A wikihow page says the following:

Do not use oregano oil for long-term treatment. Because oregano oil may interfere with iron absorption and can impact blood clotting, oregano oil should only be used for short-term treatments of targeted conditions.^[5]

• Oregano oil is not a recommended daily supplement, even for individuals who suffer from chronic bowel inflammation or long-term gastrointestinal problems, unless it has been prescribed by a health professional.

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Health-Benefits-from-Oregano-Oil

Dr. Mercola also does not recommend oregano oil for long term use, and suggests using it under the tongue most of the time.

Other sites talk about how it will kill off all your good flora. Jinni talks about this as well, if fact she thinks that is the point - that it kills off bacteria, but you must follow it with doses of probiotics. She says that her oregano oil protocol is as effective as taking vancomyacin, but has a broader spectrum of effectiveness in that it includes fungi and parasites.

As far as probiotics are concerned, she only recommends one company Natren. She (and the company, whom I spoke with personally) claim that their probiotics are human origin and human implantable strains.

I took Natren probiotics before discovering Primal Defense, and did not find that they were able to control my disease symptoms. I found that Primal Defense was much stronger. They did cause a die-off reaction, indicative of killing bacteria, but my symptoms were the same after taking the product. I also felt that the product was very expensive, at a $1 a pill, nearly twenty years ago.

But they have a couple of Bifidobacterium products that I am interested in. Bifidobacteriums have the reputation of being histamine lowering, so I am interested in finding one to take right now. After consulting with the Natren company, they suggested taking LifeStart, which  is the best of their probiotics to take if you are sensitive to die-off from probiotics, and a good place to start. It is their probiotic for babies and contains Bifidobacterium infantis. This probiotic has clinical studies that show that it is histamine lowering and helps people with IBS.

Jinni Patel Thompson does appear to be very negative about probiotic formulations that use soil organisms like Primal Defense from Garden of Life, which I have used for almost twenty years. She says that soil organisms are scary because they are spore forming and can cause invasive infections. My understanding is that the only soil organism in Primal Defense is Bacillus subtilis. This wikipedia page:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_subtilis

has many positive things to say about using Bacillus subtilis as a human probiotic and even says it that appears to be a normal human resident! It has been used extensively for about 100 years to enhance the immune system and help people people with digestive disorders. Also, it is the organism that natto is made out of which Japanese people have been eating traditionally.

I think that Jinni Patel Thompson is intelligent and has well thought out alternative answers to Crohn's disease. I agree that Crohn's disease can respond to treatment for infection. But her views on oregano oil are extreme, and her views on probiotics are very narrow. But I will continue reading...