Enteritis
Important cancer-care note: Nutritional, emotional, and lifestyle approaches may support general wellbeing, but they do not replace oncology assessment or treatment. Some supplements and antioxidants can interact with cancer treatments, so always discuss supplements with your oncology team, pharmacist, GP, or registered dietitian.
Enteritis is the inflammation of the small intestine, commonly causing acute abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever, often referred to as “stomach flu” or food poisoning. Primarily caused by infections (viruses, bacteria) or sometimes radiation/medications, it typically lasts for a few days to a week. Treatment focuses on hydration, with severe cases requiring medical care.
Causes of Enteritis
Infections: Viruses (e.g., norovirus, rotavirus) or bacteria (e.g., Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter) from contaminated food/water are the most common causes.
Medications: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen or naproxen.
Medical Conditions: Crohn’s disease or other autoimmune conditions.
Radiation Therapy: Damage to the intestines from cancer treatment.
Treatment
Hydration: The primary treatment is replacing lost fluids and electrolytes.
Diet: Eating bland foods and avoiding dairy, caffeine, and fatty foods.
Medication: In some cases, anti-diarrheal medication may be used, though it is not appropriate for all types. Antibiotics may be required for specific bacterial infections.
Hospitalization: Necessary if dehydration is severe or if the patient cannot keep liquids down, requiring IV fluids.
Women are more likely than men to have IBS. IBS occurs in all age groups, but around half of people with IBS begin experiencing symptoms before they are 35 years old. Depression and anxiety often accompany IBS due to the gut-brain axis connection.
For many years, IBS was dismissed by conventional doctors as a psychosomatic disorder. Now recognized as a legitimate condition, doctors diagnose IBS when a person has recurrent abdominal pain at least three days per month in a three-month period associated with two or more of the following: improvement with bowel movement, onset associated with a change in stool frequency and/or consistency.
Major Causes of Irritable Bowel
1. Poor Diet
Diet has a big impact on IBS symptoms. Eating a highly processed, standard American diet can initiate and worsen IBS symptoms. Pro-inflammatory foods such as refined sugars and starches, factory farmed meats, processed foods, and toxic oils activate the immune system and lead to inflammation.
2. Food Sensitivities and Irritable Bowel
People with IBS often have one or more food sensitivities. A food sensitivity is an immune-mediated response to certain foods. When you have a food sensitivity, your immune system produces antibodies (or immunoglobulins) to the food. Food sensitivities are very common and affect 45-75% of individuals.
Gluten, dairy, corn, soy, nuts, eggs, and nightshades are common food sensitivities. If you are sensitive, repeated exposure to these foods inflames the gut lining causing intestinal permeability and digestive problems. This irritates the bowel and leads to IBS symptoms.
3. Imbalances in Gut Flora
Imbalances in the gut flora (or microbiome) have been linked to IBS symptoms. The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microbes, ten times more than the number of human cells. The ideal ratio of beneficial to pathogenic microbes is around 85:15.
Unfortunately, most people have dysbiosis, an inverse ratio with bad bacteria outnumbering the good bacteria. Imbalances in the gut flora are linked to IBS and a number of diseases including obesity, Crohn’s disease, and colorectal cancer
4. Gut Infections and Irritable Bowel
Our GI tracts are constantly exposed to pathogens including bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. When our gut immune system is compromised, gut infections often result from these pathogens these infections damage the gut, cause inflammation, and can trigger or exacerbate IBS.
Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the stomach and intestines typically resulting from bacterial toxins or viral infection. Infectious gastroenteritis is a significant risk factor in the development of IBS.
One of the most common gut infections linked to IBS is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). SIBO is present in at least one-third of people with IBS, and people with IBS are five times more likely to have SIBO. Parasites such as Blastocystis hominis, Dientamoeba fragilis, and Giardia are also linked to IBS.
5. Chronic Stress and Irritable Bowel
Stress has a prominent role in the development and presentation of IBS symptoms Up to 40% of people with IBS have increased anxiety.
Psychological and physical stressors have effects on gut function and gut-brain interactions. Stress can damage the gut by modulating key inflammatory pathways. It also decreases mucosal blood flow and thereby compromising the integrity of the gut mucosal barrier.
Stress causes bowel dysfunction in different ways, including through the HPA axis, the autonomic nervous system, or directly on the bowel itself (8). It activates the “fight or flight” response in the central nervous system which can slow down or even stop the digestive process as the body diverts its energy to face the perceived threat. Stress also alters the gut flora and increases intestinal permeability, which may lead to IBS symptoms.
Protocol
Hydration: The primary treatment is replacing lost fluids and electrolytes.
Quinton Isotonic and Quinton Hypertonic – John 087 1876475
Gut Flora
Improving the microbial balance in your gut is very important to heal from IBS. You can support proper diversity of your gut flora with probiotics.
Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms (bacteria and yeasts) that are similar to the microorganisms that naturally live in our bodies. They support digestive health in many ways. Probiotics have been extensively studied as a treatment option for gastrointestinal diseases and have been shown to be an effective therapy in IBS patients . Dr Wolz Probiotic – John 087 1876475
Activated Charcoal – Get From Inta 085 841 3776.
Activated charcoal is a powerful detoxifying remedy that can stop diarrhea. It is very absorbent and will bind to and eliminate toxins from the body.
For acute diarrhea, start with around 250 mg of activated charcoal for every 50 pounds of body weight. Take this amount of charcoal every 2 hours or so with and without meals and continue to take it and you may even double the dosage until the diarrhea stops.
Parasite Cleanse Get from Inta 085 841 3776
And Bentonite Clay as a Binder – John 087 1876475
Use L-Glutamine
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body and in the intestinal cells. It is the primary nutrient for the cells of the intestinal lining where it helps regulate cellular reproduction. Through this mechanism, glutamine helps prevent and rebuild a leaky gut, which is common in people with inflammatory and auto-immune conditions. Health Store.
1-2 scoops (4-8 grams) – 3 times daily in water until the diarrhea stops.
Reduce Stress and Improve Sleep
With chronic stress being major contributor to IBS, it is critical to reduce and manage stress. Prioritizing good sleep is also essential to heal from IBS.
Two of the most effective strategies to reduce stress and optimize sleep are implementing a healing diet and balancing your blood sugar levels. Grounding, deep breathing exercises, sunlight exposure, Epsom salt baths, and dry brushing are additional stress-relieving strategies.
Support Stomach Acid and Digestive Enzymes
Nutritional Supplements For Enteritis.
Quinton Isotonic 1Month €50 and Quinton Hypertonic 1 month €50 – John 087 1876475
Dr Wolz Probiotic – €60 for 80 caps John 087 1876475
Activated Charcoal – Get From Inta 085 841 3776.
Parasite Cleanse Get from Inta 085 841 3776
And Bentonite Clay as a Binder – John 087 1876475
L-Glutamine From a Health Store.
The Emotional aspect to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
You have felt suppressed in everything you’ve tried to accomplish. Influential people did not give you the support and validation to express yourself safely. You feel held back, as you do not know if you have permission to venture outside of the family’s values and belief system.
You may hold onto all your negative experiences in life. This may result from a childhood where influential people never had enough time or patience to listen to and acknowledge you. You are holding on to what you want to say in case you express it one day.
You may have experienced that childhood where you had to learn how to cope and fend for yourself. This may have caused you to feel utterly unsupported, unloved, worthless or lonely. There is no one to reach out to.
You fear what life has in store for you or what will happen next. You are desperate to be in control of everything as it gives you the illusion of feeling safe, amidst mental and emotional chaos. You stepped away from your goals as you felt “What is the use” ? it’s all too hard.
You’re isolating yourself, which caused you to feel anxious and depressed. Humans have an instinct always to be close to one another. It’s a survival instinct that has served people for many thousands of years.
Someone may have thrown you into the deep ends. This left you with a sense that you will never survive or cope in these circumstances and there is no way out.
You feel unsettled and unsafe in your life. This condition starts when a person feels suppressed, attacked or poisoned by circumstances and the influential people around them.
IBS with symptoms of diarrhoea this may show that you have an intense and stressful relationship with your mother or father. The pattern and stress you have or that you had with your parents is repeated in your current personal relationships. You often felt under attack, mistreated or rejected by authority figures when all you needed was to feel safe. Authority figures often rejected or punished you when you only needed to feel safe. You fear the people with whom you should feel safer. There is an urgency to get away from toxic people and relationships.
IBS with symptoms Constipation this may show that you have experienced mistreatment or very hostile actions from those who relied on you on for survival (especially during infancy stages). You’re holding onto negative experiences because of mistreatment and hostility. You may have an unconscious fear of letting go of the trauma because it may cause all cycles to surface again. You’ve learned how to survive and keep save yourself safe during emotional and physical challenging circumstances. You do not want to abandon your honed and perfected survival skins. You fear you might find yourself in stressful situations again. Your knowledge (trauma) is the only survival tool you have. You often fear moving away from patterns and habits that serve you as you do not know any other way of life. You hold onto old emotions as this feels safe and familiar.
Reflective questions to ask yourself.
From whom or what do you need to escape but cants? How does that make you feel? Explore trauma where you felt controlled, trapped, mistreated, unsafe or unsupported.
By whom do you feel suppressed? Explore associations made with this person and how this person fulfilled your emotional needs. How did influential people respond to your needs when you needed love or safety?
Towards whom or in what circumstances do you feel so resistant? Who are What made you feel this way? What is the benefit of being resistant? How does that make you feel?
Which influential person mistreated you or caused immense anxiety and fear? You might experience situations with others of the same gender as the influential person who mistreated or challenged you. The relationships are triggering old traumas. Explore how your current relationship makes you feel.
Explore ancestral trauma related to poverty or diet problems. What were the ancestors circumstance and emotion state like when you digest their food? How did they feel? What unfair circumstances could they not let go of? Stress in ones life affects the intestines and digesting food while upset can cause digestion problems. Are there any similar traits of trauma or emotions that are now taking place in your life?
Is there any mistreatment (physical, emotional or sexual trauma) in the ancestral line? Explore how it affected your life. What were the ancestor’s fears who or what were they afraid of, and what were the emotional consequences of the mistreatment?
Explore woman stages. How did your mother feel while she was pregnant? Especially when your intestines and colon are developing, Are you experiencing emotions similar to those of your mother’s. Explore associations that were made. Explore the difference between your mother’s trauma and feelings and your own feelings.
Explore how your mother felt when she was in her mother’s womb. Is it possible to send similar feelings?
Explore similarities between your emotions and habits compared with your mothers.
Patterns copied from the mother often set in during fetal stages while in the stomach, nervous system and heart develop. The fetus receives its programming from the mothers heart chakra just before turning its head towards The uterus. The pattern of anxiety, self-esteem and personal strength is also reinforced during this time. Did your mother feel invaded and irritated by her environment? How did her emotional state affect you in utero.
References
- Cancer Research UK. Vitamins and diet supplements. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/vitamins-diet-supplements
- Cancer Research UK. Complementary and alternative therapies. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Cancer and dietary supplements / herbal remedies. https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/patients/resources/cancer-and-dietary-supplements-herbal-remedies/
- NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Probiotics: What You Need To Know. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics-what-you-need-to-know
- European Commission. EU Register of Nutrition and Health Claims. https://food.ec.europa.eu/food-safety/labelling-and-nutrition/nutrition-and-health-claims/eu-register-health-claims_en
- European Commission. Nutrition and Health Claims. https://food.ec.europa.eu/food-safety/labelling-and-nutrition/nutrition-and-health-claims_en