It is alarming in the United States and in most of the western world, that degenerative diseased have replaced infectious diseases as the number one killer. What does this mean? Lifestyle and diet are the biggest ultimate causes of the degenerative diseases that are killing millions of people each year.

The medical profession’s primary method over the last 60 years to combat the devastating effects of the fast-food diet and life-style has been surgery and medication. Has this been effective in curbing and bringing to a halt most of these diseases? Not even hardly.

Practically every medical treatment plan prescribed for the chronic disease patient these days tries only to manage symptoms. There aren’t any cures.

The prevailing medical treatments not only include risks, but also symbolize a Band-Aid method of approach. They are able to offer relief from symptoms – however they are not able to cure, considering they don’t deal with the root cause of the disease.

Under “modern-day” medicine, the occurrence of nearly all debilitating diseases has accelerated and the vast majority of individuals are still dying from what are preventable, diet and life-style induced illnesses.

So what does fasting have to do with conquering a disease that is giving me lots of problems? Many times fasting arrives on the scene only when all other avenues of “healing” have been exhausted. People don’t think of it, because it is just too “simple” and how could something so “simple” really work?

Fasting gives your body a much needed rest. It supplies your body with the ideal environment to accomplish it’s work of healing. Amazing things happen during a fast. Your blood pressure will drop. The metabolic wastes in your body will start decreasing and your blood vessels will start softening and actually rid themselves of harmful plaque.

In just a short time span, most of your organs and muscles, including your heart and brain, start receiving a bigger blood supply and oxygenation. And one of the most exciting things that a fast accomplishes is all the tissues throughout the different systems in your body begin to purify themselves. All of this just from a cessation of eating while drinking a lot of purified water.

A word of caution. Please consult with your physician before you embark on any fast. They may not agree with you. If this is your doctor, find another one who is open to different methods and ideas such as fasting.  You can also reference a number of good books about fasting that are written by doctors. One of my favorites is “Fasting and Eating For Health – A Medical Doctor’s Program for Conquering Disease” by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

If you are open to this interesting approach to health, I encourage you to start with fasting one day a week. This doesn’t seem that hard, yet it will be hard to start with, because you will be bucking the tradition of years of habit. But think about giving your whole body – especially your internal organs – a much needed rest once each week? I sometimes wonder if this is what was meant by the old testament Biblical mandate of a day of rest each week.

One of the most incredible things fasting does is reduce inflammation in your body. This is a fascinating subject on it’s own that I will be covering in an upcoming post.

Related Blogs

• Root cause of all evil: Money: Ayn Rand | Subramoney
• stress chronic illness | Stress Management
• Top 10 Diet Tips for Ultimate Health and Weight! | Blogging away
• Healthy diet weight loss – proper food intake
• Alkaline Diet Food – How It Works

Technorati Tags: Fasting, Infectious disease, Joel Fuhrman

Improving Your Memory Through Putting Your Thoughts On Paper

Remembering everything is never easy for your brain. If you struggle to keep everything in the forefront of your mind, you aren’t helping to improve your memory. The way that we think is fascinating but very intricate, simultaneously.

Keeping a diary or a journal for your thoughts or the activities of your day will help you to remember all of the details. You could vastly improve the way that you think by practicing this. You should attempt to make the recording of events and emotions a routine part of your day. You should not evaluate your thoughts at this time. This will allow you to determine your true emotions surrounding a particular subject.

In order to help improve memory, you should attempt to recall all the minute aspects of a certain event. Within the experience, focus on all five of your senses. Each day, write something down in your journal, if you are serious about improving the way that you think. There are plenty of people,that want to help improve memory , that use writing in a journal as a method of relaxation in the evenings. Some people feel that they can inspire their entire day by writing down their thoughts and feelings before they do anything else in the morning.

If you write down the goals that you wish to achieve, you have a greater chance of actually achieving them in the near future. This offers you a concrete way of seeing what you have to work towards. You can easily look at that material every single day for inspiration and to keep yourself on the right track. Make sure you keep such information in a place where you can easily refer to it every day.

Make commitment to write for a set period of time each day, say 15 minutes daily. Don’t analyze what you are going to say, just let it flow. Skipping from topic to topic is perfectly acceptable. Do not concern yourself with grammar, spelling, or other rules. You need to be simply letting your brain unravel your thoughts and feelings about whatever is troubling you. This is an excellent method of clarifying your thoughts and feelings, and it also can help improve memory.

Your memory will improve and your stress levels will drastically decrease in the meantime. You will remember details of specific events due to what you have written, instead of depending on just your memory. When you write down your thoughts and feelings and then wait for awhile before going back over them, you will realize how special they truly are.

About the Author -  David K. Anderson At last you can enhance your brain power by natural means with these techniques shown here. It is possible to learn the basic techniques it usually takes to build more robust brain power so you can recollect just about anything.

Related articles from Fit In My 50′s:

• Memory’s master switch: Molecular power behind memory discovered (sciencedaily.com)

Related Blogs

• Prayer, Thoughts & Feelings
• Tips to Improve your Memory | Technopark Today – IT News,Jobs,Events and LifeStyle!
• Improving Your Memory | Good New World – A Healthy World
• Improve Your Memory by Creating Stories | Self Help Ideas
• Inside the New York Times’ Paywall Brain | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Related Blogs

• Mike Scott’s Blog : The Shangri-La of Central California!

Technorati Tags: Memory, Memory Improvement

Tips to Improve your Memory

Techies are infamous for forgetting the things – everyone says, we are heavily depending on the reminders, calenders and memos through out all of our days, and often we get in  situations where  we can’t even remember simple things.

Virtually every day we are required to remember a name, a face, a number, or some other piece of information. For many people it is a struggle. It no longer needs to be so – here is a list of ten great tips to improving your memory.

1. Patterns

An excellent way to remember a large number or phrase, is to look for patterns. Here is a simple example:

3810151722242931363843

The number appears to be random until you realize that it is following a pattern: add 5, then add 2, repeat. Once you know the pattern, you only need to remember the first number in the sequence. This can be a useful way to create a numeric password that changes regularly. Another way to use this system is to remember the numbers in the form of a numerical keyboard. You can use your spatial awareness to remember the number rather than just blind memorizing.

2. Associations

This is an excellent method for memorizing numbers. In this system, you associate portions of the number with a word that has some relation to it. For example:

74736052007365

Split the number up and make an association for each sequence. Doing so can give us a list like this: Jumbo Jet (747), XBox (360), Deck of Cards (52), James Bond (007), Days in the year (365). This method can again be used for passwords that are easy to remember. To help you remember your images, try to imagine a scene that incorporates all of the items. For example, you may see a calendar with a photograph of James Bond playing poker on his XBox on a private 747. Sounds weird, but it works.

3. Alphabetize

We are all very familiar with the system of alphabetization – we see it every day in phone books, online directories, and a variety of other places. If you have a list of words to remember, put them into alphabetical order. If you wanted to learn a very long list – such as the States of the USA, start with one state per letter. Once you have that memorized, go back and add another state for each letter. Repeat until the whole list is stored in your mind. You would be surprised how much more effective this is than just trying to remember the whole list in one go.

4. Categorize

In a way, alphabetizing is categorizing, but with this method you can go a lot further. If you have a big list of things to remember, you can find similarities and group them. For example a shopping list:

Apples, Shampoo, Cheese, Milk, Sugar, Bananas, Soap, Coconut, Flour

Now, reorder them into categories and we have this:

Fruit: Apples, Bananas
Dried Goods: Coconut, Sugar, Flour
Dairy: Milk, Cheese
Bathroom: Shampoo, Soap

Another great way to remember your categories (especially in the case of a shopping list) is to remember your categories in the order that they are found in the supermarket. For example, if your first aisle is Fruit, remember the fruit first and think of the fruit aisle while you are doing so.

5. Chunking

Chunking is such a useful method of remembering things that we all use it every day. The best example is telephone numbers. When we are told a phone number we have to remember we chunk it up – usually into area code – 3 digits – four digits. This is not out of conformity – it is because it is the most effective way to remember such random numbers. This is also an excellent way to remember long sequences like pi to n digits. Taking just four extra digits a day you can easily remember pi to many decimal places. Great for a party trick.

6. Images

This is the most effective way to remember a person’s name. If you meet John Key, imagine his face with a big key right in the center of his face. If you meet someone called Patty Grant, you can try to remember a meat patty wrapped in wads of cash. I will leave it up to your own imagination if you meet Bob Johnson. Another way to do this is to find an association between this person and someone else you know – imagine them shaking hands or standing next to each other.

7. Visualize

This is a very ancient technique of memorization called Loci. In this method you imagine a location (something easy like your home) and you place the objects you need to remember in to a different part of the room. The famous Cicero had this to say:

“One must employ a large number of places which must be well-lighted, clearly set out in order, at moderate intervals apart, and images which are active, which are sharply defined, unusual, and which have the power of speedily encountering and penetrating the mind.”

For example, if you need to remember a list of vegetables, put each vegetable in a different place in the room. When you need to recall the list, move in your mind through each location in the room and see what you put there. If you find this one especially helpful, you can expand on it by adding additional floors to your location.

8. Story Method

This one can be very fun. Make up a story and include all of the things you need to remember in it. The story can be totally ridiculous. Let’s say you need to remember to buy a bucket, a dozen apples, a hairbrush, and some kitty litter, you might make a story like this:

After Jane emptied the kitty litter from Felix’s dirtbox in to the red bucket, she gave him a good brushing with his new hairbrush while she ate an apple for lunch.

It is not the most thrilling or original story, but it can be very effective in helping you to remember your list.

9. Mnemonics

A mnemonic is a word or short phrase that you can use to remember something because it is like a key to the rest of the information. For example, if you learned music as a child, you probably remember the phrase: “every good boy deserves fruit” – each word stands for a note on the musical staff – EGBDF. No doubt you were also taught a mnemonic to remember the colors of the rainbow as well.

Another slight variation is to use a phrase: desert and dessert: the sweet one has two sugars. We also use this to remember daylight savings time: Spring forward, fall back.

10. Senses

If you have to remember a word, try remembering it with your other senses. For example, if you have to remember to buy soap, try to conjure up an image of soap and whilst doing so, imagine what it smells like. You can also use your other senses in the same way: to remember to buy an alarm clock, remember the sound it makes when it goes off in the morning.

All of the items on this list can be used on their own, or in conjunction with the others to help you improve your memory. The more you practice these tips, the better you will become.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/08/27/top-10-tips-to-improve-your-memory/

Get Better Vision: Better Vision for Greater Memory

The following exercise will help you relax and improve your memory. Try it tonight. While lying in bed tonight focus on all the positive things that happened throughout the day. Picture the events of the in as much detail and color as …

Publish Date: 08/01/2010 7:08

http://seebetter.blogspot.com/2010/08/better-vision-for-greater-memory.html

Technorati Tags: Memory, Mnemonic, Word Games

Recent data has shown that worldwide, overweight and obese people are growing in numbers, both men and women no matter what the age.

One of the biggest reasons why this is happening is because people nowadays tend to consume a lot more fast food but fewer fruits and vegetables. Another cause of getting obese is the inactive way of life people live due to the convenience of utilizing PCs, television, and personal computer games for work and for fun.

However, obesity is really a huge public concern. Being called names, and not being able to discover the correct clothes are some of the real difficulties faced by those who are obese.

The attack on those who are obese by the entertainment press continues to dishonor them. It is so tough for obese people nowadays; should you watch TV or read magazines, you know that everybody wants to have a physique like that of a super model. That everyone wants to appear a particular way.

It has been reported that airlines are contemplating weighing people when they buy their tickets and charging people by the pound! They also have proposed charging for two tickets for any passenger who cannot get the arm rest down in a single seat.

I certainly think being obese and obesity are issues we must take seriously. Not for the vain self indulgent reasons portrayed by the media, but for the serious wellness risks which come with it.

While I do not agree with stigmatizing individuals who are obese, I think making the condition appear normal is just as bad.

The popular treatment for obesity would involve less consumption of fast foods, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, a lot more exercise, and less time spent in front of the television and personal computer or playing video games.

If you are capable, it is advisable for you to consult a nutrition specialist. They will keep you informed about what is wholesome and what isn’t, because I think lots of people have the wrong ideas. You must do your best to only have nutritious food in the house or at work because keeping junk food and seeing them will only lure you to consume them.

I also think that the best thing to do to conquer this social stigma against getting obese is for them to accept themselves for who they are, and that it doesn’t matter what they look like; that they need to consume better for wellness reasons.

Obesity must not be considered a pounds issue, but a wellness issue.

They ought to keep attempting. It is really a lifelong process. There may be obstacles on occasion, but continue to do your best. Concentrate on areas that require a lot more support. And attempt to be creative; what works for 1 person might not work for someone else, but they ought to do what they can and then pass it on to others who might require support.

Technorati Tags: overweight, social stigma

Image via Wikipedia

If you believe you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, seeing your doctor is the first step. IBS is generally diagnosed on the basis of a complete medical history, including a careful description of all the symptoms and a physical examination.

In order to make his diagnosis, your physician will ask you questions about your pain, when and how often it comes on and what factors make it better or worse. He or she may also ask about your bowel movements, with inquiries about how often you open your bowels and what your feces look like.

There is no precise test for IBS, although diagnostic tests may be carried out to exclude alternative problems. These tests could include stool sample testing, blood testing, and x-rays. Typically, a physician will perform a sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy, which allows the doctor to look inside the colon.

Your doctor puts an endoscope into your colon via your behind. The endoscopes imaging software transfers pictures of your insides to a screen so your physician can look at them clearly.

A tissue sample may be taken during the procedure. The sample is removed from the colon wall and reviewed by the lab. This test helps to rule out more serious conditions such as ulcerative colitis.

If your test results are negative, the physician might diagnose IBS depending on your symptoms, which includes how often you have had abdominal pain or discomfort during the past year, when the pain starts and stops in relation to bowel function, and how your bowel frequency and stool consistency have changed.

Like many illnesses, physicians match symptoms to a review of typical issues in order to determine whether a patient has IBS.

Symptoms include things like abdominal pain or discomfort for at least 12 weeks out of the previous 12 months. The weeks of pain may be spread out or sporadic.

Stomach discomfort will have 2 of three of the proceeding indicators:

1. Pain disappears once you vacate your bowels.
2. When it starts, there is a change in the form of the stool or the way it looks.
3. Certain symptoms must also be present, such aHow often the bowel movements occur is altered

Bowel movements look different

Urgent need to defecate that is not controllable

Constipation or person is unable to have a bowel movement

Mucus in the stoolbloating

Bleeding, fever, weight loss, and persistent severe pain are not symptoms of IBS and may indicate other problems such as inflammation, or rarely, cancer.

If you have characteristic IBS symptoms and are age under fifty, then you may not need further tests.

If you are showing weight loss or bloody stools, additional tests might be required.

If bowel problems are in your family history, if you’re presenting symptoms of diarrhea-specific IBS or if you are more than 50 years old and this is the first time you are experiencing indications of IBS, you may be admitted to the hospital for additional testing. Your doctor would admit you because these symptoms are indicators of serious colon-related conditions such as colon cancer.

Technorati Tags: Abdominal pain, Colonoscopy, Diagnosing IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Image via Wikipedia

Do you know the Symptoms of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

Abdominal pain, bloatedness, and discomfort are the primary symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Having said that, symptoms can be very different from individual to individual. Other IBS patients sometimes suffer from constipation which is characterized by hard, dry, and irregular bowel movements.

Often these people report straining and cramping when they try to have a bowel movement but are not able to eliminate any stool, or they are able to eliminate just a small amount.If bowel movement does take place, mucus, a fluid that serves to keep the passages in the digestive system moist and protected, is often present.

Conversely, people who suffer from IBS may also suffer from diarrhea, where the person has loose, watery stools, and too-frequent bowel movements, as opposed to constipation. People with diarrhea frequently feel an urgent and uncontrollable need to have a bowel movement. In some cases, patients with IBS find themselves going back and forth between constipation and diarrhea. People with IBS may find some symptoms receding for some months, and then coming back after a time. Unfortunately for others, the symptoms may only worsen over time.

Because IBS is a problem with the colon, and the colon removes water from unprocessed food waste, it is common for people with the condition to be constipated or have diarrhea. Constipation occurs when waste matter remains in a person’s colon for too long so that too much water is absorbed, making the stool unusually hard and difficult to pass. In contrast, diarrhea occurs when the waste matter, aided by the colon muscles, moves along the colon too fast so that only very little of the fluid content is removed.

The symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome usually are recurring, meaning that a person will have bouts of symptoms on an ongoing basis as opposed to just once or twice a year. People with IBS often see their symptoms flare up at certain times. For many, they notice this after consuming large amounts of food, while for others, constant pressure or stress leads to the more severe attacks. Their normal menstrual cycle could also set off IBS symptoms for some women.

The main symptom of IBS is pain or discomfort in the abdomen. This is not to say however, that if you experience stomach aches or bloating sometimes, you are definitely suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. People with IBS usually have at least two of the following symptoms:

Abdominal ache or discomfort that is alleviated when that person is able to do bowel movement;

Pain or discomfort that is accompanied by changes in a person’s regular bowel movement patterns;

Abdominal ache or discomfort that comes with changes in a person’s stool appearance. For those who are constipated, stools become dry and harder to pass, while those experiencing diarrhea have loose, watery stool.

Anyone who seems to have just one of these symptoms probably does not have IBS.

The following are not normally symptoms or characteristics of irritable bowel syndrome:

Blood is passed together with stool or urine

Vomiting

Pain or diarrhea that interrupts sleep

Fever

Weight loss

Related articles by Zemanta

• Diagnosing Symptoms Of Irritable Bowel Disease (slideshare.net)
• Rotating shift work may raise irritable bowel risk (calgaryherald.com)
• Hypnotherapy ‘helps gut pain’ (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Regular Elimination Promotes Optimum Health! (findmeacure.com)
• Shift workers at more risk for irritable bowel syndrome, U-M study says (scienceblog.com)

Technorati Tags: Constipation, irritable bowel, irritable bowel symptoms, Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Most people are mindful of the hazards that being over weight can present. The majority of us have been given facts on how being overweight can badly harm our bodies. Much of the information regarding overweight and poor health typically revolves about the danger to internal organs. And when we speak about internal bodily functions, on the list of major risks in being over weight is the development of high cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a major part of adipose in the blood. It is carried by proteins, a kind of which is referred to as low-density lipoproteins (LDL). Low-density lipoproteins are commonly known as bad cholesterol due to its correlation with blood vessel disorders. The more bad cholesterol you have in your blood, the more you at risk of getting cardiovascular diseases, such as cardiac illnesses and cerebrovascular accident.

High LDL levels can be an inherited trait, but are more likely to be brought about by diet. People who eat foods heavy in saturated fats in particular are more inclined to have higher LDL levels than people who consume only moderate or small amounts of saturated fats. Despite the fact that having excess weight does not automatically mean you get it from fatty foods, after a while continuous consumption of these foods will result to weight gain. And it doesn’t matter if the cause of weight gain is from fatty foods or not, those who are fat usually have more bad cholesterol than their slimmer counterparts.

Overweight people often don’t have enough HDL (high-density lipoprotein), or what is referred to as good cholesterol and their triglycerides are often too high. They may also have an abundance of bad cholesterol. In addition, being overweight raises the chances of getting hypertension and diabetes, which are both linked with cardiac problems.

People who are obese are suggested to have their cholesterol levels checked, and for them to stay on a healthy diet, more exercise, and to take anti-bad cholesterol medicines.

Weight loss if you are fat can reduce bad cholesterol levels and is particularly vital to those who have high levels of triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol, and those whose waist measurements are bigger than 40 inches for males and bigger than 35 inches for females.

Pursue weight loss if necessary. Losing just 5 lbs to 10 lbs (2.3 kg to 4.5 kg) can lower your cholesterol and triglycerides. Weight loss can prevent hypertension as well.

Daily exercise is advised to everybody. It can help raise HDL and lower LDL and is especially important for those with high triglyceride and/or low HDL levels.

Your body weight is decided by a combination of factors as well, such as your diet and your lifestyle. Being too fat might possibly encourage heart and circulatory problems when your body mass index is more than what is normal; 32% for females and 25% for males.

Putting on the weight thanks to bulkier muscles caused by weight-lifting and eating plenty of protein foods does not necessarily lead to cholesterol issues, always provided that these are lean proteins.

Technorati Tags: High Cholesterol, obesity, risk factors

From the time it first came out in 1972, a considerable number of people have overcome their problems with weight and heart ailments because of the Atkins Diet Plan. As presented by Dr. Atkins, the plan is equally effective in managing a number of illnesses such as cephalalgia, diabetes, apathetic metabolism, trouble to tolerate certain foods, hypersensitivity, and a lot more disorders. Even though the initial intention of following the Atkins Diet is often to lose weight fast, a lot of people with hypercholesterolemia, high blood pressure, blood sugar disorders, and polycystic ovarian syndrome have said that they felt more rejuvenated than ever before with just a week on an Atkins Diet.

Despite the fact that health specialists were advising foods low in fat and high in carbohydrates, the Atkins diet recommends that individuals who desire to achieve weight loss ought to do the contrary. The philosophy of the Atkins diet is that up to two thirds of calories ought to come from fat and people should eat meats and cheeses rather than breads, pastas, and even fruits and vegetables. Instead of carbohydrate and sugar, the Atkins Diet Plan highly recommends fat and protein. The diet specifically recommends animal proteins; so vegetarians will have a hard time following the diet.

Many diet and medical professionals have openly disapproved of Atkins’ principle on weight loss because they believe that eating limitless quantities of fat, in particular saturated fat encountered in meat products, can lead to elevated chance of heart disease.

They also say that any diet that limits carbohydrates to cause the body to rely on its store of fat or muscle for energy is dangerous. When our body breaks down stored fat to supply energy, a by-product called ketones is formed. Ketones suppress appetite, but they also cause fatigue, nausea, and a potentially perilous fluid loss. Anyone who suffers with diabetes, heart, or kidney problems is advised to check with their physician before following a low carbohydrate diet.

Some unpleasant side effects of the Atkins plan include constipation due to a low-fiber diet, and bad breath.

A extensive study on people possessing good health informas us that we should consume more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Limiting these foods for the sake of losing weight can result in health issues in the long run.

However, in spite of the negative comments about it, Atkins has lead to favourable outcomes for a lot of people, and has led to not only a meaningful loss of weight but good health as well.

A lot of people feel in the beginning that the diet is quite difficult, as can be the necessity to undertake meaningful lifestyle changes to achieve excellent results with Atkins.

Published studies comparing the effectiveness of the Atkins diet versus a standard low-fat, low-calorie diet in 2 of the most reputable medical journals, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine. The results really were unexpected when they demonstrated that many cardiac problem signals got better in participants following the Atkins Diet Plan. There was a much larger decrease in serum triglyceride levels as compared to the low fat group, and a greater increase in serum HDL which is known as good cholesterol than the low-fat group. The 2 groups were observed to have the roughtly the same decrease in bad cholesterol and total cholesterol levels. Furthermore, after a year, the two classes realized the same levels of weight reduction.

Technorati Tags: Atkins, Atkins Diet, dieting, Weight loss

As is the case with most syndromes, the irritable bowel syndrome is made up of different signs and symptoms. IBS has not been shown to lead to serious disease, such as cancer. Over time, other terminologies have also been developed for IBS, for example colitis, mucous colitis, spastic colon, or spastic bowel. However, no link has been established between IBS and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

If a patient has extremely severe symptoms and it affects their way of life, you can just consider that they are going to feel some stress about that, and a lot of patients will say, “Well, I didn’t truly have depression, or my mood was not really bad before, it’s simply that I feel so impaired in my life.” You can find many of them saying that while they did not have depression or mood swings before; their decreased functionality has made them feel helpless.

Irritable bowel syndrome can also be complicated by non-gastrointestinal symptoms, taking place simultaneously or accelerated due to IBS. One very common symptom is fatigue. Difficulty in sleeping is another. What makes it worse is that when patients do not sleep well, the body is unable to recharge and heal itself, thus leading to worse bowel symptoms the following day. There have been studies that attest to this.

The additional aspect of irritable bowel syndrome is the fact it coexists with other problems, where you may have symptoms which might be outside of the gastro-intestinal tract. One example is fibromyalgia, a condition indicated by persistent pain of the muscles. With most patients, the chronic muscle pain, which is obviously external of the GI tract, is actually developed due to IBS. IBS patients can develop other conditions where they will have other symptoms, and a patient who becomes more severe, they will tend to have more of these non-gastrointestinal symptoms, either related to a diagnosable medical condition like migraine headaches or fibromyalgia.

IBS is also associated with two other conditions: the leaky gut syndrome and gut dysbiosis, where it is manifested as a small intestine bacterial overgrowth or SIBO. Other than that, IBS may also be linked to various environmental illnesses. IBS is sometimes diagnosed in people who have also been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Gulf war syndrome (GWS) and autism. The most recent studies are now starting to identify the link between IBS and other chronic illnesses, and are looking into the possible causes for this connection.

Much of the research made has been focused on the connection of SIBO in most of these conditions, particularly in CFS and fibromyalgia. Just as SIBO has been found to be common in IBS patients, recent research has also found this to be the case with fibromyalgia and CFS. It was found that SIBO is common in both IBS and fibromyalgia patients.

Interestingly, they found that SIBO seemed to be more severe in fibromyalgia patients and the severity of the SIBO in specific patients correlated strongly with the intensity of the pain they experienced. Based on this finding, would it be possible to make speculations that if an IBS patient experienced severe SIBO he would also be developing fibromyalgic pain? Only further research can answer that question.

Technorati Tags: irritable bowel