Stephanie Zinser - The Good Gut Guide - Help for IBS, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, Diverticulitis, Food Allergies and Other Gut Problems

Help for IBS • Ulcerative Colitis

Crohn’s Disease • Diverticulitis

Food Allergies • Other Gut Problems

Foreword by Professor R. John Nieholls

Cover

Title Page The Good Gut Guide Help for IBS • Ulcerative Colitis Crohn’s Disease • Diverticulitis Food Allergies • Other Gut Problems

Excerpt Excerpt A man goes to his doctor with a piece of lettuce sticking out of his bum. He tells the doctor that he is a little concerned. After examining him, the doctor sighs and says, ‘I’m afraid it’s worse than I first thought … that’s just the tip of the iceberg.’

Foreword

How I Came to Write This Book

Introduction

SECTION 1

Having trouble with your guts?

What it means and what you can do about it

CHAPTER 1

A quick anatomy lesson

CHAPTER 2

Common symptoms

Constipation

Diarrhoea

Nausea

Bleeding

Mucus

Abdominal pain

Pain in the back passage

Wind and bloating

Urgency, frequency and incomplete evacuation

Itchy bottom

CHAPTER 3

How to get the best from your doctor

CHAPTER 4

Investigating the problems – a look at tests, scans and ’scopes

SECTION 2

The medical possibilities

CHAPTER 5

How lifestyle can affect the digestive system

Drinking too much alcohol

Stress

Athlete’s diarrhoea

Changes in routine

Ignoring the urge to go

Talting antibiotics

(Over)use of aspirin

Prescription and non-prescription drugs

CHAPTER 6

How diet and nutritional problems affect the digestive system

Chronic dehydration

Caffeine

Fibre

Strongly coloured foods and ‘false’ bleeding

Inadequate nutrition through malabsorption

Food allergy and intolerance

Lactose intolerance (hypolactasia)

Coeliac disease

CHAPTER 7

How problems of the reproductive system can affect your guts

Period pains

Constipation during pregnancy

Chlamydia

Endometriosis

Ovarian cysts

Ovarian cancer

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS)

CHAPTER 8

The thyroid and its effect on the digestive system

Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)

Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism, Graves’ disease)

CHAPTER 9

Infectious illnesses of the digestive tract

Bacterial food poisoning

Viral gastroenteritis

Protozoan parasitic infections: giardiasis, amoebiasis (amoebic dysentery) and cryptosporidiosis

Parasitic worm infestations

Tropical worm infestations

Botulinum poisoning

Typhoid/paratyphoid

Cholera

CHAPTER 10

Adhesions and hernias

Adhesions

Hernias

CHAPTER 11

Pains in the butt – haemorrhoids, fissures and others

Haemorrhoids (piles)

Pruritus ani

Anal abscesses

Anal fistulas

Anal fissures

Rectal prolapse

CHAPTER 12

Irritable bowel syndrome or (IBS)

CHAPTER 13

Inflammatory bowel disorders (IBDs)

Ulcerative colitis (UC)

Crohn’s disease

The IBD detectives: looking at clues

CHAPTER 14

Other inflammatory gut conditions

Gastritis

Peptic ulcers (gastric and duodenal ulcers)

Proctitis

Diverticular disease

CHAPTER 15

Emergency conditions

Appendicitis

Peritonitis

Intestinal obstruction or intestinal blockage

CHAPTER 16

Cancers and growths

Polyps

Colorectal (large bowel) cancer

Stomach or gastric cancer

Anal cancer

CHAPTER 17

Childhood gut problems

Threadworm (pinworm)

Encopresis

Intussusception

CHAPTER 18

Hospitals, surgery and more …

Hospitals

Being Stitched Up: Abdominal Surgery

When things don’t quite go according to plan

Me and my bag

I’m a kangaroo! Living with an internal pouch

SECTION 3

The person behind the illness

CHAPTER 19

A look at depression

CHAPTER 20

Coping

Coping with flare-ups: living a normal life

Coping with strange reactions

Coping with a partner: sexuality and the passion killers

CHAPTER 21

The future for gut health

If I had a crystal ball …

Probiotics – bugging us back to health?

A resource tool – self-help and other associations, websites and further information

Index

Acknowledgements

Copyright

About the Publisher

A man goes to his doctor with a piece of lettuce sticking out of his bum. He tells the doctor that he is a little concerned. After examining him, the doctor sighs and says, ‘I’m afraid it’s worse than I first thought … that’s just the tip of the iceberg.’

In the last 20 years an increasingly informed public has acquired considerable medical knowledge. This has come through printed media, television and the Internet – and by contact with health care professionals like doctors and nurses.

People working in medicine who understand the need for greater communication often find this terribly rewarding. Taking time to explain, honestly, the good and bad aspects of managing illness should nowadays be an essential part of every consultation between the patient and their doctor.

Everybody, including patients and their relatives, wants to know more about their health. The Good Gut Guide deals with intestinal diseases. Although this may at first seem to be a small part of the totality of medicine, intestinal diseases and problems are in fact very common. For example, Irritable Bowel Syndrome is one of the most frequent reasons for seeing a GP. While the condition is not life-threateningly serious, it accounts for a huge amount of suffering and has economic consequences because of time taken off work. Other intestinal diseases also have a great impact on individuals and society: infections, inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and cancers are all disabling – whether temporarily or more chronically – to millions of people.

Inflammatory bowel diseases affect young people. In some cases they can be very severe but in most, medical and surgical treatment can keep them under control, allowing the patient to lead a normal life. Bowel cancer is the second most common malignancy in our society, yet if diagnosed early it is curable. Polyps can give us early warning. These are tumours in the benign stage, and if removed, there is every chance that their evolution into cancer can be avoided. Indeed, cancer prevention by appropriate screening, increasingly through genetic indicators, offers a real opportunity for doctors to improve the results of cancer treatment.

Anal problems are extremely common. Although not serious, piles, abscesses and ulcers such as fissures can make life miserable for millions of sufferers. Incontinence may make life impossible, confining sufferers to staying at home near the toilet, too fearful to venture out to the shops let alone to social occasions such as parties or family gatherings. The good news is that these diseases are almost always treated successfully.

The Good Gut Guide is an impressive creation. It covers a vast field and includes just about every area that can be related to the intestine. It is accurate, well informed, practical and readable. It gives the medical facts in an authoritative and balanced manner and, at the same time, offers vital advice on the holistic aspects – such as diet and lifestyle – that are not usually available in normal medical books.