I have had ongoing stomach problems for 14 years now.  My official diagnosis is IBS (Irritable Bowel) but my gene test suggests Crohn’s which is much more in line with my actual symptoms and suffering.

When I first experienced symptoms in 2003, I did my own research and was forced to agree with doctors, from what I could discover, that indeed, there was no known cause to my problems, nor any reasonable treatment, just palliatives.

The common line of thinking is that Crohn’s is an autoimmune disease and IBS is a functional disorder both with an idiopathic (unknown) etiology. (Etiology: cause, origin)

Bullshit.  If a doctor offers you this line, walk straight out of his/her office and don’t look back.  Just like in the biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, don’t turn back lest ye turn into a pillar of pharmaceuticals.

The cause is: Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP).  MAP is a bacteria found in milk, offal waters (feces contaminated waters), streams, and even, get this, some showerheads.  Chlorination doesn’t always kill it and pasteurization of milk also fails to kill it.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycobacterium_avium_subspecies_paratuberculosis)

MAP is an intracellular bacteria (that means it gets inside your cells) and wreaks havoc on immunity and has a host of knock on effects.

There is so much disinformation about stomach illnesses from doctors and lay writers alike that the confusion itself can cause nausea.

I’m not going to ask you to accept my word for it.  I’ll present as much evidence as possible.

Doctors who are too quick to pen prescriptions and draft bills should instead read their own literature.  Pubmed is an authoratative source of research for Western Medicine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PubMed).

Let’s see what it has to say about MAP and Crohn’s:

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Study: Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease: is Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis the common villain?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3031217/

• This bacteria causes intestinal disorders in Cows

Mycobacterium avium, subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) causes a chronic disease of the intestines in dairy cows and a wide range of other animals, including nonhuman primates, called Johne’s (“Yo-knee’s”) disease.

• MAP causes both Ulcerative Colitis as well as Crohn’s.

MAP as the sole etiologic agent of both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease explains their common epidemiology, geographic distribution and familial and sporadic clusters, providing a unified hypothesis for the prevention and cure of the no longer “idiopathic” inflammatory bowel diseases.

(Emphasis added)

• MAP plays a role in a whole host of human ailments, including IBS:

It is likely that MAP is the cause of a range of human gastrointestinal diseases including irritable bowel syndrome [146,147] as well as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. MAP has also been investigated in the pathogenesis of other so-called autoimmune diseases including sarcoidosis [148,149], type-1 diabetes [150-152] and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis [153]. If we accept that both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are caused by a specific infectious microorganism, MAP, a long overdue transformation will take place in the prevention and treatment of these diseases. A rapid, focused effort to determine and implement the most efficacious treatments of already infected individuals [110,111,154-158], and methods of preventing initial infection by vaccination [159] and the effective removal of MAP organisms from drinking water [160] will become top priorities. We can end the “public health tragedy” [161] of Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis, in our lifetimes.

(Emphasis added)

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Next article:

Study: Causation of Crohn’s disease by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10888733

• Crohn’s has no known cause and no cure?

As with other MAC, MAP is resistant to most standard antituberculous drugs. Treatment of Crohn’s disease with combinations of drugs more active against MAC such as rifabutin and clarithromycin can bring about a profound improvement and, in a few cases, apparent disease eradication. New drugs as well as effective MAP vaccines for animals and humans are needed. The problems caused by MAP constitute a public health issue of tragic proportions for which a range of remedial measures are urgently needed.

(Emphasis added)

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This next article is from the Oxford Journal of Health which is another highly respected journal.

Study: Long-Term Antibiotic Treatment for Crohn’s Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Placebo-Controlled Trials

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/4/473.long

• This is a longitudinal (meta) study of various antibiotic treatments for Crohn’s.
• When your doctor says there is no cause and no treatment (which treats the cause) for Crohn’s, IBD and IBS, ask him or her why the Oxford Journal of Health draws this conclusion:

Conclusions. Long-term treatment with nitroimidazoles or clofazimine appears to be effective in patients with Crohn’s disease.

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When to walk out on your doctor.

Any medical doctor that says IBS, Crohn’s, or Ulcerative Colitis has no known cause is in error.  Voltaire famously said: “people who believe in absurdities will eventually commit atrocities.  The time of Crohn’s and IBS being a disease of unknown origin has passed.  It is now an absurdity.  Doctors making prescription recommendations under this absurd assumption will yield atrocious courses of treatment.  The statement that Crohn’s and IBS is idiopathic is now an idiotic statement.

(Note, I’m not telling you NOT to see a doctor because that’s a crime in North America.  I am telling you to walk out on physicians who harbour antiquated views towards the illness you are suffering from and find a doctor who reads current research.)

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Other hopeful avenues:

A possible Crohn’s vaccine:

http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/

A multi antibiotic approach to Crohn’s

http://www.evaluategroup.com/Universal/View.aspx?type=Story&id=246390

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What can we do in the meantime?

I have the fortune of a very educated readership.  I’m truly thankful to all of you who have contributed to my blog over the years.

Let’s put our heads together and see what else we can come up with.

The MAP bacteria is in the same family as Tuberculosis.  Thus anything that can treat Tuberculosis might help here although MAP seems to be highly resilient.

Here’s what I’ve tried:

Allicin:  A derivative of garlic.  Maybe, at best 5-10% symptom reduction if that.

Esdifan:  An antidiarrheal composed of primarily zeolite, a natural substance which acts as a chemical sponge, soaking up toxins.  Again, this medication is highly controversial and not advised.  It seemed to firm up my stool very quickly but didn’t seem to reduce the urge to go.  Ie, my body was still purging/fighting something but the zeolite just soaked up the toxins produced to make the expulsion less traumatic to my colon.  I haven’t taken this medication since I started colloidal silver.

Colloidal Silver.  A treatment that is REJECTED and warned against by Western Medicine.  Don’t take this medication.  I have assumed a personal risk in so doing which I’m willing to take.  The results for me so far, 4 days in is a reduction in stomach symptoms, firming of stools, but depression and anxiety remain in full force, appetite is still very low, strong cramping remains and nausea persists.

(A note on self medicating:  I have made a personal decision to self medicate because I feel doctors are improperly educated to treat me.  That decision may cost me my health.  I do not advocate self medicating. I’m doing it out of desperation.)

My educated readers: Over to you… Any suggestions are welcome.