I love IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), Crohn’s disease and colitis. I said it. I love them because 
the best thing in practice is to see people overcome a life-changing health issue so miraculously. And that’s what happens virtually every time with these issues.
I know that my patients have a lot of frustration and emotion around past treatments and diagnostics regarding these issues. They’ve often had numerous embarrassing, uncomfortable tests, which rarely affect their treatment and generally do not improve things much. I have patients that have been on the new TNF inhibiting/immune suppressing medications telling me that the first year was great, but then it stopped working.
The frustration and sadness is clear. But still I love IBS, Crohn’s and colitis. I’ve had patients, family members and myself suffer. My IBS during my teens and early to mid-20s had me running to the bathroom and full of anxiety. My Manhattan doctors were of little help. The treatments didn’t make sense. My great aunt even went to the famous Mayo Clinic and had section after section of colon removed with no improvement whatsoever.
I love IBS, Crohn’s and colitis because my favorite thing to hear in practice is how lives are changed by not needing to know where every bathroom is, by not having to cancel events with friends, or not having to leave work early. So, how do we fix it? That’s a secret—no, I’m kidding.
Step one is to identify what is the true cause of the problem. Sounds simple. Maybe, maybe not. What I definitely know is most times the problem is not where the action is happening. The problem is not usually the bowel. So many of my patients on our initial consultation seem to ignore or downgrade the other issues going on in their bodies. While certainly they may not be as severe, they sometimes are the most important. These issues most often include acid reflux/GERD/heartburn; bloating; and hormone imbalances, including anxiety, insomnia, painful periods, or even chronic joint pain.
These issues generally are signs of the bigger problems going on in the body. We need to find out where in each person’s body it is arising and start a systematic process of normalizing those functions. It is not unusual and has happened several times in the last month (as of this writing) that patients with 15-plus years of symptoms have virtually complete relief within a week or two, often without anything treating the lower bowel. And by the way, while diet is important, it’s not the answer. Food is like gas for your car. If your engine is having trouble, putting pure high octane gas from your favorite gas station in your car will not fix the engine. But putting sludgy low-quality gas from the cheapest gas station in your car will definitely make it worse. Kale and quinoa will not fix your stomach but might be less irritating than pizza and fast food.
There are answers. There are solutions. As Albert Einstein is credited for saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Maybe a change will lead to a solution.
Source: Dr. David Pollack, of Pollack Wellness Institute (66 Commack Rd., Ste. 204, Commack). For more information, call 631-462-0801 or visit PollackWellness.com.
