Sunday, June 30, 2013

The test and learn diet

Test and learn!

If you've been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome but haven't been tested for Celiac disease, you should talk to your physician about ordering the Celiac disease blood tests.

If you have been tested but came up negative for Celiac   you might want to consider a trial of the gluten-free diet anyway. Currently, there are no accepted medical tests to diagnose gluten sensitivity, so the only way to determine if you have it is to remove gluten from your diet and see if your symptoms clear up.


Of course, it's possible to have both IBS and Celiac  isease, and many people with Celiac  isease find they still have intermittent digestive problems. In many cases (but not all), you can trace those digestive problems to gluten cross-contamination. But if you continue to have problems even after eliminating all possible hidden gluten from your diet, you may want to talk with your physician about the best ways to manage your IBS.

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information.  

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Understanding digestive health

There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that gluten plays a role in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Remember, even if you’ve been tested for Celiac Disease and come up negative, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a gluten intolerance—it just means you haven’t developed full-blown Celiac. Here at Sorbeo, we’ve had a bunch of customers report positive results by reducing or even eliminating gluten from their diets.

Actually, we’ve had a bunch of folks with a variety of conditions ranging from Celiac to Crohn’s to IBS tell us that one of the most effective methods they’ve experienced is to consistently test for food allergies through a trial and error approach.

That’s right… a trip to the doctor is great, and blood tests are helpful, but sometimes, there’s value in just cutting out certain foods and seeing what happens. We’ve had folks write in to tell us that they were happy to discover (after years of not knowing) that they were allergic to daily food staples like gluten, peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds and milk. (We’ve even had folks swear that despite blood tests saying they were not allergic to certain foods, cutting them out of their diet made a world of difference.)


Here at Sorbeo, we take a pretty broad view of digestive health, and we believe that there is no single answer or magic bullet. Living a healthy life requires lots of little daily decisions. Your doctor can and should be part of the equation, but there’s value in trying to reduce certain foods from your daily intake and seeing what happens.

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information.  

Friday, June 28, 2013

What is Crohn's disease?

So let’s say you’ve got chronic abdominal pain, and you have some um…. “difficulties with the restroom”. You’ve got pain, bloating, swelling, it’s hard “to go”, or you go all the time. Well, those are all the symptoms of IBS. But, wait…. Aren’t those the symptoms for Celiac Disease? Yes, again.

Oh, wait, you thought those were the symptoms for Crohn’s Disease?

Well, you are absolutely, positively CORRECT.

Confused yet?

The reality is that Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and quite a few other conditions all have very similar symptoms. To make matter’s worse, while there are tests for Celiac Disease and Crohn’s Disease, there are no tests for IBS.

So what’s a person to do?

Well, despite the confusion above, the answer is pretty simple. The reason the symptoms for these conditions is so similar is that they all have similar root causes—you are consuming something that your body doesn’t like and / or can’t digest.

There’s increasing evidence that gluten is one of the culprits behind these conditions, but let’s face it. Most of the food that is available today is chemically processed, refined and packaged to a point that our ancestors never experienced.

Maybe the reason so many people have so many gut-related problems is that we’ve never had so many processed foods available?


Well, that’s a point that’s beyond this blog (for now), but maybe something we can talk about in the near future.  

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information. 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

What is IBS?

So you’ve got this discomfort in your gut. Maybe you’ve visited your doctor, maybe you’ve talked to some close friends. Maybe it’s Celiac Disease or maybe it’s just a Gluten Intolerance. Maybe you’ve eliminated gluten from your diet… maybe that helped, but maybe you still feel some discomfort.

Maybe you’ve got Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Sexy name for a medical condition, right?

The truth is that anytime doctors put the word “syndrome” after a condition, it’s code for, “we really don’t understand what causes this. It’s not a disease, but it’s an umbrella term for a whole bunch of symptoms.”

That’s the case with IBS. No one is really clear on why or how it is caused, but it’s an umbrella term for a whole bunch of symptoms that relate to pain or discomfort in the digestive tract. Some of the most common symptoms of IBS include:
  • Cramping / abdominal pain
  • Frequent (or infrequent) running to the rest room
  • Diarrhea, constipation or both

In the past, IBS was sometimes referred to as colitis, mucous colitis, spastic colon, nervous colon or spastic bowel. Some folks still use these terms to refer to the condition, but IBS is more commonly used these days because it tends to create less vivid images in the mind.

By some accounts, IBS affects up to 60M or 70M Americans. The sad part is that IBS is a bit of an embarrassing topic. How many folks are there who turn to their friends to discuss the pain or discomfort of using the rest room?


In truth, this is part of why we started Sorbeo’s Digestive Health Blog. Over the next few posts, we’re going to talk a bit more about IBS and how it can sometimes be confused with (or exist side by side with) Celiac Disease. 

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information. 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Celiac disease affects the brain

Did you know that there is a form of Celiac Disease that can affect your brain? I’m not talking about headaches or brain fog, but a real neurological disorder. It’s called Gluten Ataxia, and it’s considered one of the least common forms of Celiac Disease. In cases of Gluten Ataxia, a person’s immune system begins to attack the cerebellum—the part of the brain responsible for motor function. Symptoms of Gluten Ataxia include the following:
  • Deterioration of motor skills
  • Lack of coordination or clumsiness
  • Problems with walking and / or balance
  • Slurred speech

The condition is progressive in nature, meaning that symptoms appear slowly and get increasingly worse. Again, it’s not a common condition, but an ounce of prevention goes a long way, right? 

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information. 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

What is Gluten Intolerance?

In our last blog post, we discussed Gluten Intolerance and how folks who suffer from this ailment can develop Celiac Disease. In this post, we’re going to talk a bit more about the two issues and how they’re related. Let’s start off by talking about different “flavors” of Celiac Disease and non-Celiac conditions that also result from prolonged gluten consumption.

Celiac Disease: Plain old vanilla
When most people talk about Celiac Disease, they’re referring to a condition whereby the body’s own immune system begins to attack itself. These attacks take place in the digestive tract, and most often in the small intestine. As we noted before, Celiac Disease develops when someone who has a hard time breaking down gluten continues to eat it. Over time, gluten builds up in the body and the body interrupts this buildup of foreign matter as something that needs to be attacked and removed. The sad irony is that if the body were able to get rid of gluten in the first place, there would be no need for an immune response. In most cases, the body is no better able to remove gluten, but the person in question experiences a range of symptoms. These can include the following:
  • Abdominal pain and/or heartburn
  • Anemia
  • Bloating
  • Brain fog
  • Depression and/or anxiety
  • Diarrhea and/or constipation
  • Fatigue
  • Joint pain
  • Rashes

Estimates vary, but most doctors believe that Celiac Disease affects anywhere from 1 – 3% of the US population. The science is still evolving here, but it’s important to remember that just because someone suffers from the symptoms above, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she or he has Celiac Disease. Likewise, the absence of these symptoms doesn’t mean that a person is free of Celiac Disease either.


If you’re unsure whether you might suffer from Celiac Disease or whether you have a Gluten Intolerance, you might want to try eliminating wheat, rye and barley (e.g. bread and / or beer) from your diet to see how you feel. That said, you should consult with your physician before starting any course of treatment or making any major changes in your life. 

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information. 

Monday, June 24, 2013

Food allergies vs. intolerance

Did you ever meet someone you just didn’t click with? You don’t necessarily dislike the person, you just don’t really feel any spark? We’ve all been there. Now contrast that to someone who really gets under your skin and annoys the heck out of you.

That, my friend, is the difference between an intolerance and an allergy. The latter evokes a response. In our previous post, we talked about how gluten sensitivity is an intolerance—someone with this condition has a hard time breaking down gluten. So let’s now talk a bit about a genuine allergy—wheat allergy.

Celiac Disease is not super common. Depending on which medical research you review, it affects anywhere from 1 – 3% of the US population. Wheat allergies are often lumped into these figures, so there’s not a lot of solid data on how common it is, but it’s probably more rare than Celiac Disease.

That said, people with true allergies to wheat do exist. People allergic to wheat can experience reactions ranging from mild digestive discomfort to a full blown rash and runny nose. Even though wheat allergies are often lumped into the same category as gluten intolerance, it’s important to realize that people allergic to wheat may not have any issue with gluten in and of itself. Symptoms of wheat allergies include the following:
  Diarrhea
  • Hives and/or itchy rashes
  • Itchy, red, watery eyes
  • Nasal congestion
  • Nausea, vomiting and/or abdominal pain

 In severe circumstances, people suffering from wheat allergies can also experience difficulty breathing and / or swelling of the lips and tongue. In the most severe cases, people who consume wheat can go into anaphylactic shock—a potentially life-threatening reaction where people can’t breathe and their hearts flutter. 

Remember, true wheat allergies are really rare, and we’re not sharing this information to scare anyone. We just want to help educate and inform, and we hope we’ve done that. If you are concerned you might have a wheat allergy, you should absolutely visit your doctor for a consultation.

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About Sorbeo: We have one simple mission: Help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health, and our goal is to help people live healthier, pain-free lives when it comes to digestive health. Our community includes people who suffer from a range of ailments including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease and food issues like gluten sensitivity. We also serve people suffering from Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Deficiencies and even Fibromyalgia. Of course, our doors are always open to general health enthusiasts as well. 

If you or a loved one suffers from any of these conditions, or if you’re just curious to learn more about our clinically formulated digestiveenzyme, check out our web site for more information.