Bezoars

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.


The article on dietary fiber earlier this year touched briefly on bezoars, and now it's time to cover the subject in a bit more detail.  Bezoars (BE-zor) are hard, compacted clumps of fiber, much like hairballs in cats.  And while cats can cough up hairballs, people cannot cough up a bezoar.  This undigested or partially digested material can build up and cause blockages anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, but they are most commonly found in the stomach.  Fortunately, many bezoars are completely asymptomatic and cause no problems at all.  Unfortunately, however, surgical intervention is sometimes required, and that may not always be an option.

Diagnosing a bezoar in a patient isn't going to be all that easy, either.  It will be necessary to obtain a very thorough patient history and detailed information on the diet.  But without lab equipment, it may be next to impossible to do anything more than make an educated guess.  However, recognizing the risk factors and educating ourselves and our family members may go a long ways towards prevention.

The symptoms of bezoars include:

• feeling full after eating very little food
• lack of appetite
• nausea
• vomiting
• abdominal pain
• weight loss
• anemia

There are six types of bezoars.  Older adults are generally at greater risk for developing bezoars, but trichobezoars and lactobezoars are more common in children. 

• Phytobezoars are the most common type, making up about 40% of all bezoars.  They form quickly and present with nausea, vomiting, and gastric outlet obstruction.  These have been treated with good success using Coke, regular or diet, a 12-ounce can twice per day for 6-8 weeks.
• Diospyrobezoars are a type of phytobezoar due to eating too many persimmons.  These bezoars cannot be dissolved by Coke and must be surgically removed.
• Trichobezoars are most commonly found in adolescent girls who suck on, chew, and swallow hair and often indicate some underlying psychiatric issue, as might happen in a time of stress in a collapsed society.  The condition is also called Rapunzel's syndrome.  These bezoars take a considerable amount of time to develop, sometimes years.  The patient usually presents with nausea and early satiety, and perhaps anorexia and weight loss.  These usually require removal through endoscopy or surgery.  Coke does not work.
• Pharmacobezoars arise due to medication that doesn't get digested.  These patients are usually older and are more likely to have gastric outlet obstruction.
• Lactobezoars occur most frequently in infants and arise due to dehydration, prematurity and low birth weight (underdeveloped gastrointestinal tract), high calorie formula (not mixed according to directions), or the addition of thickening agents like pectin to formula.  They present with problems in feeding intolerance, abdominal distension, irritability, and/or vomiting.  A palpable mass may be detected in these patients.
• Foreign body bezoar, most often tissue paper and styrofoam cups.

Bezoars most often develop in people with the following risk factors.  If you don't have at least one risk factor, you're probably in the clear for this condition.

• gastric surgery or gastric band for weight loss
• reduced stomach acid production or decreased stomach size
• cystic fibrosis
• delayed gastric emptying due to
• diabetes complications
• autoimmune disorders
• mixed connective tissue disease
• gastroparesis
• ulcers
• hypothyroidism
• can't or don't chew food properly, due to poorly fitting dentures or missing teeth (more common among the elderly)
• excessive intake of fiber, and especially in a rapid change from a modern American diet to a high fiber diet, like what may happen post-collapse.

Those at risk for developing bezoars should chew their food thoroughly before swallowing and should avoid following foods:

• pumpkins
• celery
• persimmons
• sunflower seed shells
• prunes and raisins
• leeks
• beets

Links to related posts:
Dietary Imbalances and Consequences--Fiber

For more information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezoar
https://www.healthline.com/health/bezoar#outlook-and-prevention
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gastroparesis/expert-answers/bezoars/faq-20058050
https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/gastrointestinal-disorders/bezoars-and-foreign-bodies/bezoars
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3966178/

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

august 11 2021 

Hypothyroidism Options in TEOTWAWKI

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on knowledge and understanding you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher care is available.  As long as our society is functioning, you should leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the professionals.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care. 

Hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid, occurs when the thyroid gland does not produce adequate thyroid hormone for the body.  Worldwide, insufficient iodine in the diet is the most common cause of hypothyroidism.  The addition of iodine to salt is why we do not see more cases of hypothyroidism in the industrialized world.  And this is why it is absolutely critical to store iodized salt for our families.  You can read more on that here.

The signs or symptoms of hypothyroidism most commonly observed include:

• fatigue, 
• intolerance to cold, 
• dry skin,
• constipation, 
• weight gain, and 
• hair loss.  

Less common symptoms include:

• hoarseness, 
• depression, 
• menstrual irregularity, 
• forgetfulness, 
• fluid retention, and 
• poor growth (in children).

(Extremely brief and rudimentary biology lesson for understanding hypothyroidism:  thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is produced by the pituitary gland.  This is what is measured in a blood test to assess thyroid hormone--thyroxine--levels.  TSH tells the thyroid to produce something called T4.  T4 must be converted into T3 to be used by the body.)

The missing or insufficiently produced hormone is called thyroxine.  When the thyroid doesn't produce enough T4, physicians routinely prescribe a synthetic.  The vast majority of hypothyroidism is treated with a synthetic replacement like levothyroxine (Synthroid), which ranks in the top five for most commonly prescribed drugs in the US.  It comes in wide variety of dosages and it is absolutely critical to have the exact right dosage for each patient.

Simple enough.  Except when it isn't.  And this is because the body has to convert T4 into T3, and unfortunately, this critical process can be affected by a whole host of factors, like:

• low-calorie diets,
• antacids,
• prescription medications (sucralfate, simethicone, antidepressants),
• mineral deficiency (zinc, copper, selenium, calcium),
• iron tablets,
• chronic stress (TEOTWAWKI, anyone?),
• herbal medicine (ashwagandha, lemon balm, rosemary),
• soybeans,
• cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower),
• pine nuts,
• walnuts,
• fiber, and
• a whole lot more.

That's a whole lot of stuff that can affect the T3 and T4 levels.  What's a person to do?  The best advice is to take thyroid medications on an empty stomach, and at least 1-2 hours before or 1 hour after any medications or mineral supplements to avoid or reduce interactions.

Then there are the effects that Synthroid and its generic equivalents have on other medications.  Like insulin and type-2 diabetes medications.  Synthroid can diminish the efficacy of diabetes medications.  (Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, and hypothyroidism can be as well.  The two often go hand-in-hand.)  On the other hand, Synthroid potentiates warfarin, so that if the warfarin dose is not reduced, serious bleeding may occur.

Getting the right dose of Synthroid is essential; unfortunately, that is going to be very difficult to do post-collapse.  It will require careful monitoring of signs from a physician.  Getting the right dose is not something that occurs overnight, or even within a week or a month.  While there is not so much risk if the dose is too low, there is significant risk if the dose is too high.  Hyperthyroidism is no good, either.

As many of us often contemplate a time when DIY everything is going to be the norm, we wonder what was done before synthetic drugs were available.  In the case of hypothyroidism, before synthetics were available, desiccated and powdered extracts from pig and cow thyroids were used.  Armour Thyroid, derived from cows and pigs, is still on the market today.  There are nutraceuticals--plants compounded into tablets and used as medicine--for treating hypothyroidism, but most physicians shy away from them.  And there are natural supplements like Thyromine.  How well any of these options will work on any given patient depends on too many variables to be able to make any general statements.

If you have hypothyroidism, according to Dr. Koelker, author of Armageddon Medicine, discuss with your doctor whether treatment is mandatory for you.  For a significant number, treatment is not actually required.  If it is required, stock up on your medications.  Synthroid is very cheap from All Day Chemist.  If you get the tablets that are double your required dosage, you can then use a pill splitter to halve your cost.

The best recommendations for dealing with hypothyroidism post-collapse are to get not only Dr. Koelker's book Armageddon Medicine, but also her hypothyroid self-study and preparation course.  I have several grid-down medicine books and have attended courses.  No one covers hypothyroidism anywhere near as well as she does. 

UPDATE 21 February 2022:  Some patients cannot take the generic equivalent of Synthroid.  An article at the following address covers this issue and suggests a few options for patients in this situation.  https://www.restartmed.com/synthroid-vs-levothyroxine/

Caution:  Untreated hypothyroidism in a pregnant woman may result in birth defects in the baby.


Disclaimer:  I receive no benefit or any compensation whatsoever from Dr. Koelker or any company or product mentioned in this post.

Links to related posts:
Salt
Armageddon Medicine review

 For more information:
Armageddon Medicine, Dr. Cynthia Koelker, pp 388-401.
Hypothyroid self-study and preparation course
https://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/herb-drug-mix-hypothyroidism-herbs-and-drugs
https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2017/02/13/food-and-drug-interactions-are-important-levothyroxine-and-fiber/
https://www.sharecare.com/health/thyroid-supplement/synthroid-interact-medications-foods
https://www.livestrong.com/article/423936-synthroid-interactions-with-vitamins/

"FDA Acts to Ensure Thyroid Drugs Don't Lose Potency Before Expiration Date," US Food and Drug Administration, 3 October 2007, https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/fda-acts-ensure-thyroid-drugs-dont-lose-potency-expiration-date (accessed 10 November 2020).

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

29 january 2023