Rosacea and Irritable bowel syndrome

[nat007]

Hi all,

I've just been diagnosed in hospital with irritable bowel syndrome, on top of moderate/severe rosacea. I've had bowel problems since the age of 16, and rosacea since my 19th.
I usually look 4 months pregnant because of this IBS, even though I'm pretty slender (slim? petite they say in French/ Dutch).
I wonder if there are others who have both the conditions. I'm still not sure if an attack of IBS aggrevates my rosacea flushings. It often feels like it does.
I'm a bit scared that my rosacea progresses even more because of the bowel problems. Am I irrational or is it correct to worry about this?!

best wishes, natalja

I think a lot of complimentary medicines make the link between digestive fire and excess heat somehow causing rosacea. i am not at all sure whether there is a proven link though within any orthodox medicine publications.

I'm sorry you are suffering so much lately nataljaoo, is the excema any better?

[irishgenes]

I have no idea if they are related, but I think that IBS is really a "catch-all" diagnosis that gastroenterologists make when they have ruled out most things it could be and just don't know what it is. Makes them sound smarter than they are. If you are having a lot of pain, I would not give up and accept that diagnosis, but keep going to different doctors and looking for the real cause. I went to 6 different gastroenterologists for severe pain which was erroneously diagnosed as IBS. They kept telling me I'd have to learn to live with it. I finally went to see one of the two most famous GI doctors in the US. Turns out I really had a stricture of the "sphincter of Oddi" where the bile duct empties into the stomach. This is fairly common with people who have had gallbladder operations, but like rosacea, most doctors know little about it. I had an operation which was done by inserting a tube down my throat and was cured.

Another cause of your "IBS" could be endometriosis, where the lining of your uterus implants in odd places like the bowel. You shouldn't look 4 months pregnant just because of IBS. A thorough exam with a laparoscope by an EXPERT gynecologist is in order, but I don't know if you have any choice of doctors in the Netherlands.

Go to the Amazon website and type in "It's My Ovaries, Stupid!" by Elizabeth Vliet, MD. Under the picture of the book, click "Search inside this book". Type in "aggravates IBS" and click "Go". That should lead you to pg. 280 of the book. You can read the previous and following pages by clicking on the arrows on each side of the page. She discusses the hormonal reasons for the symptoms of IBS (if that is what it really is) and also the fact that many find relief with serotonin drugs like Prozac. I would like to suggest that drugs like Prozac be first started with the liquid, so you take no more than 5 mg. for about 5 days, then go up to 10 mg. for the next 5 days, etc., but only if needed and not if nervousness or other side effects appear. Most doctors start patients at 20 mg., which is too high, and then patients go berzerk.

[nat007]

Hi Sally-Ann,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the eczema is completely gone, luckily. It seems to have been a reaction to the meds, like Dr. Nase already suggested to me. This bowel thing is irritating, but not something that I'm really suffering from. That is mostly due to the rosacea.

These things are all just very unfamiliar to me. I'm very glad this and other forums are there and that people like Dr. Nase are doing their best to find out more about rosacea and all.

Officially there is no link between rosacea and IBS, but Dr. Nase did write about it a while ago, on the yahoo board. I asked my GI (? Internal doc at the hospital) but she never heard or read about it. But I do know of many rosaceans with bowel problems and I know indeed that natural docter, wether from China or India or from the Dutch mud, see a connection between internal heath and rosacea. BUT I don't have inflammatory bowel desease or something, or Crohns disease, where there is a clear inflammatory proces involved. IBS is just a spastic bowel, what gives you more gasses in your belly and cramps etc. So that's why I wonder if there might be a connection. It doesn't sound logical to me, but there is a big group of rosaceans, again, who seem to have these kind of problems..
Well, my confusion must be clear from this writing I guess...
best wishes, natalja

[nat007]

Hi Irishgenes,

Great post, thanks for those suggestions. Next tuesday i will have another appointment with this GI and I will definitely ask her about these things you mention. I have had many bloodtests, echo's, a colonoscopy (looking with a small camera in the bowel and intestines) and many tests on faeces.
Not sure if that is enough to rule out all other things, like some you mention. But like I said, I will ask her and before read about it myself. Thanks for the links.
I don't have a lot of pain from it actually. It is just anoying to have a swollen tummy and air in your bowel.

I used to love eating beans and peas etc., but I stopped with it for a couple of months now because I read that they produce lots of gasses. It does help a little bit, but not a lot.
Thanks again, and I will update next weekor when needed,
Natalja

[irishgenes]

Oh, yes. Sounds familiar. Let's see--I had a barium enema, a fluroscope swallowing test, a colonoscopy, a small bowel biopsy, many fecal tests, an ultrasound, and a CT scan done by the 6 GI doctors who couldn't find what was really wrong with me. Once a doctor has made up his/her mind it is IBS, you will rarely get another opinion from them. I think they believe IBS is psychological.

[drnase]

Natalja,

There definitely is a link between rosacea flares and major GI distrubances like colitis and IBS. The new IBS drugs targetted to relieve IBS motility, secretion of vasodilators and pain blockade can really help female rosacea sufferers.

It appears that Lotronex may work by blocking serotonin 5-HT3 receptors that are found in the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system and which may mediate pain perception as well as gastrointestinal motility,"

The thing that I discount is the "Leaky Gut Syndrome" and other overemphasized naturopathic claims.

Dr Nase i remember taking large quantities of butyric acid whilst being treated by a nutritionalist who was fairly convinced i was suffering from Leaky Gut Syndrome. Did nowt for me although other supplements i find amazing, glucosamine for example, so i think it was more a case that it wasn't a rosacea solver for me as opposed to the supplement being worthless. If that makes sense! :?

[drnase]

IrishGenes,

I dont think most disorders are psychological and I think most GI specialsits are very well trained.....compared to derms. But there is a definite mind-GI link. It tells you when you are hungry, when you are hurting, when you have tummy aches and then this communicates with your third brain located within the neural plexuses of the GI tract, the Enteric Nervous System. The enteric nervous system is connected right into the intestine and controls motility, release of hormones and a slew of other things, so I actually think that IBS is underestimated and undertreated.

[irishgenes]

Actually, the sphincter of Oddi empties into the duodenum, first part of the small intestine. Not that anyone cares, but I wanted to be precise and correct that.

I guess I was just unlucky to have 6 poorly-trained GI docs in a row. I just think that IBS is over diagnosed and GI doctors quit looking for other sources of GI pain too soon. Of course, I am biased by my own horrible experience. But IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion, and 28% of a GI doctor's caseload is IBS. That is a lot of "I don't know what's wrong with you, so it must be IBS." 70% of IBS sufferers are women, which should point to sex hormone influences, but these are rarely if ever considered. Instead, articles in GI journals currently discuss how IBS is heavily psychological and testing should be curtailed as a money saver.

I realize that there is a mind-GI link, but the way this is interpreted by the GI doctors I have been to is, "Go to a shrink and quit bothering me."