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LISTEN TO YOUR COLON
The Complete Natural Healing GuideFor Constipation
(c) 2009, 2016 Jini Patel Thompson.All Rights Reserved.
ListenTO YOUR
Colon~ Excerpt From Chapter 2 ~
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Chapter One – Your Journey to Health.....................................
Use Herbal Supplements Holistically............................................
Make Sure Supplements Meet Label Claims...............................
Holistic Healing Is A Journey........................................................
What If I’m Not Seeing Results?..................................................
How To Introduce Supplements...................................................
Chapter Two – Constipation Factors & Treatment..................
What Causes Constipation?.........................................................Mind/Body Interplay................................................................
Different Types Of Constipation....................................................Peristaltic Constipation ..........................................................Stenosis Constipation.............................................................The Mind/Body Connection....................................................Communicating With Your Colon............................................Identifying & Reducing Stress................................................Awareness Of Stress Leads To Action....................................Bloating Exacerbates Stenosis Constipation..........................Difficulty Urinating..................................................................
Constipation Treatments...............................................................During A Bowel Movement....................................................Constipation Pooping Positions..............................................Adapting This Protocol For Children.......................................
Wild Oregano Oil..........................................................................What To Look For In A Brand..................................................Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol.............................................The Easiest Way To Take Liquid Wild Oregano Oil...................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................
Table of Contentsu
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Probiotics......................................................................................Choosing a Potent Probiotic...................................................Probiotic Dosage....................................................................The Herxheimer Effect...........................................................Probiotics From Food..............................................................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................
Psyllium Seed Powder..................................................................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................Fruit & Fiber Smoothie...........................................................
Magnesium & Potassium.............................................................Jini’s Raw Nutrient Shake.......................................................Peristaltic Constipation...........................................................Stenosis Constipation.............................................................Do Not Use High-Dose Magnesium Long-Term.....................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................
Impacted Feces & Toxic Megacolon.............................................Herbal Colon Cleansing..........................................................Enema Colon Cleansing.........................................................Colon Flushing Enema............................................................Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema............................................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................
Hemorrhoids & Strictures............................................................Dosage For Internal Hemorrhoids..........................................Dosage For Rectal Stricture....................................................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................
Anal & Rectal Fissures.................................................................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................
Constipation Protocol For Babies.................................................
Colonic Massage..........................................................................
Pelvic Floor Dyssynergia...............................................................
Constipation Treatment Summary................................................
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Children’s Constipation Treatment Summary................................
Chapter Three – Spastic Colon Factors & Treatment..............
Spastic Colon Treatment...............................................................
Colonic Massage..........................................................................
Stress Reduction..........................................................................
Probiotics......................................................................................
Psyllium Seed Powder..................................................................Adapting This Protocol For Children........................................Fruit & Fiber Smoothie...........................................................
Bentonite Clay..............................................................................
Peppermint Oil.............................................................................
Spastic Colon Treatment Summary..............................................
Chapter Four – Dietary Guidelines...........................................
Foods That Worsen Constipation..................................................Gluten Sensitivity....................................................................
Foods That Relieve Constipation...................................................Good Fats Are Vital.................................................................Soluble & Insoluble Fiber........................................................Common Starchy Foods.........................................................Non-starchy Vegetables..........................................................
Ongoing Maintenance Diet..........................................................
Chapter Five – Why You Should Avoid PharmaceuticalDrugs...........................................................................................
Pharmaceutical Treatments For Constipation...............................Symptoms As Messages.............................................................
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Chapter Six – Other Strategies & Resources...........................
Quick-Action Treatment................................................................Further Help & Resources............................................................
Footnotes......................................................................................
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2Chapter Two
Constipation Factors& Treatments
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WHAT CAUSES CONSTIPATION?
There are a number of potential causative factors for constipation, whichinclude:
" Lack of good, protective flora in the gut – without a goodbalance of healthy bacteria in your colon (and throughout yourdigestive system) you will not be able to digest your food properly;extracting and absorbing all the nutrients. Without a protective,healthy bacterial flora, you will also have an overgrowth of Candidaalbicans (a yeast microorganism), which can cause numerousproblems throughout your whole body. Candida albicans yeastorganisms also release a total of 178 toxins into your gastrointestinaltract, which (depending on your particular body) can result in eitherconstipation or diarrhea. Without a good population of healthybacteria, you will also have a proliferation of bad (harmful) bacteria inyour intestines. So, a root cause of constipation – often stemmingback to infancy – is a lack of good, healthy bacteria in the gut and abalanced microflora environment.
" Dehydration or insufficient water intake – contributes tohard, dehydrated stools that are difficult to pass. Also causes toxinbuildup throughout the body since the cells don’t have enough waterto cleanse and flush toxins.
" Poor diet – an overabundance of unhealthy or constipating foodsand a lack of healthy foods make it very difficult for your digestivesystem to function properly.
" Laxative abuse, overuse or reliance – long-term laxative usebasically teaches your colon’s peristaltic mechanism (rhythmiccontractions of the intestinal wall) to switch off or decrease. You nolonger need your body to initiate the signals for peristaltic activity ormoving your bowels, since the laxatives are doing it. Long-termlaxative overuse (whether drug or natural) can also damage bowelnerves, muscle and tissues.
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" Inadequate exercise – if you are not at least walking or doingsomething to limber up your hips and pelvis, get blood flowingbriskly, and your respiration active (which affects all internal organsas the diaphragm expands and contracts), then likewise, your bowelswill also become rigid, sluggish and dense.
" Poor bowel habits (i.e., not going when you first feel the urge) –again, similarly to laxative overuse, you can train your bowel not tosignal its desire to evacuate. Remember, gastroenterologists refer tothe gut as “the second brain” – in fact, it contains moreneurotransmitters (60%) than the brain itself. So your gut is highlyintelligent and emotional and learns quickly. Like a poor bacterialflora, this is often a factor that originated in early childhood. Ifchildren are not toilet trained with compassion and patience, or arenot allowed to relax and listen to their body due to parentalexpectations, or a busy schedule, daycare, etc., then constipation canstart very early on.
" Certain medications and supplements cause or exacerbateconstipation – these include narcotic pain relievers, certainantidepressants, iron supplements, too much calcium (or in form thatis poorly absorbed) and too much zinc. You should do a quick checkof all the supplements and medications you’re taking; type each oneinto Google together with the word “constipation” and see whatcomes up. For example, you would type in: calcium constipation orZoloft constipation.
" Certain medical conditions, including stroke, hypothyroidism,lupus and MS can cause or exacerbate constipation. Hypothyroidism(low thyroid) is very common in adult women, so definitely get yourthyroid levels checked if you’re a female over age 30.
" Digestive disorders, including IBS, IBD, or idiopathicconstipation – these are actually medical terms, that are not thecause of anything, but merely a description of a pathology and itssymptoms. However, if you have been diagnosed with one of theseconditions, then it indicates that constipation is merely one of a
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collection of gut problems that you currently have. To heal IBS orIBD (Crohn’s, colitis, diverticulitis, etc.) you will need my book ListenTo Your Gut (www.listen2yourgut.com), which contains many morein-depth protocols to address all the contributing factors of thesediseases. This book just deals with constipation itself.
" Painful defecation (which may lead to poor bowel habits or fearof defecating) – if something hurts, we’re not likely to want to keeprepeating it! Pain upon passing stool is usually due to very large orhard stools, anal or rectal fissures, or anal stenosis (narrowing of therectum).
" Tense, spasming intestines – a good evacuation of the bowelrequires relaxation and the ability to open, release, and let go.Tension and spasming can be caused by primarily physical factors;lack of good bacteria, magnesium deficiency, potassium deficiency,etc. It can also be caused by primarily emotional factors, for example,too much stress, inability to relax, past traumas stored in bodytissues, etc. Or, it can be caused by a combination of both physicaland emotional/psychological factors.
" Anal stenosis (narrowing or restriction of the rectum and/orinternal anal sphincter) – again, this can result in pain upondefecating, or, it can simply make it extremely difficult and sometimesimpossible to pass stool. The resulting straining and pushing tosqueeze the stool through a very narrow opening can then oftenresult in internal or external hemorrhoids.
Obviously, the cause of your constipation is going to affect what you need todo to heal it. So we’re going to go through solutions for all of the abovecausative factors in the sections below. For most people, more than one ofthe above will be a contributing factor and therefore, the best success comesfrom addressing all of the factors.
The one supplement everyone suffering from chronic constipation shouldtake is a high-potency, high-dose therapeutic probiotic supplement (more onthis later), since an unbalanced bacterial flora is always a root-cause of
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constipation. If you only do one protocol from this entire book, make ittaking high dose, therapeutic quality, full-spectrum probiotics, daily – it willtake time, but in the long-term you will see a big improvement, if notresolution of your chronic constipation.
However, as I mentioned in Chapter One, healing of any disorder in the body– including constipation – requires a multi-faceted, holistic approach, becauseeverything in our body is interrelated. As you read through this book, youwill see the myriad of factors that contribute to a healthy functioning boweland yes – you must address all of these areas. You can view this as a lot ofwork and hassle, or you can view it as a really good way to get your entirebody healthier. The digestive system is the foundation of health in the body.As you get your digestive system healthy, you will automatically noticeimprovements in pretty much every other area of your body.
This is your own, unique Healing Journey. Others (like me) can offer help orguidance, but no one else can actually access your body wisdom, but you.Your body knows exactly what it needs to re-balance itself and return tohealthy bowel movements. But you have to be the one to listen and you haveuse your self-discipline to actually implement and stick to the needed changes.Yes, it’s time-consuming, but it’s so very worth it!
Mind/Body InterplayI’ve mentioned various physical factors above that cause or exacerbate
constipation. However, as mentioned earlier in this book, it’s equallyimportant to address any emotional or mental factors. I talk more about thislater, but for now, here is an interesting article excerpt to get you thinkingabout this piece of the puzzle. Reza Shaker, MD says:
“We have for the first time, using fMRI (Functional MagneticResonance Imaging), shown that the neural circuits and braincells of IBS sufferers are overly sensitive to some stimuli. Justas the psychological state of a patient affects breathing andthe beating of the heart, it also affects the gut.”1
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Essentially, this means that stress can cause the colon to speed up orslow down the motility or transit time of stool, resulting in eitherconstipation or diarrhea. This is not airy-fairy, woo-woo stuff; this ishard science. Whether there’s a particular life-event after which constipationbecame a problem, or whether you’re “just” dealing with periodic or ongoingstressors (work, relationship, etc.) in your life, you still need to heal this stressor trauma using a mind/body healing tool.
Emotional or psychological stress also reduces rectal blood flow. As with anypart of your body, adequate blood flow is necessary for normal functioning:
“In a study of 34 women with chronic constipation, UKinvestigators linked emotional distress with changes in thenerve pathway that helps control gut function.
They say the findings suggest a specific path through whichpsychological factors directly influence the digestive system.
Women with chronic constipation were more likely thanhealthy women to report anxiety, depression and feeling less“feminine.” They also found it harder to form closerelationships.
Moreover, the investigators found that the poorer a patient’spsychological well-being was, the lower her rectal blood flow.As for healthy women, there was no link between blood flowand psychological factors — which, the researchers point out,was partly due to the fact that there was little variance inthese measures among healthy women.
The investigators demonstrated a direct demonstrable linkbetween certain aspects of central brain activity — anxiety,depression, feeling ‘unfeminine’ — and gut dysfunction.
These findings also echo existing evidence that patients withchronic constipation have higher rates of depression andanxiety, according to the researchers.”2
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Whichever healing modality you choose to address the stress, anxiety,depression, sadness, trauma, etc. in your life, it must be a therapy thatintegrates the mind with the body – or you will not see long-term results.Psychotherapy and other forms of talk or mental therapy on their own, willnot produce good results. The stress and/or trauma must be addressed andreleased from the physical and energetic body, as well as from your consciousmind.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is the tool I recommend and it is ahighly effective healing modality that integrates the mental, emotional,physical and energy body together; effecting long-term and significant healing.EFT is derived from a centuries-old Chinese acupuncture meridian tappingpractice called Neigong. The founder of EFT, an engineer called Gary Craig,used the principles of Neigong, but adapted it for the western mind.
EFT works by tapping on a series of acupuncture (meridian) points whilst (a)talking out loud about the problem; expressing all your feelings, negativityand pain, (b) re-framing the problem in a way that sets you up for a possiblepositive or alternative experience concerning the problem and (c) choosing oraffirming that you’re willing to move into a new reality with this issue.Tapping on the acupuncture points whilst talking frees or releases theproblem, negativity, trauma, etc. from your energy body and your physicalbody. In this way it is a healing therapy that effectively integrates and effectschange in the mind, body and spirit.
EFT works extremely well when applied correctly. The key is being able tofigure out what is at the root of your problem/issue/symptom and thentapping effectively on that. In certain circumstances, there can be a numberof roots, or layers to the problem, which all have to be addressed to seeresolution in your physical body. EFT is my favorite body/mind healing toolfor the simple reason that once you learn how to do it effectively, you can doit yourself and take it with you anywhere.
You will probably need a therapist initially, to guide you through yourcomplicated, many-layered issues, but thereafter you’ll probably be able toaddress many problems on your own. Some people are able to reach thislevel of proficiency on their own, without any outside help, but others (like
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me!) need numerous sessions with a skilled therapist to become fluent in thetechnique.
Personally, I found that once I became skilled at EFT, I could do it for otherpeople – my kids, husband, etc. – easily and effectively. However, for issuesconcerning myself, I still need to see a professional therapist to see goodresults. It’s very hard for me to get clarity on all the myriad factors or layersof a problem, on my own. I need to have someone else to talk to, bounceideas off, and ask me insightful questions, before all the contributing factorsemerge – and these are usually factors I had never thought of. Obviously, youcan’t tap on something you’re not even aware of! Therefore, if you’re notseeing good results doing EFT on your own, then find a good therapist youreally ‘click’ with and work with him/her.
You can search for an EFT practitioner in your area using the Internet or, youcan schedule a free 30 minute phone consultation (and free instructionmanual) with my personal EFT therapist, Annabel Fisher, to see if you like it:www.efthealingcentre.com (80% of Annabel’s clients are phone clients fromvarious different countries). We also have a number of interactive EFTteleseminars with Annabel where you can tap along with her on numerouscommon issues faced by people with chronic illness – you can read moreabout these teleseminars at my Health Shoppe:www.HolisticHealthShoppe.com
Alternatively, you can purchase instructional videos from Gary Craig’s websiteto help you (they’re very reasonably priced). You can find out all about EFT,sign up for his free newsletter (which is excellent) and download a BasicTraining Manual for free by going to Gary’s website: www.emofree.com. GaryCraig makes all this information available without charge because his ultimatevision is to have one person in every family trained in EFT and thus able toalleviate so much avoidable suffering. I have used EFT extensively myself andhighly recommend it.
You will not see the same results if you try to address your stress oremotional trauma and wounding by using a form of talk-therapy (e.g.psychotherapy) only. As I outlined above, you need to use a therapy thatintegrates the mind with the actual physical body. If you don’t wish to pursue
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EFT, then hypnotherapy can also work well; but you’ll likely need a series oftreatments with a professional hypnotherapist and you will also need to learnsome self-hypnosis techniques to do on your own.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONSTIPATION
Before we look at treatments for constipation, it is important to first identifywhich kind of constipation you have. Through the course of my research,consultations with clients, feedback from readers, and my own struggle withconstipation; I have come to identify two different types of constipation.Since I have not come across any labels for these in the medical literature (orperhaps I just didn’t read widely enough), I have made up my own labels todistinguish between these two different types of constipation. I call themperistaltic constipation and stenosis constipation. Of course, while mostpeople seem to suffer from one or the other, there are people who suffer froma combination of the two.
1. Peristaltic ConstipationThis type of constipation can consist of many different symptoms or factors,but the defining elements are as follows:
• You just don’t often (or rarely, never) feel the urge to have a bowelmovement. You can have stool building up in your colon for days, butno urge or urgency to poo.
• If you’ve been constipated for a long time, this build up of stool maynot even be uncomfortable anymore.
• When you do have a bowel movement, your stool is large and fairlywide. Even if it is in hard balls, the diameter is larger than half aninch.
2. Stenosis ConstipationI came up with the name for this one based on the medical label of analstenosis (narrowing, tightness or stricture of the anal canal). Stenosisconstipation means that you experience one or more of the scenarios below:
• You often feel the urge to defecate. In some cases, the urge can befrequent or continual. You may even feel the stool pushing againstyour anus, but when you try to poo, it is very difficult to pass stool
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and sometimes, or often, nothing comes out. When you do manageto poo, your stool can be any width, length or consistency.
• If you’ve had this type of constipation for a long time, then your urgeto defecate may have greatly lessened, if not disappeared (rememberthe bowel is easily trained). However, passing stool is still extremelydifficult and your anus/rectum can spasm and be very tight ornarrow.
• When you manage to pass stool, the stool can be very thin,sometimes only the width of a flattened pencil. You strain and pushmightily and it may feel like you’re passing a huge stool, but whenyou look in the toilet there’s only a very narrow or small amount ofstool. Stools can be soft, hard, balls, or cylinders, but rarely largerthan ¼ inch – 1/3 inch in diameter and the maximum diameter isnot usually more than ½ inch.
So, let’s talk about peristaltic constipation first. Peristaltic constipation oftenoriginates from an early age. But even if its onset is late in life, whatever theoriginating cause, the key ongoing feature is that (for whatever reason) youhave not listened to your body’s cues and fulfilled its need to poo in a timely,relaxed manner. Thus you have trained your colon to stop communicatingwith you. Your colon feels, “What’s the point? She/he never listens anyway.”
The Mind/Body ConnectionNow, don’t think I’m crazy assigning emotions and communication ability toyour colon. Medical doctors and PhDs have written volumes of books on thistopic. There is even an entire new field of medicine that has evolved to dealwith this emotional, communicative, decision-making aspect of the gut – it iscalled neurogastroenterology. If you want a quick primer on this subject, thenpick up the book, The Second Brain by Michael Gershon, MD.
In my book, Listen To Your Gut, I teach readers who suffer fromuncontrollable defecation (i.e. pooping in their pants), how to train their colonand rectum to suck the stool back up and hold it until they reach home. Iliken this self-training technique to that of training a small puppy. This issupposedly impossible, since functions such as defecation were previouslythought to be exclusively controlled by the autonomic nervous system.However, as medical science’s understanding of the digestive system grows,
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there is now increasing realization and acceptance that actually many aspectsof excretion can be controlled or influenced with awareness, intention andproper training.
Biofeedback is now a common tool used to help young children resolve theirconstipation. Unfortunately, because biofeedback alone doesn’t address theother root causes of constipation, whilst it produces good results initially, it isnot very effective in the long-term.
Of course, Indian yogis have known how to control numerous autonomicfunctions of the body for thousands of years – to this day, they demonstratethe body’s ability to control supposedly autonomic functions like breathingand heart rate by being buried alive for days at a time, without harm.
So, if you have peristaltic constipation, it means that at some point (andprobably for valid reasons) you stopped responding to your body’s cues tohave a bowel movement and so your body has given up communicating withyou. Your task now is to start listening to your body again, and regain yourbody’s trust by actually taking the required action and responding quickly andconsistently.
Communicating With Your ColonThe first thing you need to do is communicate this to your colon. Usewhatever method works for you to completely relax your mind and body. Thiscould be walking through the forest or along the beach, meditating, yoga, taichi, taking a long hot bath, or spending time in prayer. Once you arepeaceful and relaxed – you should also be breathing deeply and easily by thistime – lie or sit down and place your hand on your abdomen. Then, starttalking to your colon – either out loud, or in your head.
If you have a child with constipation, you can still use this technique, but youcan do it as a surrogate – on your child’s behalf. After your child is asleep, liedown beside him until you are feeling sleepy. Then place your hand on yourchild’s abdomen and begin talking to his colon. Continue with the rest of theprocedure as outlined below.
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Just say whatever comes to mind, but at some point, apologize and expressyour desire to start listening and working together again. You may want totalk about events, past trauma, anger and frustration. If you can’t say thatyou love and accept your body and your colon with compassion, then saythat you’d like to be able to. Don’t worry about feeling stupid as you do this,or that one part of your brain is saying, “You’re nuts, this is never going towork.” Just ignore those parts of your brain/thoughts and forge ahead. Thisis the first step. You need to apologize and ask your colon to start trustingyou again and affirm your commitment to listen and act, from now on.
It’s not okay for you to say to your colon, “I hear that you need to have abowel movement, but I’m going to be late for work.” Or, “I’ve got thisappointment I have to rush to, so we can’t poo now.” How is that differentfrom the way you’ve treated your colon thus far? You’re still not workingtogether with your body. You’re still reinforcing the same message of: Don’tbother telling me you need to poo, cause I’m not going to let you anyway.
Instead, it is your responsibility to find out when your body likes to have abowel movement and then do whatever it takes to facilitate that happening. Ifyour body likes to have a bowel movement in the morning, but it can’t poountil you’ve walked around for a bit and eaten something and relaxed with ahot drink – then get up early enough to make that happen! And don’tschedule just enough time for that process. Schedule enough time, plus halfan hour extra – for you to be able to sit on the toilet, relaxed and breathingdeeply for a long time.
Then, once you have established trust and routine with your body – say after2 –3 months of pooing in the morning this way, then you can try tighteningup your schedule a bit and see if that’s okay with your body. But again, talkto your colon first; tell it that you’re going to try leaving 15 minutes less time,or 30 minutes less time and hope that will be okay, but if it’s not, then don’tworry, you’ll go back to the old schedule.
The other thing that you can do, keeping in mind that your relationship withyour body is a two-way street, is to negotiate with your body. For example,you might say to your colon, “I know that you like to have a bowel movementin the morning. But I hate having a bowel movement in the morning, becauseI like to just get up as late as I can, and get out the door. So how about we do
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this: I’ll take the magnesium/potassium combo just after lunch. That way, bythe time we get home, we’ll have the whole evening for you to relax and havethe bowel movement with no schedule pressuring you – how’s that?”
And then try that and see how it works. Again, once you’re open and actuallywaiting for your colon to communicate with you, you may be surprised withthe solutions you come up with. But again, the key is, you have to be open.This is not about forcing your colon to stick to your schedule, no arguments,and do what you want. That’s what you’re already doing and why you sufferchronic constipation. This is about compromise and listening to your body’sneeds with compassion and being flexible. You will not have any success witha “my way or the highway” attitude – it doesn’t promote long-termcooperation in children, spouses, or your body!
With stenosis constipation, in order to facilitate a bowel movement, you haveto enable your internal anal sphincter muscle to relax. Surrounding therectum, you have two anal sphincter muscles. The external anal sphinctermuscle is the ring-like band of muscle at the opening of your anus that youcan open and shut at will – if you clench your buttocks together, you will feelthe external anal sphincter muscle clench, and then likewise the external analsphincter muscle will release when you relax your buttocks. As you can feel,this muscle is under your direct control.
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The internal anal sphincter muscle is located about an inch up the rectal canaland is inside or underneath the muscle fibers of the external anal sphinctermuscle. Now, the internal anal sphincter muscle is controlled by theautonomic nervous system. This means that you do not have consciouscontrol of this muscle. It is extremely sensitive to stress, which will make itclench, tighten, narrow, spasm, become rigid or inflexible, or simply refuse toopen. With stenosis constipation, your difficulty is not with the body’s signalto poo, your peristaltic mechanism is working fine; it’s that you try to poo,but the internal anal sphincter muscle will not relax and open wide enough toallow the passage of stool.
Identifying & Reducing StressSo, just like with peristaltic constipation, enabling your internal anal sphinctermuscle to relax enough to be able to open, takes a fair amount of listening toand communicating with your colon (or rectum). You also have to stay opento the cues and signals from your body to discover what exactly causes youstress – and then take the steps needed to reduce or eliminate this stress.You’d think this would be obvious, but on page 124 of his book, When TheBody Says No, Gabor Mate MD, gives an example of a study where peoplewere hooked up to a dermograph, which measures physiological responses tostress. The test subjects were then shown a series of slides designed to elicitpsychological distress. There were many people who said they did not feelstressed by the negative, insulting statements on the slides, but theirdermograph printout showed clear signs of physical distress:
“This study demonstrated that people can experienceemotional stresses with measurable physical effects on theirsystems – while managing to sequester their feeling in aplace completely beyond physical awareness.”
Now, if you’re clueless as to what’s stressing you, you don’t need to gethooked up to a dermograph to figure out your stressors. You simply need touse the technique given above for Communicating With Your Colon. Listenand then act upon what your body tells you.
When I did a teleseminar with Dr. Gabor Mate, we discussed thisphenomenon of how it’s possible that you don’t feel stressed, when you
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actually are:
“Dr. Gabor Mate: The specific definition of stress, well let meput it this way, stress is a three level event. There’s the externalstressor, then there is the physiological stress reaction.Fundamentally, stress is a question of physiology. You can feelemotionally stressed, but not be stressed at all physically. Inwhich case, you’re not stressed. You know?
Jini Patel Thompson: We have to stop there. You have to tellme how can that happen?
Dr. Mate: You can put somebody to sleep, for example, andburn them with electricity. They’ll be physiologically stressed,but emotionally they won’t feel a thing because they’re asleep.Okay? Vice versa, you might feel upset about something, butyou’re not going to be stressed physiologically, because youcan actually handle it.
Jini: Okay, so hang on. Let’s go back to the- You put someoneto sleep and you burn them. Isn’t this a thing that in surgery,the things that happen during surgery have lodged in theperson’s subconscious and go on to cause stress?
Dr. Mate: Yes, some of that has happened, but I think theargument is that they’re not fully asleep. All I’m saying is that,from a strict definition, stress is a physiological event. You canmeasure it. Hormone levels like cortisol and adrenaline, and soon.
Jini: Okay, got you.
Dr. Mate: If that doesn’t happen then there’s no stress in thesense that I’m talking about. Okay?
Jini: Yes.
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Dr. Mate: There’s a physiological stress reaction, which is eitherthere or it’s not there.
Jini: And so what are the...
Dr. Mate: Sometimes the person can feel upset without therebeing a physiological stress reaction because, in fact, they’renot really being threatened and they haven’t really lost control.They’re just upset about something. If you didn’t get thechocolate bar that you wanted, that doesn’t necessarily meanthat you’re stressed.
Jini: Right.
Dr. Mate: At the physiological level there’s a stress reaction,then there’s the external stressor. Well back to your questionabout control: a stressor is anything that you perceive asthreatening something that you need for your survival, whetherthat be an object, or food, or love. The stressor is the threatenedloss of anything that the organism feels or believes is necessaryfor its survival. Okay?
Jini: Okay.
Dr. Mate: That’s the external stressor. Then there’s what wecall the processing system, which is actually our beliefs and ourideas and our reactions to that. Think of two people standingin line: One of them might be stressed because theirinterpretation internally is that they’re being abandoned, orthat they might not get what they need. Our belief system hasa lot to do with the stress we get or that we don’t get. Thesignificant major stressors, the significant external triggers forthe stress reaction, are loss of control, and uncertainty, andlack of information.
Jini: Loss of control, uncertainty, and lack of information. Right,which would all...
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Dr. Mate: If you lost control, you might really be afraid for yourlife.
Jini: Right.
Dr. Mate: Or you might be afraid that you are going to losesomething that you need, if you don’t have control.
Jini: Now, (and I can’t remember where in your book I readthis and correct me if I’m remembering incorrectly) I rememberreading that sometimes something will occur that we don’t feelis stressful, yet our body is stressed by it.
Dr. Mate: Right. Again, because when you look at the study ofmelanoma patients who were physiologically stressed, as isshown by their body reactions, but if you asked them if theywere stressed they said that “No, they weren’t.” In other words...
Jini: But how does that work? How can your body be stressedwhen your emotional/mental self is not feeling stressed?
Dr. Mate: Because when you’re a small child and you’re stressedall the time—like if I stressed you right now, in some significantway, what would be your options?
Jini: To say something back to you or to hang up the phone...
Dr. Mate: Yes, to fight back, in other words. Right?
Jini Patel Thompson: Right.
Dr. Mate: Another action would be for you to simply escape.I’m not going to talk to you, hang up the phone. Right?
Jini: Right.
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Dr. Mate: The third option would be to ask for help from theother people on the line. Saying look, this guy is not beingrespectful here. But, if you’re a small child, the one year old,and there is stress all around you, can you fight back?
Jini: No. Absolutely not.
Dr. Mate: Can you ask for help?
Jini: No.
Dr. Mate: Can you escape?
Jini: No, you’re trapped. You’re...
Dr. Mate: It leaves you with: the only way you survive thesituation is by tuning out your awareness of the stress.
Jini: Oh…oh, that is such a huge ‘ding, ding, ding’ for me.That’s a massive click happening right there.
Dr. Mate: And that becomes your life pattern, then. Children,infants, are born with very powerful gut feelings. When aninfant is having colic, he is having gut feelings.
Jini: Yes.
Dr. Mate: Now, on the other hand, more important for thechild’s survival is the relationship with the parent. In fact, that’sthe most important thing. The child will do anything – notconsciously – but the child’s body and brain will do anything tomaintain that relationship. If it means suppressing awarenessof stress, it’ll suppress awareness of stress.”
So that is the way you can actually be stressing your body; causing yoursphincter muscles to tighten and slowing down persistalsis, even though youdon’t feel stressed. Therefore, it’s important that you address the underlying
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or hidden stressors in your life – and this includes thoughts, beliefs andbehaviour patterns – using a mind/body therapy tool like EFT. You can alsouse the Communicating With Your Colon method regularly to help you tunein and become more aware of the stressors in your life. I’ll give you apersonal example, so you can see how this plays out in real life. By the way,if you would like to read/listen to this entire teleseminar with Dr. Mate, youcan get it at my Health Shoppe: www.HolisticHealthShoppe.com
Awareness of Stress Leads To ActionI once went to Mexico for six weeks with my family (hubby and 3 kids) andafter about two weeks I became severely constipated. After I took the time toconnect with my colon and listen to it, I realized, ‘Oh my goodness, I havenot been able to truly relax since we arrived!’ Because here’s the type ofperson I am: I like and need lots of ‘alone time’. I need to lie down and reada book for a couple of hours – uninterrupted. I need to be able to have a nicelong shower and potter around the house alone; without talking to anyone orfeeding anyone, or arbitrating arguments, or changing diapers, etc.
So once I realized this, I arranged to split-shift most days with my husband,Ian. He took the kids out for 3-4 hours every morning, so I could becompletely alone in the house we had rented. Then when he returned, it wasmy shift with the kids for the next 3-4 hours. I tell you, within one hour ofthem leaving the house, I would have a bowel movement.
Now, it’s important to understand, that if he had only taken the kids out forone or two hours, I probably would not have been able to have a bowelmovement. My mind/body needed to know and feel that we had this lovely,long stretch of time to relax, potter, work on my computer, and any othernon-stressful things I wished to do, alone. Because that’s how my particularmind/body works and that’s what I need. This is why I say you need to listento your particular body and do whatever it takes to give your body what itneeds. Each person’s body will have its own unique likes and needs.
Later in the holiday, we moved from the rented house, to two rooms in an all-inclusive resort. Well, now it was not possible to keep the kids from runningback to the hotel rooms whenever they wished. So, I figured out analternative plan. While two-year-old Hugo had his afternoon nap, Oscar (8)
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and Zara (6) would watch a video with headphones (no noise, because I needquiet to be able to relax). I set them up together on one bed with some snacksand a bottle of water, Hugo slept in his stroller and I lay down on the otherbed (alone – at least on the bed!) with my snacks and a book.
Having taken the time to explain my needs to the kids, whilst making surethey had their needs met, they were quite happy to sit quietly for about 2hours and not talk to me or ask me to get up and get anything for them.Hence, I was able to get in a good stretch of relaxation every day, while myhusband Ian had his alone-time. Then, after supper, Ian took all three kids tothe evening show until bedtime, while I came back to the room on my ownand could often relax enough to have a bowel movement before bed. Or thecombination of rest and relaxation times over the course of the day,combined with a dose of magnesium/potassium after breakfast, meant that Iwould have a bowel movement late at night, when the kids were all asleep.
Of course, my colon understood that this was a short-term unpleasantschedule and we would both just do our best – so although I was not able togive my colon what it fully needed for the couple of weeks in the resort, I wasstill in communication, understanding and compassion with it. My colon’strust in me was not eroded, because it knew I was doing my best and wouldchange things as soon as possible.
Once you ‘get’ this concept of working together in communication with yourcolon, you can extend it to your entire body and you’ll be amazed at howyour life and health improves. Remember that your body is not trying to limityou, or make your life smaller. Instead it is always advocating on your behalf –it just has a whole lot more wisdom than you do. So you might not alwaysunderstand why it wants you to go in a certain direction. But if you trust andactually take the necessary, required action, the “why” will soon become clearand you will be amazed at how your life and self improves. This is why youwill hear many people who pursue holistic healing state, “This disease is boththe worst thing and the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Let your body lead you. Get back in trust and communication with yourbody. If it means you need to change your schedule, your job, your lifestyle,do it! Your body wisdom (which works in conjunction with your spiritual self)
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knows the benefits that are awaiting you on the other side of the change. Allyou need to do is take that leap of faith; trust and act.
Bloating Exacerbates Stenosis ConstipationThe other condition that can cause your internal anal sphincter muscle totighten, is a large buildup of gas (flatulence) in your colon. If you have somuch gas that your abdomen is bloated with it, then the pressure from thatamount of gas in the colon causes the internal anal sphincter muscle totighten and close. This is your body wisdom at work. Your body is actuallyhelping ensure you don’t poop your pants (also known as fecal incontinence)by closing tightly against the building pressure.
In this case, you need to first relieve the pressure by getting some of the gasout, before you try to have a bowel movement. The best way to do this is bylying flat on your bed, doing some colonic massage (see page 80), then lyingflat again and just allowing your body to completely relax and let go. Eitherhave a nap, or read a book, but lie down completely flat, in whatever positionis comfortable for you (on your side, your stomach, etc) and allow the gas tocome out, as your body is ready to release it.
Difficulty UrinatingSometimes constipation can lead to the inability to fully empty the bladderwhen urinating. In severe cases, you are unable to urinate at all for a while.Unfortunately, this too leads to a buildup of intra-abdominal pressure that canthen make it more difficult to pass stool – so you get into a bit of a nastyfeedback loop with these two conditions. There are two ways to remedy thisproblem.
First, facing the usual direction (with the seat lifted up) try standing above thetoilet with your legs on either side of the toilet. Then, bend your knees, leanforward from your hips and rest your palms on your knees, allowing yourbum to stick out and back. This tips the abdomen forward and relieves thepressure on the bladder. It also tips the pelvis up and back and engages thepuborectalis sling to effectively “shut off” your rectal canal. This interrupts thebladder-rectum pressure feedback loop and allows your bladder to relax andrelease its contents. Breathe deeply, relax and visualize urine being releasedfrom your bladder, streaming down your urethra and into the toilet.
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Visualization is a quick way of communicating to your body what you’d like itto do. Some people find it helpful to also have some water running from thewashbasin tap at the same time – hearing the sound and trickle of water canalso stimulate urination.
If that doesn’t work, then run a nice hot bath. Put 1 cup of Epsom salts inthe bath. Epsom salts are magnesium salts, so they act as a muscle relaxant.If you have some Magnesium Oil, that is ideal as absorption of themagnesium is even quicker, so add 2 ounces to the bath (we sell transdermalMagnesium Oil at: www.HolisticHealthShoppe.com). The combination of thehot water and the magnesium is a wonderful muscle relaxant. So breathedeeply and allow yourself to relax and pee into the bathwater. This isperfectly safe and fine to do since urine is sterile and you can stay in the bathfor as long as you want – you’ll probably be able to pee several times.
There is actually a form of treatment called Urine Therapy where peopledrink their own urine in the belief that it relieves deficiencies. In southernChina, urine is applied directly to babies’ faces to protect the skin. So don’tworry about having a bath with your own, sterile urine! Forget all that stuffabout urine being “dirty” in the bathwater and just relax and enjoy yourself.
After your bath, you may even find yourself able to have a bowel movement.It takes 20 minutes for the magnesium to be absorbed, so try and stay in forthat long. The reduction in pressure from urinating, combined with themuscle relaxation of magnesium and hot water, often facilitates a bowelmovement.
Either way, once you’ve used hot bath or shower water to facilitate urination,you can use this imagery to help you pee the next time you’re standing abovethe toilet, in the position described above. Using visualization to give yourbladder the experience of a hot, relaxing bath or shower (many people find ahot shower also facilitates urination) is a lot faster than getting in the bathagain!
In the next section, I’m going to get into the actual physical therapies andsupplements you can do to get both quick, symptomatic relief, and also healthe underlying root cause of your chronic constipation.
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CONSTIPATION TREATMENTS
1. DURING A BOWEL MOVEMENTIt is very important not to do anything else during a bowel movement, otherthan breathe deeply and connect with your body. If this causes you anxiety,then you need to do the Communicating With Your Colon method aboveuntil you make peace with your bowel. If that’s not enough – perhaps youhave a lot of past trauma associated with defecation or your bowel – then youneed to use EFT therapy as well (see page 23).
When you are doing nothing but breathing deeply during a bowel movement,you are automatically relaxing your bowel and anal sphincter muscles withyour breath. The expansion and contraction of your diaphragm, as you inhaleand exhale, is massaging your intestines and stimulating peristalsis (rhythmiccontractions of the intestinal wall). When you are focused on and connectedto your body, you can follow your colon’s cues for changing positions;leaning forward or back, doing colonic massage, raising your legs up orextending them out, etc.
As you sit there, relaxed, breathing, massaging your colon, you will just get a“feeling” to do something. This is your body communicating with you, soeven if you’re not sure, or you feel stupid, do it! The more you listen to yourbody and act on your hunches, or feelings, the stronger your intuitive abilitywill grow and the more your body will “talk” to you.
It’s okay if you take a hot drink into the bathroom with you. But don’t talk,read, or look at anything (magazines, tv, phone, photos, blackberry, etc.) –you must not engage your brain in any way other than tuning into andlistening to your body
Constipation Pooping PositionsIf you suffer from peristaltic constipation, you may find it easier to defecate ifyou place your feet on a child’s stepping stool (or a couple of phone books).This raises your knees higher than your hips and more closely approximatesa squatting position - the ideal position for opening the rectal canal andfacilitating the quick passage of stool. Also, be sure to use the Colonic
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Massage method (described in the next section, below) before and during abowel movement.
However, with stenosis constipation, the key point to keep in mind is not toput any pressure on the rectum to open. So the above position probably willnot work for you. Instead, try these positions (which should also work well forperistaltic constipation):
� Lean against the back of the toilet, extend your legs out straight infront of you with just your feet resting on a stepping stool or phonebooks. Breathe deeply and do the Colonic Massage if needed.
� Sit upright on the toilet, lift up one leg and rest the outside ankle onthe opposite knee. This varies the pressure on the sphincter muscleand also changes its shape by pulling it open more on one side, thanthe other. Experiment to see which leg you should lift up and alsoexperiment with leaning forward in this position and also leaningback.
� Stand up above the toilet, feet on either side of the toilet bowl, bendyour knees a bit and put your hands behind your back. Don’t putyour hands on your knees, as this will cause you to rest your weighton your hands and thus tilt your pelvis up and back (which results ina rectal angle that doesn’t usually work so well – although it might foryou, so test it!). Experiment with doing slight knee bends and alsotipping/lifting your hips from side to side.
� Sit on the toilet and rest your hands on the toilet seat behind yourback. When the urge to push comes, use your hands (and triceps) tolift your weight slightly off the toilet. This lifts the downward pressurefrom your internal anal sphincter muscle, allowing it to relax andopen more. Experiment with putting just one hand behind your backand lifting (changes the angle of the pressure – relieves it more onone side than the other), and then switch and try it with the otherhand.
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� Whilst sitting on the toilet, experiment with any combination of thefollowing: Massage your colon, then hold your fist or heel of yourhand pressing deeply into the end of your descending colon whileyou push the stool out (don’t forget to keep breathing deeply).Simultaneously, experiment with having your feet flat on the floor, orraised up on the balls of your feet (heels high up off the floor).Experiment with leaning forward or leaning back whilst this is goingon, also experiment with jiggling your knees up and down or wavingthem out to the sides, then back in again. There are probably about20 possible combinations of just these different movements. So thisis why you need to just breathe deeply and listen to your body – yourbody will tell you what to do next and what to try in whatcombination. Just listen to your gut!
To get a much better sense of exactly what to do in each of these positions,see my video Constipation Pooping Positions on YouTube (don’t you wishyou had my job?!):
Note: If clicking the video screen above does not take you to the video, thenenter this URL into your web browser:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3r3J3mIegI
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Adapting This Protocol For ChildrenChildren learn quickly visually. So either show them the video, ordemonstrate the pooping positions yourself. You can do the Colonic Massage(see page 80) for them – either before they go into the bathroom, or whilethey are sitting on the toilet, or pooping in their diaper. Older children can, ofcourse, be taught how to do the colonic massage for themselves.
2. WILD OREGANO OILA root cause of constipation (and sometimes the sole cause of peristalticconstipation) is an unbalanced, or bad bacterial flora in your gut. If you gettoo many pathogens (yeast, fungi, parasites, bad bacteria, mycobacterium,etc) in your bowel and not enough good bacteria, then your bowel will notfunction properly and will tend towards either constipation, spastic colon, orchronic diarrhea. The fastest way to remedy this problem and balance yourgut flora is by first killing off the pathogens with wild oregano oil, thenimplanting good bacteria via probiotics.
However, if you’ve only been constipated for a year or less, you couldprobably still get good results by skipping this Wild Oregano Oil Protocol andjust going directly to probiotic supplementation (see #3 below).Wild oregano oil is an extremely potent natural antibacterial, antiyeast,antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral substance. It is extracted from aparticular species of oregano that grows wild in rocky regions of theMediterranean and has only been used in North America for about ten years.As such, it is a relatively ‘new’ herbal medicine in the U.S. and not manynaturopathic physicians are even fluent in its uses and amazing efficacy. Iexpect it will gain momentum quickly in the coming years and like all reallyeffective herbal medicines the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) willprobably try to ban it before too long!
Most of the scientific research on wild oregano oil is currently coming fromthe Applied Microbiology field in the area of food preservation.Microbiologists have found that wild oregano oil is so powerful that evenminute amounts of it can kill common food-borne pathogens responsible fora lot of the food poisoning incidents with processed food. When I firstintroduced wild oregano oil to my readers back in 2005, its use with gutdisorders was not widespread. However, since then, among my readers
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alone, thousands have tested and used this herbal extract to rid themselves of intestinal infection. I have used it on myself and my children since 2002 –and I can personally confirm its efficacy for a wide variety of applications involving infectious microorganisms.
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