Part I

Symptoms can be simply annoying, downright life-changing, or anything in between.  But symptoms aren’t there for no reason. As with most things in life, there is a reason and a purpose for symptoms.

We typically ignore the annoying ones if they have been persistent for a while, or not altering our lifestyle – constipation, low grade headaches, and cold hands and feet are some examples – unless, of course they become severe. But even the little ones have meaning, even if they are easy to ignore.

Let’s take constipation. Most people don’t know what is normal in bowel movements. A perfectly running digestive system ends up generating a nice soft bowel movement about 30 minutes after each meal. That means, if you are eating 3 full meals a day, you should be having 3 bowel movements per day. About 50% of that waste consists of the previous days’ food waste, and the other 50% is dead cells and other waste metabolites.

We are told that you are not considered constipated unless you have skipped a day or two without a bowel movement. You are then considered medically constipated. However, it’s a problem even at one/day – just not as critical. What is the body telling us?

Most people recognize that insufficient water intake is causative. Hard and dry stools are likely a result of dehydration. But it may not be just that. One common reason, rarely acknowledged, is a lack of fat in the diet. Fat causes the gallbladder to release copious amounts of bile to emulsify the fat. This dictates color and texture. If you don’t have a gallbladder because it was removed, the dysregulation of bile could cause either constipation or horrible diarrhea – fortunately, there are things that we can do to help, even then.

Digestive insufficiency starting at the stomach level, or even higher in the mouth can contribute. Digestive enzymes that are inhibited either because of dry mouth, anti-acid medication, poor chewing habits, stress or other reasons can affect digestion.

Malnutrition or inadequate quantities of food can also cause constipation. This can be either because the person is eating tiny amounts with the fear of gaining weight, or trying to lose weight, or because of eating nutrient-poor processed foods. Inadequate fiber content, can cause stools to be pasty and sticky. Foods such as dairy products, particularly cheese, and also bananas, can be constipating.

Lack of muscle tone, either because of chronic deficiencies or muscular or neurological disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s, Muscular Dystrophy, spinal injuries or such can also cause constipation.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of a “simple” symptom that can have many causes. Learn more in Part II of What Your Symptoms are Telling You.

Part II

In Part I of What Your Symptoms are Telling You, we read about how symptoms, whether they are just annoying or life-changing, have meaning. Symptoms are the body’s way of telling us something is wrong. The more subtle symptoms, such as constipation, can have multiple causes.

In Part I we discussed what normal is and some of the causes such as lack of water, fat or fiber in the diet, even lack of food, digestive insufficiency, and lack of muscle tone because of certain diseases.

Here are some other reasons for constipation:

Stress can become a cause of constipation either due to inactivity, making poor food and liquid choices and even rushing around, not taking the time to go.

We train ourselves to be constipated. Painful bowel movements due to hemorrhoids, fissures or chronic constipation cause people to hold it in, until it is chronically held in. We also learn early on as kids that we can’t leave a classroom when we have to go. When we work, we can’t always leave someone standing while we make a quick dash. Certain sports activities make it difficult to respond immediately to the call, so we actually train ourselves to be constipated.

Antacids and other medications, especially diuretics, opioids for pain and others are constipating. Even laxatives can be constipating due to excessive usage over time. causing a rebound resistance to laxatives.

Endocrine orders such as diabetes and hypothyroidism can affect metabolism and thereby stools.

All this and we’re just talking about one “simple” disorder. But like all disorders, simple or complex, there are reasons for it. Our job is to dissect it and figure out what the body is trying to tell us.

Some symptoms are actually trying to help us. Such as high cholesterol. The body doesn’t elevate cholesterol just because it wants to. The notion that eating cholesterol makes your cholesterol go up was debunked nearly 2 decades ago! High cholesterol combined with high glucose levels and/or dehydration cause thick blood that can initiate a stroke or heart attack. But why are the cholesterol levels elevated? Cholesterol is a healing serum of the body. If it is high, what is it trying to heal? This is an example of the body trying to help, but in helping, creates a new problem.

Inflammation is another example. Inflammation is a necessary part of the healing process. It is good. However, if the levels increase too much, then runaway inflammation creates new problems, such as auto-immune disorders.

In taking a patient’s history, I like to be thorough. I want to know everything that is going on with their body. Like a picture puzzle, every puzzle piece provides a clue as to what may be going on with them under the surface. Often, when I ask, “Is there anything else?”, they say, “Only a couple minor things”. Things they have acclimated to, or don’t consider too important because they are more of an annoyance than a “problem”. Many times, these “annoying” symptoms are a vital key – even they have a reason. The body tells us in more than one way what is wrong with it. We have to be the detectives and ask what the symptom/group of symptoms, is trying to tell us. Only by listening to what the symptoms are telling us can we truly make a difference in total health.

©2018 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.