Medicine has come a long way in the last hundred years, and thankfully an awareness of gut health has as well. For a long time, doctors did not know how to treat the digestive issues that so many people experience today.
A Brief History of Gut Health
Dysentery and Diarrhea
In 1892, William Osler, “The Father of Modern Medicine”, wrote that dysentery “has been more fatal to soldiers than powder and shot.” Author Mary Roach writes:
“For every American killed by battle injuries during the Mexican War of 1848, seven died of disease, mostly diarrheal. During the American Civil War, 95,000 soldiers died from diarrhea or dysentery. During the Vietnam War, hospital admissions for diarrheal diseases outnumbered those for malaria by nearly four to one.”
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
In 1950, a medical journal published an article about symptoms related to an “irritable bowel,” documenting what had been referred to in the past as “spastic colon”, “nervous colon,” or “irritable colon.” Symptoms common with what we now know to be Irritable Bowel Syndrome had been considered, by some medical professionals, to be caused by a “mental disorder” or the imagination.
Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
Reports of symptoms associated with the Ulcerative Colitis go back as far as Hippocrates. And in the 1800s, François-Joseph-Victor Broussais and John Brown documented their beliefs that “all diseases derived from inflammation in the GI tract.” It was not, however, named as a disease until 1875.
In 1932, Crohn’s Disease was first documented and was thought originally to be a form of tuberculosis. Later in the late 1960s, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation was founded by two families searching for answers. The foundation raised money for grants that made breakthroughs in IBD research possible.
Digestive Health Today
Although there are still many questions about the digestive tract, the microbiome, and the symptoms related to IBS and IBD, we have made so much progress.
If you have been on the gut-healing journey for any length of time, it may sometimes seem as though the answers are limited. I can identify with the helplessness many people feel as they search for relief. It can be a lonely road, one that I have walked personally.
BUT I can tell you that there ARE answers and you CAN find relief.
There are a variety of ways to manage the symptoms associated the IBS and IBD. I have written at length about the supplements that have changed my life and the lives of many of my clients. And I have found that one of the quickest ways to get much-needed answers is by taking a Food Inflammation Test. You might be surprised by which foods are causing your symptoms. For many people gluten and sugar are culprits, but what if there are other, “healthy” foods that are causing issues for you?
If you are still looking for relief and need guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am happy to talk with you about your journey—what you’ve experienced and where you hope to be in the future.
Schedule your free, 20-minute telehealth Zoom or phone call for a chance to ask some questions and learn more about my approach. I look forward to talking!
Happy Healing!
Dr. Troy
”The Unfortunate Expert”
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