Health

Common Sense Health: Constipation Causes More Trouble Than You Think

by W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones Views: 108

Now and again, friends confide in friends that they have big problems. Dreaded are the occasions when the problem is a serious medical diagnosis. But when the problem is persistent constipation, it’s better to air the issue and not suffer in silence.

Drug store remedies for constipation can fail to have effect. For many sufferers, the ailment involves days without a bowel movement. Ignoring the problem can lead to disturbing complications, to be avoided at all costs.

Dr. Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize winner, believed we are all living with sub-optimal levels of vitamin C. His primary interest was in studying the effects of high doses of vitamin C in protecting against heart disease. But in an interview with him, he added, “High doses of C also resolve constipation.”  It’s a natural remedy for constipation and a sad fact most people, including doctors, are not aware of this.

A lack of dietary fiber, which holds onto water, sets the stage for constipation. Fiber will change bowel movements from hard rocks to stools as soft as toothpaste. When on a high-fiber diet, if you look in the toilet bowl, you’ll see stools that float. One reader of this my column said it gave her a stiff neck! But she was grateful for the relief provided.

So how much vitamin C is required? It depends on bowel tolerance. Vitamin C in high doses will cause diarrhea. So, take 2,000 milligrams (mg) at bedtime. If this doesn’t produce a result take 3,000 mg the following night, and so on. It will eventually have effect.

A component of our natural physiology called the gastrocolic reflex also helps to prevent constipation. A high fiber cereal with fruit and a hot tea or coffee stimulates nerves in the stomach to trigger a bowel movement.

The great concern with constipation is the possibility of fecal impaction, when a bowel movement becomes impossible. This demands a visit to the hospital emergency room. The solution is an enema and sometimes manual removal of the impacted feces. Having this treatment just once quickly convinces anyone to use high-dose vitamin C and more fiber.

Chronic intestinal pressure may cause small hernias to appear in the large bowel. These bowel out-pockets are referred to as diverticulosis and may be present for years without people knowing.

For the unlucky, diverticulosis can change to diverticulitis when small particles of food become stuck in one of the hernias. This can cause mild pain and inflammation, usually cured by antibiotics. Or it can be worse and trigger a severe inflammatory reaction causing acute pain and a life-threatening situation requiring an emergency operation and removal of the inflamed bowel.

Busy doctors normally don’t spend much time on diagnosis of constipation unless patients complain of this trouble. Circus promoters used to say, “There’s a sucker born every day.” They’re right, as millions of unsuspecting consumers use over-the-counter laxatives which injure the large bowel.

So remember, vitamin C is nature’s natural laxative that cannot injure the intestines. It also decreases the risk of overall disease and has a positive effect on cardiovascular problems. Moreover, you cannot overdose with C. It’s a win, win situation.

Some worry about kidney stones. The majority of renal stones occur in alkaline urine. But since vitamin C acidifies urine, there’s less chance of this happening.

Linus Pauling took 20,000 mg of C daily for years. We take 4,000 mg and 10,000 mg respectively of C daily – and one of us is 98.

Are you among those suffering silently from constipation? The natural solution is one of nature’s best kept secrets.

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Author: W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones

Dr. Ken Walker (who writes under the pseudonym of Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, MD) is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in Gynecology at Harvard. His storied medical career began as a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon, and hotel doctor. For more than 40 years, he specialized in gynecology, devoting his practice to the formative issues of women’s health. In 1975, he launched his weekly medical column that has been published by national and local Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Today, the readership remains over seven million.

His advice contains a solid dose of common sense and he never sits on the fence with controversial issues. He is the author of nine books including, “The Healthy Barmaid”, his autobiography “You’re Going To Do What?”, “What I Learned as a Medical Journalist”, and “90+ How I Got There!”

Many years ago, he was successful in a fight to legalize heroin to help ease the pain of terminal cancer patients. His foundation at that time donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto Medical School. At 93 years of age he rappelled from the top of Toronto’s City Hall (30 stories) to raise funds for children with a life-threatening disease through the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  His hobby is trap shooting.

He is married to Susan and has four children and twelve grandchildren.

Diana MacKay writes in collaboration with her father under the pen name, Diana Gifford-Jones.  The daughter of W. Gifford-Jones, MD, Diana has extensive global experience in health and healthcare policy.  Diana is Special Advisor with The Aga Khan University, which operates 2 quaternary care hospitals and numerous secondary hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and laboratories in South Asia and Africa.  She worked for ten years in the Human Development sectors at the World Bank, including health policy and economics, nutrition, and population health.

For over a decade at The Conference Board of Canada, she managed four health-related executive networks, including the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health, the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Canadian Centre for Environmental Health, and the Centre for Health System Design and Management. Her master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government included coursework at Harvard Medical School.  She is also a graduate of Wellesley College.  She has extensive experience with Canadian universities, including at Carleton University, where she was the Executive Director of the Global Academy.

She lived and worked in Japan for four years and speaks Japanese fluently. Diana has the designation as a certified Chartered Director from The Directors College, a joint venture of The Conference Board of Canada and McMaster University.  She has recently published a book on the natural health philosophy of W. Gifford-Jones, called No Nonsense Health – Naturally!

The weekly column by W. Gifford-Jones, MD has been published without interruption for 45 years.  The same no-nonsense tradition now continues in a father-daughter collaboration.

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