Flouride = Flare?

[Carol Arnett]

Hello everyone,

I haven`t posted for a while, but here I am, in trouble again and looking for wide shoulders and hopefully some opinions.

Last month I began having some dental work done and the Hygenist insisted on applying Flouride gel to my teeth after cleaning them. The next day I started having intermitent episodes of D along with a tender abdomen, lots of gas and cramping. Up to now, I have only been intolerant of NSAIDS and Proton Pump Inhibitors. No food items have ever bothered me. Does anyone think the Flouride is my problem?

The D has only been up to 10 times per day rather than the 50 I had last year that put me in the hospital. Thank goodness for that! Every day the tenderness, bloating and cramping gets worse. I am taking 1600mg of Asacol every day. I plan to call my doc tomorrow to see if he thinks a couple weeks of Flagyl might help.

Tex......I hardly know what to say about your diagnosis. You are such a rock it just doesn`t seem possible for you to get something like that. I have read a lot of good wishes and mine are included, of course, but I have also read a lot about you being our backbone, our guru but most of all you are our dear, dear friend and dear friend, please take care of yourself because you are not just needed here, we all love you very, very much and want you around for a long time.

Dee, I hope all the men in your life are doing better by now.

To all the newbies...by now, you know that you have found the best place in the world to get yourselves back on the wellness road. Welcome all.

One more thing. Has anyone heard anything from Oma? I miss her posts so much and hope she is doing well.

Love to you all, Carol

[tex]

Hi Carol,

It's good to hear from you, but I'm sorry that it's because of a flare. There's not much information about Fluoride and a possible link to colitis on the internet, but I did find one article from a site opposed to the addition of fluoride to drinking water. According to that site:

Numerous investigations, published in reputable medical journals, show that clinically demonstrable nondental toxic effects are caused by 1 ppm fluoride in drinking water. The symptoms are those first recognized by the distinguished pioneer fluoride researcher, Kai Roholm, in his famous studies on the effects of fluoride in Danish aluminum foundry workers. Because the symptoms are so common they are easily mistaken as being due to other causes. They include: headache, excessive thirst, muscular weakness, involuntary muscle spasms, extreme tiredness, gastric distress, colitis, low back and joint pain and stiffness, urinary tract irritation, skin eruptions, mouth sores, and visual disturbances involving the retina.

http://www.nofluoride.com/nine.htm

Unfortunately, I have to get back to work, (corn harvest is in full swing, so I have to help unload trucks), but I'll see if I can locate any more information, later. Maybe someone else will have some insight on this issue.

I truly appreciate your kind words, and good wishes. Yes, I'll do my best to try to take care of myself.

Love,
Tex

[Carol Arnett]

Thanks for your quick response, Tex. You work way too hard, mister.

The more I read about Fluoride the scarier it gets. I watched a video about it where the person said that it is actually a by-product of Nuclear waste. I don`t know about the validity of that but it is still scary. I am more and more sure of the fact that the stuff is what caused my flare. I just hope it doesn`t last long. Love, Carol

[mbeezie]

Hi Carol,

I read an old article in Living Without Magazine that said sometimes the latex gloves used are coated in oat flour . . . .most likely contaminated oats.

Mary Beth George

[Gloria]

Hi Carol,

I'm sorry to hear you're having a flare.

I'd be very careful about asking for a prescription for Flagyl. That gave me D for 5 straight weeks and I can't help but wonder if it contributed to the onset of my MC.

Gloria

[Carol Arnett]

Thanks Mary Beth and Gloria. I don`t have gluten sensitivity, Mary Beth but the contamination is kinda scary.

Gloria, I have taken Flagyl several times for a two week period and it helped tremendously. That and Cipro have never given me a problem.

I am just so disappointed. I have been in remission for a year at the end of this month and have been able to eat anything without any discomfort. My abdomen has not been tender for at least 8 or 9 months. Starting all over again is the pits.

When she started applying the gel to my teeth I stopped her long enough to ask what she was doing but never gave a thought to it causing an MC flare. I guess I was too conplacent because I had been in remission for so long.

Hugs, Carol

[tex]

Carol,

I forgot to ask - did the dentist by any chance give you any antibiotic, (or did you take one for any other reason), in the few months prior to the onset of your symptoms?

Incidentally, your Asacol dosage rate is pretty low - that's considered to be a maintenance dose. The usual daily dose during a flare is 2,400mg, or even 3,200mg, I believe, but you might ask your doctor for his or her opinion on that. It might be more effective, (and safer), than an antibiotic.

Love,
Tex

[Lucy]

Carole,

What a bummer!
I guess anything is possible if it damages the lining of the gut.
Perhaps you could investigate other ingredients of the gel besides the flouride, just to keep for future reference, should you have future attacks once this is better. That way, you could check the ingredients of the gel against the next suspected thing, and see if there was a common ingredient. Sometimes we have to be good detectives to figure these things out.

Also, (this is a way out possibility) but perhaps when your teeth were being cleaned, enough pathogens from your gums were swallowed to upset the balance of bacteria in your lower gut, or possibly to establish an infection?

This doesn't seem as though it would be likely on the surface since bacteria would seem to be constantly being washed down by the frequent intake of food, but sometimes food gets lodged between the teeth or under the gum line, and then, at cleaning, a big mess of this bacterial colony could could be worked out of the gums by your hygenist and slip on down into your gut. After a long time setting up residence in the oral cavity, bacteria more toxic to the gut could've taken residence.

Like I say, it's just a theory, but this is similar to the way folks with swallowing difficulties end up getting pneumonia. There's a little pouch in back of the throat, particularly in older folks, that can sometimes have food stuck in it if the muscles that normally would move food through the back of the throat on down to the esophagus. When food gets stuck in there, it colonizes all sorts of bacteria, so when it spills over into the lungs, it often turns into pneumonia, often called "aspiration pneumonia." Anyway, I just thought it MIGHT be possible to infect the gut in the same way, only from the old food that's been stuck in the gums a while.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Yours, Luce

[Carol Arnett]

Hi Tex and Luce,

Tex, No, I wasn`t given an antibotic nor have I taken one for over a year. I know my Asacol dosage has been low but since this flare started I have increased it by 1600mg. I had decreased it myself several months ago.

Luce, your theory sounds credible and I will ask the dentist about that when I go again on the 26th. IF I can get out of the house by then.

Thank you both for your input. Love, Carol