SHORT BOWEL SYNDROME

It is a condition in which your body is unable to absorb enough nutrients from the foods you eat because you don't have enough small intestine.

The small intestine is where the majority of the nutrients you eat are absorbed into your body during digestion.

Short bowel syndrome can occur when: Portions of the small intestine have been surgically removed. Conditions that may require surgical removal of large portions of the small intestine include Crohn's disease, cancer, traumatic injuries and blood clots in the arteries that provide blood to the intestines.

Portions of the small intestine are missing or damaged at birth. Babies may be born with a short small intestine or with a damaged small intestine that must be surgically removed.

Short bowel syndrome treatment typically involves special diets and nutritional supplements and may require nutrition through a vein (parenteral nutrition) to prevent malnutrition.

SYMPTOMS: -

Common signs and symptoms of short bowel syndrome may include:

• Diarrhea
• Greasy, foul-smelling stools
• Fatigue
• Weight loss
• Malnutrition
• Swelling (edema) in the lower extremities.

CAUSES: -

Causes of short bowel syndrome include having parts of your small intestine removed during surgery, or being born with some of the small intestine missing or damaged. Conditions that may require surgical removal of portions of the small intestine include Crohn's disease, cancer, injuries and blood clots.

The main cause of short bowel syndrome is surgery to remove a portion of the small intestine. This surgery can treat intestinal diseases, injuries, or birth defects.

Some children are born with an abnormally short small intestine or with part of their bowel missing, which can cause short bowel syndrome. In infants, short bowel syndrome most commonly occurs following surgery to treat necrotizing enter colitis, a condition in which part of the tissue in the intestines is destroyed.

Short bowel syndrome may also occur following surgery to treat conditions such as:

cancer and damage to the intestines caused by cancer treatment

Crohn's disease, a disorder that causes inflammation, or swelling, and irritation of any part of the digestive tract gastroschisis, which occurs when the intestines stick out of the body through one side of the umbilical cord internal hernia, which occurs when the small intestine is displaced into pockets in the abdominal lining, intestinal atresia, which occurs when a part of the intestines doesn't form completely, intestinal injury from loss of blood flow due to a blocked blood vessel, intestinal injury from trauma, intussusception, in which one section of either the large or small intestine folds into itself, much like a collapsible telescope, meconium ileus, which occurs when the meconium, a newborn's first stool, is thicker and stickier than normal and blocks the ileum, midgut volvulus, which occurs when blood supply to the middle of the small intestine is completely cut off omphalocele, which occurs when the intestines, liver, or other organs stick out through the navel, or belly button

Even if a person does not have surgery, disease or injury can damage the small intestine.

THE COMPLICATIONS OF SHORT BOWEL SYNDROME MAY INCLUDE: -

•  
• peptic ulcers—sores on the lining of the stomach or duodenum caused by too much gastric acid.
• kidney stones—solid pieces of material that form in the kidneys.
• small intestinal bacterial overgrowth—a condition in which abnormally large numbers of bacteria grow in the small intestine.

HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINES FOR MANAGING SHORT BOWEL SYNDROME

There are many Homoeopathic remedies which can manage this: -

Nux vomica: - abdominal pains and bowel symptoms accompanied by tension, constricting, sensations, chilliness and irritability can indicate this remedy.

Podophyllum: - indicated when abdominal pain and cramping with a gurgling, sinking, empty feeling are followed by watery, offensive smelling diarrhea alternating with constipation or yellow bowel movements containing mucus.

Sulphur: - often Indicated when a sudden urge towards diarrhoea wakes the person early in morning and makes them hurry to bathroom.

Asafoetida:- a feeling of constriction all along the digestive tract strongly indicates the remedy. The person may have a feeling that a bubble is stuck in throat.

Argentum nit: - digestive upsets accompanied by nervousness and anxiety. Bloating, rumbling, flatulence,nausea, and greenish diarrhoea can be sudden and intense