How many of us have had a Colonoscopy?

General Discussion
#1

Clearly digestive issues are a symptom that most of us get. Some think that the gut is the key to recovery. Here is a well written article about a gut inflammation theory.

http://www.pfshealing.com/post-finasteride-syndrome-recovery-how-to-reduce-gut-inflammation/

Its saying that gut inflammatory cytokines produced by systematic inflamation in our bodies (specifically in our gut) are preventing our bodies from stabilizing our hormones and neurosteroids resulting in us not being able to recover. It’s not suggesting that inflammatory cytokines caused PFS but that it’s the main reason why we can’t recover from it.

Obviously like any PFS theory there are holes in its logic. But seeing that PFS has personally made me extremely sensitive to foods that I was never sensitive to before and seeing that I am forced to stay on a very specific protocol to avoid serious digestive issues and even than still do not have normal digestion I can’t help but be curious about this theory. Another interesting thing to point out that is in line with gut issues being a major factor is that most doctors believe that autoimmune issues are the cause of the more serious gut issues such as Crohns disease and Ucler active Colitis. It’s been theorized before that inhibiting 5AR sparked an autoimmune type of response against the enzymes when our bodies attempted to restore them. Perhaps there is some truth to this and that the sparking of the autoimmune response also initiated a similar autoimmune response that targeted our large or small intestines like in Crohns disease and Ucler active Colitis. If this is true it would probably mean that we are all genetically predisposed to autoimmune disorders.

Without getting off track with focusing on if this is correct or not I’m simply trying to find out how many of us have had Colonoscopy’s. If there is any truth with gut inflammation being a key factor than there would have to be some evidence of this and a Colonoscopy is the only way to be certain. The article is suggesting that most of us may have had a form of IBD before taking the 5AR inhibitor. Regardless of the logic behind this most of us have had bad enough digestive issues where a Colonoscopy may not be a bad idea anyway.

If anyone has had one please post the results here. I will be having one soon in the next couple of months.

#2

I had a colonoscopy 3 years ago. They found that I had some type of non cancerous growth in my appendix which was subsequently removed (appendix had grown which caused a bump in my colon was how they found it). The appendectomy did not seem to have any affects on my health either positive or negative.

I’ve not experienced any gut/digestive issues that appear to be related to pfs. The last time I had gut issues was about four years ago. I was give a antibiotic for some dental work, clyndamycin I believe, which ruined my stomach bacteria. Didn’t take a solid dump for a year and a half. Finally cleared up with a lot of probiotics. The one that helped the most was one called Kefir. Sort of a liquid yogurt.

From my personal experience I think my pfs is more brain/neurosteroid related. The only time my dick seems to have any life is when I (rarely) get a good nights sleep.

#3

I have a extensive history of taking antibiotics before suffering from this syndrome as well. To clarify you had your Colonoscopy after coming down with PFS correct?

If so how long after you started suffering from PFS did you have your Colonoscopy?

Other than the unrelated growth (glad to hear it was not cancer by the way) what did your Colonoscopy find ?

#4

Hi all

Here some results for 5 alpha victim :slight_smile:

I have been suffered mild stomach pains and gut noises occasionally since crash. Last year I tell this to doctor and got colonoscopy prescription. The reason why I decided to go doctor was flu like symptoms on and off with worsen gut and stomach symptoms. I was interested what can be find and got prepared to this. Operation did well and result was only one benign polyp, nothing that refers to inflammation. Was relieved but on the other hand disappointed because I expect that if there is problem it can be fixed.

Doctor also suggested gastroscopy but I did not see it necessary. I drop caffeine and alcohol and have relief. Also realize that stomach pains occur when there is stress with caffeine.

It is interesting that other my PFS symptoms are like inflammation on and off. Is it possible that gut did not show any inflammation marks when colonoscopy and there is occasionally inflammation?

-dark

#5

Yes my colonoscopy was about seven years after I started suffering from pfs (getting to be a long time).
Other than the unrelated growth all the colonoscopy found were some small polyps which were removed. Someone else, I think mariovitalle, posted that he believes pfs is closely related to cfs, chronic fatigue syndrome. That seems to be the way I feel anymore. Semi regular brain fog, nat as bad as when I first came down with pfs, but enough to cause me to feel tired and run down. Of course no sex drive and ED also.

#6

[quote=“darknight4ever”]
I have been suffered mild stomach pains and gut noises occasionally since crash. Last year I tell this to doctor and got colonoscopy prescription. I was interested what can be find and got prepared to this. Operation did well and result was only one benign polyp, nothing that refers to inflammation.

It is interesting that other my PFS symptoms are like inflammation on and off. Is it possible that gut did not show any inflammation marks when colonoscopy and there is occasionally inflammation?

If your Colonoscopy found no inflamation that obviously rules out the IBD diseases like Crohns and Ucler Active Colitis which leads us away from the autoimmune link seeing that IBD is most likely caused by the immune system attacking the intestines. There’s no way it would be possible to have like on and Off Crohns or colitis that could only be seen “when your body is inflamed”. You’d either have IBD or you wouldent.

I’m kinda of wondering the same thing you are though. Can we have inflmation in our intestines with out having one of the forms of IBD. I know that the way doctors explain IBS is by saying the symptoms can be similar to I
IBD with out the inflmation or Ucler’s like in IBD.

Regardless if there are other diseases or issues that can cause inflamation inside our guts that are not as bad as IBD like IBS or leaky gut syndrome there would still have to be evidence of this. To answere the question more directly in my opinion I don’t think it’s possible to have on and off inflamation inside your large or small intestines that is only their when your PFS “flares up”. If Inflammation in our guts was preventing us from recovering I think we’d see it on a Colonoscopy. If the 5ar Inhibitor triggered a autoimmune response in our guts we would know for sure after the colonscopy because we would get diagnosed with either Crohns or colitis.

I still want to know though if IBS or leaky gut syndrome can be seen on a Colonoscopy. I’m pretty sure they cant. I’m also pretty sure if inflammation in our guts was the reason that we can not recover than it would be a constant thing and not something that’s on and off.

.

#7

Interesting. This is two cases where no evidence of inflammation was found during Colonoscopy. I’d still be interested to hear from a couple of more though.

#8

i did colonscopy because of soft stool and it was fine.
no inflammation or anything else.

#9

interesting. Three normal colonoscopy’s. that’s a decent amount of evidence stacking up against the autoimmune/gut inflammation connection.

#10

This is not directly related to colonoscopy but related to cleanse and 5ar activation.

Six weeks ago I started 7 day long water fasting. Beginning was hardest and I suffered from nausea and a feeling of weakness at the first. Then after fourth day feeling better and by the end of the fast i felt very calm. It was very cleansing experience and I could have go further. Then after fast I started with home made food which most closely resembles paleo. Also lots of fruits and dairy to balance cut bacteria. I also made calendar where to write 1-10 scale how I feel and will make a graph of in future. It will reminds a roller coaster :slight_smile: I have to say that 5 years on PFS have been big rolle coaster for me lots of ups and downs, three steps forward, two steps back.

Three weeks ago started protocol for 5ar: boron, creatine, sorghum and exercise. After week of this protocol I felt like 9 on scale. Before fast only 6 could have given. Anyway only had mild tinnitus, mild pain in the finger joints, penile shrinkage. Also gray scrotal and hair lose wont come back immediately. I am not sure how much this protocol affected and maybe I could have feel just as good without any sub.

Last week started 1 cup caffeine per day which seem to be mistake like usually for me. Felt good after it but then by the end of the week stools are loose and I feel not good. Now feel all over pains and not energy at all, like adrenaline fatigue symptons. Also too much exercise and other stress factors definitely had negatively impact. I try rest and take break. Will report soon.

-dark

#11

I had a colonoscopy as well and the results came back clean.

#12

5 alpha victim & others,

Thank you for your post. On Feb 16th, I went on pfshealing.com and had the opportunity to read the article on inflammation. Then I wanted to go back to the website on the next day to read more articles, but since then, the website is gone. The web address is for sale…

From the article I read (inflammation) the guy seemed quite scientific, and I would have liked to read more about what he says about supplementation… By any chance, would any one of you have saved the articles written by Josh Abrhams and could share them?

Thank you,
Charles

#13

same, clean colonoscopy

#14

I haven’t had one but gut issues are obviously important and in some cases crucial (there are variants of pfs, something more people could use to grasp). I am steadily getting better and my digestion has improved. Additionally my colon is wider and seems to have more protective covering around the rectum. I don’t have direct proof of the entire colon being wider, as I do it the colon around the rectal opening, but I am fairly confident it is. I pass larger and more frequent stools for one thing. I think my colon getting smaller was for the same reason all the other tissue, muscle, etc. in my body disappeared while taking fin - just utter degeneration of everything, thank god it’s a lot better now.

#15

That’s five normal Colonoscopys. I had mine which was normal as well. That makes six. I don’t think gut inflammation is to blame like the above mentioned article suggested…

#16

I remember reading this as well. It sounded logical but after six normal colonoscopys finding no evidence of gut inflammation Its sounds unlikely.

#17

I am seeing a functional medicine practitioner. Had all sorts of tests done to include stool, urine, blood, saliva, etc… Tested for gut dysbiosis. I am sure there is something going on with the gut. Will report results back in a couple of months or less. Here is an interesting article that just came out recently:

Fecal metagenomic profiles in subgroups of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome
Dorottya Nagy-Szakal1†, Brent L. Williams1†, Nischay Mishra1, Xiaoyu Che1, Bohyun Lee1, Lucinda Bateman2, Nancy G. Klimas3,9, Anthony L. Komaroff4, Susan Levine5, Jose G. Montoya6, Daniel L. Peterson7, Devi Ramanan8, Komal Jain1, Meredith L. Eddy1, Mady Hornig1 and W. Ian Lipkin1*

Abstract
Background: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterized by unexplained persistent fatigue, commonly accompanied by cognitive dysfunction, sleeping disturbances, orthostatic intolerance, fever, lymphadenopathy, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The extent to which the gastrointestinal microbiome and peripheral inflammation are associated with ME/CFS remains unclear. We pursued rigorous clinical characterization, fecal bacterial metagenomics, and plasma immune molecule analyses in 50 ME/CFS patients and 50 healthy controls frequency-matched for age, sex, race/ethnicity, geographic site, and season of sampling.
Results: Topological analysis revealed associations between IBS co-morbidity, body mass index, fecal bacterial composition, and bacterial metabolic pathways but not plasma immune molecules. IBS co-morbidity was the strongest driving factor in the separation of topological networks based on bacterial profiles and metabolic pathways. Predictive selection models based on bacterial profiles supported findings from topological analyses indicating that ME/CFS subgroups, defined by IBS status, could be distinguished from control subjects with high predictive accuracy. Bacterial taxa predictive of ME/CFS patients with IBS were distinct from taxa associated with ME/CFS patients without IBS. Increased abundance of unclassified Alistipes and decreased Faecalibacterium emerged as the top biomarkers of ME/ CFS with IBS; while increased unclassified Bacteroides abundance and decreased Bacteroides vulgatus were the top biomarkers of ME/CFS without IBS. Despite findings of differences in bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways defining ME/CFS subgroups, decreased metabolic pathways associated with unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis and increased atrazine degradation pathways were independent of IBS co-morbidity. Increased vitamin B6 biosynthesis/salvage and pyrimidine ribonucleoside degradation were the top metabolic pathways in ME/CFS without IBS as well as in the total ME/CFS cohort. In ME/CFS subgroups, symptom severity measures including pain, fatigue, and reduced motivation were correlated with the abundance of distinct bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways.
Conclusions: Independent of IBS, ME/CFS is associated with dysbiosis and distinct bacterial metabolic disturbances that may influence disease severity. However, our findings indicate that dysbiotic features that are uniquely ME/CFS- associated may be masked by disturbances arising from the high prevalence of IBS co-morbidity in ME/CFS. These insights may enable more accurate diagnosis and lead to insights that inform the development of specific therapeutic strategies in ME/CFS subgroups.
Keywords: Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Chronic fatigue syndrome, Microbiota-gut-brain axis, Metagenomic, Topological data analysis, Irritable bowel syndrome, Metabolic pathway

  • Correspondence: wil2001@cumc.columbia.edu
    †Equal contributors
    1Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W 168th Street 17th Floor, New York, NY 10032, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
    © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Nagy-Szakal et al. Microbiome (2017) 5:44
Page 2 of 17

victim"]Clearly digestive issues are a symptom that most of us get. Some think that the gut is the key to recovery. Here is a well written article about a gut inflammation theory.

http://www.pfshealing.com/post-finasteride-syndrome-recovery-how-to-reduce-gut-inflammation/

Its saying that gut inflammatory cytokines produced by systematic inflamation in our bodies (specifically in our gut) are preventing our bodies from stabilizing our hormones and neurosteroids resulting in us not being able to recover. It’s not suggesting that inflammatory cytokines caused PFS but that it’s the main reason why we can’t recover from it.
[/quote]
5 alpha victim & others,

Thank you for your post. On Feb 16th, I went on pfshealing.com and had the opportunity to read the article on inflammation. Then I wanted to go back to the website on the next day to read more articles, but since then, the website is gone. The web address is for sale…

From the article I read (inflammation) the guy seemed quite scientific, and I would have liked to read more about what he says about supplementation… By any chance, would any one of you have saved the articles written by Josh Abrhams and could share them?

Thank you,
Charles
[/quote]
I remember reading this as well. It sounded logical but after six normal colonoscopys finding no evidence of gut inflammation Its sounds unlikely.
[/quote]

#18

I hate to sound like a broken record but there is no single key to recovery. What the key to one’s recovery is depends on what variant of PFS one has (I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of all the different variants). I had a major breakthrough recently with my gut lining - I know because among many other things, my stools are excellent and I no longer can feel cold water going through my digestive system, for instance (because my gut lining is thicker). This has coincided exactly with: 1. Greater blood oxygenation and 2. My adrenal system coming ‘back online’ and being functional in a basic sense for the first time in quite a while. So in my case, gut is very important - but it all depends on what variant of PFS you have. In fact, generically referring to all cases as ‘PFS’ is very misleading.

#19

Scientists have developed a test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:

futurism.com/we-might-be-closer … -syndrome/

#20

agreed. In that regard coming up with the term PFS was a bad idea