Latest news with #abdominalPain
SBS Australia
24-05-2025
- Health
- SBS Australia
Suffering in silence: the rapidly rising disease impacting Australians
In her first year of university, when Natasha Jiwani should have been revelling in her new-found independence, she started to experience constant abdominal pain. "I straight after finishing high school, first year of university would get severe abdominal pain to the point where I would wake up with it and go to sleep with it. No one could diagnose what it was." Eventually, Natasha was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. "The overall experience was quite different. So, walking into a gastroenterologist waiting room, I'd look around and I was the only one that was in my close to 20's. Everybody else, the average age was 60 onwards, so there was a lot of confusion." Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis both fall under the umbrella term of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD — an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system attacks the gut. Crohn's disease can cause inflammation anywhere in the digestive system, though it usually affects the bowels. Ulcerative colitis, often referred to simply as "colitis", can cause inflammation and ulcers in the colon and rectum. Vincent Ho, a gastroenterologist at Western Sydney University, says both conditions cause multiple symptoms including diarrhea and abdominal pain, though to others they remain invisible. "People with inflammatory bowel disease may look perfectly fine but are actually suffering from the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, which can be quite severe in many cases and affect their daily life." The number of Australians living with I-B-D is rapidly on the rise, increasing from 100,000 a decade or so ago to around 180,000 today, according to a recent State of the Nation Report. That number is expected to rise to 200,000 in the next 10 years. Doctor Ho says the rates of IBD in Australia are among the highest in the world. "Over 65, we're seeing more cases, but we're also seeing cases of inflammatory bowel disease in young children as well. And there are a number of cases of what we call very early onset in inflammatory bowel disease where children can get it a younger than six years of age." Dr Ho say, while it's largely unknown how this inflammation arises, we are starting to learn more about its causes. "Some risk factors in the environment include exposure to tobacco smoke, the use of antibiotics, the use of certain drugs like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, for example Nurofen, Voltaren, those sorts of drugs. We know that some types of infections can increase the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease." Another risk factor is diet. One recent world-first pre clinical study, by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, shows how eating just a few meals high in saturated fats, can cause inflammation in the body. Those foods can also weaken the production of a crucial protein called IL-22, which helps fight this inflammation. Mice were used in this research, which also reveals something that excited researchers: while saturated fats suppress IL-22 production, unsaturated fats, found in nuts and avocados, actually boost the protein's production. Dr Ho says this provides immense hope for people living with chronic inflammatory diseases like IBD. "We know that certain types of foods, a high-quality diet, for example, reaching fruit, vegetables, fish, and other fibre sources is considered to be a protective factor when it comes to inflammatory bowel disease." Natasha has found eating well has had a huge impact on her symptoms. "I know that if I'm living off fast food for a week as opposed to making healthy at home meals, my Crohn's is a lot better in that latter thing because my body's healthier and it's ensuring that my body's not flaring up with what I'm eating." While IBD is a chronic condition with no cure, it can be managed with treatment. Early diagnosis is important, with symptoms including abnormal bowel movements and the presence of mucus or blood in stools, as well as abdominal discomfort, bloating and flatulence. Leanne Raven, CEO of Crohns and Colitis Australia, says greater awareness around I-B-D will also help when it comes to diagnosis, support and treatment. "Because it's below the belly button, people don't necessarily talk about it. So, a lot of people become quite isolated in trying to manage their conditions. So, we're trying to shatter the IBD silence through raising awareness of and encouraging people to have conversations." Natasha says while there is less stigma and embarrassment around I-B-D than ever before, more people need to talk about it. "I think what's really also important is clarifying the support that's available. I definitely do think awareness, raising funds, raising funds to help with finding a cure potentially for this disease as well would be amazing."
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Little-known type of pain could be earliest sign of deadly bowel cancer, doctor warns - as cases surge in under 50s
A gut doctor has warned of a little-known red flag sign that can indicate deadly bowel cancer. While it is well known that abdominal pain is a sign of the condition, gastroenterologist Dr Joseph Salhab highlighted a specific detail that the public should pay attention to. Dr Salhab urged people to watch out for persistent abdominal pain that's 'localised in the same spot' and is associated with a new bout of constipation or diarrhoea. If the pain is bad enough to disturb your sleep, you should also see a GP, he added. 'If it wakes you up at night because it's so bad, these are not signs you should ignore,' advised Dr Salhab in an Instagram video that has been viewed over 512,000 times. Responding to a video of a 28-year-old woman whose cancer was mistaken for irritable bowel syndrome, the US-based specialist went on to list other warning signs of the deadly cancer. 'A change in your stool caliber with thin stools or even with rectal bleeding and weight loss are not signs you should ignore,' he added. He also said that if the pain does not improve with dietary changes or bowel movements, this could be a red flag sign. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr. Joseph Salhab (@thestomachdoc) Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in the stool, occurs when cancerous tumours bleed into the digestive tract. Other warning signs of the cancer include a lump in the abdomen, bloating and feeling very tired or short of breath. However, bowel cancer can also appear with no symptoms until it has spread to other areas of the body, where it becomes harder to treat. It comes as diagnoses of the disease have sky rocketed by 80 per cent in under 50s across the globe within the last 30 years, research suggests. In contrast, rates of the disease in older age groups, who are statistically more likely to get the disease overall, have either declined or remained stable in the same period. Experts have suggested a host of factors are likely behind the phenomenon — from increased pollution to rising obesity and even invisible particles of plastic in drinking water. Genetic factors are also likely to play a role, according to researchers. But diets high in ultra-processed foods, salt and alcohol and low in vitamins and minerals are the main risk factors underling the most common cancers in under-50s. In the UK, bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer, killing almost 17,000 people each year, with the number of young-onset cases continuing to rise. Analysis suggests deaths from bowel cancer overall in the UK are set to rise by 2,5000 a year by 2040. Meanwhile, the number of people in the UK diagnosed with the disease will rise by around a tenth in the same period. A 2024 Cancer Research UK analysis of 50 countries revealed that England saw the fourth fastest annual rise in the rate of early-onset bowel cancer in the decade to 2017, faster than any other country in Europe.
