Can we be personal for a moment?
Good. Thank you.
We want to discuss a particularly grave condition that affects millions of people in our culture from middle age. This condition, known as culture-specific, suffers from rich western countries more than any other group of people. And its cause, as they say, is unknown to modern medicine. This is called diverticulitis.
Diverticulitis is a pain in the butt for millions of people, literally, because it involves the large intestine and the rectum. What happens is that the wall of the colon or large intestine weakens over time due to the increased pressure of an unknown cause. The pressure in the colon causes the areas to loosen to break out, creating bags for the digested matter to collect and fester. These sacs are called diverticula. When you have these pouches, you are told that they have diverticulosis. When the diverticulum has become infected and inflamed, the condition is called diverticulitis, which can be as painful as appendicitis, and can lead to rupture of the colon wall, which is a very dangerous situation. A key problem associated with this condition is the creation of an increased pressure in the colon. It is the force of this pressure that causes the formation of bags.
Knowing what causes high blood pressure is important for the prevention and treatment of this condition. Once upon a time medicine was believed that the diet may be too high in fiber, causing a blockage of the digestive system and an increased pressure of the colon. But lowering the fiber diet did not lead to a significant change in state. At that time, too few fibers were thought to prevent proper removal, and high fiber diets were recommended. Unfortunately, this did not help either. Diverticulitis is also equally common among vegetarians, as well as among meat eaters. While special interest groups that promote certain diets present studies that support their dietary presentation as prevention of diverticulitis, comparative studies are being conducted to balance it. Thus, general research on diverticulitis was inconclusive as to the cause of the increased pressure of the colon, which creates this terrible condition. And in the absence of knowing the cause, medicine can simply offer pain relief with medication, antibiotics for infections, and surgery for particularly unpleasant, abscess pockets. With regard to prevention, the current proposal is to consume more fiber, so that the intestines need to be eliminated more often.
Of course, one thing was missing in medical research on diverticulitis. The most common reason for increasing colon pressure is not a medicine problem, but a cultural one. That's why medicine missed it. In addition, this cultural practice causes physicians to suffer from diverticulitis even more than their patients.
All this is connected with the answer of Nature when she calls.
We live in a society that educates us from birth to keep our waste. Because of the pressure on diaper training, the pressure of using public toilets at school, the pressure of working without choosing to take the necessary pot breaks, or when the toilet is simply not available, our culture pressed us to keep it. Of course, this creates pressure in the colon. In the end, one of the easiest ways to increase the pressure of the colon is to close the anal sphincter when the intestines contract.
Every person has experienced it once. Perhaps the desire came when you were involved in a social situation that you could not just stop, simply because you had to respond to the challenge of Nature. Or it could be while driving, and now the stop or service station has stopped. Even if there was a comfortable lounge, some people were uncomfortable to stool in a public toilet and, preferably, keep them up to the house. Whatever the reason, the fact is that our culture makes the management of personal waste a problem that is not always easily resolved, contributing to delay, not elimination. The result is an increase in the pressure of the colon and the formation of diverticula.
In addition to storage in waste, there is an even greater problem of gas containment. The technical term for this is to hold the veil. This is what most people teach to the public, starting from school days. That is why diverticulitis is more common among professional, affluent Westerners than among poor third world countries. The higher your status, the less acceptable your flatus is. It seems that poverty acquires the right to the wind when it is needed, while wealth creates the need for greater freedom of action. However, the sad fact is that the pressure of the fart must go somewhere. Either pass the wind, or blow up the intestines. Your choice.
Now you can understand why medicine says the cause of the diverticulitis is unknown. Cultural taboos affect this topic, preventing its impartial and honest consideration. Interestingly, there was one article linking diverticulitis with retention in gas. It was in the 1975 British medical journal The Lancet. The article is entitled: "Holding flut is a major factor in diverticular disease." But the information was ignored. Medicine seems more convenient for prescribing drugs and surgery for diverticulitis than simply to tell people how to feed and fart more often.
For those who suffer from diverticulosis or diverticulitis, you can do your own research. Over the next three months, notice how often you feel the desire to eliminate, but choose, for one reason or another, to keep it. Pay particular attention to your need to pass the wind, and how often you do not. Do your best to let your body do what it wants. If you have a partner, you can ask him or her to try this self-study at the same time.
