The truth about an appendicitis and the gut
Episode 206
In this episode of Integrative You Radio, we challenge the conventional understanding of the appendix, uncovering its vital importance in gut health. Exploring the intricate relationship between lower right quadrant pain, parasites, and appendix inflammation, we emphasize the need for personalized testing and holistic healing approaches. Join us as we empower listeners to grasp the complexities of their gut health, providing valuable insights for a healthier, well-informed lifestyle with our host Dr. Nicole. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the appendix's role and discover practical strategies for optimal well-being. Interested in learning more about Dr. Nick & Dr. Nicole’s courses, memberships, or private work? Learn more at Integrative You . Have a quick question, Would you like to schedule a call, or just want to say hi? Text us at 732.913.0009. Our mission to innovate humans & Healthcare does NOT start and stop with us! This is why we are also dedicated to helping other practitioners in evolving healthcare too! If you are a healthcare leader and are looking to up-level your clinical + business excellence Learn more about our course membership: Limitless Healthprenuer and start boldly disrupting this industry! What you’ll learn: Redefining the Appendix: This episode challenges common misconceptions about the appendix, highlighting its significant role in gut health contrary to conventional belief. Connection to Gut Issues: Exploring the link between lower right quadrant pain, parasites, and appendix inflammation, listeners learn about the crucial relationship between gut integrity and overall health. Empowering Holistic Healing: Emphasizing personalized testing and holistic approaches, the podcast empowers listeners to take charge of their gut health, providing practical insights for a well-informed, proactive lifestyle. Quotes: "If you have had lower right quadrant pain, one, you need to get checked for parasites, to prevent appendicitis." - Dr. Nicole
Topics: appendix, health, lower, quadrant, unknown, appendicitis, integrative, pain
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## The Truth About Appendicitis and the Gut
- The appendix plays a vital, often overlooked, role in digestive health and immune function.
- Lower right quadrant pain can be a symptom of various issues, including parasitic infections, which may be linked to appendicitis risk.
- Personalized testing is essential for accurate diagnosis of gut health concerns.
- Holistic healing strategies can offer effective solutions for appendix and gut-related issues.
Pull quotes
This is the place where you become limitless. **Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior.
We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs, so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare.
If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place. **Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive.
Transcript
**Unknown:** Welcome to Integrative U Radio, hosted by Dr. Nick Carruthers and yours truly, Dr. Nicole Rivera. This is the place where you become limitless.
**Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior. We are also covering how those topics affect the human and family dynamics. We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs, so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare. If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place.
**Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive. This is Integrative U Radio. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Integrative U Radio.
**Unknown:** So today, we are talking about the appendix and its correlation to gut issues. I, for some reason, could have swore that we have talked about this in the past on a podcast, but in the event we have had a couple of people reach out asking if we had any content available, I couldn't find it. So here we are. But overall, I find it very ironic that the conversation in conventional medicine about the appendix is that it is an organ that we don't 100% know what it does, and it doesn't necessarily serve a significant purpose, so it's no big deal if we need to have it removed.
**Unknown:** And I like to always challenge that, because why would we be born with more organs than we need? So overall, we wanna understand a little bit more about the appendix, and we wanna understand the role that it plays in our body/gastrointestinal system, and what the heck does it really mean if you do develop an appendicitis, regardless if it ends up becoming ruptured or not. You know, what does that mean? Why does that happen?
**Unknown:** So first and foremost, just understanding where the, the appendix is. The appendix is in your lower right quadrant of your abdomen. And a lot of you know that because if you've ever had discomfort in that area, it has always been, "Oh, you have to get checked for an appendicitis, because that's really serious." And there are many people that have had discomfort in that lower right quadrant of their abdomen, and they have had their appendix checked, and it was fine. But that discomfort persisted, or that discomfort came and went.
**Unknown:** It was intermittent. And the other thing that is located in that area is called your ileocecal valve. So we're gonna keep it really simple. This is the valve between your small intestine and your large intestine.
**Unknown:** What a lot of people don't know is that you're supposed to have bacteria, probiotics, inside of your large intestine, also known as your colon. But your small intestine is aseptic. Your small intestine is not where probiotics live, and it's sure as heck not where bad bacteria lives. But a lot of us hear about this epidemic of SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and we have to wonder, why does that happen?
**Unknown:** And this isn't a SIBO podcast, but we'll talk a little bit about it. When we have a lack of protection from the top down, AKA we don't have proper enzymes in our mouth, we don't have proper acids in our mouth, we don't have proper stomach acid, we are going to open the gates for having the potential for bacteria to come in via the mouth, via the stomach, and then work its way into the small intestine, because that is the natural progression, is your mouth is part of your digestive system, then things will move into your esophagus, move into your stomach, and then it will move into your small intestine. So that is definitely a possibility. But then we also have the bottom up issue, which is the ileocecal valve becomes compromised, which we will talk about what compromises that momentarily, and the valve stays open.
**Unknown:** And the valve now is not creating, or the dysfunction of the valve is not allowing there to be proper protection between the bacteria in the colon and the small intestine. So now we have a flooding of bacteria and possibly other organisms that are making their way into the small intestine. And again, that's not supposed to be there, so this is going to create a lot of different issues, and especially if that bacteria makes its way to our bile ducts, which connects our small intestine to our liver, to our gallbladder, and also to our pancreas. So there's a whole boatload of issues that can happen when this ileocecal valve becomes compromised, and now there is bacteria in the small intestine.
**Unknown:** But again, this is all starting with the idea that you had lower right quadrant pain that was deemed to not-be an appendicitis or an appendix issue. And then one day it is an appendicitis, and that's because your appendix is literally an appendage that is off of your intestines, and it's actually classified as a lymphatic organ. And lymphatic system is part of your immune system. It is there to help resolve bad things.
**Unknown:** If there are things that are affecting your gut that should not be there, and that is bad bacteria, fungus, things like candida, pesticide residues from the lovely food that we eat, and parasites. If those things are in your gut, and maybe you have IBS, maybe you have diarrhea, maybe you have constipation, maybe you just have gut pain, maybe you have Crohn's, maybe you have ulcerative colitis, maybe you have these other diagnoses, and no one is necessarily educating you on the fact that the more compromised of a gut that you have, the more likely you are to actually develop appendicitis. Or vice versa. If you have an appendicitis, you can actually then develop gut issues after, but more than likely they're happening in tandem.
**Unknown:** So the biggest thing that I have seen, 'cause I can go a million different ways with this, the biggest thing that I've seen in practice over the past 12 years is that there are parasites. And for those of you new here and you're like, "Where the heck do parasites come from?" Parasites come from your dogs licking you in the face. They come from your dogs shitting in your yard where you walk around barefoot or where your kids walk around barefoot. They come from the fish that you eat because most fish is farmed, and these fish are extremely unhealthy, and they are living in unfavorable environments, which is creating major parasite infestations.
**Unknown:** Cod fish is a primary fish that has to be dewormed. Then we're also talking about animals. We hear about this concept of we should be looking for organic, pasture-raised, grass-fed, grass-finished, and half of us don't even know what that means. But the reason why we're looking for those things nowadays is because the factory farming, the industrial farming is not looking out for the well-being of our cows, our chickens, our pigs, and these animals are sick.
**Unknown:** They're living in very close quarters, and they are living amongst each other's feces. So when you wanna go on Google and look up how do people get parasites, it's called fecal-oral, feces to the mouth. And so if these animals are living in close quarters and they are walking in and, and surrounded by the feces of each other, and they're also eating crap diets, then there is a parasite party that is infesting all of these animals that are then getting slaughtered, and we're eating them. So there are many, many opportunities from the food industry that will expose us to parasites.
**Unknown:** There are environmental aspects in your own home from the pets or even people that walk their pets and poop on your lawn. And then we also have water, swimming in water and even drinking water. So there are many parasitic issues in, uh, community pools. There are parasitic issues in certain ponds, lakes, et cetera, and even the ocean.
**Unknown:** So there are many opportunities. I'm not saying any of this to scare you because if you have a good immune system, you have a good gut, you have low stress, which allows your immune system to function, then chances are you're going, going to be very resilient to your environment, parasites being one of those things. But if you're chronically stressed out, your immune system sucks, and you eat like garbage, and you have tons of inflammation and maybe a couple of autoimmune conditions, then yes, you are more susceptible to parasites in your environment. So parasites come into our system, and they can come in via the digestive system.
**Unknown:** They can come in via the skin. They can come in many different ways. But they will always go for vulnerable tissue. And if you have had a inflammatory diet and you've had chronic gut issues or constipation, then that is vulnerable tissue.
**Unknown:** So now these parasites make their way into your gut. They love being in your gut, by the way, because they get to feast on all of the things that you eat. And in addition to that, they will feast on the pesticide residues that are coming into your system because you're not necessarily always eating clean, or you're eating out, so on and so forth. So the parasites make their way into the gastrointestinal system.
**Unknown:** They get into the colon. And now your appendix is like, "Whoa, there is a lot going on here. We need to ramp up these lymphocytes. We need to ramp up essentially the immune function, and we need to start helping the body to get rid of this." But the more compounding of parasites, bacteria, chemical residues that we have in our systems, the appendix gets to the point that it can't keep up.
**Unknown:** It's becomes inflamed, and it also becomes infested with these different pathogens. Hence why they say if your appendix ruptures, you're in deep shit, and that's because if it ruptures, it's going to dump a bunch of bacteria, parasites, fungus, and a bunch of other organisms into your bloodstream, which will create sepsis.So you have to understand that they're sitting here saying that the appendix doesn't do anything. It's not even a relevant organ. But why would it be so problematic if it ruptured, if it did nothing and it was essentially this, you know, little out pouch?
**Unknown:** And it's going to create a lot of problems if it ruptures because it is part of the immune function of your gut that is now overloaded with pathogens. So the moral of the story is, is if you have had lower right quadrant pain, one, you need to get checked for parasites to prevent an appendicitis. If you've had lower right quadrant pain that wasn't appendicitis, regardless if it was surgically removed or not, you need to get your gut checked because that didn't happen for no reason. There is something going on in your gut.
**Unknown:** More than likely it is parasites. And it is not only affecting your appendix or what was your appendix, but it's also affecting your ascending colon. It's affecting your ileocecal valve. And the longer your ileocecal valve becomes compromised, the more constipated you become.
**Unknown:** So there's so many layers to this and it is not something to be overlooked. And it is definitely not to say it was removed. Problem solved. We're all good in the hood.
**Unknown:** It's just a feedback mechanism to say there is more going on that needs to be investigated. So it's time to get that better testing to understand what's going on to prevent the more serious things down the line. Because the statistic for colon cancer is skyrocketing year after year. And it is a very unforgiving disease because you need your colon and you can only remove so much of it because that's the solution.
**Unknown:** The solution is remove it or radiate it, which damages it enough that you usually have to then remove it. So it is not something that we should just be waiting to happen, especially if it has run in our family. And I'm only saying that not because, oh, it's genetic and you're going to be doomed. If you have individuals in your family that have gut issues, you share the same environment.
**Unknown:** You share the same bathrooms. You were in your mother's womb. Chances are whatever infections one has has spread to the whole family. So it's time for us to understand this and not think that it's just about genetics and family history.
**Unknown:** The family history just gives you insight as to all of the infections or toxicities that you guys are sharing. So if you're looking for that deeper dive, Integrative View, we got your back. This is what we do. And the great thing about it is parasites, appendix inflammation, ileocecal valve, colitis, Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, you can heal from all of these things with the right approach.
**Unknown:** And you can actually heal a lot quicker than you may think. It's just about getting very, very, very hyper-specific on what you need based on your DNA. We thank you so much for being an avid listener of Integrative View Radio, formerly known as Integrative Wellness Radio. We appreciate all of your support.
**Unknown:** We love your comments. Please visit us on social media as well as our website to see all of the fun things happening behind the scenes and the new amazing content and courses that is being rolled out on a monthly basis. We hope to see you there.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
Further reading
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