Episode 223
Title: The truth about an appendicitis and the gut
Host: Dr. Nicole Rivera
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Transcription:
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Integrated View Radio.
So today, we are talking about the appendix and its correlation to gut issues. I could have sworn that we've 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. 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 one hundred percent 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. And I like to always challenge that because why would we be born with more organs than we need?
So overall, we want to understand a little bit more about the appendix, and we want to understand the role that it plays in our body/gastrointestinal system. And what does it really mean if you do develop appendicitis, regardless if it ends up becoming ruptured or not. What does that mean? Why does that happen? So first and foremost, just understanding where 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 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. It was intermittent. And the other thing that is located in that area is called your ileocecal valve. So we're going to keep it really simple. This is the valve between your small intestine and your large intestine. 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 live.
But a lot of us hear about this epidemic of SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And we have to wonder why does that happen? And this is an Acebo 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 as 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. 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 connect our small intestine to our liver, to our gallbladder, and also to our pancreas.
So there's a whole host of issues that can happen when this ileocecal valve becomes compromised, and now there is bacteria in the small intestine. But again, this is all starting with the idea that you had lower right quadrant pain that was deemed to not be appendicitis or an appendix issue. And then one day, it is 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 the lymphatic system is part of your immune system. It is there to help resolve bad things. 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.
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 appendicitis, you can actually then develop gut issues after, but more than likely they have been in tandem. So the biggest thing that I have seen, because I can go a million different ways with this. The biggest thing that I've seen in practice over the past twelve 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 defecating 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. Codfish 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. They're living in very close quarters, and they are living amongst each other's feces. So when you want to 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 surrounded by the feces of each other, and they're also eating poor 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. 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 community pools. There are parasitic issues in certain ponds, lakes, etc, even the ocean. 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 to be very resilient to your environment, parasites being one of those things. But if you're chronically stressed out, your immune system sucks, 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. 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 an inflammatory diet and you've had chronic gut issues or constipation, then that is vulnerable tissue. So now these parasites make their way into your gut. They love 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. They get into the colon, and now your appendix is like, "Whoa. There's 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. It becomes inflamed and it also becomes infested with these different pathogens. Hence why they say if your appendix ruptures, you're in deep trouble. 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 little out pouch. 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, if you have had lower right quadrant pain, one, you need to get checked for parasites, to prevent appendicitis. If you have 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 more than likely it is parasites. 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. So there are 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." 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 statistics for colon cancer are skyrocketing year after year. 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. 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. You share the same bathrooms. You were in your mother's womb. Chances are, whatever infections one has, have 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. 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. 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.
