Eosinophilic Esophagitis
The New Western Epidemic
Paul A. Goldberg, MPH, DC, DACBN, DCBCN
The Goldberg Tener Clinic
Chronic Disease Reversal
Unheard of by most physicians as little as twenty years ago, the diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EOE) has become increasingly common. EOE is characterized as a chronic, allergic, inflammatory disease of the esophagus that may also affect the stomach and colon aka Eosinophilic Gastritis and Eosinophilic Colitis. It is diagnosed when the patient is found to have an excessive number of white blood cells called eosinophils present accumulating in the esophagus, stomach or intestines accompanied by injury and inflammation. Eosinophils are associated with allergic responses and when their numbers are in excess, mast cells will normally be found to be producing excessive amount of histamine. Histamine produces symptoms of sneezing, wheezing, coughing, skin breakouts, diarrhea, excessive mucus discharge, digestive upsets and a general feeling of oppression and fogginess. The patients can be of any age but the diagnosis is more common in children and young adults.
Standard medical treatment for EOE is the ongoing application of steroids (Prednisone) to suppress symptoms while allowing causal factors to remain untouched. This has the potential for very serious side effects including Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Weight Gain, Cataracts, Mental Psychosis, thinning of the GI intestinal lining (leading to more allergic problems and other issues…read our article“The Problems with Prednisone”). Repeated Endoscopies are typically employed on a regular basis to “monitor” the number of white blood cells and status of the GI lining and accordingly increase or decrease the amount of prednisone administered. Accompanying the steroids with their many adverse side effects are other drug prescriptions including antacids and antihistamines. Those that utilize Alternative / Functional / Integrative medical physicians are commonly given a myriad of supplements in addition to the drugs being taken further complicating the picture and leading to an ongoing decline in health (see article “The Facade of Alternative / Functional / Integrative Medicine”). Since most of the patients are youngsters, the disease along with the drugs can seriously interfere with normal development and lay the groundwork for more serious issues as they mature.
Having been in healthcare for forty-five years, it is clear that the number of patients with these allergic syndromes is rapidly increasing. Statistics bear this out with allergies including food allergies, asthma, and inhalant allergies having tripled in both the United States and England over the past twenty-five years. While the medical and alternative medical systems continue to address this burgeoning problem with more drugs, potions and pills, the patients continue on a downward path and lead greatly impaired lives. Causal factors are ignored and the patients become permanent customers of the medical system with its many hazards.
There are a number of causes of EOE. A lack of contact with the outside world and too high a level of “cleanliness” is chief among them . When babies and children do not obtain sufficient exposure to the normal micro-organisms, particularly bacteria by leading cloistered lives indoors, their immune systems are not sufficiently challenged and later become highly reactive to those same micro-organisms that they did not have the chance to become tolerant to. Lack of breastfeeding, refined food diets, excessive numbers of vaccines and antibiotics all also can play an important role in the development of this problem. As this lifestyle of insufficient contact with the natural world continues, generation to generation the problem only gets worse and more common.
To successfully reverse Eosinophilic Esophagitis and other chronic allergic conditions, the causes of the problem in the individual must be identified and addressed followed by the implementation of an individualized Bio-Hygienic Re-Creation Program™. Careful analysis of the patient’s gastrointestinal, immune and endocrine systems both from a standard and functional perspective must be undertaken. The practitioner must be knowledgable about the GI tract and its microflora, of clinical nutrition, of hygiene and how to gradually bring back a normal state of affairs to the patient’s biochemistry and intestinal flora. This requires a broad spectrum though individualized approach by the practitioner. For the patient, effort and a willingness to investigate and address causes and make the appropriate changes is required while leaving the world of “treatments” behind.
See video interviews with our patients who successfully reversed Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
The Bio-Hygienic Re-Creation System™
We Do Not “Treat” Disease. We Re-Create the Body.™
For over forty-five years we have successfully assisted patients with Eosinophilic Esophagitis and other chronic allergic / inflammatory disorders, but without “treating” disease. The Goldberg Bio-Hygienic Re-Creation System™ focuses on reversing chronic diseases by addressing causal factors and creating the optimal conditions for the individual to be Re-Created™ to the fullest extent of their potential. “Treatments,” as commonly utilized, standard or alternative, are not employed.