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Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This?

Conquering Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory
Bowel Disease, Crohn’s Disease and Colitis

In the United States, between 30-70 million people suffer from the conditions Dr. David Dahlman details in his new book, Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This? Conquering Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. He knows his patients are miserable, their quality of life has changed, their medications don’t work and for some, their doctor has had the nerve to suggest that diet has nothing to do with their suffering!

He intimately understands their plight because he, too, has suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Dr. Dahlman’s book details the only physician designed step-by-step plan that ends ANY symptoms associated with disease in the gastrointestinal system. His informed approach successfully helped most of his more than 10,000 patients over the last two decades.

In his ground-breaking protocol, Dr. Dahlman identifies nine separate variables, any or all of which may be the cause of or contribute to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s Disease or any type of Colitis.

• Altered levels of beneficial bacteria (probiotics)
• Possible presence of abnormal bacteria, yeast or parasites
• Imbalanced bowel chemistry • Lack of digestive enzymes
• Dairy intolerance • Fructose intolerance • Gluten intolerance
• Celiac Disease • Food allergies

Dr. Dahlman reveals the following:

• Lifestyle influences that may lead to or cause IBS, Crohn’s Disease, or any type of Colitis.
• 9 separate variables that contribute to one’s symptoms and how to address them.
• How to conquer your condition by using all-natural supplements, and
• 4 Don’t-You-Dare-Break-‘Em Dietary Rules, along with his
• 8-point, easy-to-follow, step-by-step thought process that explains what to do at any stage.
• Cutting-edge laboratory testing that conventional physicians don’t use.

“Though there are others, antibiotics are the primary lifestyle influence that sets into motion the cascade of events that ultimately leads to the loss of balance in your gastrointestinal system,” says Dr. Dahlman.

“Crohn’s Disease really is not a disease and both Crohn’s and any type of Colitis may have begun as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and advanced to a more serious condition. Yes, there can be a genetic component, but both are reversible and you can live symptom-free and without medications,” says Dr. Dahlman.

Dr. Dahlman also shares insight on:

• Exactly what Irritable Bowel Syndrome is and isn’t, clarifying misconceptions.
• Why your doctor doesn’t know about the approaches and solutions presented by him.
• Why those with gastrointestinal conditions have other health complaints and how to address them.
• How teens and children can handle IBS, Crohn’s Disease, and any type of Colitis.
• The differences between the IBS and Crohn’s Disease/Colitis treatment plans.

“Something this book will not teach you is how you can cope with IBS. It will not teach you how to live with the condition, or how to manage it, or how to deal with occasional flares,” proudly states Dr. Dahlman. “It will teach you how to conquer IBS, as well as Crohn’s Disease and any type of Colitis, and become symptom-free, because it will give you a real plan to do so.”

Dr. Dahlman’s solutions may well play an important role in moving healthcare to a more function-based, patient-centered place, making the elimination of chronic health conditions and the restoration of health using natural methods more accessible for everyone. Certainly, his book will not only leave people feeling better, but asking: Why didn’t my doctor know this?

About Dr. David Dahlman: Dr. David Dahlman is a Chiropractor with a degree in Nutrition who specializes in treating chronic health conditions using nutritional, herbal, and holistic therapies. He is the Director of the Hyde Park Holistic Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has hosted a weekly health radio show on 55KRC in Cincinnati, written a weekly column for CityBeat Magazine of Greater Cincinnati and been published in Today’s Chiropractor and Dynamic Chiropractic. For more information, please visit: www.DrDahlman.com. He also produces video content for his YouTube channel, Watch Dr. Dahlman Now! He can be viewed at www.youtube.com/drdahlman.

Dr. Dahlman’s focus on alternative health care has centered on the well being of one’s gastrointestinal system and its influence on health. His main purpose is to educate the public about natural alternatives to address the cause of their condition, as opposed to conventional medical treatments that rely on medications that only suppress/mask/manage the patients’ symptoms.

Having now enjoyed a healthful diet for over 30 years, he is the veteran participant of over 100 triathlons, duathlons, and marathons in the United States and Europe. Dr. Dahlman resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“What constitutes a health book worth reading? In my experience of 35 years in the field, it comes down to information that can be applied in people’s lives that makes a difference in their health… I recommend this book for anyone who would like to explore a new approach to managing complex digestive problems through the use of diet and nutritional therapy.” — Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., FACN
Publication Data: Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This? Conquering Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn’s Disease and Colitis by David Dahlman, DC; Morgan James Publishers; February 2008; Trade Paper; 204 pages; $17.95; ISBN: 978-1-60037-316-9.

Contact Information:

Dr. David Dahlman – – info@DrDahlman.com
(This number is for media inquiries only.)

Dr. David Dahlman

Q & A

Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This?

1. Who is the type of person who would benefit from reading your book? After having helped over 10,000 patients over the course of two decades, and having listened closely to how they suffered unnecessarily at the hands of conventional medicine, I felt compelled to share the protocols I have successfully used. Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This? Conquering Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn’s Disease and Colitis is especially written for anyone suffering from IBS, Crohn’s or any type of Colitis and who is fed up with the failing answers they’re getting from their physician. They know they’re miserable, their quality of life has changed, their medications haven’t worked and their physician may have actually had the nerve to suggest that diet doesn’t have anything to do with their condition. But, they know better, and they’re searching for the reason they’re suffering. I offer a clear, proven way to feel better.

2. How many people are we talking about? Well, depending on the source you quote, 30-70 million people in this country have some sort of digestive system condition or discomfort. Some people just know they don’t feel well but haven’t been given a formal diagnosis. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease or some type of Colitis are the most common forms. If you look at all the over-the-counter medications and prescription meds that are focused on the symptoms of the gastrointestinal system, it’s not hard to understand how big a problem it is. This is an area that causes almost as much missed work time as colds, flu and pain syndromes.

3. Please define Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. The actual definition of IBS can be confusing because, as with any “syndrome,” there can be many symptoms. That’s the definition of a syndrome. One person has these two symptoms and another has four or five others…but they both have IBS. My definition is ANY uncomfortable symptom or set of symptoms associated with your gastrointestinal system…such as, but not limited to gas, bloating, indigestion, heartburn, reflux, diarrhea, constipation, abnormal bowel urgency or frequency, pain, spasms, hemorrhoids, vomiting or ulcers. Crohn’s and any type of colitis may also have some of these symptoms along with blood and mucous, but they are characterized by inflammation and immune system involvement and their location in the human GI tract.

4. Why is your protocol so successful? This is the only physician-designed, step-by-step treatment plan — and I actually suffered from IBS many years ago — that’s available today using all-natural supplements and temporary dietary changes to address nine separate variables that I have identified, any or all of which may be having a negative impact on the patient’s digestive health. Most doctors aren’t trained in nutrition and all too often prescribe medication rather than truly treat the root cause of the discomfort or disease.

5. And those nine variables are? Lack of beneficial bacterial balance in the GI tract, also called probiotics, possible presence of abnormal organisms, imbalanced chemistry, lack of sufficient amounts of digestive enzymes, dairy, gluten or fructose intolerances (different from a food allergy), Celiac Disease and food allergies (different from an intolerance).

6. What is the difference between a food intolerance and a food allergy? Understanding this difference may actually help answer the question as to why really intelligent people can’t figure out which foods are bothering them. Intolerance to foods like dairy products, gluten-containing foods or fructose-containing foods happens entirely and wholly in the digestive system. You’re intolerant of them and can’t digest them properly and symptoms occur. A food allergy happens in the bloodstream when after eating certain foods the immune system gets involved. First, it builds an antibody to the food, and then it creates chemistry that has gastrointestinal consequences, especially causing the inflammation that we see in Crohn’s and Colitis patients. This explains why Crohn’s and any form of colitis are known as inflammatory and immune system conditions.

7. You mentioned a step-by-step treatment plan. Why is that important? It’s really the strength of my treatment plan. In addition to the high-quality, all-natural supplements and dietary advice, I have a chapter in Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This? that lists the steps a patient suffering from IBS, Crohn’s Disease of any type of colitis should follow. These are confusing and complex issues and this takes out the guesswork about what to do at any given stage while you follow the book’s advice.

8. I see in your book you treat IBS differently than Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. Why? The two treatment plans are similar in many respects, but differ in that there is one product change in the Crohn’s/Colitis protocol, but the biggest difference for Crohn’s/Colitis patients is that I have them submit a food allergy test that I arrange for them. This test will help us fine-tune their diet to eliminate the foods that are involving the immune system and consequently contributing to the inflammatory process. I don’t believe that many patients with Crohn’s Disease or Colitis would get well without it.

9. What’s the worst case of gastrointestinal problems you’ve ever run into and were you successful with that patient? That’s a hard question. There have been so many. The one that might stand out was the 86-year-old WWII veteran who came into my office in diapers. I talk about him in my book. Now, here is the toughest of the tough. He probably endured things that we can’t imagine and the end of his life was not supposed to be like this. He said I was his last resort as he was tired of living like this and if I couldn’t help him, he was going to ask his surgeon to remove some of his intestines and he was willing to live with a colostomy bag as he didn’t think he had that long to live anyway. This is a guy who was having 10-15 bouts of diarrhea each day and accidents once in a while. We struggled a bit, but in the end I was able to return his bowel movements back to normal. This was over 10 years ago and he never had to resort to the surgery.

10. Someone who buys Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This? will get a bonus video. How do they get it and what does it do for them? If you look in the Table of Contents, you will find a page that explains how to view the Bonus Video by going to my website. This is only for people who purchase my book. In the video, I have a little extra helpful information where I describe in more detail the actual all-natural supplements that I use in my office and that I discuss in my book and I show them to you. I also identify the best place to find them.

(To the Interviewer: Please do not mention the name of the website for the Bonus Video. It is only for purchasers of the book. Mentioning www.DrDahlman.com is fine).

11. Where can people go to purchase your book and for more information about you and your treatment plans? The book is available at www.BarnesandNoble.com and www.Amazon.com. My website is www.DrDahlman.com. I also have YouTube channels with additional information as well as health videos about gastrointestinal disorders and other chronic health conditions. Just type in Dr Dahlman into the search at YouTube and you’ll find me.

12. Your title, Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This? suggests a bit of an attitude. How did you come up with the name? While I was trying very hard to come up with the title, I realized that the number one, most common question I had heard in my office from my patients, after I had discussed with them what I thought to be the cause of their condition and the all-natural approach I was suggesting to address the cause of it was, “Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This?” Then I realized that this title would have the most meaning to the people trying to find a solution to their suffering.

13. Why doesn’t a person’s doctor know what you claim to know in your book? You know, it’s a different perspective. First, I would like to say that if you need emergency care or serious surgery, our physicians in this country are the best. Where I have my differences with them is when it comes to the treatment of common chronic health conditions, most of which are diet related. I want to find the cause of a patient’s symptoms and conventional physicians look to prescribe medications that only mask them. No one has a headache because they have a lack of Tylenol in their bloodstream. This is where the problem is for most patients today. Without nutritional training and reliance on drugs with side effects, the average physicians are questioned by patients as to why they can’t solve their suffering.

14. Why don’t you believe that conventional medicine will find a cure for gastrointestinal conditions like IBS, Crohn’s or colitis? Because there’s no one single reason that different people have their condition. I have identified nine separate variables that contribute to the many potential symptoms associated with any gastrointestinal condition. There is a complex answer needed for a complex condition. Imagine trying to find one molecule…meaning a drug…to address one symptom or set of symptoms in the case of a syndrome…in all people. It’s not that simple. And even worse, the same dose is given to a 100-pound woman or a 200-pound man. It makes no sense and the average person knows that instinctively.

15. You place a lot of blame in your book for these conditions on the use of antibiotics. Why? I consider the use of antibiotics the primary cause of gastrointestinal problems, but not the only one. There are secondary ones. The human gastrointestinal system cannot function properly without a very specific set of what we call beneficial bacteria or “probiotics” living inside it. If we lose or alter the population of these beneficial bacteria, a cascade of events is set into motion of chemistry changes at the tissue level, which results in symptoms to the patient. Problems begin to arise with the eating of certain foods. What do antibiotics do? They kill bacteria and do a wonderful job with infections. We swallow them and they go to the gastrointestinal system for absorption. We’ve all taken them and it doesn’t matter if we took them all before we were 10 years old, only took a couple or 200 courses in our lifetime or haven’t taken any in 10 years. Each time we took them, we altered the balance and set into motion this cascade of events I just mentioned.

16. In addition to the role antibiotics play in these conditions, what are the secondary lifestyle influences that contribute to IBS, Crohn’s or any type of colitis? Secondary influences that work against you and can be detrimental to your gastrointestinal system are over-the-counter medications, prescription medications, poor diet, alcohol, and stress. We’ve all experienced some or all of these secondary lifestyle influences.

17. Many people think that their IBS or even their Crohn’s or colitis are directly linked to stress. Is it? Yes, it’s linked, but it’s not the cause. If it were the cause, I’d be in great trouble as I never ask any of my patients if they are very stressed. Actually, I assume they are. Aren’t we all? What’s actually happening is that the patient’s unhealthy GI tract erupts even worse than usual in times of greater stress. So, logical people think that there is a cause and effect. Unfortunately, this is an illogical situation. Stress only exacerbates an already unhealthy GI tract. Once my protocol reestablishes balance to their system, stress will still be around, but their gut won’t react in the same way. I’ve seen it over and over.

Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This?

Select Excerpts

An Approach Not Offered By Others

“If you’ve been dealing with IBS for a while, you may have read some other books available on the disorder. These books seem to fall into four categories: those that suggest diet is completely at fault, with a large number of pages devoted to recipes (if it were that easy, no one would have IBS); those that suggest diet, stress, and psychological issues are the cause (let’s blame the patient!) with the book focusing on lifestyle modifications; those that offer great information but no plan for recovery; and those whose authors seem to want to impress you with how much they know about the subject. None of these books discusses antibiotics and their effect on beneficial bacteria levels and subsequent effects on the gastrointestinal tract. And most importantly, none of the available books offer a step-by-step treatment plan.”

Conventional Medicine Is Not The Cure

“Relief from IBS cannot be found by taking a pill. The same way that a headache is not caused by a lack of Tylenol floating around in the bloodstream, IBS is not caused by a lack of whatever medication the pharmaceutical industry is currently pushing. This means that the conventional medical world does not and never will have a cure for IBS, only medications to suppress its individual symptoms. Which means that no one pill will ever solve the mystery called IBS. Which means that it’s up to you to find the solution to your own problem. And there is a solution.”

Doctors’ Advice On Nutrition Hard To Swallow

“Amazingly, I can’t count the number of times patients have told me that their doctor or gastroenterologist said to them – with a straight face – that diet is playing no role in their IBS, Crohn’s Disease, or colitis symptoms. Here are specialists in the gastrointestinal system, the part of the body that processes food, who, when presented with a patient complaining of gastrointestinal symptoms, don’t believe that the food the patient is eating has any relevance to the patient’s symptom profile. Unbelievable!”

Welcome To ‘Functional Medicine’

“My particular brand of alternative medicine falls into the category of holistic or nutritional medicine. While many other types of alternative medicine also fall into this category, not all do. A better explanation is to call my form of alternative medicine ‘functional medicine.’ Simply put, it focuses on what is inhibiting the affected part or system of the body from functioning properly and what needs to be done to help it regain its function. It is based on the biochemical individuality of each patient, centered on patient care and not disease care, with an understanding that the human body is a network of interconnected systems, rather than individual systems functioning without effect on each other.”

 

Why Doesn’t My Doctor Know This?

Conquering Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory
Bowel Disease, Crohn’s Disease and Colitis

1. Re-establish proper levels of beneficial bacterial in the GI tract using probiotics. Easily the #1 most important step in restoring gastrointestinal health. With the widespread use of antibiotics, it can be safely assumed that anyone suffering from any uncomfortable symptoms or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s Disease or Colitis might benefit with just this one step. Temporary use of specific strains of probiotics like acidophilus and bifidus can do wonders for any patient.

2. Eliminate ALL dairy products from the diet for IBS sufferers and ALL dairy and gluten containing foods for those suffering from Crohn’s Disease or any type of Colitis. The hands down #2 most important step for anyone suffering any gastrointestinal discomfort at all. Dairy is well known to contribute to gas, bloating, indigestion, heartburn, diarrhea in some and constipation in others. It is the #1 culprit in children who complain of stomach aches. Eliminate it 100% as I describe how to do in my book and see what happens. Gluten containing foods also are linked to Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. They contribute to the immune system involvement and the resultant inflammation which is the hallmark of these conditions. Stop all foods that are made from or contain wheat, oats, barley and rye.

3. Eliminate foods from the legume family because they can cause gas. We all learned to joke about beans causing gas when we were five, right? They are hard to digest because of a specific sugar in them. Anyone who complains about bloating or gas and bloating and eats any beans of any kind, Mexican food, Indian food with lentils or Middle Eastern food with garbanzos beans, soy products or peanuts (a legume, not a nut) should eliminate them to see if the gas, bloating or any other discomfort goes away.

4. Stop drinking liquids or eating fruit during meals and for one hour after. Sounds silly, but if you drink during your meals, you dilute digestive enzymes and hamper the breakdown of food in a timely manner. That can cause gas, bloating, indigestion, heartburn and other discomfort. The only reason we do it is because Mom told us to “wash our food down”. If you eat fruit with a meal or after the meal, it is very easily digested and if it has to wait on other foods to be broken down, it will spoil and possibly cause the same symptoms just mentioned.

5. All Crohn’s Disease and Colitis patients should submit a food allergy test. Highly recommended and I don’t believe these patients can get well without this test. A blood test for allergy to 88 separate foods will fine-tune the patient’s diet and eliminate foods that are causing havoc for the immune system and the subsequent inflammatory effects from this reaction on the gastrointestinal system.