Metamucil, antibiotics helpful

Dear Dr. Gott: I’ve suffered from diverticulitis and spastic colon for more than a year. I’ve never suffered such pain and would like your suggestions for control.

Dear Reader: Spastic colon (irritable bowel) often causes abdominal pain because the condition is characterized by intestinal spasms that cause gas pockets, leading to distension and cramps. The situation may be worsened by diverticulitis, infected pockets around the intestine, for which antibiotic therapy is necessary.

To control the symptoms of irritable bowel, I suggest that you use a stool-bulking agent such as Metamucil. To treat the diverticular pain, your doctor will have to prescribe antibiotics for times when the condition flares up.

To give you more information, I am sending you free copies of my Health Reports “Diverticular Disease” and “Irritable Bowel Syndrome.” Other readers who would like copies should send $2 for each report plus a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title(s).

Dear Dr. Gott: My mother has been diagnosed with thrombocythemia. She’s taking an experimental drug through the Mayo Clinic that reduces the high platelet count, but it also reduces her red and white count. What can you tell me about this condition?

Dear Reader: Thrombocythemia is a disorder of unknown cause marked by an overabundance of platelets, the blood cells that are involved with clotting.

The basic problem appears to be an overproduction of platelets by the bone marrow, leading to weakness, hemorrhage, headache, dizziness, malaise, and tingling of the hands and feet.

Unless treated, the disease can cause severe circulatory disturbances and/or intestinal bleeding. The diagnosis is made by a blood test.

Most therapies use drugs that interfere with the bone marrow’s ability to manufacture platelets. Unfortunately, these medicines also affect the formation of other blood cells.

As a result, treated patients usually experience anemia (low red blood cell counts) and leukopenia (low white blood cell counts). This is a necessary trade-off to get the platelets under control.

With this in mind, hematologists try to walk a fine line, giving just enough medicine to lower the platelet count without appreciably affecting the other blood cells. With proper monitoring, your mother’s disorder should be kept under satisfactory control.