Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: MissMontana on 14/02/2004 00:51:34
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Could anyone tell me what causes a stitch?
I got a stitch the other day whilst running but don't remember having one prior to that since I was a child. I run about 6km 4 times a week and don't normally have a problem but the other day I couldn't even manage 2km. I hadn't eaten for about 3 hours before and I had warmed up which is the same as any other day but the pain was quite considerable. I haven't suffered since but was wondering what caused it so that I could avoid getting one again in the future.
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Are you talking about a stitch in your side? I have had them since I was a teenager. Always in the same spot, gallbaldder area, I had my gall baldder checkout and it was ok. But I can tell you untill it passes, you cannot move. Even breathing is painful!
I would like to know what casues it. I have been sitting and it happens, so for me I know it is not activity related.
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I always heard it was from lactic acid buildup in your muscles.
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Pam, I used to get severe pain in the gallbladder area until I cleaned out my kidneys and liver. I clean my organs every year or two now, and the pain has never returned.
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My grandmother use to be a huge health food person. She lived to be 95. I should have listen to her. How to you clean your system out? I am sure after 43 years my pipes are pretty crudy..
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I use the cleanses from The Cure for All Cancers by Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark. You have to start with a parasite cleanse, move on to kidneys, and then the liver. You may have to do the liver cleanse again two weeks after the first time if you have a lot of stones. My stomach used to hurt quite a bit until I passed a golf ball sized thing covered with gallstones during the cleanse. It hurt coming out, but I sure felt better after.
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Those things are for gullible people, Donnah ! They do nothing whatsoever ! There is no cure for cancer, either. That should be a hint that cleanses are for gullible people :P What were you thinking?
What is the say that your grandmother's health food obsession was what led her to live old? It's a coincidence! Just because you put the two sentences one after the other doesn't make one the cause of the other. There are people who smoked all their lives and live to be a hundred, and claim it was because they smoked that they lived long. Again, just because they put the two statements one after the other doesn't make one the cause of the other. Don't fall for cleanses, they do absolutely nothing except make a few giant conmen/buisnessmen richer. All on my mother's side: my great grandmother died last year at 102, My great aunt at 98 (also last year) my great grandfather is 99 right now. My great great grandmother died when she was 86, though she never smoked in her life and was a vegetarian since the age of 19 (and had a well balanced diet, and exersised regularly and stuff ... of what my great grandfather told me). So, you can't put one thing as a cause of old age because it just doesn't work, and science even now doesn't exactly understand the cause of ageing or of death...
Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!
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Actually, they DO know the cause of aging and death. It's called apoptosis. Your cells are programmed to stop reproducing after a certain number of divisions, putting an upper limit on the human lifespan. Of course diseases, both genetic and environmental, usually take hold long before the body ceases to function due to apoptosis-related organ failure.
There is currently a lot of research in longevity, mostly trying to figure out a way to replace all the non-coding secitons of your DNA that determine the lifespan of cell progeny.
Of course, the ethics of this research are a dilemma, as we have enough people on this rock as it is. This kind of thing will be useful once we master space travel, though.
This message brought to you by The Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People
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Apoptosis is not the cause of ageing. (Or at least, it has never been proved to be) There are currently three interrelated genetic theories to explain ageing and death. The first is the accumulation of mutations in the germ line that become apparent in old age, when most of one's peers have died by accident or predation (the usual fate of creatures in the wild), and when natural selection is too weak to oppose these mutations.
The second idea, related to the first, is that genes with deleterious effects in later life are maintained in the population because of their greater benefits in youth. This 'trade-off' between profit and loss is related to the third theory, which acknowledges that resources are scarce, and must be apportioned between survival and reproduction.
For example, 90% of mice die in their first year, so mechanisms for survival beyond this age benefit very few mice. Therefore natural selection for traits that prolong survival will be relatively weak. Plus of course the fact that individuals aren't needed after passing the age for reproduction, and if they are there they use the food that others, who are of the age of reproduction could use.
A quote I found:
"However, whether there is a role for apoptosis in the ageing process and how ageing may modify the regulatory machinery of apoptosis remains obscure. "
Zhang Y, Herman B.
Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!
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See :
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/ageing
and
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/html/shows/2003.11.30.htm
which features ageing expert Steve Jackson discussing the mechanisms of longevity and DNA degeneration with age.
Chris
"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
- Groucho Marx
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quote:
Originally posted by Quantumcat
Those things are for gullible people, Donnah ! They do nothing whatsoever ! There is no cure for cancer, either. That should be a hint that cleanses are for gullible people :P What were you thinking?
Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!
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Well Quantum you'd better tell the fellow who told me about the book that there's no cure. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer, given months at the most to live. More than five years later he told me how his girlfriend had used the info in the book to cure him.
And how about the fact that my health took a quantum leap in the right direction after I used the cleanses? It was not the placebo effect because I've tried several cleanses. Some work.
You have your opinion and you are entitled to it. I suspect you've had pretty good health all your life or you would be more open minded. Good that longevity runs in your family...it'll give you some time to learn.
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Well I certainly do not think cleaning your system can do any harm, and if I passed something like Donna, well it might freak me out! But better it not be in me!
quite a few on my grandmothers side lived along time. Her nephew that was 4 years younger, just passed away year and a half ago at 99.
Grandma ended up dying of liver cancer. She was ready to go. Just like my mom, she has myleoma and she will will herself to die I have no doubt. It has not shown up in her marrow yet. At one point grandma over medicated her self and she smelt of vitamins. The Dr. told her to stop taking so much. I still do not think it can hurt you.
(un less it clashes with meds you are taking)
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Quantum,
Don't forget that all our modern medicine orignated from some healer somewhere that used a plant that seemed to work. That's what research is all about. But in addition to that, everyone's body is different, and what works for one won't for another. We have different genetics, and different genetic "weak spots" if you will. Therefore, whatever the cleansing, if it produces a desired effect, then it might be just what you need. And if it's only a placebo effect, then what the hell? But that thing that Donnah passed, that's no placebo effect. Donnah, what in the world was that? I'd have had to take it to a lab and get it analyzed.
Quantum, how about cutting Donnah a little slack? She's come a long way and if she weren't so proactive in her own health care, she might not be here today. You know, there are doctors who go to the rain forests and seek out the local healers to learn what they are using and bring those herbs back to the states for research. Even as far back as the Bible, it was said that there's a cure on this earth for every ailment under the sun.
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I should have had that thing analysed, but I didn't, so I have no idea what it was. Maybe it was the quarter I swallowed when I was a kid.[;)]
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So I got a stitch through a build up of lactic acid, old age or swallowing a quarter?
Donnah - you passed something the size of a quarter through a cleanse? Wow, sounds pretty scary
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Hi TG, good question, I've often wondered what is and what causes a stich...(well.....I don't make it a habit of wondering about it) 90% of the time it's when I do exercise,doesn't matter what the sport is, it just happens( other times, like Ozziemom, it just occurs ).....I hope we get a definitive answer....
'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'
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I thought it was from a buildup of lactic acid in the muscle. I haven't swallowed any quarters and I still get stitches, so I don't think it's from that. And even young people get stitches.
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Yes, I can confirm that young people also get stitches....I used to be one :-) , and I remember getting stitches....rigorous laughter has caused me stitches too !
'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'
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Most people have experienced a stitch - the sudden vice-like pain under the ribs, usually on the right side, which is associated with exercise.
Countless theories have been put forward over the years to explain the phenomenon including spasm of abdominal muscles and insufficient blood flow to the abdominal viscera (because of the association between stitches and eating prior to exercise).
However, these theories are almost certainly incorrect and the most likely explanation is much simpler. Vigorous exercise inevitably leads to harder and deeper breathing which is partly achieved by the diaphragm. Running also causes the abdominal organs, the liver in particular, to bounce up and down.
Because you are breathing much harder than usual, and your abdominal organs are being bounced about by you running, your diaphragm can end up moving in the opposite direction to your organs (especially the liver) which can apply painful tension to the diaphragm and its supporting ligaments.
This can lead to localised painful diaphragmatic spasm which we call "a stitch". The situation is worsened by eating and drinking before exercise because the stomach then weighs more and applies even more traction to the diaphragm.
The best way to cure a stitch whilst running is to alter your breathing pattern. You breath using your diaphragm and most people co-ordinate their breathing pattern with their stride so that they always breathe out when the same foot hits the ground. Therefore, to cure a stitch, you need to get your diaphragm descending at the same time as your abdominal organs thus reducing the tension that the movement creates. This is easily achieved by changing over so that your breathe in time with your other foot. Try it - it's very effective.
Chris
"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
- Groucho Marx
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Thanks Chris, if I suffer again I will give that a go.
Never thought too much about the impact of running on my internal organs other than my heart and lungs but that makes perfect sense.
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That would make sense with my problems I suppose.? Breathing can be affected by brain stem compression. Affecting the diaphragm. I know mine is not due to exercise. I can be watching tv and it happen. Not often though.
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Maybe the effort of reaching for the remote control is sufficient to trigger a stitch in you [;)]
Seriously though, I would consider other possibilities before diagnosing a 'stitch' at rest. Dyspepsia (indigestion), oesophageal reflux, peptic ulceration, irritable bowel syndrome, or biliary 'colic' would be on my list of differentials of sporadic upper abdominal pain.
Chris
"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
- Groucho Marx
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Oh aren't we funny.
I do have IBS, has not been bad for a while. But has happend while there has not been a flair up. I reckon I'm just weird!
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okay I haven't been here for a week, but I'm sorry for what I said, it's just my opinion and it's no more right than anyone else's, since there's way too many factors leading to death or whatever. No way of proving so it's just opinion. Sorry for sounding arrogant.
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Relax Erin, you're young and a lot of learning is done when mistakes are made. We still love ya!
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I just tend to say my very first thought quickly without reflecting on either how to write it so it sounds good, or what others will think about it first. I'm like that in real life too, I move really fast and knock things over a lot!! -_-
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What's the hurry Erin?
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Donnah,
I think that's just part of being young. I can remember moving at light speed myself. Quantum, as you get to be an old fart like me, you'll come to realize that there's room in the world for everybody -- even the stupid people. After all, someone's gotta pick up the garbage. My experience has been that most people have a pearl somewhere inside of them, although I'll admit, on some people, it's awfully hard to find.
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When I was a kid and forced to do cross country runs I was not very fit and got lots of stitches, I found that burping seemed to releave them at least temperarily - my interpretation was that oxygen deprevation in my stomach in some way casued it to produce gasses which built up in pressure causing pain... Was I just making this up?
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quote:
Originally posted by OzzieMom
Oh aren't we funny.
I do have IBS, has not been bad for a while. But has happend while there has not been a flair up. I reckon I'm just weird!
No, don't think so. I can remember years ago I had a period where it could happen just getting out of a chair, probably from sitting in an awkward position for too long, maybe even breathing wrong, so I think Chris's answer about the diaphragm shifting makes good sense.
Came and went, tho, haven't had in in years now (and don't run distances, only bike them, never happened there, either).
The living are the dead on holiday. -- Maurice de Maeterlinck (1862-1949)