SOD attack and hunger pain - my hypothesis

[Guest guest]

I just saw the very interesting discussion on the possible link

between SOD spasms and feelings of hunger and it made me

wonder if that link has to do with the hormones that are produced

to either tell us that we need to eat, or that are used to digest

food that is eaten.

theoretically, the pain from SOD is caused by the juices from the

pancreas and our bile being blocked from the duodenum

because the sphincter will not relax and open up. If we have

huge surges in our juices that is caused by large swings

between meals (similar to those surges seen when discussing

insulin levels for diabetics) maybe this increases the likelihood

of spasms. In a sense: juice overload...so much so that the

sphincter cannot handle it. But, if we eat smaller meals, more

frequently, and our body never gets into that fasting state...the

sphincter then may not ever completely close...it may remain

partially open throughout the day, so that the normal contraction

and relaxation of the muscle is not so pronounced (it doesn't

have to work as hard, in a manner of speaking). I guess,

because of the weather that presages winter, I am envisioning

this as using the same logic as keeping a spigot partially open

to prevent the pipes from freezing....that a small amount of

continuous flow keeps things open. Plus, eating smaller meals

more frequently also prevents the demand made on the

pancreas and bile ducts to dump a lot of juice in a small

timeframe, through a potentially smaller than normal opening.

This alone, probably prevents the spasming that the doctors

refer to as the " normal " (or after eating) pain of SOD.

So to explain the hunger link from my imagination..I think that

when we experience hunger, we release those hormones that

tell us to eat. This then makes our bile and pancreas juice to

begin to flow - probably in a " surge " or tidal wave....this then,

causes the duct to spasm....kinda like an anticipatory reaction.

But when we " graze " all day, there are more even levels of both

" hunger " hormones are well as digestion hormones (CCK and

secretin to name a couple) as well as more even flow of

digestion juices. In my opinion, this is a more gentle action on

the sphincter. But this is just a very un-educated guess and

anyone that is familiar with the anatomy and physiology of the

digestive system may laugh his head off at my naivete......so I am

just tossing this out for discussion..

Laurie