YOUR DIGESTIVE HEALTH - from top to bottom.
Are you tired of feeling bloated, running to the bathroom too many times in one day, or restricting your diet so hard to avoid feeling blah that you are left eating zucchini and carrots??
Healing your digestive system is the solution. Whether it be upper digestion and supporting your digestive capacity, or restoring your gut microbiome, or reducing inflammation and healing your lower digestive tract, or boosting liver function. Working out your unique health picture is the first step and part of the process for healing to occur, and resolving your digestive symptoms for peace and calm to reign.
Getting to the bottom of, and, healing your digestive system is also foundational to your overall health. Good digestion means that you absorb your food nutrients well for cellular processes, and elimination of all waste is effective. Your digestive system needs to be functioning well to break down your ingested food, to absorb the nutrients through your digestive tract and assimilate the nutrients into your cells. Your signs and symptoms are indicating that there is a breakdown somewhere along the way of this digestive process. You may be experiencing:
Failing to thrive and malnourishment (even though you are consuming enough food),
Burping and or reflux,
Indigestion - stomach pain (upper or lower), uncomfortable fullness, quick to fill,
Bloating and gas,
Post meal fatigue, and
Varying stools types and frequency other than a nice 1-2 times a day formed stool.
So, the above is a large and varied list. I find that in clinic often patients have been living with one or more of these symptoms for so long that they just put up with it, or aren’t aware that what they are experiencing is not ‘normal’. And yes, I agree, we all have varying degrees of normal, or what is normal for you, but I don’t agree that going to the bathroom only every 2 or more days is okay, or having to plan your outings around quick access to a bathroom is fun for you, or feeling like you are constantly 4 months pregnant belly is normal.
Establishing the Why - the cause?
When in naturopathic clinic after we have established what is happening in your digestive system I work to identify the why! What are the factor/s that have caused the disruption to your digestion and have caused you symptoms? I find that the main influences that affect your digestive system are:
Stress - long standing exposure to stress
Food Choices - either poor diet, or diet not suited to you
Microbes - past illness or infection, never well since.....bali belly
Medications - that disturb the natural digestive process
Dysbiosis - imbalance within the gut microbiome, your gut bacteria.
We must identify your why so that we can remove the triggers that cause the continuation of imbalance. We must allow space for healing to occur.
HEALING
Your unique health picture has been uncovered. It is now time to launch into restoring optimum gut function and healing - a gut healing program. This usually requires a minimum of 8 weeks, and is entirely dependent on what has been uncovered in your unique health picture. At N&B you will receive an outline of your treatment with intended time frames. A gut program may mean one or many of the following treatments:
Boosting digestive enzyme secretions,
Boosting or feeding your commensal gut microbes to bring balance in the gut
microbiome,
Using herbal antimicrobials to remove any pathogens that have set up residence in the
gut (parasites, fungi, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa)
Healing of the gastrointestinal tract lining - resolving inflammation or/and permeability
Supporting liver and gallbladder function
And, just as important as the direct gut healing as listed above is both:
instilling good daily destress practices to activate the parasympathetic nervous system so that digestion can occur, and
Diet - providing nutrient dense whole food diet that is suitable for you.
Initially there may be some restrictions to your diet to remove the triggers that are causing your digestive inflammation and irritation, and I don’t believe there is one fixed diet for all. Sometimes a FODMAPS protocol may be started for a short period of time so that gut bacteria can balance, or, a biphasic diet for SIBO type symptoms, or removal of common allergens to calm the immune activation until gut healing of the permeability has occurred.
So yes when you come and see me, or any naturopath for that matter, we will ask a lot of questions about your daily bowel habits. Not trying to scare you off, but it's a fact. Your digestion provides a good insight into your health and what is going on for you.
How do we work this all out?
Sometimes with enough questions investigations in consult we can work out a way forward. Otherwise, if the condition has been going on long enough, you have tried everything with all sorts of practitioners, and the way forward is not clear, then gut microbiome testing can be the next step. This is done through an Integrative Pathology Laboratory and provides a comprehensive picture of your gut microbiome and gut health markers such as inflammation, fat digestion, permeability and much more. From here we can identify possible pathology i.e. understand what is causing your symptoms, and hence guide the appropriate treatment for healing to occur.
What Happens Next in Your Digestive Healing Journey
The aim is always to heal and support. I always believe that you should be able to live your life in your best state of health - loads of energy, stable mood, good digestion and wonderful calm sleep. Let's start with your digestion.
