Really confused-IBS and Leaky Gut?Why aren't Drs DOING anything!?!
#370867 - 02/10/14 08:42 PM
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Hi ya'll.
So my new Dr after viewing a comprehensive stool analaysis and other expensive test results is convinced I have leaky gut. This is because my bad bacteria is off the chart and they could not find any good bacteria in me at all.
Now I know that for IBS to be completely ruled out we need to also rule out things like Bacteria overload and leaky gut.
However, what is the difference? All these food intolerances I have this woman seems to think are linked to excessive bad bacteria and holes in my gut. Buuuut...I do happen to do better on Heather's diet.
THe Dr said that is because my digestion has stopped and they believe my pancreas isn't working right and not producing digestive enzymes.
I am also really malnourished. Nothing showed up on colonoscopy and endoscopy though. So no coeliac just a sensitivity to gluten.
They have recommended the GAPS diet but I am a little perplexed.
I had to pay a lot of money to get these stool analysis tests done. They cost a lot here and GPs normal do not do them. For years I've been told "Oh it's probably just a bit of leaky gut or maybe IBS" and because Heather's diet is the only thing that helps, I thought that was the case.
Now I am being told my IBS is more likely to be severe bad baceteria overload and bad digestion with leaky gut.
How many people could have what I have and think they have IBS when it may in fact be that they just cannot afford these tests??? Why are they not readily available? I also have CFS and FM and am malnourished but rather overweight.
I feel fuzzy in the head and just really anxious all the time and I am sick of it. And I feel bad because if they fix the leaky gut and the pancreas and the bacteria issue and I still have IBS, I am concerned the IBS will still be present.
And if it DOES help me and it goes away, while I will thank God every day for the rest of my life, I will still be asking why people with IBS still have to live the way they do. WHy??? Why is no one in this day and age researching this more and helping people? It's not fair. For decades I've lived with this terrible affliction and now all I can really tolerate is bread, bananas, rice and plain chicken. Everything seems to be upsetting me now.
What if people have leaky gut or bad bacteria or parasites and their Dr won't order the test or they can't afford it? I had to save for ages to get the comprehensive tests done.
It's not right. What more can we do? And could the IBS still be present even if they fix these other things like the leaky gut??? Really confused...
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Unfortunately, things like the comprehensive stool test and other expensive tests are unreliable. And leaky gut is an invention of naturopathic doctors that is not recognized by Western medicine because it does not exists.
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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I thought that for ages but two GPs and a specialist have now mentioned it to me and while there is not one specific test that can diagnose it there are a lot of different tests that can show that the gut is leaking.
There is also a blood test that is very good at determining if leaky gut is present but my GP said not to waste money with that test as it is clear what I have is leaky gut.
I have to say I think that because a leaky gut cannot be seen or diagnosed with colonoscopy or endoscopy doesn't mean it doesn't exist and a lot of GI doctors recognize it as a legit condition.
I think it's at least worth a shot to see if this cures my chronic IBS D-but I won't be celebrating until I see actual results.
To get rid of leaky gut takes a lot of time but I will post here regularly and update everyone as to how it is going. It seems to be possible to "heal" the gut or so I am told. I am sceptical of course, but I will do what I can and if it works you'll be the first to know about it on here.
Terms like "leaky gut" etc..are a bit strange but I need to try it at least. For years I've been told it's just IBS and to live like this forever. Now I am being told it MAY be possible to heal my gut as I am deficient in everything. My pancreas isn't making enzymes either. Everything I eat upsets me.
I will not hang all my hopes on this though...and will proceed with caution...
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Leaky gut is a known condition in alcoholics. It not known to play any role in IBS.
id you doctors tell you about the clinically proven FODMAP elimination/re-introduction dietary approach for managing IBS symptoms? It has been shown in clinical trials on IBS suffers that 70-80% of individuals experience a significant reduction in symptoms.
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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Yes she wants me to have another fodmap breath test aswell and has even said that Heather's diet aswell as FODMAP diet are good diets if that is all you can tolerate and it helps you but she believes my issues are not just IBS and could be caused from leaky gut. I have had a LOT of anti biotics and prednisone over the years and it causes severe gastro distress in me it always have. I didn't have a breath test under this Dr and she wants me to have one to rule out fodmaps also said that I am deficient in everything.She knows all about Dr Shepherd and the breath testing. I have bad bacteria overload and despite me constantly having probiotics they could fine NO good bacteria at all in my gut. They think I have bad bacteria overload and found all this undigested protein and carbs aswell. I know for a fact that digestive enzymes always helped me when eating but a gastroenterlogist told me unless I had cancer that couldn't be the case. This Dr told me the reason why they DO help me is because I am simply not making them as all my food seems to be undigested and I am really malnourished.
Do you know if IBS alone causes nutritional deficiencies? I am really low in iron, b12 and pretty much everything else and whatever food I do eat-my tummy is really sensitive to.
This Dr said the reason why even some "safe" foods cause me trouble is because my digestion has now gotten so bad that no matter what I eat I get gastro distress. From what she has explained to me she went right through it all-showing me how the endoscopy and colonscopy is akin to flying over a rainforest-you can see trees etc..but not the wildlife or fungi that grow on the trees and that it definitely appears that the gut is damaged and needs to heal before it can tolerate food in it. Once my gut heals my pancreas should start making the correct enzymeS again.
I have to try this as if this actually is what is causing my IBS symptoms I need to get it sorted before my health deteriorates further. If it doesn't help-then I guess I will just follow Heather's guidelines and if I have FODMAPS will incorporate that in.
I am not sure if anyone here would call what I have definitively IBS? Would you? Or would you say that the bacteria and digestion issues have to be cleared up before I can make the call that it IS definitely IBS?
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Question - is this doctor a GP, GI doctor or naturopathic doctor?
If you have no good bacteria in you gut you would be very very ill. This makes no sense.
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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Quote:
Unfortunately, things like the comprehensive stool test and other expensive tests are unreliable. And leaky gut is an invention of naturopathic doctors that is not recognized by Western medicine because it does not exists.
Syl- are you saying fungus can't permeate through intestinal lining? Isn't that leaky gut?
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Yes - I am saying fungus cannot permeate the intestinal lining - in particular Canadida - and it is not related to leaky gut! It is an invention of Naturopathic doctors and there is no evidence to support its existence in the colon (see below). And beside fungal issues are not related to IBS. If you think you have a fungal infection talk to your GP.
There is no connection between Candida overgrowth and IBS.
After more than 25 years of speculation about the role of Candida in IBS no connection has been found by IBS researchers. Here is an excerpt from a letter to the editor in the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine
The role of Candida albicans in the pathogenesis of food-intolerant irritable bowel syndrome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2399580/?page=1
"Middleton and colleagues' are to be congratulated in demonstrating that there is no conclusive link between overgrowth of intestinal Candida albicans and the symptomatology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Sadly, I suspect that the popular health magazines and alternative practitioners who persuade patients that these symptoms are directly linked to the pseudoscience of 'leaky bowels' and Candida toxins' are unlikely to alter their views."
Here a link to the original article that concluded "Overgrowth of C. albicans is not the cause of food intolerance in patients with IBS and anticandidal drugs should not be used in the treatment of this condition."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2399355/pdf/postmedj00066-0054.pdf
Thee Mayo Clinic has a nice write-up on a nutrition counselor told me a "candida cleanse" diet would cure my fatigue, headaches and weight gain. What conditions does a candida cleanse diet treat?
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/candida-cleanse/AN01679
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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So, is leaky gut the same, or different, from intestinal permeability?
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I don't think we can say leaky gut is not real. There's too many legit Drs who are not naturopaths who believe that while it cannot be definitively diagnosed, it does exist.
All my symptoms seem to be of the leaky gut kind and there is a blood test now that will point to leaky gut. I can try and get the name of it if you like.
There was a time when no one believed fibromyalgia or CFS or IBS was real either.
The Dr is a GP who specialises in gut health and has had success with people 'healing' their gut lining over time. I've been to enough naturopaths who think they are Drs to know many of them simply assume they know what is wrong.
This is a legit GP.
I am very sick. I've had IBS and CFS and FM and chronic asthma for years. I am deficient in a lot of nutrients and malnourished.
I'm not making digestive enymes or absorbing many nutrients from the food I eat.
I've been to GI specialists at private hospitals and had e every test there probably is.
I've been sick for far too long and I seem to have a lot of other issues other than the IBS symptoms.
So I am not saying that everyone who has IBS has leaky gut, but because no one can definitively say leaky gut does NOT exist, and a lot of well respected Drs and specialists belive it does, then I am keeping an open mind.
Sure it may not work but I gotta try. Considering no one can tell us exactly how to cure our IBS, just on how to live with it, if there's even the slightest chance that leaky gut is real and could be the cause of a lot of my issues I am gonna do all I can to give it a go.
I really urge everyone to listen to their own bodies and ensure that their IBS diagnosis IS IBS and not something else.
I used to believe it was IBS but the fact I have no good bacteria, no digestive enxzymes and am severely malnourished and it seems to all be pointing to what Drs call "leaky gut" then I think I owe it to myself to give the diet a shot.
If it cures the IBS over time then that means something. The Dr talked about the gut-brain connection aswell.
I think that IBS is caused by something that Drs still cannot cure and from what I have seen no one is even trying to cure it. We're just expected to live with it and while I am so grateful for Heather's book because it has helped so many, it would be great to be cured of the IBS. I currently can only tolerate plain rice, chicken and bread and boiled pumpkin and sweet potato and potato.
It's not getting better-it's getting worse. And I can't live off just plain white meat and smooth pureed vegies forever.
It's really hard to live like this and again, I'm not saying that everyone who has IBS has it because of leaky gut. But if there was a way to heal the gut lining in those who DO appear to have leaky gut symptoms, then I am all for trying it.
Anyway I will update on how it goes and also how my fructose test goes aswell .
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Here is an article by the National Health Services in the UK
Leaky gut syndrome
Quote:
There is little evidence to support this theory, and no evidence that so-called 'treatments' for 'leaky gut syndrome', such as nutritional supplements and a gluten-free diet, have any beneficial effect for most of the conditions they are claimed to help.
While it is true that certain factors can make the bowel more permeable, this probably does not lead to anything more than temporary mild inflammation of an area of the bowel.
Quote:
Why we should be sceptical about 'leaky gut syndrome'
Unproven theory
Exponents of 'leaky gut syndrome' – largely nutritionists and practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine – believe the bowel lining can become irritated and 'leaky' as the result of a much wider range of factors, including an overgrowth of yeast or bacteria in the bowel, a poor diet and the overuse of antibiotics.
They believe that undigested food particles, bacterial toxins and germs can pass through the 'leaky' gut wall and into the bloodstream, triggering the immune system and causing persistent inflammation throughout the body. This, they say, is linked to a much wider range of health problems and diseases, including:
food allergies
migraine
tiredness and chronic fatigue syndrome
asthma
autoimmune diseases (where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues) such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis
skin diseases like scleroderma
autism
The above theory is vague and currently largely unproven.
--------------------
STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
Edited by Syl (02/17/14 05:34 AM)
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