Leaky Gut Syndrome
The Leaky Gut Syndrome
The health of the small intestine, is essential to a healthy body. The gastrointestinal tract has many functions:
- Digests food, and provides a proper environment for their absorption.
- Allows for vitamins and minerals, along with their carrier proteins, to be absorbed into the bloodstream.
- Contains the body's first line of defense against disease immunoglobulin called Secretory IgA.
- Effects the body's detoxification systems.
- Leaky gut syndrome is poorly recognized by mainstream medical practitioners. It is rarely tested for.
What is a leaky gut syndrome? Essentially it is an increased permeability of the intestinal lining. This allows the uptake of unwanted microorganisms, toxins, and undigested food proteins. The undigested food proteins cause the immune system to react, and this gives the appearance of food allergies. In this situation, patients will become allergic to more and more foods.
The only way to eliminate this allergic reaction, is to heal the intestinal tissue, closing the leakage and stopping the constant reactions to foods. In addition to food proteins, the immune system will be reacting to microorganisms, and the increase of toxins leaking into the body will create chemical sensitivities, that put a more dramatic load on the liver. All of these will cause a multitude of symptoms. People can develop so many problems, that trying to deal with each one is literally impossible. Symptoms such as headaches, bloat, chronic yeast overgrowth, joint pain, brain fog, muscle pain, lethargy, and immune dysfunction, are all possible with a leaky gut syndrome.
How does this condition develop? There are many reasons for the development of a leaky gut. Poor digestion, leading to undigested food in the gut, will lead to bacterial overgrowth, and intestinal inflammation. The constant use of antibiotics will eliminate probiotic organisms, and lead to a proliferation of dysbiotic organisms. This will cause an increase of inflammation of the intestinal tissue. The most common case of this condition may be the chronic use of "Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs," also known as NSAIDS. These drugs are used for almost every type of pain. PMS, arthritis, fibromyalgia, headache, backache, and other aches and pains. These pain killers may be obtained by prescription or even over-the-counter, like: Advil, Motrin, ibuprofen, Naprosyn, and the new Aleve, (which is the old prescription Naprosyn). NSAIDs contribute to the leaky gut syndrome, because they inflame the intestinal lining, and this in turn causes a widening of the spaces between the cells.
A common scenario of the leaky gut syndrome goes something like this; a person develops a chronic infection that does not respond to antibiotic therapy. The patient is now given more antibiotics. It is not uncommon for some people to under go antibiotic therapy for months on end. This will cause a major imbalance of micro-flora of the intestine. Fungi which are resistant to anti-biotics will begin to flourish. This may cause a serious inflammation of the intestinal lining. From here, the patient may develop the appearance of food allergies. These people usually have been told that they have a multitude of food allergies. Often the excessive amount of food sensitivities is due to the leaky gut, and are not true food allergies. Their symptoms may range from muscle and joint pain, headache, bloat, constipation, and diarrhea. Chemical sensitivities, such as perfumes, cleaning agents, petroleum products, and other fragrances may also occur. If the patient starts to take NSAID for their pain, their condition will worsen.
How can we treat this condition? Treatment consists of three phases: (1) remove the causes of the inflammation; (2) improve gut function; (3) heal the intestinal lining.
By removing the cause, it is necessary to eliminate the use of NSAIDs, caffeine, alcohol, and eliminating the chronic use of antibiotics. It may be necessary to use anti fungal and yeast products to reduce their population in the intestine.
I feel, that the most over-looked treatment is, to support the patients digestion. Sometimes this means increasing stomach acidity, sometimes it means supporting pancreatic function; in this case it is usually more effective to use plant enzymes than pancreatic enzymes; and sometimes we need to support fat digestion. In many cases all phases of digestion must be supported. The use of probiotic organisms will have a profound effect. I have found, that in many patients, supporting digestion is the most single effective treatment offered. You can not have a healthy gut without proper digestion.
The last phase is, to heal the gut lining. Nutrients like L-glutamine, zinc picolinate, pantothenic acid, GLA, anti-oxidants, and chlorophyll, have been found to be the most useful.
By following these steps, people with a leaky gut syndrome will begin to feel much better. Their symptoms will disappear, and they will, some for the first time in years, begin to lead happy productive lives.
Posted
by Dr. Steven Felder
