Leaky gut: It wreaks havoc on your health, but you can beat it

Most of us know about irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) but have you heard about leaky gut syndrome? Also known as hyper permeable intestines, having a ‘leaky gut’ essentially means your intestinal lining has become porous from developing small holes that may get bigger. This allows undigested food particles as well as other ‘baddies’ like yeast to enter your blood stream.

Initially, your liver will kick into overdrive in an attempt to rid your body from the onslaught of toxins, but it won’t be able to keep up. Your immune system also goes into battle mode, but it’s also going to struggle with the end result being chronic inflammation. This is never a good thing as your body begins to focus on fighting that while ignoring other important functions like fighting bacteria and regulating your gut. If left untreated, ongoing inflammation can also lead to autoimmune diseases like chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. In short, a leaky gut left untreated can cause a catastrophic domino effect on your health.

Could this be you?
The tricky thing about a leaky gut is that symptoms can vary from person to person. The most common, however, is developing an array of food sensitivities. As the undigested food particles enter your bloodstream, your body starts to recognise them as ‘enemies’ and you suddenly find yourself reacting to things you might have easily been able to enjoy before. Milk might give you terrible sinus. Chocolate might bring on an instant headache.

Meal time misery aside, other symptoms include either chronic diarrhoea or constipation and rashes once your body starts using your skin to expel its toxins. It doesn’t stop there. You might also experience headaches, brain fog and fatigue as your immune system wages its war against the chronic inflammation. Naturally, this will cause it to weaken, resulting in an inability to fend off viruses. This means you might find yourself getting colds and flu more often while struggling to shake them. You’ll also experience nutritional deficiencies due to your impaired gut’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals while an overgrowth of yeast (candida) results in a craving for sugar and carbs as well as bloating and gas.

Treat it to beat it!
When it comes to treating leaky gut, doctors are yet to unify their methods, but at Health Renewal, we believe you can overcome it best with a multifaceted approach. This involves a makeover of your diet to eliminate foods that cause inflammation while starving the yeast overgrowth that’s made a home for itself in your gut. For the most part, this means severely limiting specific carbohydrates.

Supplementation is important too, so you’ll be advised on which vitamins and minerals (usually vitamin D and zinc) that can help return your intestinal lining back to normal as well as given good probiotics to replace the bad candida. Last, but not least, you’ll benefit from plant-based anti-inflammatory digestive enzymes like bromelain and papaya to assist in breaking down your food (so large molecules don’t move through your gut and cause irritation) while assisting with the removal of bad bacteria and old damaged intestinal lining. It’s a case of out with the old so new, healthy lining can have a chance to grow.

Your treatment might also involve an IV infusion therapy . This is a great way to deliver helpful, healing nutrients directly into your bloodstream, bypassing your hyper permeable gut, which won’t do well at absorbing them.

Ultimately, you never want to self-diagnose but if you suspect you’re suffering from leaky gut make an appointment with one of our highly skilled doctors at Health Renewal. They’ll assess your full medical history and perform a series of tests to help bring clarity to your condition before prescribing a treatment plan that’ll be unique to you.