Photo Credit: Ben White
In the past I’ve written extensively about the gut and how to naturally restore gut health, you can read that here. Today, though, I would like to address some commonly asked questions about gut health.
1. How long does a gut treatment take? What factors impact gut health?
This is a great question (you’ll hear me saying this a lot as I constantly receive amazing questions from you guys!). Gut treatment can be as quick as one session with me in my Elmhurst, IL office, or it could require longer term care or periodic maintenance. Let me explain. Let’s say you are dealing with a singular cause that’s irritating your gut, such as a nut allergy (which is super common). In my office, we can identify which foods are causing your gut irritation (in this case, nuts) and then try to balance your gut and your body through a series of chiropractic, mental/emotional techniques (read about those here) and acupuncture point therapies. So, after receiving treatment, you take nuts out of your diet and you’ll be all set and ready to take on the world without needing to come back (unless you want to). However, if you’re dealing with something more complicated, which is also unfortunately common, it can take longer to reach resolution. On the bright side, we will still be able to identify the cause, which may include emotional past events/trauma, parasites, adrenal fatigue, hormone imbalance, heavy metal toxicity, infections, allergies, chronic stress, or fungus/candida issues. But these issues can take longer to treat and resolve. Of course, resolution and freedom from these issues is worth it in the end.
2. How do I know if my gut isn’t working well?
You guys, I feel like our society doesn’t really understand what it means to feel healthy and VIBRANT anymore. Even some people who look fit aren’t necessarily healthy. I think we settle for such a low bar of feeling well. Let me explain this as it relates to gut health. If you are having any of the following symptoms you do NOT have normal digestion: bloating, gas, heartburn/indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, blood in the stool, painful digestion, nausea, etc. This is not healthy; you should absolutely not pass “Go” and collect 200 dollars. Monopoly, anyone? But honestly, you guys, we are walking around “dealing with symptoms” or simply “managing” our gut issues through medications and even natural products. Here’s the takeaway message: you should have no symptoms, zero, as in NO symptoms of poor digestion. If you have any, that’s not a normal sign.
3. What if I have digestive symptoms every once in awhile? Can I just take some digestive enzymes/probiotics?
Step into my office, my friend. We have much to discuss. Let’s use a fire analogy. If you have a fire in your kitchen, like on the stove or microwave, wouldn’t you put it out? Or would you close the to door to the kitchen and go back to sleep? Since you are smart, you would put the fire out before your entire house burns down, right? Well, those of you living with chronic, low grade digestive issues, are basically doing the latter. You are closing the door to the kitchen and going back to sleep without putting out the fire. Soon your whole house (your body) will have bigger issues that you won’t just be able to ignore. Let me give you some examples. If you have chronic digestive issues that have been occurring for more than a few weeks, here are just SOME of the areas you will also impact in the body: your immune system, your adrenals, your hormones, your thyroid, your reproductive organs, your moods (insert anxiety/depression here), your joints (back/neck/joint pain and arthritis), autoimmune issues, skin issues, sleep problems, migraines/headaches, and on and on this goes. Take away message: it will impact your WHOLE body. Yup. Getting to the root cause of your gut issues should be your top priority because without good gut health, you have no other good health. Period. End of story. Gut health is foundational and impacts function of the entire body.
4. I have candida issues, my doctor told me that I need to do a candida diet, what do you think?
First of all, it’s important to note that we all have bacteria and fungus living in us. This is normal and serves good and healthy function. This is only problematic when bad bacteria or fungus overgrows and our body cannot keep tabs on it anymore, i.e. you become symptomatic. So, bacteria and fungus are NOT our enemies. If you’ve been on anti-candida diet and it sort of worked but sort of didn’t and you’re still struggling with issues, here’s why. You need to address WHY the fungus is overgrowing and why your body cannot keep tabs on it. If you keep just doing symptom management, even with natural products, you will continue forever and a day to deal with candida issues. I’m guessing you’re reading this thinking “hmm, I’ve had this for a while and all of the medications and diet isn’t working long term.” Well, friend, you’ve come to the right place! If there are aspects in your lifestyle (diet, etc.) which are irritating your body, and specifically, your gut, you will forever be managing symptoms unless you resolve this component. Get to the root issue and be free!
5. I live in a house that has mold in it, how is it impacting my gut?
Great question! Mold is neurotoxic. What does that mean? It means that is poison for your nervous system. Your nervous system (i.e. your brain and your spinal cord) control the function of your whole body and how it works. Yup, every single cell of your body. Which means, if you are inhaling toxins day in and day out, that will impact every single cell of your body. Okay, that’s the bad news. The good news is this, while you are working on addressing the mold in your house/apartment/place where you lay down your head at night, you can do a LOT of various natural detox support to help your body properly and effectively detox all of this toxin. If you don’t, your cells will retain it and over time you will start having health issues as a result. This is so prevalent. I see a lot of my patients struggling with this, having health issues as a result of mold. The good news is that they tend to do much better with some basic digestive detox support, as they are working to resolve the mold issue in the house. So, there is treatment to help.
6. I have family history of gallbladder issues/stones. Most of the women in my family have had theirs out, is there hope?
As long as you live and breath there is hope! Gallbladder issues are as common as allergies these days. Most of people that I see in my chiropractic practice in Elmhurst, IL have gallbladder issues. Why? Let me tell you some of the things that impact your gallbladder: diet high in carbohydrates and sugar, hormone imbalance (estrogen/progesterone imbalance), high stress levels, adrenal fatigue, stomach function issues making the gallbladder have to work harder, dehydration, lack of movement, etc. There are so many. The reality is that we as humans NEED and are directly dependent on healthy fat levels in our bodies for so many functions (cell repair, hormone balance, vitamin absorption etc.), so without healthy fat utilization (gallbladder function) ALL of those functions struggle. I help my patients resolve gallbladder issues a LOT. So, if you are struggling, let’s talk! Removing gallbladder will not resolve these issues, it will only complicate your digestive issues. Trust me, I’ve seen it. You develop larger, worse issues! If you want more information on liver/gallbladder health, let’s talk!
7. My friend/neighbor/co-worker is selling (fill in the blank with the latest product here) and says it will help my digestion. What do you think?
Now I KNOW you guys are smarter than this. This drives your doctors (insert me and ALL of my colleagues) crazy. Here is why. You have to take health advice FROM HEALTH PROFESSIONALS. You know why? Let me explain. Let’s say you need to have surgery and instead of going to a top surgeon you go to your mechanic. He says he’s watched an hour-long YouTube video on how to do knee surgery and feels 100% confident that he can do a good job. OR…you need your car engine repaired and instead of going to a mechanic you go to your hair stylist. Sounds crazy and irrational, right? But this is what’s happening with medicine. Now don’t laugh, because I know we’ve all done this. But who googles their symptoms? Don’t raise your hand because I know you have. You google headache symptoms and instead of getting a simple migraine solution you find yourself anxiously shaking in your bed because you’ve decided you all-of-a-sudden have a brain tumor. Guys. We seriously need to stop doing this. And then you come into my office telling me this. And God bless you, I will help you and tell you that most of the time, most things are THANKFULLY not a brain tumor. However, stop asking advice from people who are not qualified to give you advice. This includes non-medical professionals or people with cure-all products to sell. And stop Googling your symptoms. You will not only waste your precious time and money but you will also think you’re dying 99% of the time. Here’s the name of the game: you get what you pay for in medicine. When you take advice from non-qualified sources (people and or Internet) you will suffer longer and unnecessarily, you will take more products that you don’t actually need and you won’t address the root cause of your issues. And the reality is this, while maybe well meaning, someone else giving you advice will not be able to fully evaluate your health history, do a physical exam, or evaluate your blood work before prescribing products (medicine or supplements). Their goal is to simply sell you a product. They may believe in the product and it’s possible it did some good things for them, but that doesn’t make it a substitute for a true medical, comprehensive approach. And just because something is “healthy” doesn’t mean that A. you need it and B. it’s the right product for you. Every single medication/natural product will have a very specific impact on your body; just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s safe for you. Which means that if you don’t take all of the factors into account, you can cause longterm harm. That’s right, don’t be fooled! I’m sorry, I had to get this out because it’s driving me crazy to watch people with simple health issues that can be quickly and painlessly resolved suffering due to lack of proper education or following advice from people who probably have no business giving it. Go see your doctors who are qualified in giving medical advice based on a host of factors and health history. No, you don’t need to come in to see me. You can but you don’t have to. Just find someone who you trust and who has the education and reputation to back up their claims.
8. How do I know which supplements to take and why?
You’re in the right place. I’ve written extensively on areas to evaluate when you are considering taking supplements. You can read about what areas to evaluate before taking anything here. And why the quality matters here. But let me give you a bit of an overview. Those who are further interested click the links above. Before taking any supplements/vitamins/herbs/homeopathy etc., make sure you ask yourself the following questions: 1. Can I get this from my diet? If the answer is yes, eat your minerals/nutrients. You can easily and more efficiently gain benefits from eating healthy foods vs. simply taking supplements (yes, this makes me less money telling you this). 2. Why am I taking this? Simply taking something for the heck of it or because it’s “healthy” is nuts. Just because a product is healthy doesn’t mean that you need it or that it’s the right one for you. Every single product no mater medication/vitamin/herb etc. we take in will produce an effect. Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean that it’s safe for you. Make sure you work with a health care doctor to evaluate your needs and make sure you’re taking proper dosages and that you have solid reasons for taking them. Taking the wrong products can cause more harm than good. Seriously. Stop googling or listening to your neighbor on why you should be on products. Those are just two questions. I get way more in detail on my other blogs found above. Go check them out if this is your jam.
9. Do you ever recommend a multivitamin?
99% of the time I do not. Granted, there are some very special cases, but in general here are some of the guidelines that I use to evaluate why people need supplements and how to give them. Again, more can be found on my vitamin blogs, you can read that here. But in general I try to get people, as a chiropractor in my practice in Elmhurst, IL, to focus on food first and to fix their eating habits. This will go along way in NOT needing to take unnecessary products. Second, I evaluate their full medical history, do a thorough physical exam, evaluate blood work, evaluate them holistically with muscle testing for any underlying predispositions that the blood work and exam didn’t pick up before I recommend anything. Why? Because if you do a thorough job most people will only need a handful of very specific vitamins for very specific needs. Your vitamin needs should change with seasons, throughout the years, with different stressors. For example, your needs as a growing child are not the same as an aging adult. Your vitamin needs as a person struggling with an infection are not the same one as struggling with hormone imbalance. You get the idea. Supplements should always be supplementary to a good diet. They should always be very specific to the needs that you have at your current time.
If you are interested in further addressing this topic, please feel free to reach out and schedule an appointment. Dr. V is a Chiropractor and Functional Medicine Doctor in Elmhurst, Illinois who evaluates patients from the inside out, focusing on areas including hormone imbalance, digestive health, anxiety/depression, autoimmune disease, and many others.