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DIGESTIVE DISORDERS

DIGESTIVE DISORDERS

DIGESTIVE DISORDERS

Your ‘gut’ stretches from your mouth to your anus; one long, complicated and astounding organ that ultimately allows the good stuff ‘in’ and takes the bad stuff ‘out’ at the other end.

But being such an intricate organ, with so many functions, many things can and do go wrong. It’s best that any disturbances to the gut are corrected as early as possible because of its importance. Oddly, despite its relationship to the stomach and the immediate symptoms that food may produce within the gut, nutrition is often the last thing considered when people complain of gut discomfort. In reality, it should be the first.

Digestive disorders come in all forms ranging from:

  • Reflux: which may be ‘silent reflux’ or ‘GORD.’ You can read more about reflux and nutrition here.
  • IBS or irritable bowel syndrome: of which, 1 in 50 Australians will suffer from at some point in their lives. This can manifest in different ways – symptoms may include constipation, diarrhea, mixed bowel motions, abdominal pain, vomiting, fever, fatigue and weight loss.
  • Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis (collectively known as Irritable Bowel Disorder). Healing and soothing the gut lining is critical in these conditions and nutritional medicine offers some phenomenal options here.
  • Chronic constipation: experienced by up to 20% of Australians, not only is it uncomfortable but it also prohibits the regular elimination of unwanted bacteria, fecal waste and waste products filtered by the liver.
  • Other symptoms which are often dismissed as they don’t fit any diagnostic criteria include pain with certain foods, bloating, excessive gas and unpredictable bowel motions.

All of this is damned uncomfortable so let’s fix it! Moreover, its important to restore health to the digestive system to avoid long term nutritional deficiencies, foster a healthy gut microbiome and reduce systemic inflammation.

Health starts in the gut; after all, its your second brain, having a significant influence over your mental health and housing most of your immune system.

Where necessary, we can utilize tests such as comprehensive stool analysis (to check for a range of parasites as well as flora status) and IgG / IgA food intolerance testing.  However, your symptoms are a great place to start and we can soon have your guts on their way to good health. Please shoot me an email if you have any specific questions but I have worked with all of the above gut situations with great success.