The Gut-Brain Connection - A BIG Piece of the Puzzle

A few questions for you first - Is bloating your most prominent digestive symptom? Do your IBS symptoms worsen during periods of stress? Do you feel bloated with a certain food one day, but not another day? Do you get bloated even from water? Yes is a common answer I hear but it does not typically indicate any serious damage to the gut, or that you most definitively have SIBO. It could actually be a misfiring of signals from your gut to your brain and back…aka a gut-brain connection issue (or a disorder of gut-brain interaction - DGBI).

Bloating & Distension are Different:

Abdominal bloating and distension are 2 of the most commonly reported GI symptoms. For some they can be chronic and very uncomfortable, but for other it may be infrequent.

But there is a difference between bloating and distension! They can occur together or independently. To get technical, abdominal bloating is the subjective sensation of excess intestinal gas, but without obvious visible abdominal distension. People with bloating may feel a sense of fullness or discomfort. Abdominal distension is the objective physical manifestation of an increase in abdominal girth (aka “looking 6 months pregnant” for some). Unfortunately, because of how the health care system categorizes IBS, the differentiation is not regarded, but it can be very helpful to determine the cause of your IBS.

If you have bloating and/or distension but regular bowel movements, or if you have explored celiac testing, the lowFODMAP diet or SIBO testing and you still have bloating, it would be helpful to explore the idea of a disorder of gut-brain interaction (DGBI).

It's Not "Just in Your Head":

It’s important to understand that a DGBI is not "just in your head." While the brain and gut communicate closely, the symptoms are real and need proper management - these are gut conditions that can be affected by stress and mental health. But they are not just stress and mental health.

Think of your gut as a house and a DGBI as a highly sensitive fire alarm system. Normally, the fire alarm only goes off when there is an actual fire, alerting you to real danger. However, in DGBI, this fire alarm system is malfunctioning. It’s hypersensitive and can be triggered by everyday activities like cooking or lighting a candle, causing unnecessary panic and stress. Just as you would need to fix a malfunctioning fire alarm, DGBI requires a tailored approach to manage the symptoms and improve your quality of life.

What can help?

There are several things we need to explore in order to calm this hypersensitivity and correct a DGBI. Everyone in unique of course so unraveling the trigger and make the correction does need an individual approach. Do we need to start with correcting any imbalance of gut bacteria? Or does daily stress and anxiety have a bigger impact on your gut symptoms. These are things I love to explore with people.

My Go-To Immune System Supports

For some reason the change of season has hit many of us hard this year bringing on bad colds/upper respiratory infections, including my family. I am relying heavily on my go-to immune system supports right now, as well as rest (when I can) and lots of healthy food and fluids. I wanted to share what I find works for our family and what I often suggest for patients.

• Vitamin C - Vitamin C in powder or capsule form is a great support for both the immune system and adrenal/stress system. When we are burnt out our immune system is not as effective. Taking 2000-3000IU daily of vitamin C down regulates the stress response and at least 1000IU daily supports the immune system.

• Vitamin D - Keeping up your vitamin D level is to key to helping prevent colds/flus (as well as improve mood). 1000-2000IU daily is a recommended dose for most people to maintain levels. Make sure to take it with food or in drop form as it is fat soluble.

• Immune Matrix (by Cytomatrix) - This is a great blend of herbs and vitamins indicated for reducing the duration and severity of symptoms of upper respiratory infections, including the common cold. It can also be effective as a preventative measure at a lower dose. It includes echinacea, reishi, andrographis, vitamin c and zinc. I always have this on hand! You can find many variations of this at health food stores.

• Probiotics! - There is good research showing that taking probiotics daily decreases colds and flus for both children and parents. A 2014 meta-analysis looking at the impact probiotics have on children's immunity showed that parent and child pairs that took probiotics had fewer colds and flus, shorter duration of colds and less sick days. My 3 year old daughter loves the Flora Matrix Kids (by Cytomatrix), and I sometimes bump it up with an elderberry supplement like this if needed. Another great option is Fit for school (by Genestra) - both with probiotics, vitamin D, C and A.

• My immune smoothie - I crave this when I am sick. It is full of fruits packed with vitamin C. I make a variation for my girls as well. See the recipe here.

• Some other supplement brands with great immune support blends you can easily find are A.Vogel (Throat spray, Echinaforce) and St. Francis (lung tinctures, Deep Immune).

There are many other immune supportive vitamins and herbs, and others I pull out if my family is sick with a fever or specific upper respiratory infection, but these are what I tend to gravitate towards first.

Do I have a Food Sensitivity? Is it an issue and how to test.

Since I see a lot of digestive issues in my practice I find that food sensitivities are something worth exploring in many. They are quite common and can lead to a variety of different health concerns from digestive complaints, to skin issues such as eczema or psoriasis, to fatigue and joint pain. They are different from severe food allergies, such as an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts that occurs immediately, as they are a more delayed reaction. Food sensitivity symptoms can take up to 72 hours to appear after eating, so a low-grade food sensitivity can be hard to spot. The more severe a sensitivity the quicker and/or more severe you notice the symptom.

What causes food sensitivities?

When we eat foods we are sensitive to it causes the digestive track lining to become inflamed and small “breaks” in the lining occur allowing partially digested food particles to “leak” into your bloodstream, where your immune system sees them as invaders. Your body then produces antibodies (IgG antibodies) which circulate and attach to the food particle. When your body cannot eliminate the antigen-antibody complexes quickly, your immune system mounts a larger response leading to symptoms of chronic inflammation. The more of this food you eat, a higher level of inflammation can occur. So not only can you suffer from local digestive symptoms, it can then cause systemic inflammation.

Damage to the intestinal lining (aka leaky gut) can be caused by several things other than a main food sensitivity, such as gluten. This could be medications including PPIs, antibiotics which disrupt the normal flora in the intestine, overgrowth of other bacteria such as yeast or Candida, other invading bacteria, and high stress causing lower levels of digestive enzymes and blood circulation to the gut.

How do you test for food sensitivities?

The gold standard for food sensitivity testing is an elimination diet. Meaning, you eliminate all the common foods sensitivities such as gluten, eggs, dairy, sugar etc, for 3-4 weeks then reintroduce these foods back in one at a time to investigate what, if any, reaction you have to that individual food. It may be different for different foods, for example, cramping and diarrhea from dairy and bloating and fatigue from gluten.

Another way to test food sensitivities that I do often in my practice is a blood IgG test, testing 96 common food sensitivities with a simple blood prick test. The test is measuring the amount of IgG antigen-antibody complexes produced when your blood is exposed to that food. The higher the level, the worse the sensitivity. I have seen big improvements in patients health when they identify and eliminate their food sensitivities.

Do you have to eliminate foods forever?

Now my goal is never to limit someones diet even more longterm, so I interpret a test result a couple ways.

There may be 1-5 foods that are high on the list and these are generally the true sensitivities, ie - contribute to the leaky gut picture. These foods would be eliminated either longterm or for several months while we heal the gut and address any other contributing factors.

If many foods sensitivities come up, some in moderate levels, it proves there is a leaky gut and systematic inflammation. I advise to limit these foods for the time being and stress the importance of gut healing using probiotics and soothing and healing herbs for the gut. We also may need to explore stress levels, and other systemic bacterial overgrowth contributing to inflammation.

Once we complete a gut healing protocol it is easier to introduce certain foods back into your diet.

Do you have symptoms of a food sensitivity?

If you are struggling with digestive concerns, skin issues, fatigue, joint pain, depression even, and haven’t explored triggers from your diet, I would suggest reaching out to an ND like myself to explore this possibility. As I mentioned above, there may be more to the story that just a food trigger but it commonly has a component in someone health concerns.

Note - If you are noticing digestive concerns triggered by higher fibre foods or the lowFODMAP diet has been suggested and is helpful to you, that may be a different issue all together that we can definitely explore as well.

In health & happiness,

Dr. Karen

How To Boost your Body’s Immune System

The change of season is upon us but with that brings cold and flu season. Of course we are all a little more worried about getting the sniffles this year. Luckily there are many great herbs and vitamins that boost our immune system so we are better prepared to fight an infection that comes our way. Keep reading for some of my favourite solutions.

Immune Modulators vs Immune Stimulants - What’s the difference?

Both immune modulators and immune stimulants are important this time of year. Immune stimulants are herbs and vitamins that activate the immune systems response to fight something right then. Herbs such as echinacea and garlic are examples. Immune modulators are herbs and vitamins that boost the immune system by stimulating white blood cells to enhance the body's response to a stimulus that may come its way. Primed and ready let's say. Herbs and foods such as astragalus and medicinal mushrooms, as well as vitamin C, zinc, and vitamin D are all examples. Include these in your diet or as a supplement.

My Cold & Flu Go To’s:

• Myers IVs - This is probably one of the best times to get a boost. High in vitamin C and B vitamins with added zinc for immune support. A 30 minute visit for a big boost.

• Higher dose vitamins - We want to increase vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A and zinc especially when we are coming down with something. Some of my go-to supplements are a combo of many of these.

• Immune herbs - Herbs such as echinacea, astragalus, andographis or elderberry for kids are all great immune supporting herbs. They can be found in a number of different immune supplements/tinctures/teas/syrups.

• Immune Injection - Minimally invasion, safe for everyone, provides immune supportive herbs. Into the glut it goes! This is a quick in house treatment.

• Probiotics such as The Cultured Coconut Kefir - I love this local product as it provides trillions of probiotics to help our gut health and ultimately our immune system. Prefer a capsule? There are great options available at the clinic.

• Thieves oil - One of my favourite essential oil blends to diffuse in my room with antibacterial and soothing herbs. You will probably smell this in my office this time of year. :)

• A. Vogel Echinaforce Sore Throat Spray - I love this product for any sore throat! You can find it at Superstore, health food stores or even Bulk Barn. So soothing and effective!

• Immune Boosting Smoothie - This is a go-to in our house all year round to provide lots of vitamin C. Recipe here!

• Medicinal Mushrooms - This could be a mushroom blend powder mixed in coffee, a liquid blend like THIS, or a homemade mushroom soup or “immune boosting soup” like THIS one, if you tend to get sick often. Some examples of medicinal mushrooms are reishi and ligustrum. Astagalus herb pairs very well with mushrooms.

• Eucalyptus Steam Inhalation - Add a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil in a bowl of boiling water, place a towel over your head and the bowl and breathe in the steam for a few minutes. This acts as a wonderful decongestant.

• Wet Sock Treatment - Old remedy that really works to drain congestion from your head. Look it up!

• Sleep & Rest- Always the best option! The quicker we allow ourselves to rest, the sooner we feel better.

What are your favourite ways to fight a cold? Let me know in the comments below!

In health & happiness,

Dr. Karen