When you have IBS, what you really want is to get better as soon as you can. I think that the second most common curiosity for IBS sufferers is:
What caused this pain? What is going on in my body? Why?
You wonder if you did something wrong or why some people can go on with their daily normal lives, while you are in so much discomfort. And it often doesn’t make sense as to why this syndrome was put upon you.
Dysbiosis may be part of the reason you are experiencing these intestinal issues. Figuring out if you have a gut dysbiosis and what may be causing that imbalance could make a big difference in healing your IBS.
Listen to the rest of today’s episode to learn about what dysbiosis is and what you can do about it.
Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources at HealingHerIBS.com/15.
Dysbiosis’s Role in IBS
Before we begin to get into whether you may have a gut dysbiosis or not, you need to understand what this word means in a more practical sense.
A gut dysbiosis simply means that there is an imbalance of the microorganisms that live in your gut microbiome. Living in your gut is an entire ecosystem of bacteria, viruses and fungi that ideally live together in harmony.
When there is a dysbiosis, that means that this interconnectedness of bacteria has gotten out of wack for one reason or another. When this imbalance exists, one microorganism can take over and this can lead to the gut issues that you are experiencing in your IBS.
I must say that the gut is really such a new frontier for scientists, doctors and health practitioners. It’s a system in our body that still has so much exploration and discovery to be had. I’ve heard it compared to our only partial understanding of the ocean’s ecosystem.
Though we are beginning to understand the role of the gut and it’s hearty importance in our physical and mental health, there are a huge number of unidentified species in the human microbiome, and I want you to keep that in mind as you listen today about dysbiosis.
Though there are things that you can do such as taking a stool test. The test helps to identify different parasites and potential dysbiosis in your gut, you must remember as well that this is not a cut and dry science at this point in time and your gut and its chaos cannot always be tied down and identified completely, no matter how much you wish it could.
When it comes to healing your gut, I think it is smart to explore any potential dysbiosis and address it, while also understanding new information may come out in the next few years or decades that completely redesigns and enlightens the view on our gut microbiome.
The Causes of Gut Dysbiosis
As we have discussed previously in the podcast, there are so many aspects of your lifestyle and your physical and mental health that run through your gut. It’s a two-way road of communication, between our intestinal tract and our brain.
There are several common culprits that can cause this gut imbalance.
- Smoking and drug use
- Psychological or physical stress and trauma
- Antibiotic use
- Lack of diversity in your diet
- Food poisoning
This is of course not an exhaustive list but gives you a good idea of some of the reasons that your gut may have gotten in dysbiosis.
Years after having recovered from IBS for the most part (meaning I don’t have frequent symptoms anymore) I still am not entirely certain what caused my IBS and a lot of women with IBS say the same thing. They have an idea or often a general clue as to what caused their IBS, most can’t say with complete certainty why it happened.
For me, I think that the C-section that I had with my son that was absolutely the trigger for my IBS symptoms to begin. It’s possible that during the surgery there was a bacteria introduced into my gut that caused a dysbiosis. Though I don’t know with 100 percent certainty what caused my IBS, I’m lucky that I have found the path to getting better nevertheless.
Can Getting a Stool Test Help you Heal?
I did have a GI Map done when I first was trying to heal from IBS. For myself and my peace of mind and understanding, I am grateful that I had access to this test and a practitioner to help me understand the results.
I will say though that for me and for many women with IBS, getting the GI Map done and understood often doesn’t cure your IBS or give you an exact regimen of what you would need to do to heal the dysbiosis.
Have you considered doing a GI Map for yourself? Have you heard of it?
A GI Map is a type of stool test that is meant to give you individualized information about what may or may not be going on in your gut. It can identify certain bacteria and pathogens that may be part of the problem.
One good reason that practitioners often have people with IBS do stool tests is to rule out certain things that can cause issues like pathogens and parasites. Some do an overall good job of just showing certain ranges of bacteria in your stool. Stool tests can check for infections and for IBD.
Keep in mind that many practitioners recommend stool testing, however they have their limitations as well. They can be useful, but they can also vary depending on the stool sample, which can vary day by day or where in the stool the sample was taken.
If you can take more samples, they may give you a more accurate depiction of what is going on in your gut microbiome and how to go about choices about healing.
I hope you enjoyed today’s episode.
