Leaky Gut Syndrome

Leaky Gut Syndrome | Abq

Sports Chiropractic & Massage | Placitas, NM

Leaky gut, or “intestinal permeability” is a condition in which the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, causing undigested food particles, toxic waste products and bacteria to “leak” through the intestines and flood the bloodstream. The foreign substances entering the blood can cause an autoimmune response in the body including inflammatory and allergic reactions such as migraines, irritable bowel, eczema, chronic fatigue, food allergies, rheumatoid arthritis and more.

With leaky gut, damaged cells in your intestines don’t produce the enzymes needed for proper digestion. As a result, your body cannot absorb essential nutrients, which can lead to hormone imbalances and a weakened immune system. 

10 Signs of Leaky Gut Syndrome | Abq

  1. Chronic diarrhea, constipation, gas or bloating
  2. Nutritional deficiencies
  3. Poor immune system
  4. Headaches, brain fog, memory loss
  5. Excessive fatigue

6.  Skin rashes and problems such as acne, eczema or rosacea

7.  Cravings for sugar or carbs

8.  Arthritis or joint pain

9.  Depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD

10.  Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, celiac disease or Crohn’s

The Causes

In many cases, leaky gut is caused by your diet.  Certain foods that you consume every day, including gluten, soy and dairy, may be treated by your body as foreign invaders that have to be fought off. When you eat these foods, your body may be going to war, producing antibodies, which trigger an immune response that included diarrhea, headaches, fatigue and joint pain.

Leaky gut can also be caused by medications including antibiotics, steroids or over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin and acetaminophen, which can irritate the intestinal lining and damage protective mucus layers. This irritation can start or continue the inflammation cycle that leads to intestinal permeability.  Ongoing high levels of stress are often a contributing factor to leaky gut syndrome.

Healing a Leaky Gut

The key to healing a leaky gut is changing your diet and eliminating the foods that your body treats as toxic. This often requires eliminating gluten, dairy, soy, refined sugar, caffeine and alcohol.   An Elimination Diet is the key first step.

In addition to eliminating certain foods, you will need to add a few things to help repair your leaky gut. These included healthy fats such as fish, coconut and olive oils; avocados and flax; probiotics to restore the healthy bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract; and L-glutamine, an amino acid that rejuvenates the lining of the intestinal wall.  You will also need digestive enzymes to help your body more fully break down the protein in your meals.  Also, aloe can help to coat the GI tract while the underlying lining heals.

 

Acute vs. Chronic Pain/Inflammation

Acute vs Chronic Pain & Inflammation

Sports Chiropractic & Massage | Placitas, NM

What was the mechanism of injury?  When did it start?  What have you done at home to address it?

When you ask someone for advice about pain, you tend to get a slew of questions rather than anything constructive.  A good first step is to understand the difference between acute pain and chronic pain and how the approach to treating them differs.

Acute vs. Chronic

Pain is almost inevitably related to and associated with inflammation.  Treating pain, in large part, requires managing and resolving inflammation.  So what’s inflammation?

Inflammation is the body’s generic, first line of defense against any type of injury.  It helps to rally the body’s resources and bring factors necessary for healing to the area.  It increases circulation to the area and is classically described as having 5 cardinal signs (pardon the latin): rubor (redness), dolor (pain),  calor (heat), tumor (swelling), and functio laesa (loss of function).

Managing inflammation can seem like a daunting proposition, but like all major undertakings just take it one step at a time. 

Acute Pain Abq & Santa Fe

Acute Injuries & Inflammation

Maybe you woke up in a wonky position and you have a sharp pain in the neck.  You might have been bending down to tie your shoes and your low back went out.  Towards the end of your run your knee started to hurt, but you were too close to home to stop.  Whatever the circumstances, you are having a sudden onset of pain.

Acute inflammation is a healthy response that serves to protect and repair the body.  It occurs from something damaging, whether that be an infection in a cut or a strained muscle. The key here is that it is the body’s expected and necessary response to an injury.

Management: 

While a certain amount of inflammation is necessary for the body to heal, sometimes the body gets a little over-enthusiastic with the inflammation.  Reducing the level of inflammation can help to manage the pain, stiffness, and loss of function associated with an injury.  However, a certain amount of inflammation is necessary and appropriate.  So what do we do? 

Well there are two schools of thought.  One is to use the RICE method.  The other is to actively engage the damaged structures (albeit carefully). Joint movement and muscle contraction are how your body naturally processes inflammation and keep it from becoming stagnant around the injury.  It seems a bit counterproductive to cut them out of the equation.

Since there is no consensus, I recommend a hybrid of the two approaches.  Let’s call it RICEM.    

  • Rest
  • Ice
  • Compression
  • Elevation
  • Movement

I find that the first four are appropriate in the earliest stages of an acute injury (first 1-4 days-ish).  After that, try replacing the compression with something more dynamic (such as kinesio tape) and gently get your body back into motion.

Chronic Pain

Chronic Injuries & Inflammation

Maybe you hurt yourself years ago, and over time you progressively got worse.  Your whole body hurts for no apparent reason.  Maybe the foods that you eat are secretly plotting to kill you.  Whatever the case may be, you hurt on a regular basis and quite often nothing seems to help.

Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation is not a part of the body’s natural healing process.  What was supposed to be a useful healing mechanism has spun out of control and is instead causing damage.  There is a wrench in the machine. 

Chronic inflammation is a condition where dilated blood vessels and a hyped up immune system become the new norm. The human body isn’t designed to cope with this unfocused immune activity, and eventually chronic inflammation will cause organ damage. White blood cells usually protect the body from disease, but the unchecked white cell activity of chronic inflammation can make you more prone to non-infectious conditions such as cancer, asthma, allergies, arthritis, and autoimmune disorders.

Managing Chronic Inflammation

So what do you do? 

It all comes down to lifestyle.  Let’s consider triggers for chronic inflammation.

  1. Improve what you eat.  If you don’t know what that means, try an anti-inflammatory diet.
  2. Get some movement into your body.  Be it through yoga, stretching & exercise, chiropractic or massage movement helps to decrease inflammation.  It may be uncomfortable at first, but it will get better with consistency.
  3. Learn to manage your stress!  But don’t let the fact that you’re stressed stress you out.  Meditation and other mindfulness practices will not only help you feel better, they may even help you live longer while feeling better.