What’s happening in your gut can affect your hormones, metabolism, and your thyroid function.
Today, I want to challenge your classification of symptoms. Many women think they are suffering from hypothyroidism or PMS or menopause, but really it could be a gut related problem causing your symptoms.
Let’s look at why we look further at gut health, more than just hormones or thyroid function with our patients…
- IBS & Intestinal Permeability affect:
- Thyroid Conversion & IBS: Iron, Energy, Bowel Irregularity & Suboptimal Thyroid Function
- IBS & The Menstrual Cycle
- What is IBS, Intestinal Dysbiosis, and Bacteria Overgrowth?
- What happens with increased Intestinal Permeability?
- What exactly is Metabolic endotoxemia?
- What you need to know about metabolic endotoxemia?
- Metabolic Endotoxemia could be the reason for joint pain AND stubborn weight gain.
- Histamines, Bacteria Overgrowth or Hormone Related PMS?
- How can you Get Your Body Back & Feel More Energetic if you have any of these symptoms?
- The gut is so responsive and can be a game changer for general health.
IBS & Intestinal Permeability affect:
- Mental Health
- Peri/Post Menopause
- Endometriosis
- PCOS
- Insulin resistance
- Thyroid function
Thyroid Conversion & IBS: Iron, Energy, Bowel Irregularity & Suboptimal Thyroid Function
IBS and Intestinal permeability become a problem for thyroid hormone function, largely due to the fact that T4 converts into Free T3 through the gut. (See image on right.)
If there is intestinal permeability, constipation, diarrhoea, autoimmune dysfunction, or poor immune function, this effects the T4 conversion into ACTIVE Free T3.
Active Free T3 is the active metabolic hormone that is important to every organ and cell in the body. It provides energy and a strong metabolism.
Poor gut function, can also lead to poor absorption of essential nutrients import to thyroid function, like iron, B vitamins, zinc, and many other nutrients.
Nutrient deficiencies have a major draw down effect on the metabolising function of the thyroid, and can leave many women feeling depleted.
This is one of the reasons, when it comes to treating patients with thyroid problems, we are looking at the thyroid conversion from T4 to active Free T3 (as this isn’t something T4 medication necessarily does), and we are looking at micronutrients.
We have several patients that have hyperthyroidism (too fast TSH – supposed to be associated with weight loss), for instance, yet are suffering from weight gain. Poor gut function, and nutrient malabsorption play a key part to these patient’s puzzle.
IBS & The Menstrual Cycle
IBS symptoms can worsen during the premenstrual phase, naturally. Falling oestrogen and progesterone alter gut motility, change the microbiome, and increase inflammation. This can lead to worsened IBS symptoms.
Vice-versa, underlying IBS can worsen hormonal symptoms. Many women with IBS experience constipation or diarrhoea the day before and the first two days of their bleed.
What is IBS, Intestinal Dysbiosis, and Bacteria Overgrowth?
Bacteria Overgrowth can lead to:
- pain
- bloating or distention
- increased intestinal permeability
- diarrhoea
- fatigue
- nausea
- reflux
- felling full, abdominal discomfort, or bloating shortly after eating.
IBS is an umbrella diagnosis that describes a set of digestive symptoms that can result from different underlying biological drivers or mechanisms. IBS is typically diagnosed when people suffer from diarrhoea, constipation, rotating from constipation to diarrhoea, and bloating.
IBS is often caused because of bacteria overgrowth or increased intestinal permeability.
Over the last two years, we’ve talked a lot about bacteria inflammation in women, whether it be a menstrual diagnosis, or something that happens in pre, peri, or post menopause.
But, there are two key reasons women are sensitive to bacteria inflammation between 38 and 65 years of age at this time:
- Because of increasing pro-inflammatory cytokines (directly impacting the gut).
- Falling oestrogen can significantly increase the risk of intestinal permeability (leakage of bacteria, pathogens, and food into the wrong places in the blood stream).
What happens with increased Intestinal Permeability?
Intestinal Permeability causes inflammation and contributes to gut dysbiosis (an imbalance of good and bad bacteria).
For example, intestinal permeability is often the leading cause of insulin resistance and increased androgens in PCOS. This is because of metabolic endotoxemia, which is a low-level elevation of circulating bacterial toxins (endo toxins) that drive insulin resistance. But it is not exclusive to PCOS.
Metabolic Endotoxemia is quite common in women over 40 because of increased intestinal permeability.
What exactly is Metabolic endotoxemia?
Metabolic endotoxemia is when increased intestinal permeability allows particles to flow into the bloodstream. These particles are bacteria, waste, and antigens, like undigested food proteins that have no business being there.
Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are large complex molecules found only in gram-negative bacteria.
LPS are endotoxins and when absorbed they can cause a very strong overreaction of the immune system.
Remember 80% of your immune system lives in the gut.
When LPS leaks into the bloodstream because of a leaky gut it can cause a condition called metabolic endotoxemia.
Metabolic endotoxemia is an increased level of LPS in the bloodstream at two to three times higher than normal concentrations.
What you need to know about metabolic endotoxemia?
We wrote about the cytokine changes for women over 40 – you can read that again here if you want to understand what we’re referencing here.
Symptoms of Metabolic Endotoxinia include:
- Weight gain
- Constipation
- Depression and Anxiety
- Memory Issues and Cognitive decline
- Fatigue
- Inflammation and pain
- Low testosterone
- Leptin resistance (the hunger hormone)
- High Cholesterol
- Insulin resistance
- Nutrient deficiencies (B12, ferritin/iron, minerals and fat soluble vitamins)
Lots of these symptoms sound a lot like thyroid or menopause symptoms right?
Yet, many women overlook the connection between digestive symptoms with vitality, hormones, or inflammatory pain because the connection seems unrelated. Or there may be three or four doctors looking at each issue, rather than connecting everything to the whole body.
But, IBS and cytokine changes alone can make women more prone to intestinal permeability (leaking gut). Poor metabolism of oestrogen also has a direct effect on the microbiome.
Metabolic Endotoxemia could be the reason for joint pain AND stubborn weight gain.
Metabolic endotoxemia matters because it increases insulin resistance at a time when one is already experiencing a sensitivity to a rise in insulin resistance.
It also raises many inflammatory cytokines (pain) in the body, such as:
- Interleukin-1
- Interleukin-6
- Tumor necrosis factor-alpha
It’s believed LPS is the trigger for the onset of insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes.
Addressing IBS and Intestinal Permeability needs to be addressed from 40, because women are already more susceptible to insulin resistance at that time as oestrogen declines.
Histamines, Bacteria Overgrowth or Hormone Related PMS?
Histamine is a stimulating neuro transmitter that can cause anxiety, agitation and headaches.
Bacteria overgrowth can cause mast cell activation and histamine activation too, which causes these commonly known “PMS” symptoms.
Two weeks ago, we did a presentation on the Brain-Body Recalibatrion: The 4 Stages of Menopause. The third phase of this recalibration (between 50 years and 57 years of age), is mast cell activation and high histamines as oestrogen decreases.
Mast cell & Histamine Activation makes women quite vulnerable if they have intestinal permeability or IBS, and more like to experience inflammation symptoms and weight gain due to metabolic endotoxomia.
Combined with decreasing oestrogen, many women are diagnosed with oestopenia, arthritis, or osteoarthritis, which is why we encouage women to pay attention to their body at this time.
How can you Get Your Body Back & Feel More Energetic if you have any of these symptoms?
The gut microbiome strongly influences the metabolism of oestrogen.
Fixing what is happening in your gut you can improve a lot of your symptoms.
Bubbling underneath the surface, gut dysbiosis is more common than most women think.
Rather than labelling the symptoms, we encourage you to ask the question, why?
If there is something happening in the gut, like metabolic endotoxemia, by supporting the digestive lining and secretory function of the gut, many symptoms like weight gain, pain, or digestive discomfort stop. Metabolic hormones reset because the underlying cause has been addressed.
The gut is so responsive and can be a game changer for general health.
We assess digestive health and inflammation with all of our patients, as it can be the underlying cause for many symptoms, that patient just put in the “thyroid” or “hormone” box.
When working with our patients, we look to:
- Reduce Inflammation
- Promote Healthy Gut Motility
- Reduce Insulin Resistance
- Reset Leptin, Thyroid, and Metabolic hormones – ideally within the first week of corrective treatment.
- Boost neurotransmitters to improve intestinal motility, which improves metabolic health.
- Treat IBS if present.
- Increase MicroNutrients to Optimal Levels
To learn more, I encourage you to watch our webcast “The Body Quadrant: Our Integrative Approach & Treatment Principles”. You can reserve a spot here: https://naturalhormonebalance.co/private-body-quadrant-training/
If you are ready to get help and want to learn more about how we can help you, please organise a Free Introductory Consultation with us here: https://calendly.com/nz-naturopathy/intro-consult
I hope you have found this helpful and informative!
We look forward to connecting with you again soon!
Warmly,
Tiaan
