PATIENT STORY: 53 YEAR OLD MALE, NO ANSWERS AFTER AN ENDOSCOPY,COLONSCOPY, BUT STILL HAVING GUT PAIN, IBS & DISCOMFORT

Currently, bacteria overgrowth is in the hypothesis stages of development for gastrointestinal medicine.

SIBO, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth, has been in the hypothesis stage since 1987.

Whilst there hasn’t been much progress in the treatment of bacteria impairment, at least we know that the medical community is studying what is happening.

Gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, and SIBO, according to three major studies documented in the National Library of Medicine, are most commonly found in patients diagnosed with:

• Rosacea
• IBS
• Restless Leg Syndrome,
• Anemia
• Ulcers
• Acid Reflux
• Diverticulitis
• Polyneuropathy
• Lactic acidosis
• B12 Deficiency
• Vitamin D Deficiency

What we’re finding and we’re going to discuss more extensively in the clinic this year, is that much of what is sitting in the “hypothesis” phase of development is causing quite extensive discomfort, but lacking medical intervention.

Many of our patients feel like they are left to their own devices to try live comfortably with the problem, rather than having a solution to the problem.

Take Dave, for instance.
His wife had listened to one of our webinars and asked if we could treat him.

Dave had lots of uncomfortable symptoms happening:

• diarreahoa – 3 to 4 times a day
• no appetite
• felt like his food would just sit in his stomach
• acid reflux
• numbness in his feet and legs
• nausea throughout the day (would have to stop work – rest – then go back to work)
• poor sleep
• foul flatulence
• burping all day long
• gut pain (just under his heart area)

Dave went to the gastrointestinal doctor and the heart doctor to have tests done including:

• endoscopy
• colonoscopy
• cardiology exams

What those tests showed was:

• oesophageal inflammation
• clear for barrett’s
• very red & aggravated digestive track
• heart was perfect
• no H Pylori bacteria
• diagnosed with acid reflux
• told go look at the GERD diet

Dave’s doctors gave him an unlimited prescription for anti-acid medication to deal with the acid reflux and provide digestive relief.

However, the rest of him symptoms didn’t go away.

Straight away, we ordered a bacteria test on Dave.

What came up was quite alarming. Literally as we worked with Dave, it was like Dave’s case was written by the articles in the National Library of Medicine.

One of the things we get asked is WHY does this happen? What caused the bacteria to do what it’s doing and why did it happen to you? (I think this is an entire different book here)

There are three big reasons for a susceptibility to bacteria overgrowth:

1. Genetic

If you have a family member that has a past history of bowel cancer, Crohn’s disease, Ulterior Colitis, or Barrett’s esophagus (or esophagul cancer), more than likely your gastric acid can be less and provide an ideal environment for bacteria overgrowth to take place

2. Immune Destabilisation

As mentioned a few months ago, we wrote an entire piece on glandular fever and epstein barr virus. One of the most common connections that we see in the clinic is a history of an immune unraveling. 80% to 90% of our patients that suffer from bacteria overgrowth at the clinic have one of more of these immune changing life events take place:

• Tonsillitis, on and off with the need for antibiodics as a child or teenager
• Tonsils removed
• Grommets put in
• Glandular Fever
li>Epstein-Barr Virus
• Sick child, quite often on and off antibiodics as a child
• History of parasite, or extreme food poisoning
3. Low levels of Gastric Acid

Technically, gastric acid doesn’t drop until much later in life.

For instance, heart burn and reflux become much more common after 65 years of age because gastric acid for breaking down foods and the muscles that help break down food, weaken as we get older.

In this case, should a patient have no history of genetic or immune changes, it could be happening due to bacteria given the chance to grow because the body is just older and not able to do it’s job quite the same.

Now, back to Dave.

When Dave’s Bacteria Test returned, we were able to get answers and build an intense treatment protocol to relieve his symptoms (there’s an image just below to help you see the levels there):

• He tested high for Leaky Gut
• Basically where there is leaky gut, there is an allowance for the perpetuation of acid and lightening of the lining that protects the immune system and body from foreign molecules and bacteria. It is intestinal permeability. More so than a normal system.
• Bacillus spp characterised by diarrhoea and abdominal pain occurring 8 to 16 hours after consumption of the contaminated food,
• Enterococcus faecalis is characterised by nausea, fatigue, fever, chills, headache, pain/burning when urinating (seen in high levels with patients suffering from UTIs and Bladder Infections), and vomiting
• Staphylococcus aureus symptomatically presents with nausea and rashes
• Streptococcus symptomatically presents as diarrhoea, dizziness, nausea, severe pain, skin swelling.
• Citrobacter freundii symptomatically presents with painful urination, foul smelling urine, and blood in the urine. It also is characteristic for causing nausea.
• Klebsiella spp symptoms include swelling, pain.
• The Secretory IgA levels showed an activated immune response to a chronic viral infection, most of the time, when we question (and as was in Dave’s case) was from Epstein-Barr virus.
• The high anti-gliadin IgA indicated Dave was having an inflammatory response in his immune system to gluten (which was further causing discomfort and inflammation of other bacteria markers). This bacteria is a likely sign for Coeliac disease. Which Dave was never tested for.

I share this with you because Dave is a typical father that is looking after his family, suffering, and doing his best.

He had no idea that he could be more comfortable or that there were other options

He wasn’t given a clear diagnosis. He didn’t have an ulcers or polyps to give him a conclusive Crohn’s or Ulterior Colitis diagnosis either.

He was just given a prescription to mask the acid and told to reduce his stress.

You see, Dave was busy running a business.

He went through the immense stress of COVID, when he was facing 90% of his clients delaying or cancelling work because of the waving restrictions imposed over the COVID lockdowns.

And his doctors over the last two years have just said his acid reflux was caused by stress.

What we found was quite different.

Both the Immune response bacteria can point to an underlying auto-immune condition. None of this was detected in his endoscopy or tested for.

Dave was still able to function and carry on with his work and live day to day.

The anti-acids were making him more comfortable after his meals, but it didn’t combat the fatigue, his urgency to wee during the night, the joint pain and muscle aches, or the swelling.

Again, one could look at his urgency to wee as a prostate issue. Or his muscle aches and pain due to the laborious nature of his work.
Dave is 53, so all of this was blamed on old age and stress.
But, one can see a totally different picture here when we started looking under the microscope of the stool.
The treatment for Dave has been life transforming.
He isn’t running to the toilet during work. He has way more energy to play with his kids. He is able to eat dinners with his family.
He isn’t running to the toilet during work. He has way more energy to play with his kids. He is able to eat dinners with his family.

I’ll leave you with this to share and think about.

One of the best GI doctors has brought nutritional treatment into his clinic with his patients to relieve symptoms including IBS, diarrhea, and esophageal challenges. He recommends high fiber, beans, and legumes in his protocol. For many this increases bowel movements and that can be a good thing.

For a patient like Dave, with his bacteria panel, increasing his legumes and high fiber vegetables or nuts could have increased the inflammation in his microbiome.

It would have potentially introduced less bacteria-baring foods with the majority of food coming in, being plant based, but those food can often increase the swelling and aches and pains with a patient that has the immune markers like Dave has.

Being that so much of the bacteria investigation is and has been in the hypothesis stages, I believe we’ll see and continue to share more research we’re finding.

We often talk about women’s health. I thought it may be interesting for those of you who know men ‘toughing’ it out. So many men keep quiet and don’t say anything. So perhaps you can share Dave’s story with them.

If you’d like to see how we can support you or your partner, you can organise a Free Introductory Consultation with us here: https://calendly.com/nz-naturopathy/intro-consult