Tag Archives: pain

“I am NOT fine!”

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I hear the same story 10 times a day.

Exhausted patient walks into her doctor’s office. She says “Doctor, I don’t feel well. I am in pain. I am too tired to get through the day and enjoy my life. I am bloated, constipated, and can’t lose weight”

The doctor responds, “All your tests are normal, there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“I am NOT fine! Something is definitely wrong. Please help me, I am at the end of my rope.”

“You’re fine. Goodbye.” (appointment over)

This is the general experience of so many people. Too many people-because let’s face it one person being dismissed like this is one too many. This country is full of these chronically un-well people. They aren’t sick enough to be diagnosed with a serious disease, but they are not well. (Even the ones who do have diseases get a prescription, not a resolution to their problem.) There seems to be this pattern in conventional medicine where doctors live in their bubble, prescribing what they know, for the body part they specialize in. There isn’t any investigation as to what the root cause of the problem is or what is going on in the rest of the body.

Even though I hear this story, over and over every day from my clients, it never fails to surprise me.  Luckily for my clients, they have trusted their instincts and taken matters into their own hands. They look elsewhere for help. They find me. I dig deep to find out what is causing their symptoms. I take their concerns seriously and we join together to fight the problem as a team.

If you want to learn what are the root causes of most problems and how to fix them, I have put it all in my ebook: Health Takes Guts. Your Comprehensive Guide to Eliminating Digestive Issues, Anxiety, and Fatigue.

Fibromyalgia and the Gut

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Protected individual repelling bacteria and viruses show on tablet made in 3d software isolated on white

 

And yet another connection between the gut and a seemingly unrelated condition: Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia describes a condition where a person experiences widespread musculoskeletal pain. Similar to IBS, a total work up is done, and if Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus or other diagnoses are ruled out, and there is nothing tangibly ‘wrong’, then a diagnosis of exclusion is given to explain the symptoms.  There are 18 tender points, and if 11 or more hurt for 3 months or more, that’s fibromyalgia. The symptoms of fibromyalgia don’t stop at musculoskeletal pain. They also include fatigue, brain fog, and memory issues. Fibromyalgia can begin suddenly after a trauma, surgery, infection or psychological stress, or it can come on slowly with no triggering event. There is usually a genetic predisposition.

Fibromyalgia seems to affect the way the brain processes pain. This is yet another similarity to IBS, where there are overactive pain signals, an overactive immune system and a hypersensitivity to pain.

But here is the third and most astonishing similarity: nearly all fibromyalgia patients have IBS and Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth! In the case of these patients, the bacteria release toxins that get into the blood stream (b/c of damage to the GI track) and this causes the pain and sensitivity to pain.

If you have fibromyalgia, get to the root of the problem: your gut.