Healing your gut is hugely challenging. But understanding a few basics about gut infections and testing can make a big difference when doubt and defeat start creeping in.
I’m going to explain why testing is so important, which are the most sensitive tests and how to best use testing to get results.
Those results are significant improvement and relief from symptoms.
What happens in your gut effects your head and many negative emotions will come up if things don’t go according to your expectations. Understanding why this is happening will keep you from giving up.
The most important thing in my opinion is to never give up on yourself.
Not giving up doesn’t mean continuing with things that don’t work. It means using the tools at your disposal effectively and strategically. Or finding someone who will help you do that.
If you have already done testing with disappointing results, I will explain why that may have happened and what to do about it.
Healing the gut can often be a multi layer process.
You may be heading in the right direction even if progress is not fast or obvious.
Sometimes you need to see data about your improvement to realize that you are indeed making progress.
Emotions and even symptoms are not always an accurate gauge of progress.
What you need to know about testing
You may have taken the GI Map already. If not, it is a functional stool test, that is incredibly sensitive due to its DNA PCR technology.
First, you need to find a practitioner experienced with the test and understands interpretation.
Recently, I’ve provided many clients with a second opinion readings of their GI Map because their practitioner missed something important.
Particularly, h pylori or parasitic infections.
Get a second opinion
If you are having doubts about your practitioner or interpretation, I’ve started offering lower cost second opinion consults.
I want to make it easy and affordable to get back on track when folks take the right steps in good faith but get bad interpretations.
If you have doubts about your practitioner, get a second opinion. It can save you time, money and stress in the long run.
I’ve also seen clients for second opinion sessions who’ve been treated for SIBO without ever getting testing.
If a practitioner treats without testing, especially for SIBO , it is a huge red flag.
Find a more knowledgable, systematic and experience practitioner.
The difference between the SIBO breath test and the GI Map and why I love the GI Map
The GI MAP will look at your large intestine and the SIBO breath test will look at your small intestine.
The GI Map is a very sensitive test that uses cutting edge technology to surpass the accuracy of tests used at most medical practices.
The GI Map will find pathogens that other tests miss. Including other functional lab tests like the GI Effects and Doctors Data.
All tests have limitations because gut infections can reveal themselves in layers
The first GI Map will sometimes only show the first layer of infection. Especially if the gut is inflamed. Inflammation creates pockets in your intestines.
After working to reduce gut inflammation, these pockets will shrink, and a retest can reveal the next layer of pathogens.
This is why it is important to retest after working on the gut.
Why your first GI Map may not show all your infections
When the digestive tract is inflamed it creates pockets in the intestinal lining called the crypts of lieberkhun. This name is odd, but also medically recognized.
These crypts provide the perfect hiding place for pathogens, allowing them to escape detection and eradication.
If you have crypts that harbor pathogens, working on your gut to lower inflammation will reduce crypts. When these crypts shrink or disappear pathogens are now left vulnerable, exposed and ready to be killed.
I help my clients reduce inflammation through diet change and targeted supplements based on their first set of test results. The marker on the GI Map that shows the level of gut inflammation is called Calprotectin.
When Calprotectin is high it is a good indication that a retest is needed. Retests are done 6 weeks after herbs are stopped.
It is not a fast process but it is a thorough, data driven and effective one.
It takes time
Your first GI Map may only reveal surface infections that are easy to eradicate. That is the first step.
There are no easy, instant solutions in my experience. It took years to lose balance and it can take months to fix it.
Testing and retesting is a key part of a comprehensive strategy that makes sure you miss nothing.
Doing one test and hoping for the best may not reveal the full picture as it may take several attempts to get to the bottom layer of infection. Usually the layer that started it all. When it finally shows up it will be easier to eradicate.
The most common hidden bugs
One of the hardest pathogens to find is h. pylori. It can make the body vulnerable to parasites, yeast overgrowth and SIBO. It also lowers enzyme production.
H pylori lowers stomach acid, which boosts digestion and kills ingested pathogens. People with h. pylori are more likely to have pathogens in their gut because they have lower protection from stomach acid and weaker digestion.
Sometimes, I’m able to identify h. pylori, even if it doesn’t show up, by the bacterial pattern on the test.
What I use for h pylori
My favorite remedy for h. pylori is this tea.
It’s very powerful and works against yeast, which is another hard to find organism on stool tests.
Supporting digestion and the immune system is also key when dealing with h pylori and other pathogens. The GI Map has markers for both digestive health and immune health.
The GI Map will also reveal which antibiotics you have a resistance to. This is useful if using triple antibiotic therapy for h. pylori .
Triple antibiotic therapy can have a devastating effect on the biome and won’t work if using antibiotics you are resistant to.
Setting realistic expectations
When you set the right expectation about the healing process, it’s much easier to budget and to stay on track.
The end goal of is to develop balance and resilience in the microbiome and fortify the gut lining so that insults like stress, inflammatory food choices and lifestyle hiccups won’t throw everything out of whack.
I offer the GI Map and SIBO breath test to all my clients as well as second opinion sessions.
Contact me with questions through the sidebar on my website.
Angela Privin is proof that IBS is NOT an incurable disease, but a cry for help from a gut out of balance. When the body AND mind are complaining, it’s an opportunity to examine what’s not working and change it. After solving her own IBS mystery almost two decades ago, Angela became as a health coach to help others. Angela uses root cause medicine protocols personalized to the individual to solve each IBS mystery. Her tools are lab testing, dietary changes, supplementation, subconscious mind work and nervous system rebalancing . Learn more here.