Gut Dysbiosis Symptoms (What Is Gut Dysbiosis?)

Author's Bio: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Have you ever wondered if your gut symptoms are connected to bad bugs in your gut?

If so, today's video may be an eyeopener for you, and I will be answering the questions.

What are the causes and risk factors of gut dysbiosis?

What do symptoms of gut dysbiosis feel and look like?

How does gut dysbiosis affect our mental health?

And does gut osis play a role in chronic health conditions?

And lastly, can you test for gut dysbiosis?

And if so, how can you treat it?

Those questions and more is what we're going to cover in today's video.

Gut dysbiosis, what is it?

Now? The human body is home two trillions and trillions of microorganisms, including most of them or many of them in our microbiome.

And our microbiome is made up of many of these microorganisms that help to support our overall health. And our gut microbiome helps to support digestion the way that we absorb our nutrients, as well as keeping our immune system strong and healthy.

But our gut microbiome can easily get toppled. And if it becomes imbalance, this is where we tend to see gut dysbiosis.

So really what gut dysbiosis means is that it's just an alteration of the composition of our microbiome and it leads to really an array of health conditions and symptoms.

And so today we're going to figure out what it is, but first, before we dig into the rest of our video today, my name is Marcie Vaske. I'm a licensed nutritionist with Flusso Nutrients and at FLusso Nutrients, we really strive to educate you on supplementation and things that can give you a little bit more information.

So when you're making choices about do I need this supplement? Should I take it? And how much do I take?

You can always use Flusso Nutrients in our videos as information and guidance.

Of course, we always recommend that you do talk to a supplement literate practitioner so that you're not contraindicating any medications with your supplements and vice versa.

Gut Dysbiosis Causes

So as I said, the microbiome or the gut microbiome is extremely critical to our overall health, supporting not only our nutrient absorption, but also our mental health.

It talks via the vagus nerve, what we call the gut brain access, but our gut microbiome. So many things. And if it gets out of whack, you are for sure going to feel it and know it. So what are causes and maybe risks that it put us at a higher possibility of having gut dysbiosis.

Antibiotics Gut Bacteria

And really one of the first things is just the overuse of antibiotics. And we've heard this over the years, that taking chronic antibiotics for certain conditions, maybe it's acne, maybe it's going to be candida, maybe it's just bladder infections or sinus infections.

These things, people will take rounds of antibiotics to get rid of them. And so when we take an antibiotic, it kills off so many of our really good flora.

And when that good flora has been eliminated or weakened, then it sets up the stage for over or opportunistic bacteria to take over.

Now, other factors outside of antibiotics, which is kind of an obvious one, is going to be things like our inner lifestyle from diet number one, if we're consuming a lot of processed packaged foods, we are every day, every time you put that in your mouth, you are putting your gut microbiome at a greater risk of having dysbiosis.

Also, our sleep and our stress levels, stress levels are so impactful to having a good gut.

And if you have chronic stress, you are probably going to feel it in your gut at some point.

And even the lack of physical activity puts a strain on our microbiome.

So if any of those risks or causes of gut dysbiosis possibilities are in your life, take a look and think about, well, maybe I need to make some changes there especially, and well, I won't even say that. Just make the changes. I was going to say, especially if you have gut issues, but let's not even wait for that to come up so we know the causes and some of the risks of gut dysbiosis, but what are the symptoms of this?

Gut Dysbiosis Symptoms

And the first symptoms that you're probably going to see or feel and notice will be more gas, more bloating.

Maybe it's constipation, maybe it's diarrhea, maybe it's a little acid reflux or heartburn every now and again, and they may start out rather mild, but after or over time, it can increase to much more severe health conditions.

Research tells us that a gut dysbiosis can affect our mental health, it can affect our immune defenses.

So you may end up with autoimmune diseases.

It puts us at a greater risk for diabetes as well as obesity.

So if your gut is taking a toll every day because you're stressed out, some of these things may start popping up.

And once we've kind of ignored the initial mild symptoms and it turns into something bigger and makes you make notice, not that you're going to be at, you're just in a farther deficit. Not that you can't come out of it, but we know it.

So if you feel like some of these things are going on for you, change it.

Microbiome and Mental Health

Now, as I mentioned, gut dysbiosis can affect our mental health.

And a few minutes ago I talked about that gut-brain access. And so if we have a nice strong microbiome, we're making neurotransmitters in our intestinal tract, which travel through this, our vagus nerve to our brain to help support our mental health.

If you have a lack of healthy bacteria in your gut, you're oftentimes going to have more mental health issues.

So you might start noticing that you're more anxious or maybe you get in a low mood and depression kind of sets in. Those things are very common when we have gut dysbiosis and gut dysbiosis and chronic conditions also are beginning to emerge in research.

And we even in practice, I see this happening. And so if you have an imbalance gut or gut dysbiosis, you are at risk for having more chronic conditions, like I mentioned, autoimmune obesity, things like our mental health, of course, diabetes type two diabetes.

And so understanding this better can help us treat better and you can help yourself more.

A lot of these conditions that I just mentioned like autoimmune or obesity or type two diabetes, a lot of people will feel like, well, that's just in my genes, but is it really?

Of course, we all have genetic connections to certain diseases passed down from us in our DNA, but how much control do we have over those?

Microbiome Test

I like to say a lot. So as I've been talking, and you may be thinking about yourself, well, do I have gut dysbiosis and how do I really know?

And so you can do different tests for gut dysbiosis.

One great test is a comprehensive stool test, and within that lab, you will find how much good bacteria actually have.

Do you have any pathogenic bacteria? It can show us what your inflammatory state is in your body, how well your immune system is working, and really give us a lot of great detail about your gut health.

And that way you take that information and then you treat accordingly.

And treating gut dysbiosis is really dependent on what may be found in a test or even when people come in.

And we don't test because I've been doing this for many years, a lot of times you just know, just know the symptoms.

And because I ask a lot of questions, it comes out on paper.

Gut Bacteria Foods

And so what do you do to treat gut dysbiosis?

And a lot of times it's first just dietary modifications because oftentimes there's foods that may need to be taken out if you have food sensitivities and some people don't at all and still have a bad gut, but feel better without certain foods.

In addition to that, it's really focusing on your stress levels because chronic stress, as I mentioned, is a very big causative factor into gut dysbiosis.

And so making those changes and removing foods and putting in healthier foods, just all dependent upon the person and the symptoms.

Microbiome Supplements

And in terms of supplementation, if you're listening again and thinking, well, I just want to do something kind of simple. I don't have major symptoms, but I can feel things are a little bit different.

And the first place I would start is after diet is going to be with maybe taking a probiotic.

And probiotics come in many different forms, many different strains, many different amounts within the probiotic.

And so just starting with something really simple, and I'm going to link a probiotic here that is perfect for all the things we've just spoke about.

And it's not super broad spectrum with tons of strains, but it's got the key things in there. And that's the most important. When taking a probiotic.

You want to take it 10 to 15 minutes before a meal, ideally in the morning.

But if you have a lot of gut symptoms, I would say start it in the evening so that your body can get used to it and maybe start every other day just so your body can work into the new flora, and you don't have a lot of die off of bad bacteria.

Now, another positive kind of supplement to add in for supporting gut dysbiosis is going to be prebiotics.

Now, prebiotics is basically like the food or that our good flora needs. And so prebiotics you can find in supplement form as well as food prebiotics can be found in onions, garlic, bananas, whole grains.

They're going to be full of that good fiber that helps to promote short chain fatty acids, number one, but also to help promote our good flora and keep our gut microbiome healthy.

So just to wrap up the video today, you can hear that there's a lot of stuff when it comes to gut dysbiosis and many causative factors for gut dysbiosis, all the way from our lifestyle to the foods that you're consuming to antibiotic use.

There's testing that can be done, and there's supplements and dietary changes that can be made that can really support a better, healthier microbiome.

Now, I hope that helped you all learn a little bit more about gut dysbiosis today.

Thanks for watching.

Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!

1) UltraBiotic Complete: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com/ultrabiotic-complete-r893

2) ALL PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SUPPLEMENTS: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com + https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients