If your health practitioner or nutritionist has pronounced this word to you, you may be interested in understanding what it means. It might be useful, first, to define its opposite, which would be EUBIOSIS. This refers to a healthy balance of micro-organisms that inhabit your body. A dysbiosis refers to an imbalance of our microbiota.
But what is our microbiota? Are you familiar with the fact that there are 10 times more NON HUMAN cells in our body than human cells. We are a walking colony of bacteria, parasites, viruses, yeasts, fungi, spores … and its composition varies from person to person and according to the vital moment through which this person may be transiting. Whether we are in a state of eubiosis or dysbiosis depends on many factors – some that we can control and others that escape us. Some examples would be:
Did your mother take care of her oral, vaginal and intestinal microbiota during her pregnancy with you?
Were you born vaginally (you received the proper exposure from the birth canal microbiome) or by c-section (your first contact was your your mother’s skin microbiome).
Was she able to breastfeed you or not – breastmilk is a live drink, full of microorganisms and substances that nourish them – something that formula milks are still far from including.
Were to exposed to antibiotic medication in the first years of life or have taken them recently – yes, they help us kill “bad” bacteria but many antibiotics are so-called “broad-spectrum” antibiotics so they wipe out the microbiology of your baby’s body.
Do you still have your appendix – it is postulated that it acts as a reservoir of micro-organisms ready to quickly repopulate your intestine after a strong diarrhea, an enema or a course of antibiotics, for example.
If you have a diet rich in varied fibers and foods rich in polyphenols – they nourish our beneficial “bugs”.
Are you careful about exposure to toxins such as glyphosate, pesticides, harsh cleaning products, artificial sweeteners etc. which have all been shown to damage our microbiota.
Are you a constant “snacker” or if you regularly do intermittent fasting – if we do not leave at least 4 hours between some of the meals of the day, we will not activate the complex migratory movement which is a group of muscles that move the intestines and take care of our gut microbial population.
Do you ensure to have a healthy and fluid bile that acts as an “intestinal cleanser” and maintains a correct intestinal transit….
As you can see, there is a lot that can be done to take care of our beloved “bugs” and, looking at this list, you can understand why there is a huge increase of different types of dysbiosis in our environment. I will mention just a few of them:
A parasitosis – overgrowth of parasites that could be protozoa or helminths.
SIBO – bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine (when they should be mostly in the large intestine)
LIBO – bacterial overgrowth in the large intestine (too many bacteria even for the large intestine)
IMO – intestinal overgrowth of methanobacteria (from the Archae’s group that produce methane gas and often cause weight gain and constipation).
IFO – intestinal fungal overgrowth (of fungi and yeasts, often due to lack of good bacteria, antibiotic intake, improper diet or suppressed immune system).
Chronic candidiasis – overgrowth of any fungus of the Candida family.
Just to mention a few!
The problem is that dysbiosis doesn’t exactly go unnoticed. The symptoms can be diverse but they are all very unpleasant – bloating, constipation, diarrhea or both, gas that may or may not smell bad, nausea, insatiable appetite, mental fog, anxiety, insomnia, itching around the anus, various skin problems, various food intolerances, palpitations, allergies….
First, it would be interesting to detect exactly what type of dysbiosis one is suffering from. The symptoms give many clues but the ideal test would be a detailed stool analysis. I am referring to the tests that go by PCR or NGS that require an economic investment but give a fairly reliable picture of what is going on in your body.
In the absence of a stool analysis, kinesiology (or muscle testing) can give us clues to start working on you and your symptoms. Plant-extracts with a specific anti-microbial action can be tested. These products can very effective when used in the correct concentration, frequency and duration. They are backed up with numerous scientific studies both “in vivo” and “in vitro”. Sometimes, this phase of treatment has to be accompanied by a restrictive diet but I always try to avoid dragging these out in time. It will be important to rebuild the intestinal mucosal lining and repopulate with “good bugs” once the anti-microbial phase is over, so as to regain digestive strength again.
In some cases, it will be necessary to accompany with a detox to avoid side effects of the treatment. There are cases in which, when we are “killing bugs” they release toxic substances which can exacerbate the symptoms before they improve. With a good liver work, you can avoid suffering this “healing crisis”.
The most important thing is to know that there are solutions out there and that you should not settle for living with these symptoms. Feel free to contact me if you would like to have a personalised protocole for you your dysbiosis symptoms.