Understanding Diseases/Leaky Gut Syndrome

Your Intestinal Lining

The lining of your intestines plays a crucial role in your health, in part as a barrier that keeps undigested food particles, waste, and bacteria from entering your bloodstream. In leaky gut syndrome, or hyperpermeability, this lining gets inflamed and irritated, which compromises its ability to serve as a barrier, and also reduces its ability to properly reabsorb water.

Autoimmunity

When this damage due to inflammation occurs, the lining "leaks" and enables toxins and bacteria to enter your bloodstream. These leaked substances are not normally present in your blood and do not belong there, so your body responds with an autoimmune reaction to what it perceives as invaders, meaning that your immune system launches an attack on your own body. A variety of symptoms can result, including excessive gas and bloating, cramps, and sometimes more serious disorders such as fibromyalgia.

Immune Exhaustion

As a result of accumulating toxins, immune exhaustion can occur from your immune system working overtime to combat the continuous influx of foreign material from your leaking gut. One reason this happens is that nearly three quarters of your immune system resides near or in your digestive tract, which tells you just how important your GI tract is.

Opportunistic Infection

Another consequence of this leakage is that bacteria can become overly abundant in your bloodstream, which subjects you to a greater likelihood of opportunistic infections. Normally, you would not be susceptible to these infections, but the weakened state of your immune system due to leaky gut syndrome makes you less able to fight them off. This again can lead to more serious conditions, like septicemia.

Adrenal Fatigue

Hyperpermeability can also lead to adrenal exhaustion. Your adrenals are two small glands situated in close proximity to your kidneys that release hormones responsible for your ability to cope with stress (particularly cortisol), as well as directly affecting the functioning of your kidneys through the release of aldosterone. Over time, your leaking gut impedes the ability of these important glands to properly do their job.

Fatigue And Stress

In the early stages of LGS, there is no measurable difference in adrenal output, which can be determined by measuring your cortisol levels. However, as the syndrome progresses, your cortisol levels drop and you are said to be suffering from adrenal exhaustion. Once this happens, you may experience fatigue, excessive craving for sleep, insomnia, and dependence on caffeine and high-calorie snacks to keep you going.

Natural Healing

In summary, leaky gut syndrome can lead to a variety of other symptoms by allowing toxins and bacteria that shouldn't be there into your bloodstream, precipitating an autoimmune response, allowing opportunistic infection, and inducing adrenal fatigue. Fortunately, while there is no simple clinical test that will determine that you definitively suffer from this condition, a range of secondary symptoms are indicative to the attuned health care practitioner - and more importantly, it is completely treatable in a natural, healthy way.

If you suspect you may be afflicted with this condition, don't lose hope! An abundance of information is available to help you determine whether or not hyperpermeability is your problem and exactly what steps you can take to allow your body to heal itself. Don't hesitate to see a natural health care professional and begin down the road to feeling better.