Can Your Fatigue Symptoms Be Related to Your Gut Bugs?

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07 Apr Can Your Fatigue Symptoms Be Related to Your Gut Bugs?

Posted at 00:13h in Fatigue, Gut Health by

Digestive problems and serious fatigue often go together. Here is how to regain your energy by healing your gut.

There’s nothing like suffering from debilitating fatigue symptoms AND digestive issues. Unfortunately, many people suffer from both. It’s not at all uncommon to be dealing with fatigue and bowel problems, like IBS simultaneously.

Probiotics benefits fatigue symptoms and can also help your digestion.

The association between gut problems and fatigue has been noted for years, but it wasn’t until very recently that researchers really started putting the pieces of the puzzle together, uncovering how abnormalities within the digestive system are related to fatigue and what can be done to heal both.

Feeling chronically tired and also having digestive symptoms like abdominal pain, bloating, loose stools, diarrhea, alternating diarrhea and constipation, gas, and reflux means you likely have a “leaky gut” along with an overgrowth of “bad” gut microbial flora and too little healthy flora.

Leaky gut is another term for increased intestinal permeability. It is caused by a loosening of the tight junctions within the gut lining which form a barrier between the inside and outside of the digestive tract. It can be caused by any type of inflammatory process, including infections with yeast, viruses, or bacteria; long-term or very frequent use of antibiotics; repeated use of pain-killers (NSAIDs) or alcohol; long-standing psychological stress; extended exercise (athletes); food allergies or sensitivities, such as gluten sensitivity; insufficient intake of antioxidants, etc.

When any of these factors increase the permeability of the intestinal wall, unwanted bacteria, proteins, and other compounds can leak through. To deal with these foreign compounds, the body mounts an immune response, leading to more inflammation.

Researchers have now found that if you have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), your body likely produces high levels of immune cells directed against the toxins given off by unhealthy gut bacteria—a sign of leaky gut and a cause of inflammation. In fact, the severity of both chronic fatigue symptoms and digestive symptoms was found to directly correlate with the number of these immune cells directed against toxin-generating gut bacteria.

Probiotics are “friendly” microorganisms (typically bacteria or yeasts) that can live in the gastrointestinal tract or on other mucosal surfaces and have beneficial effects on human physiology and health. There are three general probiotic benefits which researchers believe may help in the treatment of leaky gut and chronic fatigue:

  1. They increase the numbers of healthy bacteria that live in the gut while decreasing the unhealthy bacteria
  2. They improve the ability of the gut wall to act as a barrier to keep unwanted compounds out of the body
  3. They decrease your body’s own production of inflammation-producing compounds, lowering inflammation in the gut and throughout the body

Fixing your digestion and improving the health of your gut is absolutely essential for total health and for healing from fatigue. But remember gut health is not the only factor that causes fatigue. Feel free to seek my advice for a comprehensive review and evaluation of your symptoms, increased joie de vivre is possible for everyone!

Sources:

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