Carol: Would you like to share how leaky gut can imitate and thus be diagnosed as any number of other health conditions?
Sarah: Sure. If you have low thyroid and you’re not seeing results from your medicine or from a supplement, it’s because your gut is leaking or not getting enough nutrients from your small intestine. Your small intestine is where all your nutrients is absorbed and utilized. If it is leaky, you’re not going to get any of that and you’re going to be deficient everywhere else in your body, your thyroid, your adrenals, so then it’s just a hinderance.
Carol: Sarah, I think an important issue for us to cover would be inflammation. It is a vast subject so maybe we could cover some important points as it relates to the gut?
Sarah: If your nervous system is turned on all the time, it’s causing inflammation constantly. Yes, everybody has a lot of inflammation. Inflammation can be related to weight gain. That can be a huge sign that there’s something in the gut going on and your body is fighting itself constantly. That was the biggest thing that I had issues with when trying to work out why I couldn’t get the weight off. I’d get a little bit off, reach a plateau and then I wouldn’t be able to lose anymore. I still felt and looked overweight. That was what was crazy about it because it was inflammation from my body just fighting itself constantly, and then I would crash. I agree that it is important to mention that inflammation is a source of gut and nervous system imbalances.
Carol: What percentage of problems with the gut and the hormone/gut connection has to do with inflammation?
Sarah: I’d say 90% of it, at least, as usually much inflammation is all coming from the gut. When the body starts getting stressed, because of not getting enough nutrients, then defense mechanisms begin such as cholesterol, mucus and others. It’s trying to make up for the lack of something that needs to be addressed. The main cause of inflammation in the gut is food and toxins.
Carol: And stress.
Sarah: Stress and food, yep.
Carol: Another great point to mention is that the gut has its own brain. Many have no idea about that.
Sarah: So true. It’s considered the mother, the mother of the body, basically the gut is your second brain to the rest of the body. If it’s not working right, you’re not getting absorption of nutrients. It’s going to throw everything else off.
Carol: Continuing, do you address the gut and then the hormones or will they be treated together?
Sarah: They’re together, unless they’re severe. I have a patient right now that’s so severe with the trauma that she’s had, that I’m treating backwards. I’m fixing the genes with her nervous system because her body’s reacting to everything that I’m trying to give her. In that case, we have to calm the system down so what we are putting in her body doesn’t make it continue attacking itself.
It just depends on the person whenever they come to me. I’m not trying to put them in a box. I’m trying to assess what they have done, what is happening in the body and then tackle their nervous system first, because it’s not responding right initially. If they have the genetic component, I tackle it first because we’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t have that supported yet. I’ve been through that, too.
Carol: That’s the importance of the initial consultation and evaluation, which will lead them on their journey of healing.
Sarah: Right. I don’t just go by their symptoms. I try to find the root cause to why they have certain symptoms. I don’t portion out their body like regular doctors do and say: “well, the symptoms are such and such and so it’s going to be a certain condition.” No, that symptom is there because this or that is not working, you know? It’s more about getting to the root cause. This is why this protocol works. That’s what I told one of my new patients. She’s done the Bach Flower Rescue Remedy, and she thought it was helping a little bit, but it just wasn’t helping enough because it wasn’t fixing the glands that were associated with her nervous system and everything else. That’s what we’re about to go do is nourish those and balance those glands so that they work properly.
I have another case, with someone who has problems that I have dealt with myself. She’s like me where her HPA is just so out of whack that she’s just responding to everything. I can’t do anything until we get that fixed. It would be like paddling up a river without a paddle. She’s been through so much already. I don’t want to stress her body out and make her feel more stressed in any way. I don’t want to do that. I know how she feels. I really do.
I have another girl who was experiencing the whole weight thing. I believe her hormones kicked in and she gained all this weight and can’t get it off, but that’s an inflammation situation again.
Carol: The initial consultation seems extensive for sure.
Sarah: My initial paperwork for patients is also quite different and extensive. Most people have never seen its type before. I address from the emotional, what their living situations are like and more, not just what physically is going on with them and then base off that and their tests. Then I figure out what the best protocol is for them.
I don’t just say: “this is the protocol and we’re just doing this protocol.” It’s what is going on with them. It’s very tailored. It’s individualized. It is tailored to their needs and what their body is doing currently. We are getting to the root cause of why their body is doing what it is doing.
