Root Causes of Gut Symptoms

Are you having gut symptoms? If you are, let’s talk about what are the most common gut symptoms, and what are the root causes of most gut symptoms. I’m going to be pretty general here because I’ve done a lot of videos on super specific ones, but I wanted to put something out there for people that may be having multiple GI symptoms or that don’t really know too much about functional medicine or the types of things that could be the root causes. 

Diet and Digestion

So of course we think about diet as a root cause of gut symptoms, right? This includes food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances, as I’m sure you’ve heard we talk about before. But also, you have to think about other things like digestion. Is there inadequate digestion? Are you not breaking down your food nutrients appropriately? So is there a lack of stomach acid? Is there a lack of bile?

Is there a lack of digestive enzymes coming out from the pancreas? Those can be a root cause. Alterations in motility, of course, so meaning how fast things are moving through your gut. Of course, infections can, right? Obviously if you get a parasitic infection or a bacterial infection like a food poisoning, of course that can cause gut symptoms, but sometimes those gut symptoms can linger. There can also be overgrowth, so not infections per se, meaning might not be super, super sick, like you would be if you had an acute gastroenteritis for example, but enough overgrowth of either bacteria, fungus, parasites, or even viruses that kind of cause low level symptoms. Toxins can also be a root cause of gut symptoms. So looking at things like toxic metals, molds, pesticides, environmental pollutants, can all contribute to gut symptoms. 

Stressing Out

And then of course stress can. Stress is a big one.

And this is physical/physiological and emotional or mental stress as well, right? We all know what it’s like to have like a nervous stomach, for example, how you feel emotionally. Or you have a super stressful event, you just don’t feel like eating. Or you might even have the opposite, you have a moderately stressful event and you feel like you want to overeat, right? So stress definitely can impact gut symptoms, and your hunger hormones too. So other root causes of gut symptoms, of course the hormones all play a role. Adrenal, thyroid, and your male and female hormones all play a role in gut symptoms, as can certain medications. Obviously if you’ve ever read the list of side effects for most commonly prescribed medications, there are a lot of gut symptoms in there. And it’s going to vary all across the board as far as which medications have which gut symptoms, so can’t be too specific there, just depends on what Medication you’ve been prescribed.

Supplements

And then of course certain supplements. I’ve seen nutritional supplements give gut symptoms as well. A classic example of that is someone that takes too much magnesium. Of course it could give you some loose stools or diarrhea, for example. That’s just one thing to think about. So I hope this helps you generally think about all the things that could possibly be contributing to your gut symptoms.

Part I: The Gut Microbiome

Part III: Acid Reflux, Bloating, Constipation, Diarrhea