Jacqui Justice: EPISODE LINK
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TRANSCRIPT:
Colleen: Welcome back to hot flashes and cool topics podcast today. We have an interesting
conversation about one of my favorite topics, which is bowel movements, constipation,
however you want to describe it. And our guest today is Jacqui Justice. Welcome to the show.
Jacqui: Oh, thanks for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
Just the topic Fascinating. –
Bridgett: Yes, we all need to know about it though. We all
need to know.
Colleen: We, it’s not commonly talked about, but– – Oh, so many women. – We
all wonder. We are all curious, yes. – And I guess that’s where I would start.
Like, I don’t think, obviously like Bridget said, we don’t talk about enough, but
there are a lot of women in midlife struggling with a slow digestive system.
Bridgett:- Yeah. – Or a very fast one.
Jacqui: And honestly, you know, I work mostly with women in midlife and aside from like
struggle, the struggles with like, excuse me, stubborn hormonal weight gain. These are
the next two issues that I deal with the most. And I can’t remember a questionnaire
that I looked at, they didn’t have one or the other. So whether they had it, you
had the hormonal fluctuations, it’s so common. And IBS is like the most common digestive
issue there is. So, you know, we– –
Colleen: Can you define that just before we go forward?
Could you We’re going to talk about IBS and we’re going to talk about gastritis,
but could you define them both?
Jacqui:Right. Okay. So, IBS, years ago,
it was used as an umbrella term for almost any digestive issue a person had,
but now it has its own diagnosis code and we know that there’s four different
types.
It’s IBS C, constipation, D, diarrhea, but the most common would be the
mixed, and then there’s one that’s just, we don’t know what it’s about. So yeah,
it’s basically going to affect your lower GI tract,
where gastritis is the opposite and affects your upper GI tract,
IBS is all about the lower GI tract, and it’s got so many multiple,
you multiple issues that can cause it. And stress is a big one.
It’s a really big one. I think besides from the hormonal fluctuations in menopause,
I think that the stress that so many women are feeling in the menopausal years is
another reason why we see so much of it. But basically, it’s going to like what we
call the gut brain access and the vagus nerve,
which is like the main highway between the brain and the gut. And that’s actually
why the gut is called the second brain. And so these movements along this sort of
access cause little nerves to be fired or not fired.
And then the end result is this IBS -like symptom.
That’s one of the biggest factors that cause it. And then we have gut dysbiosis,
which I see as the most common. That’s, I mean, that’s the thing I see mostly in
my practice, paired with anxiety.
Bridgett: What is– oh,
I’m sorry.
Colleen: No, go ahead. I –
Bridgett:I was just gonna ask, could you explain what you
Gut dysbiosis. –
Jacqui: So gut dysbiosis is the imbalance of good and bad bacteria
in the intestinal tract. We naturally should have a balance of the good bacteria or
commensal bacteria and the bad bacteria. And they live very symbiotically together,
happy happy, until something triggers the bad bacteria to overgrow.
And that can be antibiotics. I mean, I lived with IBS for 10 years before.
I figured out how to fix it. And mine was basically caused by overuse of
antibiotics in my teenage years. And that can just, I mean, aside from getting rid
of the bad bacteria, it just like crushes your good bacteria and you need that good
bacteria for like the gazillion different jobs it does but basically to keep your
gut healthy and when that balance is off you’re going to feel it and IBS is one of
the most common symptoms you’re going to feel from that and whether it’s the
constipation side of it the diarrhea side of it or most commonly the mixed side
that’s what’s going to happen. I’ve never had a client that had dysbiosis, and most
of my clients do, that didn’t, you know, experience one of those types.
And so the good news is, is we can test for that. And using some real cutting
edge gut health testing, basically a stool sample. I know, it’s gross, but it does the
job. And It really takes a good look into your intestines,
into your digestive system, into your good and bad bacteria,
plus all the other guys like pathogens and parasites and viruses and yucky things
like that. And it gives us the information that we need so that we can fix it.
So are you missing specific probiotics, the good guys, you know? Oh yeah,
you’re missing this particular one, let’s replace it. Oftentimes you can get amazing
relief just by that.
Bridgett: Do you find that women that they’ve suffered for this maybe a
lot of their lives or it’s something that just happens? Like you said, an it could
be the cause of it or does it come on more later in life?
Jacqui: I see it definitely
coming on more later in life and I think it’s because of the hormonal fluctuations
and the increase in stress but I do have clients and have had them over the years
that have said like they’ve struggled with constipation from day one. I haven’t had
clients that have said they’ve struggled with diarrhea Diarrhea from J1 because that
was a much more serious issue. You know, someone that has like diarrhea on a daily
basis. – Oh, wow. – You know, that’s going to the hospital. – It’s gonna be horrible.
Bridgett:- That is, that would, yeah, you would be dehydrated. – Yes. – You know, just
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everything, you know, malnourishment, everything. –
Jacqui: Yeah, and speaking about
malnourishment, you know, IBS because it also can irritate the gut lining.
You can end up with leaky gut. You end up with a boatload of food sensitivities,
which further exacerbate the issue and the inflammation.
You really want to probably cut out the most common foods that irritate the gut.
And no surprise, gluten and dairy are at the top of the list. I’ve had clients
that just from cutting those out have had like complete relief. So it’s,
you know, everybody’s different. And honestly, you really have to customize your
treatment in this situation because, you know, your IBS is different than my IBS,
different than her IBS. And there’s different causative factors. There’s different
triggers.
So it’s really good to do this gut testing. It’s my favorite thing to do as weird
as that sounds because you really do you really do get to find out things that you
would never know otherwise. It’s like looking at someone’s blood chemistry. You can’t
tell what’s wrong with them outside of their body, but when you look at their blood
chemistry, you see all kinds of things. And, you know, my motto is always test -don’t
guess. It used to not be, but then over the years, I just, I, you know,
no one wants to fool around with these kind of things and try a million different
things and waste their time and their money. They really want to get to that root
of their causes and get done with it.
Colleen: So you talk about testing,
not guessing. What is out there to test? Like what type of tests are available for
people who are struggling with the different forms of IBS?
Jacqui: Okay. So the best thing
would be a comprehensive digestive stool analysis. The one I use is called the GI
MAP test. There are others. It basically requires a little stool sample.
It takes two seconds. You send it into the lab, and they do this really in -depth
analysis of it. That would be my first choice, and probably my only choice.
Bridgett: Yeah. Is that something that can be and it’s somebody that doesn’t live near you.
Is it something that could be mailed in? –
Jacqui: Oh yeah. – It can be. – Oh, it’s a
totally at home test. – Okay. – You know, you just, the ship, the test gets drop
shipped. You get it, you do it in the privacy of your own home and you send it
back in a prepaid mailer. –
Bridgett: And she said ship. – with a p
Colleen: Yes, I just thought of that.
– That other word I did
I might have to edit that a little bit. (laughing)
Jacqui: But anyway, the analysis takes like two to three weeks. So it’s pretty in -depth.
Colleen: What are the most common results you see with people struggling with IBS? Like what
is normally out of whack in those tests?
Usually some form of dysbiosis. They’re usually low in really important gut bacteria,
and they’re really usually high in inflammatory gut bacteria.
I usually see that, and I also see low digestive enzymes.
So it’s not that there’s something wrong with their pancreas. As we age, it’s,
you know, just like everything else. It starts, our digestive enzymes start declining.
And so now we can, you know, digest our foods as well as we used to. And then
we’re not breaking down our food as well as we used to. It’s not getting absorbed
as well as it used to. And that can be another factor for that, for that leaky
gut that I spoke about. But those are the two things. And, and often honestly, by
correcting that bacteria balance, that dysbiosis, and by giving someone the digestive
enzymes that they’re low in, amazing changes. And that’s why I do not agree that
IBS is chronic for everyone, maybe for some people, but I don’t because I think
that we just haven’t looked deep enough into the causes and what’s going on and
what we could fix. So this, I just want to say this test,
not this particular test, but one similar to it, I just found out through a client
of mine, because most of this functional testing is out of pocket. But once you hit
the wonderful age of 65 and you’re on Medicare, some Medicare plans will cover that
testing once a year.
Bridgett:Oh wow.
Colleen: Yeah, that’s good to know. Yeah.
Jacqui: It is good to know because they’re not cheap. And it’s, you know, and it’s just, I
think I was so like excited to hear that because, you know, it’s a very helpful
test. And, you know, it’s just not enough people know about it and suffer needlessly
when they can really get to the root cause.
Colleen: Yeah. And I was going to say is the
root of so many issues. Your if issues are just the root of it and you were
talking about trigger foods and you were talking about gluten, of course, and dairy
being number two. Are there common foods in particular in that area that you see
most commonly with women?
Jacqui: Yeah.
And I think, you know, alcohol, alcohol, too much alcohol will affect one person
with IBS and not another. So that’s kind of tricky, but coffee coffee. Yes.
Colleen: I’m going to sign up for the coffee one.
Bridgett: Yeah. She is so good. She does not drink
coffee at all.
Colleen: I miss it’s 20 years now that I have not had coffee and I miss
- When I smell it, I want to go over the table at Bridgett to get it all.
Bridgett: I know it’s cruel of me actually to drink it in front of you.
She is so I mean, I’ve never seen her drink coffee. I met her about eight or nine years ago. I have
never seen her drink coffee.
Jacqui: Make sure you test your gut and you may be able to once again.
You know what? Have you ever tried any of those? And I know it’s not the same,
but and it’s an acquired taste, but you can get used to it. The mushroom ones.
Colleen: Everyone tells me to try those. I don’t like mushrooms and I’m like, if I don’t
like How am I going to like a mushroom coffee?
Jacqui: – They don’t taste like mushrooms.
You would never know. It’s not the mushrooms we normally eat. These are like
medicinal mushrooms that we normally don’t. And they have a lot of benefits. They
really, I have to say, we drink coffee because we love it, but also because it
gives us a boost and also a focus. Mushroom coffee, much better.
Colleen: I’ve heard mushroom hot chocolate is supposed to be.
Jacqui: Yeah, that’s good too. Yeah.
That’s good too. And I’ll try to think of the other thing that is a replacement
for coffee, but you know, coffee’s coffee. So, but how about tea?
Can you do tea?
Colleen: I can drink tea, yeah. Anything with a coffee bean. A coffee ice
cream was my favorite ice cream. I haven’t been able to have that. anything with
the coffee bean for me is irritating.
Jacqui: – You might just be sensitive to it.
You know, it definitely speeds up the digestive tract. That’s why most people drink
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it in the morning so that they can, you know…
Colleen: That’s Bridgett raising her hand. I
wish, I mean, it would make life a lot easier. Maybe I’ll just do a shot of it
in the morning. (laughs) – Right, just get it done. –
Bridgett: She’ll be – So energetic, man,
like, hello, oh my God.
Jacqui:- Oh yeah, when you had, when you have not had coffee for
a long time and then you have it, it’s like you’re in drugs.
Bridgett:- She’s already got a lot of energy, so that’ll be a little scary.
Colleen: – But hey, if
it makes the digestive system go through, I’m game as long as I’m not leaving the
house for anything.
Jacqui:- Let me I’ll tell you about some of the other triggers, the
FODMAP foods. – Right. – Yeah, you know about those.
Colleen:- Well, our listeners might want
- –
Jacqui: Oh, okay, sorry. – Okay, sorry. – Yeah, that’s okay. – I forgot about you guys,
sorry. So it stands for fermentable oligosaccharides,
disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. And polyols are actually those alcohol
sugars. Those are a real culprit, like anything with an O .L.
ending, xylitol,
maltol.
That’s like an explosion within your gut. That’s awful. So those are bad.
Wheat, dairy, garlic, onions, fruits, especially with skins and also with pits are
usually a problem, sometimes legumes. And, you know, my IBS clients differ across the
board. Some of them can eat salads and do, you know, be great with them and others
know way too much roughage really bothers their GI tract. So that’s where you have
board. Some of them can eat salads and do, you know, be great with them and others
to kind of get customized with it.
Colleen: Can you explain the difference between alcohol,
sugar and sugar?
Jacqui: So sugar is just, you know,
it’s from cane or bean or whatever. It’s actually, you know, just the sugar.
And then the alcohol sugar is, it’s got the OL ending. It’s what’s called a polyol.
And it’s like, it’s not that it’s not natural.
So like xylitol, I believe is from the birch tree. And I guess they extract it
with alcohol. I think that’s the reason, but I can’t swear to it. And just that
whole alcohol, you know, part of it is the part that irritates the gut.
But I think that’s the answer. I don’t hold me to it 100%.
Colleen: But I was just curious when you were talking about it because I think people think
all sugar is the same.
Jacqui: No, it’s not necessarily true. Yeah, there’s different sugars.
Then there’s your artificial sugars. Those are the, you know, Splenda and Aspartame
and all that junk. And then there’s things like monk sugar, which that is a
different form of sugar, but that is actually real sugar. It just has a lower
glycemic effect. It doesn’t raise your blood sugar as much. There’s stevia, which is
a natural herbal sweetener. So, but then the polyols are a class all themselves.
And I think the difference is that there’s the alcohol added to it.
Bridgett: Yeah. When you
get a package of those, make sure you’re getting, if you get that, make sure it
doesn’t say sugar free because I’ve made that mistake. If you made that
mistake and you, you can’t leave the house then. Oh, no, you just can’t. No,
really. Oh, those are things I don’t even know about. I made a mistake and I
can’t, I think it was like Werther’s and I thought it was regular sugar . And I was like,
what is happening to me? And it was sugar free. And I was like, Oh, so it had
all the alcohol, sugar.
Jacqui: Yeah, the sorbitol and all of that. And, and you know, Even
though they say erythritol doesn’t do that, I find that it does. That’s a common
one that’s used now. They often mix it with monk fruit or stevia to increase the
sweetness, but I always find that doesn’t work very well. –
Bridgtt: Yeah, and then the
xylitol, you do not want animals. That can kill animals.
Jacqui – Such a good point,
like this. And that’s what, yeah, that’s what’s in all of the sugar -free gum.
Right.
Colleen: Oh, yeah. Because I’m learning. Yeah, I do.
Bridgett: I knew someone that their dog got into their gum. They lived. The dog lived. But
it was bad. Yeah. Yeah, it was really bad.
Jacqui: Who would, who would think? I mean,
that should be on the label big time, like bolded, but sugar free is always, you
know, it’s never.
Bridgett:It’s really better to have the sugar. I mean, you don’t really
want to have either, but it is really better right here. Here I am telling the
functional nutritionist,
Jacqui:Better to have butter than it is to have like, you know margarine right same thing
same thing but let me say something about sugar it is the like first of all,
it’s the most inflammatory thing that we put in our body in the food category and
it really wreaks havoc on your digestive system because it’s the food for that bad
bacteria and as soon as it gets a taste of it, they start proliferating and it’s
like a smorgasbord. So, you know, if you’ve ever noticed like, oh, you ate dinner,
you feel good, and then You’re in the mood for a little dessert and you have it
bacteria and as soon as it gets a taste of it, they start proliferating and it’s
like a smorgasbord. So, you know, if you’ve ever noticed like, oh, you ate dinner,
you feel good, and then You’re in the mood for a little dessert and you have it
and all havoc breaks loose. – Right. – It’s because of that sugar. And that can even
happen with fruit, honestly, for some people. Some people are very sensitive to the
fructose and fruit.
Bridgett – And a lot of people I know are wearing the glucose monitors.
– Yes. – Yeah, what are your thoughts on that?
Jacqui: – I think it’s great. I think it’s
really good, especially if high blood sugar, you know, all of us going through the
menopausal transition are trending towards insulin resistance. So we got to keep a
handle on it. But some people, you know, have already had like pre diabetes, I see
so much of that. And for people that don’t even know they have it. And it’s so
great to have that tracking system.
Colleen: Right. And it’s important, you know, A1C
sometimes I went recently to the doctor and asked to have my A1C checked and they
were like, well, that’s not gonna be covered by insurance. And I’m like, I’m 57. It
should be covered by insurance, you know? And they have to code it a certain way.
But if people don’t know to ask for these tests, they’re not going to get the
test.
Jacqui:- Exactly right. You know, we can talk all day about that, about that’s one
of my biggest like soap soapbox moments is for women getting the right blood work,
especially in menopause because you’ve got to have that. You always get a fasting
glucose, but you need to have that fasting insulin, that hemoglobin A1C. There’s a
HOMA IR score that tells you of your risk for insulin resistance.
Oh my God. I mean, there are so many things besides that, even like a full thyroid
panel, all the things that go wrong in menopause are what we need to test for. So
that people could stop suffering needlessly and get things fixed. –
Bridgett: Right, and it
seems like I’m going to go in next week. In fact, on Halloween, to have my A1C
Colleen: – Better than the day after Halloween.
Bridgett:– On Halloween. But it is odd that, as people that don’t have a medical background,
that you’re not even sure what to ask for and you have to keep going back then.
Like, okay, this time you have to come back and get this done. And that could be,
you know, a whole another set of things. But just like Colleen said, it may not be
included in your insurance. – Right. – So you’re making another visit. –
Jacqui: You need to
make a list.
Colleen: Listeners, make a list of tests. When you hear all these different
episodes, write down the tests that you think would be applicable for you and see
make a list. Listeners, make a list of tests. When you hear all these different
episodes, write down the tests that you think would be applicable for you and see
how creative your doctor can be with the coding and I mean, that’s the reality.
They’ll approve it if there’s coding, but you know, yeah, it’s all about the coding.
Jacqui: I know, which is so frustrating.
Colleen: So you talk about removing some things from your
diet like wheat and dairy, what and coffee. What else besides removing those things
from your diet, what good bacteria can you start eating to improve your gut?
JacquI: Oh,
that’s a great question. Okay, so fermented vegetables, if your body can handle it.
Now, with any digestive issue, you have to go slow with those things, also with
fiber, because, you know, it can actually irritate your digestive tract at the
beginning. So You want to go slow with the fermented vegetables, work up to them.
You want to go slow with fiber, work up to it. But definitely those,
you know, yogurt is great if you can handle dairy. If not,
You want to go slow with fiber, work up to it. But definitely those,
the plant -based yogurts work, kefir, you can get that in dairy or plant hard to
find in plant -based but you can get it.
You want to you know kombucha is helpful for a lot of people but not if you have
SIBO. So it’s everything’s a little bit you know you have to try it and see but
always go slowly with those kind of things. You know you want to you want to
include a lot of vegetables but it might be better at first to do more cooked
vegetables than raw and get your fiber that way. Beans are great for the fiber but
often cause problems with people with digestive issues so those kind of things you
want to tread slowly with but you know it would be great to take a probiotic.
And Saccharomyces balardi, that is a specific strain or probiotic seems to be very
helpful in people with IBS. But again, it’s a good idea to kind of really get in
there and look at what bacteria you’re low in and what you really actually need.
She said saccharomyces. So A common brand is FloraStore,
and besides being helpful for IBS, it also is the only probiotic that I know of
that you can take with an antibiotic. So a lot of times,
pediatricians recommend it when kids go on antibiotics for ear infections. Because
when you want antibiotics, it’s going to decrease, you know, you’re the bad bacteria,
but also all the good bacteria. So taking that probiotic at the same time, you
know, maybe a different time during the day, but in the same day, will help keep
that bacteria in your gut, the good bacteria in balance.
Yeah, because that that sounds like a whole thing is trying to keep things balance.
Exactly. You know what? It’s always about balance, no matter what we’re talking
about? Exactly. Yeah, it’s always about keeping it balanced. It’s always about
balance. And one of the things that you can work on is your vagal tone,
because stress is such a huge part of IBS. And that vagus nerve,
as we said, goes from the brainstem all the way down to the large intestine and
you want to keep that in good shape so it could do its job. And so just simple
about? Exactly. Yeah, it’s always about keeping it balanced. It’s always about
balance. And one of the things that you can work on is your vagal tone,
things like deep breathing, that diaphragmatic breathing can make a big difference in
the vagal tone and really help with IBs symptoms.
Colleen: What else is there?
Jacqui: Like even like mind it says like yoga, meditation are very
helpful, cold exposure, like even just splashing cold water on your face.
Colleen: You don’t have to, you don’t have one of the cold plunge is never going to happen.
JacquI; Um, you know, I know that they’re so great. I just, that’s, that’s where I draw
Um, you know, I know that they’re so great. I just, that’s, that’s where I draw
the line.
Bridgett: I don’t like to be cold, you know, so I can’t even, the thought of
doing that is, but
Jacqui: – Also, even something as simple as laughter helps massage that
whole area. And there are vagal massages you can do and there’s even like a medical
device that helps. And also another probiotic called lactobacillus raminose is another
probiotic besides the
a store.
Bridgett: Where can people get these probiotics?
Jacqui: You know,
online, they can look them up. I mean, I have an online store, but I have them
whole area. And there are vagal massages you can do and there’s even like a medical
device that helps.
It’d be hard to find them. Just know, you know, the names of
them, Lactobacillus raminose and the Saccharomyces bulardi are the two.
And then, and then once you’re, you know, using those and then you can move to a
full spectrum probiotic that has like, you know, a bunch of different strains. But I
always, with that too, always start low. You don’t want to shock your GI system
with a whole bunch of bacteria at once.
Bridgett: Right. Going guard rail to guard rail.
And Colleen
reminds me too, because I was like, I’m going to cut all this. Don’t cut all this
out you don’t know which one’s bothering you.
Colleen: It’s like babies when you start
feeding them. Right. See if there’s an allergy, one thing at a time.
Bridgett:
What about
gastritis? Like because we were going to talk about that as well.
Jacqui: Okay. So I just,
just to end the other one in it, and it’s good for gastritis too.
of the most important things that you can do. Everybody hates doing it, but it is
the most successful way for you to find out what’s working and what’s not working,
what foods are working for you, what combination of foods. I mean, I remember when
I was going through it, I was, you know, keeping a real good food journal and I
realized that I could have chicken and I could have sweet potatoes,
but I could not have them together. Isn’t that weird? That’s fine. my digestive
system wasn’t strong enough to handle like proteins, the digestion of proteins and
carbohydrates at the same time. It was that weak. So I know it gets really tricky.
Bridgett: Yeah, it’s really tricky. I noticed things that in the past that I could handle.
And now I can’t handle like I could eat onions. I used to, I mean, not that I
would eat an onion, but I could, You know, onions on things, fine, now, I cannot
eat a lot of onions. And is that something common that people develop something of
intolerance?
Jacqui- Yeah, I mean, they are a little rough on the GI tract.
They’re part of a family called Allium family. And when I do food sensitivity
testing, I commonly see that, you know, most of that family on So, you know,
I just think it’s it’s one of those things that we just Right.
Bridgett: I just didn’t know
if my body said enough of this never again, you know, like You’ve had your fill for
life.
Jacqui: Yeah, and it’s too bad because they’re so, you know flavorful Good for us.
Bridgett: I know. I know.
Jacqui: Yeah So gastritis another common digestive condition,
but this time affecting the upper GI tract And it’s inflammation.
It often causes damage to the gut lining. This one, you really have to catch early
because where IBS, it’s uncomfortable. You know, it really causes a lot of disruption
in your life. But gastritis could be dangerous. It really can because there’s a,
it can be acute or chronic. It could be erosive or non -erosive. And and it’s it’s
diagnosed with an endoscopy, but it can lead to ulcers and it can lead to even gastric
cancer. One of the main causes of gastritis is H pylori. It’s infection that targets the
people don’t get tested for this enough. I mean, if you’re if you’ve got If you’ve
got acid reflux, if you’re burping, if you’ve got that weird feeling here,
if you feel full soon after eating, and even other stuff, skin issues because
anything in the GI tract is going to show on your skin for the most part, eczema,
psoriasis, all of that stuff.
And, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s really, you have to test for these things and
you have to really, you know, especially the H. Pylori because again,
that can, that’s a real hard one. And it’s, it’s, it’s very common. I think it’s
80 % of the population have it to some degree. That’s huge. That is huge.
and it is passed on from person to person, which is kind of scary.
Bridgett – Oh, so you mean like contagious? – Survival. – Oh my, okay, okay.
32:16
-Jacqui: Modally fluids. And so you would feel like, you know, like a burning pain.
And sometimes my clients that have had like raging H priory have no symptoms. It’s
very bizarre, but most people have acid flux. That’s the main thing. And you can
test this through blood. Your doctor will do a blood test for it. Your GI doctor
could do a breath test for it. And your GI doctor would also do what’s called a
stool antigen test. But honestly, the best best test for this is a stool,
like a PCR stool test because that looks for this H.
pylori at the smallest possible level. So it doesn’t show up in a lot of these
tests unless it’s after a certain mark. And again, then you already have it. You’ve
already got damage from it. But looking in this PCR DNA test,
it’s going to find it so tiny that, you know, you probably don’t even have symptoms
yet. Wow.
Colleen: What can… What treatment? Yeah, what can somebody do about it?
Jacqui: The treatment, okay, depends on how high your levels are and how many are what
called virulence factors you have. So there’s like, I don’t know, seven different
virulence factors, and if And if you have the dangerous ones, then you would opt
for probably the antibiotic treatment. It’s a quadruple therapy. There’s some PPIs in
there and like three different antibiotics. It’s harsh, it’s harsh. It’s really harsh
on the digestive tract. Another reason why you might opt for this is that it takesabout, it just depends, but for most people, two to four weeks to eradicate the H.
pylori. You have to retest and make sure. For natural antimicrobials,
takes like two months, but it’s not going to be anywhere near as harsh on the
system. It just depends because it’s a rough couple of weeks on that antibiotic
therapy and it doesn’t always work. I’ve had clients where they went through all of
that and it came back, didn’t work. –
Colleen: Can they take the probiotics while they’re
doing that therapy? Can those type of patients do that? –
Jacqui: You can, you can. Yeah,
you probably just take that, that fluoromyces, the fluorostore, saccharomyces boulardis
that wouldn’t interfere with it. And then there’s also a whole H. Pylori diet with
specific foods. Broccoli sprouts. I love broccoli sprouts because, you know,
as I said, 80 % of people at H. Pylori, but also broccoli sprouts help with breast
cancer prevention. So it’s like a double whammy there. And they’re good.
Bridgett: I don’t even know if I’ve seen broccoli sprouts. I mean, I know I’ve seen the
other Types of sprouts, but I’m not sure if I have
Jacqui: you probably, you know find
those in like Mostly Whole Foods health food stores, but they also come in capsules.
There’s also like broccoli sprout supplement form.
Bridgett: Okay, okay, but yeah, so Hmm.
Yeah There’s so much to take in right now
Colleen: And that’s why it this kind of
conversation can be because there’s so many, as you’re talking about it, there’s so
many other things that come into play here.
Jacqui: The,as far as the natural therapy, the like gold standard for H. pylori therapy is
something called a mastic gum. It actually is a gum, but you don’t take it in gum
form. You take it in a supplement form, but that’s been like the gold standard for
forever. And that, the broccoli sprouts, you know,
a couple of other antimicrobials that you rotate, but it works well. But you’ve
always got to retest and make sure that H. pylori is eradicated and out of your
system, because it’s a little bugger that likes to hang on. But the main thing I
want people to get out of this is that, you know, if you’ve got any of those
symptoms, make sure that you get tested for it. And if your test comes up negative
and you still have those symptoms, maybe think about doing this, it’s called the GI
MAP test. You can find it online. I do it in my practice and you can get all
kinds of information online about it too. But that’s the test that I see really
identifying it more than other tests. – And that’s the test we talked about in the
beginning of the conversation, right? Yeah, because that test is going to look at
the balance of the good and bad bacteria, it’s going to look at your digestive
function, it’s going to look at all kinds of like parasites and pathogens and gross
viruses and worms and gross stuff like that. But it’s also going to look at H.
pylori. And that’s one of the main reasons I use it, because there’s, you know,
that’s a really important thing to find out that you have and take measures to get
rid of it, whether you decide to go the antibiotic route or the supplement route.
But I’ll tell you, one of the frustrating things is that, you know, if my client
decides to go for the antibiotic, now I’m a nutritionist, I’m not a prescribing
doctor. So they’ve got to take this test to their doctor, their GI, even if you
know what I’m gonna say, right? And the doctors like, I’m not familiar with this
test.
I’m not going to treat you this with this.
Colleen:
And so that’s another thing that
happens, which is unfortunate.
Yeah, and people are so desperate when they’re in this
situation because they can’t function, they can’t go to work, they can’t live their
lives, can’t take their kids to school. I mean, I don’t know that a lot of people
realize how life limiting, it becomes when you struggle with these chronic situations.
Jacqui: – It really does. It’s like, I mean, you know, I can just say when I suffered with
IBS for like 10 years, you know, that was way back when and no one knew anything
about it. And it was like, I never knew how a food was gonna affect me.
So if I went out with my friends for brunch, all of a sudden I’d be like, I have
to go, you know, it’s like, it’s so life limiting. And it’s,
but once you, once you figure it out and you heal it, it’s like a whole new world
opens up. –
Bridgett: It’s amazing ’cause it’s like you don’t wanna be in that pain again.
That’s a thing that you wanna think about just in any kind of aspect. Do I wanna
feel that way again, you know, or can I avoid this?
Jacqui: Yeah. And you know, our
digestion, because it happens automatically, we don’t really think about it until
something goes wrong. And then, and then that’s all we can think about. Right? Oh,
yeah.
Bridgett: Anybody that’s got to go to the bathroom quickly. That’s the only thing on
your mind. I know. I know.
Colleen: And that is like you said, with stress and me.
It just exacerbates it. Right. It exacerbates the whole thing. And this is really
interesting.
Jacqui: Did you know that there’s hypnotherapy now for IBS? I did not know
that. Oh, yeah. So I have a colleague who’s a really wonderful hypnotherapist and
she’s a consultant for an app called NERVA, which literally is seeing like 93 %
improvement in IBS symptoms from, for people that consistently use the app.
I don’t work for them. (laughing) – You’re not sponsored.
Bridgett: – Yeah, I’m writing that
down. I’m writing that down. – I think it’s N -E -R -V -A.
– Okay. – Yeah, like over 90 % success right. And so it’s basically,
you go on there, you become a member, I guess, and, and you listen to these
recordings that help to just, you know,
rewire your brain. So your nervous system can function more efficiently. And it,
you know, you know, I just remember, you know, when, when I was suffering from
that, and I would just like intuitively, like, like kind of try to calm down and
do deep breathing and things like this and it would almost always help. So I could
see that this could be really, you know, the ticket for a lot of people.
Bridgett: Oh,
that’s, that is great to know. I mean, because there’s situations, you know, like if
you’re on a long flight, or if you’re in the car in the middle of anywhere. I
could listen right now. Airplanes, bus rides, traffic,
Colleen: School plays, been there, done all night,
on stage. Yeah, exactly. It’s almost like instinctual when they say, OK, we’re
closing the gate. And you’re like, I don’t know how to do that. It’s so awful.
Jacqui: Another resource I wanted to give you is there’s a website called Help for IBS.
It’s– I find it really good. She gives you a whole list of like cheat foods, like
cheat list, and then the whole list of the things to stay away from and what to
have instead. She sells some really interesting teas like fennel tea,
which is, which really helps to calm down the digestive tract. So that’s another
good resource I’ve been using for years with my clients.
Colleen: Well, we’ll try to find
those and put the links in the show notes.
Jackie, thank you so much. This was a,
you know, personally, I thought it was very interesting. Hopefully a lot of the
listeners will also– – I think a lot of listeners will really benefit from this.
– Well, ’cause, you know, anxiety in your gut, I think it wasn’t till we got older
that we realized how intertwined your brain and your gut are. You don’t think of
it, but like you said, with the vagus nerve, it’s like a direct line. – Yeah, it’s
like a way. It’s like a different way. And I mean, what better example of mind
-body connection is there? Right. It’s amazing. It is. It’s really amazing. So I hope
that, you know, people are inspired to push forward and really look for their root
causes so that they can, you know, get some relief from this and start living a
better life. Right. Thank you. We’ll have your website also up for the people who
want to take information as well. So thank you, Jackie. We appreciate it.
Jacqui: You’re welcome. I really enjoyed being with you guys today.