“I've never been the same since….” Balancing your digestion after an overseas trip

Now most of us have suffered from some form of upset stomach whilst travelling overseas. If you haven't then I don't recommend it, for anyone…ever! Although the silver lining is that it does test the relationship of the person you are traveling with, even if my boyfriend and I now only refer to it as ‘the incident’.

For those of you that have been struck down on holidays you probably recovered quickly and continued to enjoy the remainder of your holiday. Some are not as lucky and find that they just haven't been the same since they got sick.

The phrase “I haven't been the same since…” is something that I hear way to often. But it is a strong indication that when they got sick something happened inside their digestive system that through the balance right out.

There are generally 3 things that occur when this happens to us:

1) persistent infection

2) Underlying disease

3) Unknown cause

PERSISTANT INFECTION

GIARDIA

Giardia is a common infection that people present with after travelling overseas. If it is left untreated then symptoms may last for months.

Other intestinal parasites may also cause persistent symptoms. Other bacterial infections which may be contributing to symptoms include the presence of E-coli and other strains of bacteria.

This essentially means that the thing that made you sick, has stuck around in your guts. Gross, I know, but it makes sense if you have never been the same since!

UNDERLYING DISEASE

Occasionally you may find that if you are experiencing persistent gastrointestinal symptoms after returning from overseas it may be due to a chronic infection or gastrointestinal imbalance has been bought out or aggravated after the gastro that you experienced. This means that food intolerance's may appear and other symptoms associated like bloating, diarrhoea, constipation etc. Occasionally people who are genetically susceptible to inflammatory bowel conditions such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease may find that these types of conditions appear as a result.

UNKNOWN CAUSES

In a certain percentage of patients who present with persistent gastrointestinal symptoms, no specific source will be found. Due to the use of medications during the initial days of diarrhoea it is safe to assume that alterations in intestinal microflora have occurred which will contribute to long term gastrointestinal symptoms.

Occasionally, the onset of symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can be traced to an acute bout of gastroenteritis. IBS that develops after an acute episode of being sick has been termed post-infectious (PI)-IBS.

SYMPTOMS

Symptoms vary for everyone who sufferers from the conditions described above. Common gastrointestinal presentations include nausea, lack of appetite, bloating, cramping, changes in bowl motions and increased amouts of flatulence.

SCREENING

So how do you determine whats going on for you? If you fall into this category of never being the same since, then it is important that you know there are many things that can be done, and how to go about it.

Clinically, I find that doing a stool analysis is the best way to fully determine what is causing the symptoms. It is painless and can be done in the comfort of your own home. It gives a good overview of what is occurring and allows treatment to be targeted to exactly the cause of the symptoms.

TREATMENT

Treatment, like with any condition depends upon the person. In Naturopathy we treat the person, not the condition, so it is hard to have a one size fits all answer. Generally treatment will combine a combination of:

Restricting aggravating foods: Through looking at your diet we can determine foods that are aggravating your symptoms. In order to allow the digestive system to heal we need to remove these foods to reduce the burden being placed on your body during this time.

Killing off any infection or bad bacteria: As mentioned above the causes of such symptoms can be related to the presence of unwanted bacteria or pathogens in our digestive system. Specially combined herbal mixtures allow us to kill off the bad bacteria while keeping the good bacteria in our digestive tract, ready for the next stage of treatment.

Repairing the digestive tract: a combination of herbal and nutritional medicine allows up to repair the damage that has been done, and bring everything back into balance.

Re-introducing foods and allowing you to live a normal life again: an individualised plan is put together to make sure the body is dealing with these foods properly and your digestive system is wiring efficiently.

Talking to your naturopath or other health care practitioner is important, to ensure that these issues are being addressed and treated effectively. Because you don’t have to continue living with these issues, they are a relatively easy fix, compared to if they are left long term.

Karah is available for consultations in Ocean Grove, Geelong and Melbourne. You can keep up to date on everything health by liking her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/karahmnaturopath and following her on instagram @belyhealth

Peninsula Family Medical Practice, Ocean Grove. Ph 03 52562001

Aura Health & Beauty, Geelong. Ph 03 52433966

A Peace of Health Clinic, Melbourne CBD. Ph 0396633665