digestive stool analysis The inside information BY DIANA ARUNDELL – UNIVERSITY QUALIFIED NATUROPATH
We don’t know what we don’t know about the human body however as time progresses, modern science leads to discoveries and tools which provide valuable confirmation when diagnosing health conditions. Orthodox medicine is brilliant at identifying and treating acute illness and naturopathic medicine is of particular benefit in the treatment of chronic health issues. Naturopaths have been banging on about the importance of the gut and digestive health for many decades and if tv commercials are anything to go by, it appears now everyone is more interested in gut health.
Digestive disturbance can present in many ways: excessive burping/ flatulence, too loose/hard stools, bloating, pain/cramping, blood/mucous present in stools, urgency, frequency or lack of regular bowel motions, reflux/ heartburn, nutrient deficiencies etc and it’s not always easy to identify specific causes. Excellent case history taking, examination and pathology testing are essential and used to be all that could be relied upon for accurate diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal issues. More recently, other functional investigations such as digestive stool analysis has become available and can provide very specific information about what is going on inside the digestive tract and may lead to otherwise difficult to determine causes of some of the above presentations.
Comprehensive digestive stool analysis also known as gastrointestinal (GI) mapping uses a stool sample to measure the health of the gut microbiome and other indicators of digestion, absorption, infection and inflammation. Specific treatment plans may be more confidently prescribed based on actual results of what is going on for that individual. More modern stool analysis uses technology that gives quantifiable amounts of bacteria, viruses, fungal or parasitic load which is also important as this can indicate directly what may be contributing to otherwise difficult to determine causes of digestive upset. It’s especially useful as many bacteria are beneficial and essential to good gut health in certain numbers, however can be problematic if out of balance so a simple positive or negative
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