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Vibe

Naturopathy

Stool Testing

Digestive Stool Analysis: How testing your poo can help you

The Naturopaths at Vibe Natural Health in Brisbane discuss stool testing for digestive health.

The quality of your stools can reveal a lot about your health. Stool testing is a non-invasive type of testing used to measure how well your body is working, and can be used to gain important insight into the state of your digestive health. Take the guess work out of treating your digestive issues and talk to our Naturopaths about what type of digestive stool analysis will be most beneficial for your digestive issues.

If you’ve had persistent digestive problems, the first thing you should do is have a check up with your doctor to make sure there’s nothing serious going on. Remember, knowledge is power when it comes to your own body and early detection with bowel issues is the best way to ensure nothing nasty is happening with your insides; we have in house Doctors at Vibe Natural Health in Brisbane who can assess medical causes of unresolved, chronic digestive complaints. We often see clients who have been to their GP or Gastroenterologist, had scans or colonoscopies and are told everything is fine, you may just have IBS. It's good news to know there's nothing major wrong, but you still need help rebalancing the health of your gut. This is where Naturopaths can help you identify the functional causes and help you restore your digestion back to its full potential.

Do you suffer from any of the following signs or symptoms when it comes to your digestion?

  • Abdominal fullness after eating
  • Bloating
  • Excessive or extra smelly gas
  • Chronic diarrhoea, constipation or alternating bowel movements
  • Regular digestive pain, cramping or discomfort
  • Food intolerances
  • Reflux or heartburn
  • Undigested food or mucous in your stools

Common causes of digestive imbalance can include:

  • Excessive courses of antibiotics or a history of high antibiotic use
  • Oral Contraceptive Pill and other medication use
  • Parasitic or bacterial infections
  • Yeast overgrowth
  • Imbalanced good and bad bacteria levels
  • Poor diet
  • High levels of stress
  • Chemical exposure
  • History of food poisoning or traveller’s diarrhoea

If you’ve tried multiple treatments or diets to find the cause of your gut issues, but you’re still looking for answers, stool testing could be the answer for you. These comprehensive tests go a step above the basic poo tests run by your GP. The basic tests are always a good first port of call and they are usually free or of low cost. The Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis is the rolls Royce of stool testing, giving us a wealth of information about your insides.

Do you find yourself saying,

"I just don’t feel quite right"

Do you find yourself saying,

"I just don’t feel quite right"

Book your Naturopathy Appointment

What to expect from your Naturopathy consultation

The best way to understand the cause of dysfunction in the body is to take a comprehensive health history. Your Naturopath will spend an hour with you at your first consultation asking questions about all the systems in your body – this gives us the framework to understand which areas of your body are working well and which areas need help.

Your Naturopath will give you an evaluation of your health, a plan for your treatment and then ask you in which order of priority you would like to treat your health issues. You will receive a hands on treatment and be given proactive recommendations to take home to improve your health.

PRICING Elysia Humphries:

Initial Consultation           90 minutes     $300

Follow Up Consultation   45 minutes     $150

PRICING Ananda Mahony:

Initial Consultation           60 minutes     $200

Follow Up Consultation   30 minutes     $100

PRICING Georgia Limmer:

Initial Consultation           60 minutes     $200

Follow Up Consultation   30 minutes     $100

Meet the Naturopaths at Vibe Natural Health Brisbane

Elysia Humphries Naturopath BrisbaneElysia Humphries

Elysia is one of the most experienced naturopaths in Brisbane and she is passionate about integrating Naturopathy into our health care system. Her treatments combine a balance of nutritional advice, pathology testing, lifestyle advice and evidence based natural medical advice.

Ananda Mahony Naturopath BrisbaneAnanda Mahony

Ananda has developed programs to assist in management of pain from autoimmune conditions, digestive complaints, hormonal conditions, functional issues, musculoskeletal problems and neuropathies. 

Georgia Limmer Naturopath BrisbaneGeorgia Limmer

Georgia is down-to-earth, committed and she works quickly to get the best results for her patients.

She sees a broad range of patients often treating several members of families at a time.

 

The comprehensive stool test tells us:

  • Your levels of probiotics, the good gut bugs
  • Your levels of yeast, commensals and dysbiotic bacteria

these guys if in high numbers, with low “good guys” can be the cause of long term gut problems.

  • Parasitology – tests for hundreds of weird a wacky parasites. The best way to check for these is to collect poo samples on multiple days. Testing stools with only one sample can miss detecting parasites, as they may not appear in your poo on that particular day. If parasites are found, this test will test the herbs and drugs in the lab to recommend which treatment option to use to eliminate your individual parasite. Pretty cool!
  • Enzymes and undigested food

Markers of whether you’re breaking your food down properly.

  • Inflammation markers :

lyzosyme, lactoferrin, white blood cells – really important in helping detect inflammatory bowel disease and differentiating between IBS and inflammatory bowel problems.

  • Secretory IgA

this is the gut’s first line of defense against food allergy, parasites and bad gut bugs. If this is high or low, you may have a parasite or food allergy. Correcting this is essential to improving your digestive health long term and preventing future issues. Low secretory IgA leaves you wide open to future gut problems if not corrected.

  • Short Chain Fatty Acids

check if your good gut bugs are digesting your fibre properly. SCFAs decrease inflammation, stimulate healing, and contribute to normal gut cell metabolism.

  • Calprotectin

a protein released by a type of white blood cell called a neutrophil. When there is inflammation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, neutrophils move to the area and release calprotectin, resulting in an increased level in the stool. It is a marker of inflammatory bowel disease.

A Naturopath can help to determine which level and type of testing is most relevant to your symptoms and can check for the underlying cause of your digestive woes.

We use Doctors Data Laboratories in the USA. This stool test allows our Naturopaths to find out exactly what is going on within your digestive tract and plan a comprehensive and personalised treatment protocol specific to your needs.

 

We know if you have a bad bug, and the test tells us which herbs or medicines that bug was eradicated with under a laboratory setting. This test is our “go to test” for our clients who’ve had ongoing digestive problems for years that have been resistant to treatment. It helps us hone in on exactly the right course of treatment and also picks up inflammation, which if present we always refer to our Doctors or to a Specialist.

So if you’re fed up with crappy digestion (no pun intended) book in to see a Naturopaths today to discuss your symptoms and treatment options to get your digestive health back to balance.

 

 

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