Hey guys, welcome back to our YouTube channel.
Today I want to talk to you guys about something that is very common that I see in my practice.
And that I have realized really plays a role in a lot of gastrointestinal and fatigue and
skin related issues.
And that thing is parasites.
Now, I do stool testing on just about all of my new patients.
Because if you understand anything about functional medicine or naturopathic medicine, you'll
know that the health of your gut is so intimately linked with your overall health.
That it makes so much sense to always start evaluating the health of the gut, right of
the bat.
And so, I do stool testing on just about all of my patients and I think it's quite surprising
to see that about fifty percent of people that I run the stool test on actually do have
some sort of parasite.
I think in medicine, very often we think of parasites as not that common or something
that only happens in lesser developed countries or you know, maybe animals have parasites.
But, I am here to tell you that I see this just about every day.
That parasites are a lot more common and they just might be the cause of your gastrointestinal
complaints or your fatigue or your skin or even joint paint.
The test that I like to use here in the office is from Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory, it's
called the GI Map test.
And I really prefer that test, because it's a DNA based analysis.
The problem with traditional stool testing is that they are only looking for the actual
adult parasite or the eggs.
And the problem with that, is that parasites have a different life cycles.
And so if you happen to run a stool test during a time when maybe the parasite is in a different
form or it's not in a form where you will be able to catch an egg or see a warm under
a microscope.
Than you might get a false negative.
But with the GI MAP, it's sort of looking at the DNA fingerprint, that's how I like
to think of it.
And so, it's highly sensitive, highly specific and if there is any trace of that microbe
in the GI tract, the GI MAP is highly likely to pick it up.
Some of the most common parasites that I see come back positive on those tests; are Giardia,
Blastocystis hominis, and also Endolimax nana.
And Blastocystis hominis is interesting because it has a high correlation with Celiac Disease.
Especially in celiac patients that have a hard time keeping weight on.
Blastocystis hominis is thought to play a role in that.
I've also seen so many of my IBS patients that have Blastocystis or Endolimax nana.
And its also surprising to see how many patients are positive for Giardia, but don't have the
overt symptoms.
Typically when I think of Giardia infection, the classic presentation is diarrhea, you
know foul smelling stools.
But I have seen patients that mostly asymptomatic, but still carry the Giardia and sometimes
even have constipation vs diarrhea.
So once I see that these infections are positive in my patients, we have to do very specific
nutrition therapy combined with herbal antimicrobials that are very broad spectrum.
So things like; Allicin extract from garlic, also red thyme oil and oregano are very effective.
It's important to work with a practitioner when you're using these oils though, because
there are some contraindications for some of these.
And you want to make sure that you understand how to take them, who they are safe for and
how long to take them.
So that's also really important.
But I just wanted to throw that out there, that if you've got unresolved GI symptoms,
if you've tried changing your diet.
If you've got weird unexplained skin conditions, but your diet is clean and you're not using
any weird skin products, that would explain it.
It's worth while to find a practitioner who can do a very comprehensive stool test to
see if you do in fact have parasites.
Because removing infections can often be the first step in getting better.
Sometimes diet and stress management isn't enough.
It really takes a lot of investigative work to dig deeper, find out what's really going
on.
And so I hope you guys found this helpful.
If you have any questions or comments, leave your remarks down below.
And I will see you next time!