Never the Same Since...

Does the story of your digestive problem start with the line: “I never really had any problems until… I caught the flu one year.” or “…I got food poisoning.” or “…I had a major illness.” or “…I had surgery.” or “…I went to Mexico.” or “…I was in a car accident.” or “…there was a tragic death in my family.” or “…I went through a very stressful divorce.” ?

And then does your story continue with the phrase “…and I’ve never been the same since.”?

This theme of digestive problems seeming to begin after an illness or important event is common among patients at the IBS Treatment Center. Digestive problems often start to manifest themselves more significantly after a sickness, international travel or stressful experience. Or, they simply seem to start altogether after such an event. Why does this happen?

Any type of physical or emotional stress, even if it seemed inconsequential at the time, can affect one’s overall health. And what impacts one part of your body truly does impact the entire system. Stress of any type takes energy to deal with and is a drain on your resources. When you do not recover normally from the flu, food poisoning, etc, it is generally a sign that there is a lot more to your problem than the issue that seemed to trigger it.

People often go along for years or even decades adapting to food allergies, bacterial imbalances, or yeast overgrowths without suffering too many consequences. The problem may not be severe enough for them to take much notice, or they don’t even perceive that there is a problem.

Eventually these issues catch up to them.

Humans can put up with a lot and they are experts at adapting. That is why we have survived so well for so long as a species. But the body can only cope with so much. When we don’t bounce back from an illness or mental stressor, then it means that there are other problems that may have also been impacting and weakening the digestive system - often long before the event that we associate with the start of the issue.

Discovering and dealing with these hidden issues is the key to finding a long-term resolution to your problem, and doing so often results in improving more than just your digestion. Even though you didn’t realize it, these other issues may have been affecting your energy, your clarity of thought, the health of your skin, your musculoskeletal system, and just about any system of the body. The side effects of treating the cause of your digestive problem are almost always positive and can be far reaching.

Regardless of whether the onset of your digestive problems is linked to a specific event or stressor, or it is something you have been suffering with your entire life, tracking down and dealing with the underlying issues requires the same type of detective process. Solving these types of problems is our specialty at the IBS Treatment Center. No matter how many different physicians and health care providers you have seen in the past, if you aren’t well yet, we want to help you make the break through to good health.

Article Courtesy:  Dr. Stephen Wangen