Signs and Symptoms of Dysbiosis

• The common digestive issues will include chronic diarrhea, heartburn, chronic constipation, bloating, belching, abdominal pain, frequent indigestion, bad breath, foul-smelling stools, undigested food in the stool.

Gut dysbiosis can lead to intestinal lining changes, which then increases the permeability of the intestine. This results in leaky gut syndrome—also called increased intestinal permeability. Basically, the lining of the intestines and bowel loses its integrity, which opens the door to parasites, viruses, bacteria, and also undigested food molecules. The aggravated immune system will also become unstable, and may attack the body and even lead to autoimmune diseases.

Natural Treatment for Dysbiosis.

In general, dysbiosis symptoms and treatment go hand in hand. This means that the dysbiosis treatment should be based on a person’s symptoms and conditions. The first step in the treatment of dysbiosis is the removal of various aggravating factors like antibiotics, other drugs, and certain dietary factors that may be the cause of the bacterial or organism overgrowth. Some drugs used in a dysbiosis treatment may include rifaxamin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, or co-trimoxazole. However, there are also several remedies used in a natural dysbiosis treatment that may be useful as well. 

For restoration of normal flora, sometimes bacterial preparations are used probiotics: eubiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics. Eubiotics are prepared from live strains or bacterial metabolites. Examples of monocomponent preparations are ‘Bifidumbacterin’, ‘Lactobacterin’, ‘Colibacterin’, and polycomponent ones: ‘Bffilong’ (contains B. bifidum and B. longum), ‘Linex’ (B. acidophilus, B. infantis, E. faecalis).

During the recent years, apart from liophilized (dried) formulations, liquid preparations from Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. are started to be used, followed by production of soured milk products. It is considered to be that efficacy of such preparation might be higher, because they already contain ready-to-use biologically active compounds and also activity of bacteria themselves is higher.

Prebiotics are thought to stimulate the activity and growth of of the “good bacteria.” in the gut. That is why it is a good idea to also take supplements with prebiotics like fructooligosaccharides (FOS), inulin, citrus pectin, and high-soluble fiber from psyllium. Lactulose is a disaccharide, which also applies to prebiotics.

Synbiotic - contain live microorganisms and prebiotics.

Complications of Dysbiosis

There are various complications of gut dysbiosis. Here is a deeper look at some of the complications and conditions that may result from dysbiosis:

• Atopic eczema: Skin conditions are a common result of dysbiosis, but especially atopic eczema. Most atopic eczema patients have malabsorption and intestinal dysbiosis.

• Candida: Candida is the condition where fungus and yeast will grow out of control, and lead to certain debilitating symptoms like persistent fatigue, muscle pain, constipation, and rectal itching.

• Irritable bowel syndrome: Various studies have found that IBS patients have a greater likelihood of abnormal fecal flora.

• Other possible dysbiosis complications: When dysbiosis is left untreated it can lead to severe fungal infections, and even increase the risk of cancer.