Leaky Gut Disease

Hello,
I believe I am suffering from Leaky Gut disease and I was wondering if anyone had these or similiar symptoms:  coughing up mucus, occasional sinus infection and headache, nausua, twists and turns in lower intestine, IBS symptoms, sorta of a bad taste in mouth and on my breathe.  Are these clear signs of leaky gut?

If this leaky gut disease, how long will it last and what can I do to make this go away?

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Hello - thanks for asking your question.

Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS) is a disease that is more widely accepted from the alternative medicine perspective.  This is all information that I found on my websearch.

LGS means just what it sounds like. The lining of the intestinal tract is no longer perfectly protecting our inner body from the foreign substances in the outside world. Remember, inside your intestinal tract is still outside your body. Just like inside your mouth is still outside your body--you have to go through the lining of your mouth to get inside your body. Things from the outside world travel through the tube from mouth to anus. The function of the lining of that tube is to break those substances down into particles that are so simple that, when absorbed, they can no longer be identified by our immune system as having come from something outside our body.

Altered intestinal permeability is a key element in the pathogenesis of many different diseases. Hyperpermeability initiates a vicious cycle in which allergic sensitization, endotoxic immune activation, hepatic dysfunction, pancreatic insufficiency and malnutrition occur; each of these increases the leakiness of the small bowel. Effective treatment of the Leaky Gut Syndromes requires several components: avoidance of enterotoxic drugs and allergic foods, elimination of infection or bacterial overgrowth with antimicrobials and probiotics, and dietary supplementation with trophic nutrients.

I stress that this answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Thanks,
Kevin, M.D.

Links:
ADAM - Leaky Gut Syndrome
http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism/gut.htm

Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory - Leaky Gut Syndrome
http://www.gsdl.com/news/1999/19990227/index.html

Sobieraj.com - Gut Restoration
http://people.bu.edu/sobieraj/nutrition/gut.html

[PAJ]

Howard, you symptoms sugest Candida infection ,you may well have L/G syndrome it

[Hyena of Ice]

"coughing up mucus, occasional sinus infection and headache, nausua, twists and turns in lower intestine, IBS symptoms, sorta of a bad taste in mouth and on my breathe. Are these clear signs of leaky gut?"

Sounds more like symptoms of food allergy, to me.  But then, I personally think Leaky Gut Syndrome is for the most part BS.  
In fact, those are all telltale signs of a histamine reaction.  Other common symptoms are excema (sp?) or excema-like skin inflammations, as well as a general feeling of itchyness all over your body.  

Do keep in mind that there's a huge difference between food sensitivity and food allergy.  

Food sensitivities are generally caused either by (non-allergic) irritation (fatty foods, spicy foods, alcohol, various poisons) or by the inability of the patient's body to digest certain compounds.  Sugars of just about any kind are one of the most common (lactose, sucrose, fructose, etc.)  

Food allergy runs along the same principle as hayfever.  It's something you're actually ALLERGIC to, only it's a tad bit worse than hayfever, because the offending compound my accumulate in your tissues for a short while, producing systemic allergic reactions (If you're really, severely allergic, it will cause a serious condition known as anaphalaptic shock.)

In the case of food allergy, your body treats the offending compound as a pathogen.  This means the following:
*Diarrhea to flush the toxins and pathogens out of the body as quickly as possible
*runny nose and sinuses to wash the offending pathogens out of the nasal and sinus passages and to protect the inflamed mucusal membranes
*Possible low-grade fever
*ecxema-like skin rashes and itchyness all over the body
I have noticed that people and animals with inflammitory skin reactions often have a foul-smelling odor that emanates from shedded skin.