Introduction

Hello Everyone!

My name is Katie and i am a 21 year old living in suburban Massachusetts living with leaky gut. Now for some of you who may not know what that is...

Leaky Gut (aka. intestinal permeability) is when your digestive system isn't properly functioning! Rather than allowing smaller single amino acids to pass though the intestinal lining into your blood stream, it allows larger partially undigested proteins to pass through and make havoc on your body! This leads to all sorts of nasty problems :/ in my case the allergic to "everything", resistance to weight loss, weight gain, stomach bloating, mild to severe stomach pain and a backed up lymphatic system. For other people they can also have problems like: constipation, diarrhea, gas, vitamin deficiencies, frequent colds, intense seasonal allergies or other inflammatory responses. 

PICTURE TIME!

Now to explain this. I like to think of my intestinal lining like little security guards (like the ones at Buckingham Palace..who don't do their job apparently) who are the gate keepers to my blood stream and SHOULD let only fully broken down proteins through. Now see my guards got lazy and decided to let anyone into my blood stream and thats where we get this leaky gut party started! Now the impermeability can be caused from many things: an overactive adrenal gland, infection, taking NSAIDs medications, hormonal or neurological problems, or a bad diet. And the best part of all of it?!.. drum roll... this diagnosis is not accepted by all "traditional" doctors and is a process of elimination for the diagnosis not just a set test. 


Now all of this came from about five years of playing the super fun game of "guess whats making Katie sick?!". I had been to my primary care doctor and at every visit i would make mentions of my growing stomach pains. The past three years after consistently going to from specialist to specialist just to end up begging for tests that i have determined from my oh so reliable internet searches to perhaps contain the answer. First i thought it was my thyroid (which wouldn't have been too far off) since hypothyroidism was in issue in my family, i had at this point gained about thirty pounds and after reading the symptoms so many times i'm pretty sure i convinced myself i was loosing my hair and had thickening skin. Now blood test after test kept coming back as negative, within normal range or positive. Nothing was coming close to my badly needed diagnosis. 

Now after this point i had been looking for a new PCP since i was getting annoyed and felt like he wasn't taking my pain seriously. I mean what does a girl have to do to get some attention around here?! I know i wasn't blowing up like a pufferfish and turning blue but just because you can't see it apparently that makes some people feel like your problem isn't real. :(

I had heard about integrative doctors and i liked the more holistic approach to healthcare. So in conjunction with him my new holistic primary care and a naturopath we came to my mystery diagnosis.

Now i was set off on my way with a new diet, new medications and some lifestyle adjustments to manage my pain and make me a healthier and happier me! (see future post)

And now we start my story and battle with managing a health leaky-free life...