What My Sciatica Has Taught Me about Gut Health

Welcome to The Perfect Stool: Understanding and Healing the Gut Microbiome. This is your host, Lindsey Parsons, and today I'm going to be talking about what going through sciatica has taught me about gut health. Now, if you're thinking, I'm not interested in sciatica, so I'm just going to tune out now, don't do that. I think you might find a lot of useful information on gut health and autoimmune health and just dealing with your health in general. In this podcast. So by way of history, I've been going through a pretty awful bout of sciatica over the last 4+ months, which had been up until about 4 or 5 days ago, what felt like a slow, inexorable slide into disability. And with each passing day, despite all my best efforts, I could see a little bit of loss of function over the previous day. And as of last Wednesday, which was towards the end of August 2020, if you're listening to this much later, I was even finding it challenging to sit up straight. I couldn't walk more than 3 steps without having to stop to stretch so that my muscle spasms would let up, and my nights were basically spent writhing in pain until I could feed myself enough ibuprofen, pharmaceuticals, and melatonin to finally knock me out, only to wake up about 2 hours later when my hip got sore from sleeping on my right side. Then I'd spend about an hour on the floor doing stretches to stop the muscle spasms and kill time because there was really no other comfortable position I could lie in. But you'll be glad to hear that things have finally started to turn a corner and I can now sit up easily and walk a bit, but I am still taking it easy as I heal. But during this time, I did a lot of thinking about gut health and how my journey with sciatica related to it. So here are some lessons I learned that I think might be useful to those of you who are struggling with a gut health, autoimmune, or other mystery health issue. Number 1: Don't wait too long to see a professional. So when I first started having back pain, I assumed that if I just kept doing the right stretches and I used good posture that my back pain would eventually go away as it had before. But the reality was I was really 2 years into pretty consistent back pain. And if I could say something to the Lindsey of December 2019, or even July 2019, I would have said, go see your doctor, get a referral for physical therapy, take care of this before it gets worse, because I had no idea of how bad it could get. So similarly, if you're having gut health problems and you've been trying to take care of it on your own, or only seeing traditional MDs, while you've been doing that, your problem may be going from what Dr. Daniel Kalish calls a stage 1 gut problem, which involves some loss of gut diversity, to a stage 2 gut problem with compromised organ function that could impact your hydrochloric acid production, enzyme, or bile production, and consequent damage to your gut lining, gut immunity, to a stage 3 problem in which you've acquired, or your system has allowed, the overgrowth of a pathogen. Because of the weakness of compromised organ function and lowered gut immunity. So left even longer, this can lead to autoimmune disease, increasing food intolerances, and mast cell activation syndrome, in which you quickly have what appears to be an allergic reaction to a whole slew of inputs, including many foods. So the longer you wait, the harder, the more expensive, and the longer it will take you to solve your problem. And honestly, the more you'll suffer. Whatever concern I had in July or December of 2019 regarding spending the time or money to solve my problem, it pales in comparison to the amount of lost time suffering that I could never have imagined and money that I've now spent on so many different modalities to try to solve my problem. Not to mention the opportunity cost of not spending time on my business while I've been trying to get well. Lesson number 2: Don't reject traditional modalities if they can bring you relief while you search for the root cause. With my sciatica, I held out hope the right kind of physical therapy with consistent follow-through, eating a super low-inflammatory diet, taking the right supplements, and staying active would help me recover. However, my decline really just continued. I waited way too long to see a doctor, and when I heard that the next step would likely be a hydrocortisone injection, I purposely delayed following up in hopes that things would get better and I could avoid the shot. And as a result, I probably spent an additional 5 weeks of sleepless nights writhing in pain and got much worse before I finally had my first injection last Thursday, which I don't regret at all, no matter what the potential side effects of injecting myself with hydrocortisones. And I also tried, I also tried for so long to avoid taking NSAIDs or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for pain, but finally realized that I was suffering a lot unnecessarily. And I am now pretty much up to the maximum dose of ibuprofen each day while protecting my stomach with DGL and shilajit. That's S-H-I-L-I-J-A-T in case you're wondering what that is. So the gut health connection here is that I sometimes hear from clients that they've refused certain treatments from their doctors, especially around autoimmune disease and biologic drugs. That might bring them relief. And while I'm a strong advocate of finding and addressing the root cause of any problem, if you're really suffering or your health is in serious danger, it is okay to try traditional treatments for a time while looking for the root cause. Don't be a martyr. Number 3: Don't let the medical industrial complex put you off from finding solutions. So one of the biggest roadblocks in getting to the root of my problem was my insurance wanting me to do at least a month of physical therapy before I got an MRI. But it's clear from almost the beginning of physical therapy that I was in way too much pain to do most of the exercises I was being given. Nothing was helping and I was still going downhill. And I finally just resolved to pay for the MRI myself because I felt it was important to have some insight into what was going on inside of me. And they were clearly trying to make me jump through a thousand hoops to approve it. I didn't want to pay for the test, but in the end, testing can give you real insight into root causes. So if you're hesitating to spend the money on gut testing that isn't covered by your insurance and that your doctor doesn't know about or won't order, I'd urge you to reconsider. For gut health, there are two tests that I recommend to clients to help you find out what's going on in your gut and with your health. They're the Organic Acids Test, which is $325. You can order it yourself online, and it can enlighten you as to yeast and fungal overgrowth, bacterial overgrowth and dysbiosis, problems with carbohydrate, fatty acid, and amino acid metabolism, detoxification issues, energy production issues, and neurotransmitter problems. The other test I recommend if problems are mostly confined to the gut is a thorough gut health test like the Diagnostic Solutions GI-MAP or Doctor's Data GI-360, which each run around $399, and you can order them yourself online as well. And these tests will alert you to problems in your digestive system like a lack of hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes, or fat metabolism problems, as well as test for specific pathogens including pathogenic bacteria and parasites. And it'll also tell you which medications will work well against those pathogens. It's a rare insurance that will pay for these, although your HSA or your FSA might, but they are worth their weight in gold for the information they'll give you so you're not shooting in the dark. And if that's not financially possible, a less expensive option is doing a metagenomic sequencing of your gut through SunGenomics. They have a test called Flora Gut Test, and if you go through the link on my website or the one I'll put in the show notes, it's only $147. And you can order the raw data and that will tell you everything that's in your gut if you know how to interpret it. So you could look for pathogens, for example, especially if, say, you suspect a parasite. So if you're hesitating on testing, just think about how over time you can waste a ton of money buying every supplement you hear someone recommending on a podcast or at a health summit while building up a lovely supplement graveyard and getting no closer to a solution. So it's really better to go around the medical industrial complex's rules order your own tests, and get a functional medicine provider to help you understand the results. Number 4: Listen to anyone's and everyone's advice. You never know where your solution may come from. So as things got worse and even the checkout clerks at the grocery store knew about my sciatica, I started getting advice from them and everyone else who heard my story. I also joined a Facebook group on sciatica and frequently popped in there to commiserate and find advice. So some of the advice didn't work out, but Some was useful, and some of the most useful stuff was actually about the mental game, 'cause I've been working myself into a giant pity party in which I was focusing so many hours a day on my pain and helplessness. And I think that my mind was just feeding into the problem rather than helping solve it. But someone in the Facebook group said she would meditate and picture her nerves flowing freely through her spine. And that image has helped me go to sleep so many nights as I used my mind to help calm my muscle spasms. And then on the subject of not knowing where your best advice will come from, I was actually listening to a summit on toxic mold when I heard about a special modality of physical therapy and a machine called a frequency-specific device that helps reduce inflammation. That may end up being one of the key elements of my healing in addition to the injections. Even my plumber showed me a stretch no one else had shown me that helped with his sciatica. So really don't reject advice just because of the source. Give everything a good listen. And if you're not ready to try it, put in your back pocket for later because you you may get to the end of your rope and want to try anything and everything that's possible. Number 5, don't be afraid to ask for help. So as I was falling into disability, I realized that the more I was up and around trying to cook and clean and do all the things of everyday life, the more it was hurting me. The moment I had to tell my family that I really needed them to step up and help make my food and do my dishes, I couldn't hold back the tears. I've never considered myself one of those self-sacrificial people who always did for others and never asked anything for herself, but this was really one of the hardest things I've ever done. But of course my husband stepped up and started filling in and got our boys to do more, and his kindness in this has really brought us closer. If you're really suffering, let people help you. Don't do things that will make you worse. It truly brings others joy to help, even if it forces us to humble ourselves, but there is growth in that humility. And also don't be afraid to reschedule or cancel things. People will understand. People have been very understanding with me when I've been honest with them. When you're well again, you can pay it backward to those who helped you or forward to someone else who's suffering. Number 6: Don't keep it all inside. Chronic pain and illness is not just physically debilitating, it's mentally debilitating. Sometimes you can feel very alone in your pain and suffering. I had moments in the middle of the night where I had spent over an hour trying to get the agonizing muscle spasms in my glutes to let up through stretches, exercises, and using a massage wand. And then one night, after about an hour of trying, I was still in agony. I was lying on the floor and literally sobbing because I felt so sorry for myself. And I just couldn't believe how much pain I was in. And that night, I finally woke up my husband in desperation and asked for help. And he said to me, "From then on, don't suffer alone. Wake me up." And after I stopped worrying about waking him up and started relying on his help, my nighttime suffering quickly decreased, and he was able to help me settle back down to sleep sooner. And also then started being really attentive and asking if I needed anything when he woke up at 5:00 AM and I was on one of my mid-sleep wakeups. And that would help me go back to sleep for several more hours. Even if you're single and you don't have somebody who can be right there for you, there's still probably someone in your life you can lean on more if you're suffering. Someone who'd be happy to help you research treatments or doctors, or who you can share your fears or your tears with, or someone who'll make you a meal if you're not up to it. Or friends who'd be willing to contribute to help fund your care. There's actually a charity called eFundYourHealth that matches up to $250 for functional medicine care if you can raise the rest. I did just check though, and they're on hold right now while they're updating their website, but I see they're still soliciting donors, so hopefully they'll be up and running again soon. So if you can't afford care, but you can raise some money, do, you know, a GoFundMe type of thing. Well, they set that up through the site anyway. You could do that. To try and help fund your care. But back to the original message, don't suffer alone. Number 7, find the gift in your pain and suffering. So when you're deep in the midst of pain or suffering, it may be hard to find the positive, but doing so will leave you with a gift of wisdom that may help carry you through. So for me, one of the biggest gifts will be the empathy I now have for people in chronic pain. And I hate to say this, but I confess that before going through this, I kind of assumed that anyone who had chronic back pain must have either a terrible diet or they didn't exercise, good posture or they didn't try the right kind of physical therapy. Speaking of which, if you are dealing with chronic back pain, I would highly recommend seeing a McKenzie Method practitioner. And I just, I looked down on people who got addicted to opiates because of their pain. And honestly, after spending a desperate night in pain and like a crazy person rummaging through our medicine cabinet to find the 2 oxycodones left over from my husband's dental surgery and washing one down without hesitation, I finally understood what drives people to desperation and addiction. And I also know how much a kind word helps. It may drive someone to tears to say it to them, but it means so much to hear someone say, "I'm so sorry about how much you're suffering." So if you are the loved one of someone dealing with chronic pain or illness, you can't ask how they're doing or express your empathy enough. It's like a balm on our wounds. So look for the good in your experience, the learning, the opportunity to grow as a person and then help others. It might make your situation just that much more bearable. So I hope this meditation on my experience has been helpful to you. If you enjoy the podcast, will you share it with someone else? And if you're struggling with your gut health or an autoimmune disease or a mystery health condition and you want to find out if health coaching could help you, you can set up a free 1-hour breakthrough session with me to tell me about what you've been dealing with, what you've tried, and I can tell you if I think I can help. I will pop a quick link to do that in the show notes. And thank you, Sam, for the nice review on iTunes and for pointing out that I talk too fast. I've been trying to talk more slowly, but there is a trick that you may not know about in podcast apps. There's a button in most apps that allows you to listen to a podcast on 1.5x speed or 1.5x speed if somebody's too slow, or 2x speed. So you can always slow me down if you need to, but I will try to remember to speak more slowly when I record podcasts on my own. And I also wanted to say a special thanks to my intern Grace Sanford, who has been helping me for the past few months with podcast production and promotion. You've been a great help, especially during this difficult time when my capacity was so limited. And thank you all for tuning in, and here's wishing you all the perfect stool.