Are Probiotic Necessary_ Could They Making Your Digestive Issues Worse_

We all know that probiotics have been promoted like candy and there are multiple different kinds and types of probiotics, some need to be refrigerating and others do not. Some believe taking a probiotic might be the solution they have been waiting for, to find out it isn't the case most of the time. With the overwhelming information it can be confusing.  In this episode, I expose my process and the steps I take with my patients regarding Probiotics. Take a listen and do not forget to subscribe and share this information with everyone. 

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Transcript

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you are listening. Listening to the prepared patient podcast with Dr. Jennifer GNC, where we discuss what it really takes to heal your body. With the symbol tools we source is a mindset to get you there. I am determined to show you the reality of navigating the medical space as a patient caregiver and loved ones. So you can be empowered and take back the most precious and important asset of your life, which is your health. Let's get ready. Comfortable and get started So again, hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to my platforms. If you're listening to this and the podcast, the prepare patients podcast, welcome back. If you're watching me, I'm Facebook and Instagram. Hello, please share, subscribe and comment. I would love to have a conversation with you in regards to probiotics. And if you're going to be watching the video portion of this, of course, like on YouTube, as you know, on YouTube, the videos can live longer versus these Instagram and Facebook, the algorithm can change at any time. So if you miss this and you want to, or you want to, listen to the information, you can head over to our YouTube channel, Dr. Jennifer Genti. But, yeah, as I mentioned, this is a request of a patient of mine. My goal as a functional medicine doctor is to educate you. Is to educate you as I am learning about the latest research. I do a lot of research studies. I, like, spend once a week, I spend a few hours just learning. Learning about new herbs, learning about new supplements, medications, the new strains out there, the new disease out there. Because part of my goal, working with my patients, is to bring them the information, or you. bring you the information, so that you don't have to waste your time and energy Googling everything. so this probiotic conversation is going to be controversial because I'm aware that a lot of practitioners are promoting probiotics and as a matter of fact, I have a colleague of mine, she's using three probiotic in her protocol to help her patients. So. Take this with a grain of salt. This is my personal experience. Again, I've been helping my patients with digestive issues for 10 years now. So I do consider myself a digestive, a gut health expert. So I'm not really bringing you this information. I'm not making this up. This is research. I'm bringing you this information after working with so many patients. So if you are new to me, you've never seen me, heard me, or you just stumble upon this video and you're wondering, who is this person? I am Dr. Jennifer Genti. I'm a functional medicine doctor also would cause doctor, but that's not mean I help my patients or those that are interested in identifying what causes so that they can clearly. see a path to healing the bodies. and I'm going to die saying this. If you don't know the root cause of your symptoms, you will never know the solution, the solution, And how to fix those symptoms, how to eliminate them. If you don't know the root cause of your symptoms, you'll always be on the rollercoaster finding out what's wrong with you. And that's going to lead you to frustration. That's going to lead you to being disappointed and Anxiety, despair, deflated, like just know the root cause, the root causes, and that's your causes because whatever symptoms you're experiencing right now, whatever illness or disease you are facing with today, there are multiple causes of these symptoms, So you need to work with a doctor that focuses on root causes first. That is step one. This is the foundation of healing your body. Cause again, if you don't know, you're just going to guess, you're going to try all of the things you're going to spend time and energy with financial resources and things that are not working. So to save you the headaches and to give you some peace of mind, identify the root causes, and then you can, have a clear way of healing your body, have a pathway or roadmap or customized individualized program. In helping you fixing the root causes. I don't believe we're created to be sick. What is life if you are consumed with just which are symptoms and you're not feeling well every day. It hurts my heart seeing people not really thriving in the health, Seeing people not fulfilling the passion, passion on this earth and just waking up and having that energy. Now I'm not saying that you're going to have energy every day, You're going to have good days. You're going to have bad days, but the bad days should be more than the good days. And when you do have the good days, you should be able to have a clear way of identifying by taking inventory of things that are happening. To you in your body to help you see where the good days, the bad days are coming from. And again, that's like learning about yourself. We're connecting with yourself. It's like homecoming to yourself. And you do that by spending time with yourself again, get the help and the support that you need to really thrive in your life and also in your day to day activities. so let's talk about probiotic. There are two things that I see 90 percent of the time in my practice. Two supplements that I see my patients take 90 percent of the time. The first one is a multivitamin like I've seen a lot of multivitamin Capsules liquid like a lot of multivitamin. And then the second one is a probiotic I've seen some digestive enzymes as well, but not as often as i've seen a multivitamin and a probiotic and I do understand that your digestive system is important It's an important system. Your gut health is vital to illness and wellness and You you know, healing your body. If you, your gut health is not optimal, you will suffer because your gut is the portal to disease. And it's also the portal to wellness and health. So it is very important that we address the gut issues. your immune system, 80 percent of your immune system is in the gut. So if your digestion is not performing, you know, properly, and you are not experiencing, you're not experiencing the health that you desire, I highly recommend that you look into that. But one thing that I see so often patients would tell me is that, well, Dr. J, I don't understand what's going on here because I am taking a probiotic and my gas and my bloat and my, you know, my symptoms are not going away. Well, I have a different take on this. So most people with chronic digestive issues, like again, bloating, gas, constipation, food sensitivities, abdominal pain, irritable bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, IBD, inflammation in your gut, gastritis, and ulcer, fatigue, they think, or they have been told by taking a probiotic. That's the answer to eliminate the digestive issues, and expect the symptoms to completely disappear because they are putting back good bacteria. This could not be further from the truth. That is not true. Probiotics do not promote healing the way we have been told. Now, this is years of research. I've, before I came to this conclusion, I had to work with several patients, and yes, just like many other holistic doctors, alternative medicine doctors, functional medicine doctors, I used to prescribe probiotic as a first line of therapy, and I, no, no longer do that in my customized program. I have a special way of helping my patients eliminate digestive issues. Completely eliminate the gas in the blood, the acid reflux, or whatever they are faced with without giving them a probiotic. As a matter of fact, probiotic happens to be the last step in my programs and protocols. Yeah, I know. And sometimes my patients are not even on probiotic. They could completely finish the whole protocol, the whole program, and we don't prescribe a probiotic. Again, every single case is different. Every single situation is different. That's why it is important so that we don't go to standard of care. We actually Customize and individualize the plan for you, because Jay might need a probiotic and you might not. And out of all the patients that I've worked with, out of the years of, you know, helping people heal, eliminating symptoms and thriving, I have to say prescribing probiotic probably like 50 percent of the time. And 50 percent of the time might be too much. That's not something I prescribe. I don't prescribe that a lot. because again, You do not need to take a probiotic to heal your gut, And probiotic can make your digestive issues worse by adding unnecessary bacteria. Too much of a good thing can backfire on us,? Just remember that. Too much of a good. Because if you take a probiotic with different strains, different colonies, different, brines, there are so many, there are thousands of probiotics with different combinations out there. And some need a refrigeration, some don't, and some are soil based, some are room temperature, like, like it's massive. The information is so overwhelming when it comes to probiotic. Sometimes I myself get confused. I'm like, okay, so instead of me staying in confusion and giving the wrong recommendations, I just put all these things last. I'm like, let's focus on the things that need to be addressed first. Which I'm going to tell you what you need to do. And then, if you do need a probiotic, then we'll just revisit that and then we'll prescribe it. So, for some people, these different probiotics, again, like strains and combinations, soya base, room temperature, and, This, you know, LV this, LV that, like, First, these probiotics can actually, actually make digestive system spiral out of control. And I've seen this a lot. I'm taking a probiotic, I'm allergic to it, it hurts my stomach, uh, my symptoms are worse, and I'm just confused. Like, I, I don't understand what's happening. Probiotics supposed to be good for you. No, not really. There's a time and place when a specific therapy is needed. So we're not going to put things in our bodies, just. just to do so. You must have a clear way of identifying if you need a probiotic or not. I help my patients with that. So if you want to eliminate stubborn gut issues and reclaim your digestive health, do this instead. So this is what I do with my patients. Again, I don't prescribe probiotic as a first time of therapy. Maybe I'm one of the doctors that don't do that because I don't believe you need probiotic to heal your gut. That's, that's not, that's not true. That is not the case. And I want you to really change your mindset and change your belief system when it comes to probiotic and not just take a pill just because Jane Marie, or you saw something on Google, or like, you know, you saw a video that says probiotic, heal my gut, here I am taking a probiotic. No, it can literally backfire on you. So the first thing you need to do, and you already know what it is, is to identify the root causes. You need to know what's causing the bloat, the gas. The constipation, the diarrhea, the weight gain, the abdominal pain, abdominal distension, like what's making you feel sluggish? What's giving you the brain fog? What's giving you the acne? Because all these are gut issues, Whether they are outside, but they are gut issues. The joint pain, the inflammation, what's causing The issues, and one thing I highly recommend that you also ask as part of an investigative system is to ask your doctor to do a gut panel. I do one on every single patient. Every single patient, I'm checking a gut panel. It is a blood test that is covered by insurance. You can take it to LabCorp. With the gut panels, it's gonna tell you the viruses that you have, the yeast that you have. I'm not a big promoter of stool samples. Stool, I think that's a waste of money, and energy. A patient asked me yesterday, how come you don't do the GI map? How come you don't do a stool sample? Stool test? Because I'm like, when you do a stool test, you check, you like literally collecting a small portion of your stool. Your digestive tract is 20 plus feet long. So you missing so much, Like I'm taking a little tiny samples of your stool. That little tiny sample is going to give me a clear reflection of everything that's going on in your intestines. No, not the case. So I don't do that. And I asked my patients to use that money towards the protocols, Program. Because again, if financial it's a big piece of you not healing your body. Why are we doing unnecessary tests? If you work with a doctor that focuses on what cause, and also understand that in order for you to heal your body, you have to address the gut. then that doctor will not give you a zillion tests costing you thousands of dollars. That doctor will keep it simple and just go straight to the point and ordering and prescribing the test that you need. So first, identify what causes the gut pain. If you don't know what that is, ask your doctor. Second, you have to decrease the inflammation in your gut first. Decrease the inflammation. Decrease the inflammation. I use herbs. I use a combination of Chinese inflammatory herbs in my protocols, in my programs. And you have to be very intentional, So I'm not talking to, about tumeric or cumin, these are for babies, like, they are not that powerful. I mean, if you're taking them, they work for you, good, I mean, continue, but I'm giving you the true, true step by step process of me healing my patient's digestive issues. killing the gut, eliminating digestive issues. So you need to use inflammatory herbs, the combinations, make sure, again, you work with your doctor, they are powerful. They're just not like, you know, things that you can just take endlessly and not see any results. Those herbs supposed to coat the lining of your intestines, Create a protective barrier against irritation from the food and the toxins. That's step two. Step three, take inventory of the food that you are eating. What are your triggers? Is it gluten? Is it dairy? Is it what, like what, what are your triggers? What are your triggers? What exactly are you eating causing you to have these issues? The answers there. You just have to really take time, slow down, journal and take inventory before you, about your feelings before you eat the food and also after, And if you have to take something for your gut, I highly recommend prebiotics and prebiotics can be obtained from food. It's not a product you go purchase, If you find a product that has prebiotic, that's awesome, but you don't have to go purchase prebiotic. You can get it from food. I would say that berries have a lot of prebiotics. All you have to do is google healthy prebiotic foods and then you'll get a list. of foods and recommendations. so why do I recommend prebiotics versus probiotic if you're still wondering how to heal these issues and you're not seeing results? Because prebiotics are like fertilizers for your gut. They help you feed the good bacteria. That you can nourish your gut and get back to again, have a healthy gut. So prebiotics, and you can get that from food. We use food as medicine. The fourth step is to restore, replenish, rejuvenate the lining of your gut. And how do we do this? You can take amino acids like L glutamine. So first you got to decrease the inflammation, identify what's causing the problem, The root causes, change your diet, and then incorporate some prebiotics. Then you're going to restore, replenish, rejuvenate the lining, So we do that by using, again, amino acid, like L glutamine. You can do, collagen from your birth. Like my patients have severe abdominal issues, digestive issues. I usually have them start in the morning with a cup of organic. low sodium vegetable broth and I asked them to add turmeric in it if they have it or drop some ginger in that or garlic in the broth, Pink Himalayan sea salt, like Drop some stuff in it and just you can either put in the microwave or if you have time you can make your own like there's so many options for you because the collagen is going to help with the gut lining right we're building of the gut lining. We also have to look at digestive enzymes do you need digestive enzymes because that might be way beneficial than taking a probiotic. Way beneficial than taking a probiotic. So prebiotic, digestive enzymes, otochoke is really good. Fenugreek seeds or powders really good. There's a product that I use, I can do another video about it, telling you how I love this product so much and I've seen A lot of result with my patient using the product in my protocols. I can go into more details of the content of the product. It is a powder that I use. It's very convenient. Ask my patients to put it in the, water or smoothies. And that has a lot of anti inflammatory herbs in it. It also has some organic mushrooms because mushroom organic, healing mushrooms are very soothing to the gut. it also has some. Enzymes in it. So I'm, we want to use a product that has multiple ingredients so that you don't take a zillion pill. So again, I can do a more detail, you know, Facebook live about the product. It is only practitioner release. Practitioners like dispense only. You cannot get it in Amazon. I use it a lot. Even if you don't have gut issues, you come to me, have hormonal imbalance, I still use it. So at the end of the day, there are so many options for you out there. Just again, work with a doctor to really help you identify where you need to focus on so you can stop. Like you can use that energy and something that is more deserving, Something that you desire. Now I give you four steps. What are the benefits when you follow those four steps, I have five, but I give you four. So the benefits you're going to experience sustained relief from bloating gas. Or digestive discomfort, you're going to have more regular bowel movements. You're going to have increased energy and vitality. You're going to have clearer skin. Because again, you are detoxing at the same time as healing your digestive issues. You are helping, you're promoting liver health, The kidneys. And also you're going to enhance your immune system and overall resilience. So these are the steps. Now, when I was talking to my patient about this, she was like, well, Dr. J, when do you take probiotic? If you need to take a probiotic, this is the only time I would like, literally, highly encourage a post operative probiotic if you are currently taking antibiotics. Or you took antibiotics three months, Three months ago you took antibiotics, you need to replenish the gut microbiome. Because as we know, all antibiotics are like nuclear bombs, When you take even one dose of antibiotic, it can significantly mess up your gut, damage your gut. You might not feel it because remember, symptoms, when you start feeling your symptoms and your, and your signs, it's a clear indication things have been happening months before, So by the time you start feeling the bloat and the gas and the digestive issue and the discomfort, the feeling of fullness and the acid reflux, the gastritis, the chronic abdominal pain, these things have been happening months. So if you've taken a probiotic three months prior, you need to take a probiotic. I mean, if it's taking antibiotics, so if you have taken an antibiotic to your mens prior, you need to take a probiotic. If you are currently taking antibiotic for any, any reason at all, whether it's UTI, yeast infections, or BV, yes, they do antibiotic for yeast infections. I've seen it. Because you're like, what? It's a yeast. Yep, just like they give you. Antibiotic for, a cold. People have a cold and they get like a Z pack. I'm like, that's a cold is a virus. But anyways, so yes, if you've taken any antibiotic for any, any reasons at all, you need to take a probiotic. Now, what's gonna be important is like, which probiotic should you take? That's something you have to discuss with your doctor, because if they are giving you antibiotic, they must know the strains of the bacteria that is growing, Because they must culture either your urine or do a nasal swab, right, if you have strep. So you need to really talk to your doctor and see which strains of, bacteria that's coming up on your test. In order for you to identify which probiotic, as I mentioned, there are thousands of probiotic. I do recommend you take a broad spectrum probiotic or soil based, soil based probiotic, because that can cover a lot of grounds. But again, you got to work with your doctor. If you have C4, small intestinal back, uh, fungal overgrowth, or SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and you're taking Rifaxan or any of those, antibiotic that has been promoted, you know, telling you, doctors telling you that you, they're not going to affect your gut, that's a lie, you need to take a probiotic. Again, you got to talk to your doctors, doctor, your GI doctor to identify what's coming up on your test to better help you understand which probiotic you should take. Because again, we do things with intention. We don't just take a probiotic because we heard it's good for you. It might be good for Jane and Jack, but not good for you. So you have to really take time to identify what you need and stop putting your body to work. Like decrease the stress in your gut. As I mentioned, I do have a few probiotic that I use. I use a few brands. I mean, I'm not sponsored by them. So this is a broad spectrum probiotic that I use, but this one can cause some discomfort. So you got to work with your doctor and see one, you know, should you do half a capsule? There's also mud, probiotic. You can also be taken, work with your doctor. I also use this company too, as well. again, work with your doctor because different strains are good for different issues. Now, this is a company that I use. I told you I was going to share with you. And this is, LP299V, L plantarum. That's a strain of bacteria, This helps with gas, bloating, intestinal discomfort. Now, I've been using this for a long time, but I don't prescribe it for everybody, because I found that the, my initial recommendations, my initial prescriptions of decreasing inflammation, the steps that I just went over with, and using artichoke and ginger, literally help with the gas and the bloat and intestinal discomfort. I did a video not too long ago of my secret sauce to get rid of stomach pain and gas and bloat, which is clove and garlic, You drink that. I have a patient. I had, I was experiencing a lot of bloat. Like she looked like she was pregnant and I asked her to do this special tea and she saw tremendous success. So again, there are so many tools, healing tools. You don't have to take a You can try those healing tools first, and then you can take a probiotic if you still need to. Take one. So, work with your doctor. Identify the root causes, decrease inflammation first, do a full inventory of the food you're eating, trigger foods, use prebiotics, use enzymes if you need it, if you need them, and then you can work your way to taking a probiotic. If you are taking antibiotics, any antibiotic at all, you do need to take a probiotic, you have to identify which one that you need. If you have any gut, severe gut infections that literally taken over your life like SIBO, and resolve gut infection in a SIFO, then yes, you do need to take a probiotic. But many gut infections can be resolved without taking a probiotic. so I hope you understand when, how, and why to take a probiotic and what are the steps you need to implement first. Before popping the probiotic, taking one, and hopefully I got some, you know, clarity because I get this question a lot. How come you're not prescribing a probiotic? How come you don't have probiotic in you? Or, I know you're a gut doctor, I've taken so many probiotics, they don't work, so I'm not gonna, you know, work with you just for you to give me a probiotic. No. Our programs, our protocols are completely different. We do things completely different here in our practice. are completely different. We're not practicing standard of care here. Even in a functional, holistic, alternative medicine, there's such thing as standard of care. We're always looking at the person we're working with, the signs and symptoms they are presented with, the concerns, the needs, the wants, and the goals they have. We put all that into play. Then we go and identify the root causes, and then we create a protocol for them. so if that sounds good to you, and you are tired of just trying all of the things out there, you're looking for a doctor, That will help you identify the root causes, first, decreasing inflammation, promoting detoxification so that you can literally eliminate your symptoms, whatever they might be. I need you to really send us a message, call, schedule an appointment, like my links are all over or comment down below on this video. If you're listening to this on the podcast, you can literally see a whole bunch of links down, then we can help you. so I don't believe everybody needs probiotic. I don't believe probiotic should be the first line of therapy. As a matter of fact, it can make your digestive system even worse. And you need to take certain things into consideration before you actually go and purchase a probiotic. And you also have to identify which one you need. Because again, not all probiotics are for all health issues. we have different bacteria strains that are, for weight loss, for digestive issues, for heart disease. I mean, there are so many, so much information. So for me, to keep it simple for me, and also to decrease the confusion and overwhelming frustration that my patients might face with trying all of the things, I keep things simple. I follow those simple steps that I just, you outlined and we just keep it moving. So if you're one of those people who believe probiotics gonna help with digestive issues, I would love for you to reconsider. If you are taking probiotic, it is actually helping you continue. But for my patients as a gut doctor, as a digestive health expert, as a root cause doctor, functional medicine doctor, and practicing for 10 years, I've seen so many cases where probiotic literally, literally create more damage, more issues for my patients. so that's all I wanted to share with you. If you know, again, if you're looking for a doctor that can help you at least identify those causes, right, to start the preliminary work, I would love to be that doctor for you, but take this information that I just, presented to you and again, do your search, bring it to your doctor so that you can get the healing started. Cause at the end of the day, your health is all that you need is everything that you need without it. I don't know. Are we like actually living life? Are we thriving? Are we waking up every day, suffering, struggling, pushing to the day, not feeling our best waiting for like, you know, eight o'clock to hate to come so we can go to bed like it life can be so beautiful. And I want that for you. You can have all the desires can be, they, I mean, you can literally. Literally feel your very best, get rid of the weight loss, balance your hormones, have beautiful skin, grow your hair, get rid of digestive issues, get rid of your medications, whatever your desires are, it is so possible. But first, you have to work and take actions with intention. So that's it. I wish you have a wonderful rest of your afternoon. And then if you guys are interested in learning more about the product that I use to help, that's not a probiotic, to help with digestive issues, we don't do probiotic. Again, that's my, that's the last resort. And sometimes I don't prescribe it at all. Then let me know and I can do a different, video to outline the specific ingredients, because again, as I'm researching and working with a lot of patients, I know what's working and I know what's not working and I've developed a process, a step by step process in helping my patients feel their very best. Yes, it is so possible for you to wake up with energy, lose the weight, get rid of your anxiety and the foggy brain and just feel your best. It is possible. so I'll see you guys next time. Have a great rest of your day. thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for listening to this episode. Do me a favor. If you found this episode valuable, informative, and resonated with you. Please share, subscribe and leave a review. If you have any questions and need further assistance. You will see all of our contact information in the show notes below. Send us any questions you have, and then we'll be more than happy to help you until then. Stay tuned and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye-bye.