Had a nice holiday? Or were you tormented by diarrhoea, flatulence or constipation?
My gut always gets a little upset during the holidays. Once home, the trick is to get my intestines back in balance as quickly as possible. How do you do that?
Intestinal flora
Everyone has their own blueprint for the intestinal flora. Gut flora consists of bacteria that live in our intestines and help us digest our food. We need this to be and stay healthy.
Yet many abdominal complaints such as bloating, flatulence, diarrhoea, intestinal cramps, etc. are caused by poor intestinal flora, a changed diet or even irregular eating. How is that possible?
Our intestinal flora consists of good bacteria and bad bacteria. The good bacteria outweigh the bad bacteria. Until the balance is disturbed by, for example, stress, wrong and too fatty food, soft drinks, colorants, fragrances and flavourings, acidification, dehydration, antibiotics, etc.
Then it can happen that the bacteria culture in your intestines becomes unbalanced. It is often quite difficult to get them back in balance. How do you ensure that the good bacteria regain the upper hand over the bad bacteria?
By following the right diet (sugar-free, deacidifying diet with lots of vegetables) you will come a long way.
Use an intestinal preparation
But sometimes we need help. Then an intestinal bacteria preparation can help. The more different bacterial families are in the preparation, the greater the chance that those that can restore your balance are included. It can also help to eat products with healthy intestinal bacteria in them, such as yogurt, buttermilk, kefir and quark.
Influencing your intestinal flora with an intestinal bacteria preparation only works as long as you take it. When you stop, your body itself returns to the intestinal flora that suits you from birth. This is fine, as long as the good bacteria prevail. You can keep it that way by eating a healthy and varied diet with lots of unprocessed products (so fresh vegetables and no jars, packages and bags).
Usually taking an intestinal preparation for a period of 2 months is sufficient. Provided that your intestines are otherwise healthy. If your intestinal mucosa is damaged, the problems may return again and again. You will first have to ensure that your intestines are healthy if you want to get the bacterial culture back in balance.
Antibiotics
Antibiotics deserve a separate mention. Antibiotics don't just kill the bad bacteria that make you sick. They also kill the healthy bacteria in your intestines, among other things. That is why in many countries an intestinal preparation is already prescribed before you start with the antibiotics. This is also starting to happen in the Netherlands, although it is not yet generally accepted. Intestinal preparations belong to the nutritional supplements, so you can buy it yourself at a drugstore and do not need a referral from a doctor.
If you know in advance that you will receive an antibiotic (this is standard for many treatments at the pain clinic) start with your intestinal preparation two weeks or ten days in advance. Continue to take the intestinal preparation for about six to eight weeks after you have completed the course of antibiotics.