Haphazard Distribution of Gut Bacteria in the Intestine Linked to Restless Leg Syndrome

Imbalance in Gut Bacteria Paves Way for SIBO

The gut bacteria in your stomach has the power to influence your mood, affect your immune system and alter your metabolism. In short, it has the reigns over you and your life. There are millions of bacteria inside the human gut and these exist with viruses and fungi to form the microbiota or microbiome. Not all bacteria and viruses are bad. There are many of those that are healthy for our body helping us to keep ourselves in tip-top condition. Not every human has the same set, combination or an equal number of these gut microbiomes. Each of us have our own unique combination of bacteria, fungi and viruses whose existence is determined by a number of factors such as our mom’s microbiota, the environment that we are born into and also depend upon our diet and lifestyle. While these microorganisms are present all over the body its those that exist in the gut that have a bigger share on our health and wellness.
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Bacteria Overgrowth
Gut bacteria are predominantly present in our digestive system lining the intestines and colon. The quantity of these organisms and their quality too play an important role in affecting our health. There are research evidences showing that the gut bacteria in healthy people are different from those with diseases. Such people with illnesses have too little or too much of a particular type of bacteria which prevents the equal presence of other types of microorganisms. As we know, some are protective of our health while others promote illness. Having too much of illness-promoting bacteria or too little of health-promoting ones both result in disastrous consequences on our health. If you wish to get healthy gut bacteria the key to it lies in your diet and www.firsteatright.com is the perfect place to start working on this goal of yours.

One of the common side effects of such imbalance is inflammatory bowel syndrome where these individuals have lower levels of anti-inflammatory gut bacteria. The unhealthy bacteria has the ability to make our body affect our own intestines thereby paving way for diseases with open hands. Small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO) is a common disease occurring due to excess bacterial growth in the small intestine. This is very commonly seen in females, those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and digestive problems.

Domination of SIBO
SIBO occurs due when bacteria travel from anywhere in the digestive tract to the small intestine or there is excess presence of bacteria due to unforeseen multiplication of these tiny specimens. A new study says that small intestine bacteria overgrowth is commonly seen in those with restless leg syndrome (RLS). Generally, SIBO occurs in not even 15% of the people living worldwide but the study that focused on people with RLS showed that all 7 of the volunteers with RLS tested positive for SIBO. Though the study was a small-scale one the positive results on all the participants showed the effectiveness of the bacteria on people with RLS.

RLS is a condition that causes the affected individual to suffer from an overwhelming irresistible urge to move the legs and causes involuntary jerking of the arms and legs too sometimes. The symptoms are worse experienced after a definite period of rest, inactivity, after lying down or sitting down and are mostly present during late evenings or nights. Walking, moving around or staying active has the ability to minimize these symptoms or even totally relieve pain sometimes. While there are many who believe that a chemical called dopamine (responsible for muscle movement) might be the root cause for such involuntary actions there are other researchers who feel that RLS might be the result of iron deficiency. The researchers are taking this study a step further analyzing fecal samples for microbial composition. The participants were requested to fill a questionnaire concerning sleep and SIBO symptoms.

Another study showed that of the 32 RLS participants who were tested, 69% tested positive for SIBO and 28% tested positive for IBS. The researchers put down three positive theories for such results. Firstly, it could be because RLS patients are immunocompromised or genetically predisposed putting them at a higher risk of SIBO. Secondly, it could be due to autoimmune changes or thirdly, SIBO inflammation can lead to CNS iron deficiency thereby increasing the risk of RLS. But these need further research to prove anything.