The Benefits of Lactobacillus Rhamnosus
In the health and wellness world right now, the huge focus is gut health. Leaky gut this, gut health that. There are a million suggestions everywhere. Where does a person start? Especially if your gut is extremely compromised and you are reacting to everything?
There is no doubt that the health of our digestive system has a major impact on the health of our entire body. A dysfunctional digestive system will lead to malabsorption of nutrients. That alone will create an environment for further dysfunction. Now scientists have discovered poor microbiota health is linked to anxiety, depression, and even negative gene expression.
In truth, there is much to learn about the human microbiome. There is more that we don’t know than know. As scientists dive deeper into understanding the microbiome, the greater its importance appears to be. Not just in digestion, but our health in every area:hormones, our moods, even our personality.
How do we get a “healthy gut?” The answers aren’t the same for everyone, but from my research and experience, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus is a heavy hitter when it comes to knocking out gut issues, as well as a few others. You’ll be scrambling to find some after reading this post!
L. Rhamnosus can help with skin issues
Diseases of the skin are painful physically, mentally, and can be socially isolating. I’ve hid at home for months at a time from cracked, bleeding eczema on my eyelids. Triggers for skin problems can be notoriously difficult to pin down and equally difficult to treat successfully. Several times in my life, I’ve noticed that the health of my skin and the health of my digestion were closely linked. If my skin was suffering, so was my digestive health. Now there are studies to back up my life experiences. Here are a few ways L. Rhamnosus can change your skin:
It can change the expression of genes to help relieve adult acne.
It may help treat and even prevent atopic dermatitis
It may help treat and prevent eczema.
L. Rhamnosus can help calm mast cells
Mast cells are a part of the immune system. They protect us from pathogens and are part of the wound healing process. We need them! They are involved in any allergic response. Unfortunately, these white blood cells can go rogue and cause what is known as Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. (MCAS) In MCAS, these protective cells get overprotective to an extreme. They start reacting to anything and everything rather than items that a person actually has antibodies to, let’s say peanuts for example. These malfunctioning cells start to see even the simplest things like water as a threat. (yes, there are people that have a water “allergy” even when chlorine free) The mast cells spill their proinflammatory contents, including a ton of histamine. This process is called degranulation. Reactions include what you would normally think allergic reactions to be:rashes, swelling, hives, trouble breathing, gastrointestinal pain, and anaphylaxis. It would be like a police officer just arresting anyone instead of only the individuals who had a warrant out for their arrest.
Since mast cells live in connective tissue, it’s very common for people with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome to develop MCAS. Because their home is already unstable with connective tissue being different in an EDS person, mast cells are more likely to go rogue. (It’s possible to have MCAS and not have EDS though) The last few years I’ve been reduced to only needing one hand to count my “safe” foods, and some days even those were iffy. But thankfully things are starting to improve because L. Rhamnosus downregulates mast cell activity. This study also concluded that L. Rhamnosus helped to inhibit mast cell degranulation.
Even if you don’t have MCAS, adding L. Rhamnosus to your supplement strategies will help to downregulate allergic response in general.
L. Rhamnosus can reduce the feeling of pain
Now this benefit is pretty close to my heart. Because of the instability of connective tissue, Ehlers Danlos can cause body wide pain for several reasons. Our joints are constantly struggling to stay in place which fatigues muscles, which in turn causes spasms. Ehlers Danlos can also result in neurological issues where pain receptors are overactive, are damaged and fire inappropriately.
But we aren’t the only ones. It’s estimated that 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain. Pain robs us of sleep, productivity, and quality of life. It can lead to depression and isolation as the sufferer engages with the world less and less in order to cope. Chronic pain is the number one reason for long term disability.
Rhamnosus studies have revealed it to be a promising weapon in the fight against pain. It can alter neurotransmitters to help with pain. This study concludes it can increase pain threshold.
L. Rhamnosus can help the GI Tract
The excessively stretchy nature of internal organs in an EDS person can brew the perfect storm for some unbearable digestive issues. The organs themselves can be structurally incorrect, including missing nerves or too many. There is increased permeability and inflammation.There can be immune dysregulation. Dysmotility can develop from the muscles not working sequentially resulting in everything moving too fast to nothing moving at all. Obviously these types of problems can arise in anyone, but they are incredibly prevalent in the EDS population.
Rhamnosus, especially when combined with B. Lactis and B. Longum were able to significantly “decrease the secretion of the major proinflammatory cytokines.”
Plus, these probiotics working together were able to increase the anti inflammatory cytokines. That’s a double win!
Major Hint:don’t take a single strain probiotics! Different strains have different functions in the body. They work better together. You’d never move to a town with only one store would you? It would make it very hard to thrive. The same goes for our microbiota. It’s a community. Taking only one kind can lead to an overabundance of bacterial growth. Even good bacteria can give us grief if a single strain is running the show and shoves everyone else out of town.
Another reason EDSers have so many digestive issues is the chronic pain itself. Pain is a stress to any body, that can result in a fight or flight response. Anyone can develop stress induced gut problems. However the EDS body has a hair trigger reflex with stress because of the angry mast cells previously mentioned. L. Rhamnosus is proven to help with stress induced intestinal dysfunction.
My take on L. Rhamnosus
I’ve been taking a probiotic containing 8 strains, two of which are different variations of the L. Rhamnosus species. I’ve noticed significant improvement in all of these areas. Sometimes I wondered if it was working. When you have such a cacophony of health issues the answers aren’t always clear. Then I’d forget to take it for a day or two and realize that it was helping me more than I thought! As humans we have fail to have a revenant appreciation for what we have, until we don’t! If you have digestive issues, I would strongly recommend giving L. Rhamnosus a shot. Another hunting win for a healthier me! I hope it’s a healthy win for you as well.