Listen on Apple Podcasts


Listen on Spotify

Today, I’m breaking down one of the most common gut infections we see in practice: H. pylori. H. pylori is one of the most overlooked root causes of chronic digestive issues, yet it can impact everything from stomach acid production and nutrient absorption to your gut microbiome, thyroid, skin, and energy levels. In this episode, I’m sharing the five biggest signs your gut issues may actually be pointing to an H. pylori infection, why this bacteria is so commonly missed, how it contributes to digestive dysfunction, and what testing and treatment options I recommend from a functional perspective.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN THIS EPISODE:

• H. pylori is a common stomach bacteria that can significantly reduce stomach acid production and impair digestion.
• Low stomach acid can contribute to bloating, reflux, food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, and bacterial overgrowth further down the digestive tract.
• Constant burping, upper abdominal bloating, nausea, and feeling overly full after meals are classic signs of H. pylori.
• Chronic low iron, ferritin, or vitamin B12 despite supplementation may point to impaired nutrient absorption from H. pylori.
• Many people diagnosed with IBS may actually have an underlying gut infection that hasn’t been investigated.
• H. pylori is associated with gastritis, stomach ulcers, and may contribute to leaky gut and systemic inflammation.
• Research suggests H. pylori may play a role in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis through immune cross-reactivity.
• H. pylori can coexist with dysbiosis, Candida overgrowth, SIBO, and other gut imbalances, making comprehensive testing important.
• A functional stool test provides a more complete picture than testing for H. pylori alone.
• Supporting the gut, immune system, stomach lining, and digestive function before eradication is an important part of a successful healing strategy.

CHAPTERS:

00:00  What is H. pylori and why it matters

 03:30  Why stomach acid is essential for gut health

 08:30  Sign #1: Burping, bloating & upper GI symptoms

 12:30  Sign #2: Reflux, gastritis & stomach pain

 15:00  Sign #3: Feeling full quickly or poor appetite

 18:00  Sign #4: Low iron, ferritin & B12 deficiencies

 24:00  Sign #5: You’ve been told you have IBS

 26:30  H. pylori’s connection to acne, Hashimoto’s & recurring SIBO

 33:30  Testing options and why comprehensive stool testing matters

 

LINKS:

• Book a strategy call with Hannah HERE
• Apply for HAN’s 1:1 Coaching Program!
• Take the Gut Health Root Cause Quiz for free!
• Equip Protein: use the code hannahaylwardhhc for 15% off
• Join our Fullscript dispensary to gain access to practitioner-grade supplements at a discount!
• Listen to Episode 24 – Low Stomach Acid: A Hidden Cause of Chronic Bloating & Digestive Issues 
• Listen to Episode 20 – How to Overcome IBS – A Functional Approach
• Listen to Episode 45 – How Gut Imbalances Drive Hormonal Acne

CONNECT WITH HANNAH:

Instagram  |   Website

 

If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Transcript

Hannah Aylward (00:00.184)
So if you have low stomach acid, you will not be able to digest your food efficiently. So if we have this infection, this Helicobacter pylori infection, it’s neutralizing our stomach acid. You can very quickly see how it’s going to cause a whole host of issues kind of down the chain, right? A lot of the things that we’ll see in those with Helicobacter pylori are going to mimic those low stomach acid signs as well, because of the fact that H. pylori causes that low stomach acid.

Hannah Aylward (00:32.569)
Welcome to the Nutrient Dense Podcast. I’m your host, Hannah Aylward, holistic health coach, functional gut health practitioner, and the founder of Han. So many people are continuously failed by conventional and alternative health care. We are here to do it differently. Alongside my team of functional registered dietitians, I’ve helped hundreds of women around the world overcome their chronic digestive issues when nothing else worked.

I’ve learned a thing or two about what it really takes to transform your health from the inside out, and I’m here to share it all with you. Please keep in mind that this podcast is for educational purposes only and should never be used as medical advice. Now, let’s dive in. Your transformation is waiting.

Hannah Aylward (01:20.162)
Hello, hello, my dears, and welcome back to another episode of the Nutrient Dense podcast. I feel like it’s been a little while since I’ve recorded the episode. I just got back from a little summer vacation. I had an absolute blast and I’m just getting back into the swing of everything this week. Lots of travel, lots of running around, and I’m like, whoa, where am I? have such bad jet lag right now. So I’m excited to be back at the mic. It feels like

I’m feeling refreshed. I’m feeling ready to record some awesome episodes for you and just kind of dive into all of the good gut health topics. So it was a very much needed little break. Even though the podcast didn’t stop, it’s because I batched everything before I left. So you may be thinking, like, what is this girl talking about? But I’ve been out of the office for two weeks for a nice little reset. So I’m excited, once again, excited to be back. Today we’re gonna be diving into the topic of H. pylori and specifically the

Five signs that your gut issues are actually H. pylori. So if you feel bloated, no matter whatever you eat, if you’re constantly burping, nauseous, dealing with acid reflux, getting full very quickly, maybe after just a few bites of food, you might be thinking it’s like food sensitivities or it’s you know stress or I have IBS or whatever they may tell you.

But one of the most overlooked root causes of these different symptoms is something like H. pylori. So we’re gonna be really digging into that today. We’ll be talking about the five signs your gut issues might actually be H. pylori, why this bacteria can be missed in many, many, many cases, what it actually does to digestive health and digestive function in your gut microbiome. And then of course, what to do if you do suspect it, if this episode’s really resonating with you. So

Let’s go ahead and just jump on in. H. pylori is something that we see all the time in practice. We identify it through testing that we run with all of our clients in both my Healing Guts and Shaking Buds program and in our one-on-one gut restoration program. So it’s something that me and my team are very, very familiar with and we see a lot of, honestly, when we are testing the gut. So H. pylori, it stands for Helicobacter pylori. It’s a mouthful, so we can just call it H. pylori to keep it simple, right?

Hannah Aylward (03:31.021)
It is a bacteria that can live in the stomach and also that upper GI section and really irritate the stomach lining. So Helicobacter pyloriate is a gram-negative spiral-shaped bacteria that loves to live in the stomach lining. It burrows into that stomach lining and it also hangs out in that upper section of your small intestine. And it actually secretes an enzyme called urease, which will neutralize your stomach acid. The byproduct of this reaction is also toxic to the lining of your gut.

Which can increase inflammation and damage to the cells, causing a leaky gut or that increased intestinal permeability picture. So there’s a lot going on here, right? So essentially this bacteria, it’s spiral shaped in nature, it burrows into your stomach lining, it causes a lot of irritation and inflammation of that stomach lining. In addition to that, it neutralizes your stomach acid, which we know is going to cause bigger issues. So if you listen to this podcast often, you know how important your stomach acid is for your gut health.

It impacts everything from nutrient absorption, the conversion of thyroid hormones, and even the prevention of different gut infections and overgrowths as well. So let’s do a quick kind of overview of that for anyone that is unfamiliar. And if you want to take a deeper dive into the topic of stomach acid, I have a podcast episode specifically on low stomach acid, like root causes, natural solutions, what to do, all of that juicy stuff.

We’ll link that in the show notes below. So if you want to take a deeper dive, it’s like a 45, 60 minute episode with tons of juicy education for you. But to keep it kind of short and simple in this episode, stomach acid is incredibly important. It’s one of your main digestive juices. So it acts as the first chemical barrier to the outside world. So we’re literally taking the outside world and we’re putting it into our bodies through the food that we’re eating. There are microbes on everything all around us. They’re on our fingers. It’s on the

You know, glass of water I have next to me, it’s on the food that you’re eating. And it doesn’t really matter if we wash our fruits and veggies or if we eat out at restaurants or whatever, like we are surrounded by microbes and we are made up of trillions of different microbes as well. So it’s not all bad, right? However, some of these bacteria are not so great, and different microorganisms are not so supportive for our overall health, right? So the body is so intelligently designed.

Hannah Aylward (05:44.165)
In the way that your stomach acid acts as this first chemical barrier that you have to the outside world. So it protects you from things like parasitic infections. Everyone wants to talk about parasites, but no one’s talking about why do we get them? How do we get them? What increases our risk for them, right? So low stomach acid is going to increase your risk for different infections. And also other things like foodborne illness, so like food poisoning. And in addition to that, you know, if you get really bad food poisoning, that can also trigger SIBO.

her small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in the gut, causing tons of bloating and gas and indigestion and and chronic GI issues. So your stomach acid is incredibly important, right? It helps to keep things like relatively sterile, not entirely sterile, but it helps to act as that chemical barrier to prevent infection. The other thing that it does is it acts as that

We can call it the conductor in the orchestra for the rest of your digestive juices. So when stomach acid is produced, it’s signaling the release of your other digestive juices, including bile and enzymes, right? These are the different digestive secretions that the body uses to actually break down and digest the food that you’re eating. So if you are listening to this and you struggle with bloating, indigestion, gas, constipation, diarrhea, food sensitivities, like we have to take a look at.

your actual digestive function and your digestive capacity. Are you able to break down efficiently the food that you are eating? Chances are no, which is why you’re struggling with chronic GI issues. So stomach acid is plays a really important role here because it acts as the conductor in the orchestra and it signals the release of these other digestive juices. And it also helps the body break down proteins. So we can better absorb these different amino acids.

Which are required for a million different things, right? Like skin repair, liver detoxification, et cetera. So if you have low stomach acid, you will not be able to digest your food efficiently. So if we have this infection, this Helicobacter pylori infection, it’s neutralizing our stomach acid. You can very quickly see how it’s gonna cause a whole host of issues kind of down the chain, right? A lot of the things that we’ll see in those with Helicobacter pylori are going to mimic those low stomach acid signs as well.

Hannah Aylward (07:54.482)
Because of the fact that H. pylori causes that low stomach acid. So, stomach acid, once again, just to recap, conductor in the orchestra for your digestive juices, access that first chemical barrier, helps to break down and digest proteins, and it also helps the body absorb nutrients. So in people that are chronically low iron, chronically low ferritin, chronically low B12, despite supplementation, like you’re adding in the supplements, you’re taking it, maybe you’re pairing your

Iron supplement with vitamin C for better absorption. You’ve Googled it, you’ve chat GBT’d it, right? Like you’re learning the things and this levels still aren’t budging. Cause there’s some tips, tips, and tricks that you can try, right? If that’s not budging and you have these chronically low levels, A, you’re probably exhausted and my heart goes out too. Cause it’s not fun. It’s not a fun experience. But also, we have to look at the gut in that case because something like H. pylori.

Because of its impact on stomach acid, it can contribute to these chronically low levels of B12 and iron. So, because it it impacts your nutrient absorption, right? So we can once again very quickly see how an infection like this could cause massive, massive, massive issues down the line of in overall health, not just gut health, but of course the health of your gut microbiome. So let’s jump into some of the main like five signs, things that you can look out for.

Five signs that your gut issues are actually H. Pi lorie. Number one is going to be that you have constant burping and upper belly bloating. So one of the things that we want to look for is if you’re burping quickly after meals, like soon after meals, maybe you burp a lot, you burp all day long. And then another thing could be that you’re burping soon after eating, like within 30 minutes. And you also may have this upper abdominal bloating. So where your bloating is located can help to kind of clue us into what your different root causes are.

Some of you may feel like, I can’t even identify it. My whole abdomen’s expanded and distended and I’m always bloated. And there’s probably a lot going on in your gut in that case. So please come see us for so we can get you some help. But if you notice that you have that upper abdomen distension, abdominal distension, this can be a sign of that H. pylori infection. So one of the classic patterns that we see with H. pylori is these upper GI symptoms, especially things like chronic burping, pressure under the ribs, upper abdominal bloating.

Hannah Aylward (10:13.51)
nausea after eating as well. Feeling like food just kind of sits in your stomach. Like you eat it and you’re like full very quickly and it just like sits in your in your tummy like a brick. That’s something that I will hear clients say to us. They’re like I eat, I fill up really fast and I feel like food is just sitting there. Like it’s just stuck. You have this heavy, uncomfortable stomach like feeling in your stomach. So H. pylori, as I mentioned, it can irritate that stomach lining and contribute to gastritis like symptoms. It irritates the inflammation, right? So in the case of gastritis,

Gastritis is just inflammation of the stomach lining. We have to ask why. What’s causing that inflammation? Why is it there? This is what most people don’t look into. They’re like, you just have gastritis. And I’m like, okay, that doesn’t really tell me much, other than we need to check you for other gut infections, to be honest. And we need to support your upper esophageal tissue. So it will cause these gastritis-like symptoms and it will cause things like ulcers. And it will also cause this upper abdominal pressure.

Burping and feeling like the food is just really sitting in your stomach. So that’s one thing to look out for. I know I kind of named a few things there. We’re gonna lump them into little categories because there’s a lot. It can cause a lot of different things in overall in your GI tract. Okay, sign number two is going to be that you have reflux, burning, and/or this like aching, gnawing feeling in your abdomen. So this is a question that I ask a lot of people. Whenever you book a strategy call with me, I’m always kind of diving into your case. I’m asking you questions about what’s going on.

And one of the things that I will often ask people if I’ve if I’m like, hmm, if my wheels are turning and I’m like, this is sounding like H. pylori, I’ll ask, do you have an aching or gnawing, like painful feeling in your abdomen? And or do you notice that it’s actually worse away from food? So it’ll be worse first thing in the morning. It’ll be it’ll be worse in the evening if you’ve gone like hours without eating, or during the day, if you’ve gone, you know, large chunks of time in between meals, we can actually notice that pain be even worse. And that’s because of the bacteria that is present.

Whereas a lot of people will notice their digestive symptoms start to flare after they eat, right? Because we’re not digesting our food efficiently, the gut microbiome piece is all out of whack. So it’s like you’re reacting to the food that you’re eating, which as always is not the food’s fault. It’s really the gut environment. It’s that environment in which the food is actually entering. But for those with H. pylori, you can totally feel like you’re just reacting to loads of foods. But something that I do like to look for and something that it can cause is that kind of aching and gnawing.

Hannah Aylward (12:36.202)
feeling in the abdomen actually away from food. So it will contribute to that irritation of the stomach lining. It will cause inflammation there, contributing to this feeling. So burning, reflux, gastritis, gnawing a pit in the stomach, feeling like there’s a pit in your stomach, pain in between meals, discomfort when your stomach is empty, and symptoms that can, they can kind of ebb and flow, but we’ll usually see them worse away from food. But I will say not in every single case.

So just kind of take take it with a grain of salt. But the reflux piece, burning piece, gnawing piece is always, I’m always thinking H. pylori in that case. And when it comes to something like reflux or it comes to something like gastritis, you know, most people are told to just take PPIs or acid blockers forever without anyone actually asking, why do you need these acid blockers in the first place? You know, it is not a good idea to neutralize your stomach acid for a long period of time.

These medications totally have a time in place. Yes, most medication does, right? It has a time in place, very incredibly supportive for like emergency situations. If you are actively developing an ulcer and there’s a lot of damage occurring, taking something like a PPI or an acid blocker can help prevent that, which will help you in the long run, right? It’s it’s very supportive short term, but we have to ask why you need that in the first place. And we don’t want you taking something like that for a long time.

Because of what I said previously, all of these negative side effects that can occur when we are neutralizing stomach acid, when we’re decreasing our stomach acid. So you will see things like PPIs and acid blockers. They’ll increase your risk for nutrient deficiencies. They’ll increase your risk for osteoporosis. This is because of their impact on stomach acid. You need stomach acid for proper digestion.

For proper thyroid hormone conversion, for so much for proper nutrient absorption, right? It’s never something that we want to neutralize long term. So anytime I hear reflux or gastritis, I’m thinking, what’s underneath it all, right? Like what’s actually contributing to this? And sometimes it is a Helicobacter pylori infection. Okay, sign number three that H. pylori could be causing your chronic GI issues is that you get full really quickly and/or you have this like inconsistent appetite, is what I see in a lot of clients.

Hannah Aylward (14:53.495)
So one of the things will be once again, you fill up really quickly. You feel like there’s a brick in your stomach. You have a couple bites of food and you’re like, I can’t really eat anymore. And that will only lead to bigger issues down the line, right? Because that alone will lead to low nutrient status because you’re simply not eating enough. And then you add on top of that, you’re not properly digesting your food, right? So this is a big issue. It sounds like not a huge issue because you’re getting full quickly, but hey, it’s no fun if you want to like really enjoy a meal and then and eat enough, right?

B, you probably feel exhausted. And then C, it’s just gonna lead to bigger health issues down the line, not to freak you out, but it’s just something to to take into consideration, right? Not something to really overlook. So you may feel like I’m hungry, but then I take a few bites and I’m kind of full. I’m done. I feel uncomfortably full after eating normal portions. I have no appetite in the morning. I feel nauseous when I try to eat. Another thing that we’ll see with Helicobacter pylori is an aversion to protein rich foods because of its impact on stomach acid, right? So

Since it’s producing this byproduct that is then decreasing stomach acid production. Well, stomach acid is needed to break down protein. So it’s very common to have aversions to protein and to feel more sick after you eat high protein meals. We know how important protein is for our overall health, right? So muscle growth, blood sugar regulation. I did a recent podcast episode on this. So go back and have a listen to that if you’re interested. But this is not something that we want to be dealing with long term, right?

So we’ll see this kind of aversion to protein. And I like kind of giving you a lot of context here and a lot of different things that you can look out for because I think that these are things that you don’t hear too often, right? A lot of like people aren’t really talking about this kind of stuff, but these are patterns that will we will see in a lot of our clients. And definitely not filling up quickly pattern. I will say it can also go the other way. So I’ve seen in multiple cases.

Women come to and they’re like, I can out-eat my husband. Like I can eat double what he eats. And there’s nothing wrong with having a healthy appetite. It’s actually a great sign of metabolic health to have a nice, healthy appetite. But if you feel like you’re never satiated, you’re eating enough, like you feel like you’re eating enough and you’re never satiated, that can be another sign of a helicobacter pylori infection because you’re not breaking down this food efficiently.

Hannah Aylward (17:05.922)
You’re not absorbing the nutrients from the food that you’re eating efficiently. So you’re just constantly starving. So it’ll go both ways, right? Like you’ll fill up really quickly andor you can feel like, my gosh, I’m eating twice what my partner’s eating, and I’m like never satisfied. So those are other things to look out for there. And once again, just keeping in mind that if you’re filling up very quickly after eating, this is going to lead to more issues down the line, right? It’s going to lead to lower protein intake. It’s going to lead to low micronutrient intake.

Blood sugar dysregulation, fatigue, poor recovery, hormonal symptoms, right? This is where gut issues become whole body issues and they impact everything in the body, right? So they will impact your hormones, they will impact your thyroid, they will impact your skin, your energy, et cetera, et cetera. Sign number four that H. pylori may be causing your chronic GI issues is that you have chronically low iron or low B12, and it doesn’t make any sense. So this is something I kind of touched on previously, but just wanted to expand on here because.

Whenever I make posts about low iron, they explode. If I make a post on Instagram about like low ferritin or low iron, I it gets so much engagement. And what that tells me is that so many women are struggling with this issue. And it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s so much strategy that we can implement to helpfully raise these levels, but we have to look at the deeper why, right? So some people may have low iron because they’re truly not getting in enough. they’re not taking in enough through their diet.

I would say that is there’s a low chance of that because it’s quite easy to get in enough iron through your diet if you’re eating a healthy whole foods diet. There’s there’s iron in tons of the foods that we eat, right? So it’s not necessarily that you have a true deficiency. It’s more of an issue of like dysregulation, absorption, and poor recycling. So there’s a lot that I could say there. I’ll probably do a whole other episode on this topic specifically.

But, you know, once again, when I post about this, it’s like the engagement’s out the wazoo. So I wanted to hone in on this point here because so many women are struggling with this low iron piece or chronically low ferritin, which can lead to like hair loss, like difficulty growing your hair, of course, chronically low energy. The list goes on and on. It’s not a nice thing to live with, right? It’s gonna impact your thyroid. It and it the list goes on and on. So H. pylori can be connected with nutrient issues.

Hannah Aylward (19:22.285)
Especially low iron, low ferritin, B12 deficiency, which will then, of course, all of both of those things will cause fatigue, hair shedding, shortness of breath with exercise, you’re just always exhausted, poor energy despite like eating well, like you’re eating a healthy Whole Foods diet and you’re still totally wiped out, you can’t really recover well, your thyroid’s starting to take a hit. This can all be stemming from this deeper gut infection because when you have this infection.

number one is it’s going to cause inflammation of that stomach lining, right? So that alone is going to cause issues. Then it’s going to produce urease. It’s going to neutralize stomach acid. It’s going to damage those parietal cells that produce stomach acid. So where you’re then going to be living with chronically low stomach acid and the inability to actually absorb the nutrients from the food that you’re getting, that you that you’re taking in through through your diet or even through supplements. So this will impact your ability to absorb supplements as well. So this is what will lead to

This inflammation of the gut barrier and plus this infection that is neutralizing stomach acid, causing that low stomach acid state, will then lead to chronically low iron. So we have to work on, of course, you know, eradicating the infection if it’s present, enhancing absorption, supporting stomach acid production, repairing the gut barrier, and all of these different things if we want to actually work on increasing those iron or andor ferritin levels.

And then also B12. So it’s very common for people with chronic gut and digestive issues to have low B12, low vitamin D, and low iron. And it’s because the gut influences everything. And this is where all of the absorption come comes into play. Right. So the gut’s like so much at the center of all of this, which is why we’ll see clients like completely turn the corner after a couple of months of working with us in a myriad of different ways. Like their digestion will be better, but also their energy and their cycles and their thyroid antibodies and

The list goes on and on. So it’s it’s really amazing. But this could be if you’re someone and you’re like, wait, my ferritin, every time I test it, it’s not getting any higher. I’m taking iron, I’m taking iron iron based glycinate, I’m taking these different types of iron. I’m taking it with vitamin C. I’m taking all this stuff and it’s never going up. This is something, and you also have gut and digestive issues. This is something you absolutely want to look into.

Hannah Aylward (21:35.097)
And work to eradicate if it’s present naturally. And of course, you can come to us for support with that if you’d like. The perfect diet cannot compensate for poor digestion and absorption. This is why your gut health is so, so important.

Hannah Aylward (21:56.805)
We are big fans of eating enough protein over here on Team Han. Protein is essential for muscle repair, a strong gut lining, balanced blood sugar levels, and so much more. For most of our clients, we like recommending around 100 grams of protein per day to start, and adding in a good quality protein powder can be super helpful for hitting those numbers. It’s an easy add-in, you can throw it into a smoothie or even add it to oatmeal. Choosing the right protein powder can feel so overwhelming.

Half of them are full of fillers and crap ingredients, and the other half honestly just taste bad. Equip protein is one of my go-to recommendations for our clients and one of my personal favorites. We love it because it only has a small handful of ingredients. It’s 100% carefully sourced, real foods, no additives, allergens, chemicals, fillers, or other junk. It’s gluten-free and it contains 21 grams of protein per serving. Equip’s Prime Protein also offers

a complete amino acid profile. It’s also independently tested to make sure that the protein powder is free of harmful amounts of heavy metals and toxins like glyphosate, which is honestly super hard to find. Equip prime protein is a grass-fed beef protein. So it is animal based, but it’s dairy free, unlike whey or casein protein powders. Grass-fed beef protein is packed with collagen, gelatin, and micronutrients that your body needs.

We also see that it’s typically much better tolerated in our clients with chronic gut and digestive issues over something like a plant-based protein powder. In addition, some of their flavors do contain natural flavors, but they’re distilled vapors from natural and organic compounds or fruits like vanilla, coconut, and strawberry, and are processed without any chemicals, fillers, binders, or artificial ingredients, which once again is incredibly hard to find. Personally, I buy both the chocolate and the vanilla.

Flavors of the Equip Prime Protein, but honestly, they have like so many other incredible flavors out now. If you’re interested in trying out Equip Prime Protein, you can use the code HANA IllwardHHC at checkout for 15% off. And we’ll pop that code in the show notes of this episode for you as well. So once again, you can go to equipfoods.com, choose the flavor of protein powder that you want, and then use code HANA IllwardHHC for 15% off.

Hannah Aylward (24:11.769)
Okay, and sign number five that H. pylori may be causing the chronic GI issues that you are experiencing is if you’ve just been told you have IBS. The classic case, right? Where you’re like, I’ve gone in for the testing. They tell you of IBS, they can’t really find anything, and they didn’t really do that much testing, but maybe you went for a colonoscopy and you got some blood work and they’re like, cool, like you just have IBS. IBS is really use this as catch-all diagnosis.

It’s really a diagnosis of exclusion, right? And I have a whole podcast episode on taking a functional approach to IBS. So if you do have it, please go listen to this episode. It’s going to be incredibly valuable for you and and completely change what you believe to be IBS and how you can get better and overcome some of that digestive pain as well. So IBS is really like they’re like, We’ve done the routine testing and we can’t really find anything. And then you get told that you have IBS. But

Here at hand, we always dig deeper and ask like what’s actually causing her bowels to be irritable because they aren’t aren’t just irritable for no reason, right? Yes, it could be chronic stress, but it also could be H. pylori. It also could be SIBO. It also could be fungal overgrowth or candida overgrowth. It also could be a parasitic infection. It also could be low stomach acid, right? So there’s a lot more that we can dig into here. Nutrient deficiencies, all of these things will contribute to quote unquote IBS. So

When this is a big sign that we want to investigate deeper testing. And if you’ve been told you have IBS, and especially if you have a lot of the things that I’ve mentioned previously, like the upper abdominal bloating, the nausea, the reflux, maybe you’ve been told you have gastritis, maybe you’ve been told you you have an ulcer, you have that upper abdominal discomfort, you get full very quickly, you have low iron, you have low B12, you have a history with ulcers or gastritis.

You’re reacting to a lot of the supplements you’re taking. All of these can be some signs that we need to dig deeper and see if this infection is present. There are a few other things that I want to mention here when it comes to H. pylori. So the first one is acne. We see a Helicobacter pylori infection in a lot of our chronic acne clients and cases. I have a whole podcast episode on that specifically. And I break down like what evidence we have, what clinical data we have on that.

Hannah Aylward (26:22.575)
How it would impact the gut, how it would impact the skin. So if you are interested, if you have acne and you also have digestive issues, please go give that podcast episode a listen. We will pop that in the show notes below. It’s an incredibly valuable episode and I break down the connection between H. Pylori and acne. But I just wanted to kind of make that honorable mention for today’s episode, because that would be another thing. If you came in.

Work with us, and you’re like, I have this chronic acne. I’ve tried all the topicals, I washed my face, I changed my pillowcase, I’m using different acids on my skin and moisturizers, and you know, I’ve taken out cometogenic ingredients, and you’ve done all of this work in regards to your topicals, and you’re eating a healthy diet, you took out gluten, you took out dairy, and you’re still dealing with this chronic acne, and you also have digestive issues. I’m immediately thinking, okay, we’re probably looking at H. pylori, we’re probably looking at fungal overgrowth, we probably are looking at dysbiosis, we’re definitely looking at

Increased intestinal permeability, maybe some bile issues. So there’s a big, big connection here between this infection and chronic acne that is that just doesn’t go away despite all of your efforts. The other thing that I want to mention here is nausea, which I kind of touched on briefly, but I will say I’ve seen many cases of where clients have this like this chronic nausea. Like they just always feel nauseous and

Maybe they’re even taking medications for the nausea at this point. Maybe they’re taking something like Zofran, but the nausea is just like persistent and it flares and it ebbs and it flows. It gets like a little bit better, it gets a little bit worse, but it may also come along with that like aching and gnawing feeling in the abdomen. This starts to get my wheels turning and starts to get me thinking about H. pylori because I’ve seen this pattern in a lot of cases. So wanted to kind of make that another honorable honorable mention. The other thing I would say here.

is if you have been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s. So we can see, you know, throughout this episode, we’ve talked about how H. pylori can impact our stomach acid, of course, and it can contribute to increased intestinal permeability or that kind of leaky gut picture, which will then cause systemic inflammation, which will then cause skin issues, low energy, joint pain, headaches, all the really fun stuff. All the really fun stuff. so it’s going to contribute to those things, right? But

Hannah Aylward (28:38.731)
It can also play a role in autoimmune hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s through a process called the bystand effect. So the bystander effect theory suggests that an infection inside the target organ or the thyroid leads the immune system to send immune cells to the thyroid to kill this infection. However, while the cells are attacking the infection, they accidentally injure the thyroid tissue, creating an inflammatory response. This inflammatory response signals more immune cells to rush.

The thyroid, where they will not attack the thyroid gland, due to the previously discussed concept called molecular mimicry. So the antibodies that are created due to an H. pylori infection can cross-react with multiple different normal tissues, such as the gastric cells, and then also thyroid tissue. So research has suggested that the antibodies created to H. pylori were found in about 47% of those with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patients in a small study that was done.

Compared to only 11% in the general non-Hashimoto’s population. Another research study showed that Hashimoto’s patients that also had H. pylori had higher TPO antibodies than those Hashimoto’s patients that did not have H. pylori antibodies. And one other study that looked at 25 patients showed that those that had TPO antibodies over 700 out of these patients, 72% tested positive for H. pylori via a urea.

Breath test. So there is some clinical data to show that there is a connection here, right? So it’s something that we always want to look out for, in my opinion. If I hear that someone has been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s by their medical doctor, they also have a lot of chronic digestive issues. H. pylori is coming to mind for me. We actually had a client more recently who had a TPO antibodies. Her, she had very highly elevated antibodies. They were over 500.

And she did have an H. pylori infection. And after we cleared up that infection, her antibodies were in the normal range. So I’m no in no way saying that we diagnose or treat disease or anything like that. But when we look at her labs, this is what it’s showing, right? So not only was she, I mean, of course, she was feeling like a million times better. Her digestion was better, her energy was better. She had like so much energy she didn’t know what to with, is what she told me, which is amazing after being chronically fatigued for a while. But

Hannah Aylward (31:00.084)
It’s it’s pretty cool, right? Cause we’re getting that immune system response here from this infection. So Hashimoto’s, I would say, is something if you have chronic GI issues and you also have Hashimoto’s, I’m kind of always looking out for this infection that could be present as well. Then finally, my last like honorable mention here would be recurring SIBO. So if you have SIBO or you’ve had SIBO in the past and you keep getting it or it’s never fully going away.

You get it, you feel a bit better, it comes back. You get it, you feel a bit better, it comes back. Or you just get it and you never feel any better and you keep testing positive. There are many different reasons for this. I have a whole podcast episode on SIBO, underlying root causes, natural solutions, testing options, what the research shows us. So we’ll link that in the show notes below as well. Go have a deep you can have a deep dive with me over on that episode. But when I see recurring SIBO, it’s usually because we’re just kind of throwing antibiotics at it and we’re not.

Digging into why you got the SIBO in the first place. Because of H. pylori’s impact on stomach acid and inflammation, it can contribute to SIBO and it can cause that more dysbiotic state in the gut microbiome. So I think it’s very, very important to work with someone. Of course, if you’re experiencing a lot of these things, but then also if you do have this infection or if you want to test for this infection, because something you’ve probably heard me say on this podcast a lot is like it’s never just one thing.

I can almost guarantee you that if you have H. pylori, you’re also gonna have some dysbiosis. You’re also gonna have increased intestinal permeability. You’re also gonna have nutrient deficiencies. You’re also gonna have potentially even histamine issues, right? You’re also gonna have maybe thyroid issues or fungal overgrowth. H. pylori loves to hang out with Candida. So there’s just more to the story, right? You never wanna look at it in like a silo and just look at one thing. You wanna take a nice

thorough comprehensive approach to looking at the gut, the gut environment and gut function as a whole. Because if something is impacting our gut function at the top of the chain, something like stomach acid, which happens like before food even makes it into your colon, where the majority of your gut microbes live, we have to ask like, are we even digesting our food efficiently? If you have H. pylori, then you’re definitely not. So what what we’ve learned from this episode is that you’re not.

Hannah Aylward (33:14.348)
So if that’s present, it’s going to impact everything else down the chain, including your small intestine, your large intestine, your pancreas, your bioflow. So all of these things will kind of need some TLC if this infection is present and likely your adrenals too. So we always like to prep clients and put them through like a nice gut immune function support phase, mineral support phase, adrenal support phase first and foremost before we go attacking any different bacteria.

Okay, so what are our options for testing here? There’s many different options for testing. You can do stool testing. That’s what we use here. We run functional stool testing. It tests for H. pylori. It also tests for like a million other things like dysbiosis and fungal overgrowth and steatocrit and inflammation and gut immune function and parasitic infections. It’s all in one test. So we work with this functional stool test because it gives us.

A more comprehensive look at what’s actually going on in your gut. So we can then build out a customized protocol from there versus just testing one marker, because that’s gonna miss a lot of stuff, right? So we work with functional soul testing. You could also do a urea breath test at your and go schedule that with your doctor. an endoscopy with biopsy in certain cases can be helpful. I have seen an endoscopy miss an H. pylori infection before. There can definitely be false negatives when testing. So just another thing to kind of keep in mind if you feel like

I’m listening to this episode, I’m resonating with so much of it, but I’ve tested negative for H. pylori. You may want to test again. Something to consider, right? Because we can get some false negatives here. And then sometimes blood testing will be used as well, but it wouldn’t really be my recommendation. My recommendation would definitely be functional stool testing here. And once again, because of its impact on your entire gut and your gut microbiome and your gut and digestive function, of course, I recommend working with someone through this process.

What that looks like with us is going to be, I alluded to a little bit of it previously, but we want to prep your body, right? So it’s never ever good to just jump into intensive eradication. You’ll feel like trash, you’ll feel like you got hit by a truck. And also an immune system that’s not like strong enough to eradicate something won’t. So it’s never a good idea to just jump into a bunch of antimicrobials. We put all of our clients through a little prep phase there.

Hannah Aylward (35:30.166)
The other thing that we’ll always do is support upper GI, like restoration of that tissue, because there will likely be a lot of inflammation there. So once again, you want to do that before jumping into any eradication phase. We want to work on adrenal support there, of course, supporting the gut barrier. And then we’ll bring in targeted things to eradicate the bacteria itself. We can also use some probiotics there. We’ll also use some certain biofilm disruptors there to really go go in and get rid of this, get rid of this bacteria.

And really repair the overall terrain in your gut environment. And of course, like I mentioned, that functional soul testing that we run is looking at the gut more comprehensively. So we’re also gonna find other stuff that’s going on, like bacterial overgrowths or fungal overgrowth or whatever. And we’re gonna factor that into your plan as well. Another thing that I think I I was I’m like looking at my notes as I do this. Okay, important notes. I I have a little note at the end for you. So important things that I also wanted to mention.

H. pylori is highly transmissible via saliva. So it it runs in families, it hangs out. It loves to get be passed from person to person to person. So if you have it, your partner probably has it, your kids may have it. It’s just something to consider. I take that quite seriously. Personally, practitioners have different approaches there, but I like to test the partner or and and potentially even test the whole home to make sure that, you know, you aren’t gonna do this work to work with someone and get rid of it.

And repair your gut and then just kind of get reinfected with it. The other thing I wanted to note that I’m realizing was not in my notes was that this bacteria is, you know, it’s going to occur in like 50 to 55% of the population. A huge chunk of the population has this bacteria. We have co-evolved with this bacteria for a long time. Not everyone that has it will be super symptomatic. Some people will be very sick, and that’s what makes it a little tricky. So for everyone that listens to this podcast, you probably have digestive issues. So I would say.

In your case, it would be worth checking out. But it’s totally possible that someone just like walking down the street that has no digestive issues could have it and feel totally fine with it. So just something to consider there. It’s quite common. It will cause major issues in some people, not so major issues in in other people. There’s a lot of reasoning as to why behind all of that that we could get into there. But just another note, right? We’ve we’ve seen this bacteria, we’ve co-evolved with this bacteria. Small amounts are considered commensal.

Hannah Aylward (37:52.04)
Small amounts may even be considered supportive. There was one study that showed that it could actually be supportive in smaller commensal amounts, similar to can’t candida that is naturally occurring in the gut microbiome in small amounts, right? We run into a lot of GI issues and skin issues and energy issues and sugar cravings when it overgrows. So it’s kind of this bigger gut environment issue that we need to look at versus just targeting these like one, this one overgrowth or this one infection.

We need to kind of ask ask bigger questions here. So small levels are considered commensal, higher levels, more infection status is go usually gonna cause issues in many people. I have had H. pylori personally, causes a ton of bloating. Causes a ton of bloating. It’s not fun at all, led to a lot of dysbiosis. I was like kind of SIBO-y with it, lots of dysbiosis, lots of bloating, lots of gas. It was kind of a nightmare. So recommend getting rid of it. You’ll feel a lot better.

And once again, we we chatted about some of that testing and those testing options for that too. So quick recap of some of these major things you want to look out for: constant burping and upper belly bloating, reflux, burning, gnawing, aching in the abdomen, feeling full very quickly or losing your appetite. and then also never really feeling fully satisfied, low iron, low B12 issues that don’t make any sense. You’re not responding to supplements, you’re not responding to diet changes, your levels are just chronically low.

And then, of course, being told you have IBS and there’s nothing that you can do, and like, it’s just who you are. No, it’s not. There’s a lot that we can do there. We just have to dig a little, dig a little deeper. So H. pylori is not the cause of everyone’s GI issues, right? It’s some people have it, some people don’t. This is why testing is so important. Like, I can I can make these episodes and I can inform you guys and educate you, which is awesome and I love it. But we have to test to know like what’s actually going on in your body, right?

So it’s not, it’s not the solution for everyone. It’s not the issue for everyone, but it is definitely something that we want to rule out or check for if you’re fitting this pattern, which we do automatically with all of our clients because of its impact on overall gut health and gut function. And once you identify a root cause, you know, this is when the guessing starts to stop and you can stop cutting out foods randomly and hoping it helps and all of that stuff that just like is a total waste of time in your.

Hannah Aylward (40:10.656)
your precious energy and we can actually create you a plan that matches what your body needs and and we can customize interventions for for what you need there too. So if you’re struggling with chronic bloating, reflux, constipation, food sensitivities and reactions, maybe histamine issues, mystery, gut stuff, nausea, constipation, loose stools, right? And you’re tired of this guessing, this is what we do, this is who we help, and this is exactly what we do inside of our programs. We

My HDSB program is currently closed for enrollment, but we are open for enrollment for our one-on-one programs. We have one-on-one gut restoration programs, and we will pop the link to work with us and apply to work with us in the show notes below for anyone that’s interested in getting some of these dysfunctional testing and digging deeper into the root causes and getting a good throw plan and getting your life back on the other side of digestive issues. It’s much better on the other side. I can say that from personal experience. So

Hopefully this was super helpful for you. These bacteria can have these like big fancy names. They can feel super overwhelming. But so hopefully this kind of brings some clarity to this topic. And as always, we’d love to help you if you’re interested. And I’ll see you in next week’s episode. Okay. Bye.

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Nutrient Dense podcast. If you found this episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and come back next week for a new episode. See you then.