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On today’s podcast Dr. Jimenez DC, health coaches Adriana Caceres and Faith Arciniaga, and nutritionist Ana Paola Rodríguez Arciniega will discuss the steps to acquire a stool collection for Genova’s GI FX.
[00:02:49] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: All right, so today we’re going to be discussing what a doctor asks you. He says he’s going to do a stool test on you. Stool test, what does that mean? Freak us out? Well, what is a stool test? A stool test has a lot of purposes, but mainly it’s to see what is inside our poop, and it’s a poop test. So what we want to do is we want to understand what is a poop test. We want to demystify a poop test and clarify why we would do a poop test, right? So you see a lot of commercials nowadays doing a GI map; you want to poop and shoot it and send it out and mail it away. But it’s sometimes confusing as to the procedure and the protocol. We’ve been discussing a functional look at actual nutrition and the treatment protocols over a bit of time. So we’re going to be doing Ana Paola, is we’re also going to go over the nutritional reasons that we do things. We’re going to look at also what Adriana and Faith will be discussing on a personal note as to what goes on. So each one of these individuals has run a sample test on themselves to see what is going on. So once we know what is happening, Ana, do me a favor if you can prepare because I will have you go through the host on this whole show, a presentation of the result sample report for the GI map. Also, you can do it on the GI FX. So we want to make sure that we use different types of tests to do stool analysis now. Why would a doctor do a stool analysis? There are many reasons for enzymes, gut disorders, things like leaky gut, SIBO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. The basis of many pathologies is inflammation. Over the last couple of decades, we’ve been learning about the tight integration that colon health has a lot to do with inflammation. So whether it’s a joint problem, such as things that I get in my office like a back problem or chronic knee pains or not that are injury-based, sometimes there are knee injuries related to a twist of an injury. But sometimes, people come in with many joint problems, and they’re inflamed all over their organism. So we have to do is we have to figure out what’s causing inflammation. Now, suppose we can discern that it doesn’t have some cause or etiology related to trauma or arthritic issue or maybe some degenerative problem. In that case, we look further, and we look at the physiology of it. So we do a detailed assessment, a detailed functional wellness history to determine what’s going on. Many times, doctors figure out that we have to look at the intestinal dynamics, and when we do that, what we want to do is we want to be able to order specific tests. So we have a few tests that we have at our disposal. The GI maps and the GI FX are the top-of-the-line tests to see what’s happening with your bacteria and what’s going on. So there are things that we look at now in your experience; I’m going to go to Adriana first here. Tell us a bit of what we look for in the bacterial dynamics when looking at a person’s poop. But then we’ll go over actually how do we do the procedure? Because it’s straightforward to show you how it is, but we want to tell you why we do this? So tell us what you have learned in the process of what we’re assessing here.
[00:06:27] Adriana Caceres: Sure. Well, the test is done just to assess our interaction with our microbiome and the host. So we want to see what kind of bacteria we have in our gut. And that will give us indications about digestive problems, immune system problems, measuring how our macrobiotic DNA health is. We can see viruses, fungi, parasites, all this, and the level of inflammation we can have. Just doing this test.
[00:07:01] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It is incredible what we can learn. Zetlin has figured out that it’s a compound that we produce, and when we start seeing it, we start noticing that we have a breakdown of the intestinal wall. This leads to our bacteria, you know, and its byproducts found in the trash, junk, poop, and bad stuff entering our bloodstream. So when Zeitlin goes up, we can discuss that later, but we want to evaluate that as well. So from this particular point of view, I’d like you, Ana, to also give us what you have learned and why we do these tests. And then I’ll add to that.
[00:07:44] Ana Paola: I have found that the essential part of why we do this test is because patients connect that their gut health directly affects their pain symptoms and their ability to respond to different interactions with food. So I found that more than just figuring out what kind of bacteria we have or if we have gut permeability or inflammation is coming from our gut. It is basically how your gut helpfully responds or correlates to your total health. So I feel that we can use them in many, many aspects of health assessment.
[00:08:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Absolutely. We have seen that the population is getting it and more as time goes on because the word is out. That healthy gut is a healthy human and not only just in the area of just bacterial dynamics, but things like anxiety stress the way the inflammation responds to the way your body can heal and how your immune system responds. People may not know this, but the large majority of your immune system is in your intestinal wall. So, what happens is as you eat things, you’re got to protect them against the outside world. So it’s natural to see how the intestinal biome is our first line of defense in many aspects of what’s going on when God created us. So Faith, tell me what you’ve also learned in the process of doing these GI maps and also these stool analyses that we do.
[00:09:29] Faith Arciniaga: Right. So the stool analysis is so critical because it takes a look at the total health of the gut, and the gut is frequently referred to as the second brain of the body because it determines so many of your moods, your attitude, your sleep, how you act on from day-to-day. And so, if people are experiencing inflammation when they do this stool test, we can see what good bacteria and harmful bacteria they have within their body. And then we can go ahead and adjust the diet, give them supplements, and start to make their gut better through diet over months, weeks, et cetera.
[00:10:06] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, as we did this, we wanted to demystify what a stool test or a poop test? There are many ways of doing it, but we pretty much got the general dynamics in what we were going to present today. So one of the things is you’ll get a box like this full of some goodies, OK? And it’s called the GI microbial assay. The assay is just the word say evaluation testing. Plus, that is the standard of how we measure things. Now, this is only one of the types of tests that we have. We have quite a few arsenal tests, but this makes it easy to understand. You will find a box with some products in it. You’ll see that as we do these things, you’ll be able to see that there’s as we pop out these things, there’s a little tube here, there is a little tray, you know, like the ones from Chico’s tacos, you know, this is a place where you do your thing right, and it comes in a bag, and this becomes a bag. This is going to be delivered in that process. And you also get a delivery package so you can FedEx this bag. So as we went through the process, one of the things that we did was we had to go through the procedure of how we do this. So I want to pass my little tool over here because I know the young ladies did this and tell us a bit of the process as you look at your box. Adriana, present what you saw and how we presented it. So you received this box, OK, and now you have to do something with it. So let’s take a look at it. So she has got this box. You get this, and you’ve been told to do this test by your doctor. And what are you going to do?
[00:11:44] Adriana Caceres: So the first thing that you do is that you don’t freak out.
[00:11:47] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: OK, don’t freak out.
[00:11:50] Adriana Caceres: That’s the most important thing. And then it has a set of instructions. They’re very self-explanatory, and they help guide you through the process with the pictures and everything. So the first thing you do is put it in this bag, and there is a little container here. Here it is. OK, so the first thing you put your gloves on.
[00:12:20] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. Got to put your gloves on. And why would you put your gloves on for our nurse in the room?
[00:12:26] Faith Arciniaga: You have to keep your area clean so you don’t infect anything else.
[00:12:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Because cleanliness is next to godliness. There you go, and we’re getting it. Go ahead.
[00:12:40] Adriana Caceres: So then you get the bottle. Well, you get first your tray.
[00:12:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Now does that look like Chico’s tacos thing? It does, it does. All right.
[00:12:51] Adriana Caceres: OK. And then you’re going to poop in here. So, I mean, it’s very graphic, but you squat and just put it underneath, and you poop enough that you can take your sample out. So in this little bottle, when you open it, it has a little scoop. And you’re going to take out four scoops of your sample, and you’re going to put it in here. OK. Please throw this away when you put it in here; please throw this away, don’t leave it close to the children.
[00:13:29] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, you don’t want to be surprising for your family. Look what I did. It’s a gift.
[00:13:33] Adriana Caceres: Take it away from your children.
[00:13:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: More trauma forever, right?
[00:13:40] Adriana Caceres: And then with this, you’re just going to shake it hard. OK, please make sure it’s tight.
[00:13:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Before you do anything.
[00:13:48] Adriana Caceres: Yes, before you do anything, and then you’re going to shake it. OK, after you shake it out, you put it in your little bag, OK. There is a form that you have to fill out, and it’s one. With all your information. OK. And as you fill this out, you put this little sample bottle in your bag, and you zip your bag, and this is so easy that even brings your FedEx envelope, which makes it easier and discreet for you to walk into FedEx and not know what you’re sending out.
[00:14:34] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We did forget one thing we need to put the absorbent billionaire. Yes, you got to put the little absorbent thing because sometimes we want to ensure that the people who are opening it up to don’t get surprises.
[00:14:42] Adriana Caceres: You put it in the bag, OK? And the idea is that any liquid comes out, and it’s absorbed by it. And then you put it in your FedEx envelope, take it to FedEx, and send it. So it’s effortless, very comfortable. The only part that might be uncomfortable is like pooping in the little tray. But other than that, it’s very discreet. Nobody, nobody will know what you did, and you can send it out.
[00:15:13] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, it’s that simple. So it’s effortless; I know we make light of it because it is a light thing. Make sure you wear the gloves, make sure that everything is supposed to make sure you call FedEx. They’ll come and pick it up for you. So these are simple. This particular one was a GI map. And then you put it, you know, you put in the box and put it into the FedEx package. So it goes back, and it’s nice and solid. So that’s a good question. Where do we send it back? We don’t send the box back. Do we or don’t we? Yes, we do. We put it in the box and then send it in the package. Yes. Yes. Does the box protect the box? OK, so it’s big enough to hold it.
[00:15:50] Adriana Caceres: Yes, it’s big enough to hold.
[00:15:51] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. So it makes sure that that goes on. So in that process, we’re going to learn a lot. OK. First of all, you know, even you may believe that a small sample does not have a complete bacterial balance. However, remember that from the time you have eaten, OK, this has been churned and churned and churned and churned inside the colon. And realistically, it is good; it does give us a balance of that. Now, one thing they tell us to do is to avoid drinking or taking any aspirin for about two or three days before this because we don’t want to cause any blood that’s going to be stored because we’re going to be measuring sort of blood. We’re going to be measuring different types of bacteria. Now, as you mentioned, from fungus to viruses to bacteria to various things like chlamydia, we’re going to be able to find out what type of balance you have now. As a result, we’re going to tell you what type of supplements, what type of enzymes, what type of breakdown products you can take as a result of your deficiency. Or maybe you have an outstanding balance. So I would like to give the host position to Ana in a second; she’s going to review a little bit of a report to let you see what we do see. Are you ready, Ana?
[00:17:13] Ana Paola: Yes. Which one do you want me to do that?
[00:17:16] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You can look at doing both of them if you want to just kind of like a general thing. I’m going to give you what it says make you already have a co-host capacity rating, or can you take can you share your screen?
[00:17:30] Ana Paola: Let me do that for you, and we will start with the high effects because I wanted to make an important. Can you see it? Yes, I see right here. OK. We have to do specifically with the GI effects because we want to ensure that the person let four weeks pass if they had a colonoscopy before doing the stool testing.
[00:18:01] Adriana Caceres: Ana, I’m sorry to interrupt; it’s not sharing.
[00:18:02] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Oh, it’s not sharing? I can see it.
[00:18:07] Ana Paola: Yeah. So I got it.
[00:18:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Currently, I do see the sharing screen.
[00:18:12] Ana Paola: I just wanted to make that quick point because there are certain specific requirements for us to do before we start with this tool recollection. So that is like the main thing. Also, we need to create all the different antibiotics or probiotics, and we’re taking some of them. So it just makes sure that two weeks prior, you’re collecting your stool collection. You do not accept either antibiotics or probiotics, which is critical for getting reliable results from your stool tests. So when you finally get your results through your stool collection, we will be able to see if you either have mild digestion. If you have any dysbiosis, we’re going to be able to find out if you have inflammation and what we can do to heal that inflammation? And also, we can see we have any microbiome infection or virus infection. So this is very useful. Specifically, we’re talking about the GI effect profile test because it’s very comprehensive. It’s like a full test, and I like it because of that. So we were also talking about the different biomarkers we can get from this testing, and the digestive support test is crucial for us. So maybe if our patient had, I mean, she’s a plaque in her gallbladder, and we do not know, we might be able to see if they have specific pancreatic allergies or any somatic deficiency. So this is great for us. And now another thing maybe what I can do is see the main differences between the GI FX from Genova, you know that, and I will also share… did I stop my sharing?
[00:20:27] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It appears that way.
[00:20:29] Ana Paola: OK. And maybe I can share my GI map samples. Let me know when it is ready.
[00:20:40] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It is live.
[00:20:41] Ana Paola: OK, so there are certainly differences between the GI FX and the GI map. Firstly, we can see that GI Map is, well, its DNA analysis. So it’s going to tell you precisely what kind of differences or what kind of quantity or the DNA percent of pathogens or different viruses. And specifically, this is essential H. Pylori.
[00:21:08] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Ana, can you go down and go back up to where you started at the beginning of the things here? Yes, right there. If you see, these are pathogens. Sometimes we’re given points of view that you’ll see some E. coli zero 157. You’ll see a number there. These are pathogens. So they’re not good. So they’re not commensal, which are good bacteria. So the excessive amount is that number. So even though that eight-point six zero reflects a non-red thing, it’s not that it needs to be considered Yersinia intercolica. It needs to be considered along with the difficile A and toxin B also. So we have to look at these and put that into our overall clinical understanding of what’s going on with the patient. So it’s not so much that it’s not in red, but we’ve also had to look at also the ones that are being calculated as well.
[00:22:03] Ana Paola: Like this one. So that is a fascinating and essential point. So this is well; actually, this is very interesting. And the main thing or the main difference between the GI FX and the GI map is that the GI map will only throw you the results instead of giving you the next step of action, which is like the treatment plan is, but it will tell you precisely what is going on and what is present in your GI tract. So I find this information beneficial if we are suspicious about Clostridium difficile, a toxin or toxin B, or other pathogens present here. Another thing that we have to consider right here because we have the commensal bacteria or the normal bacterial flora, and it will tell us what is the amount and which type of different species or different families are running low in our gastrointestinal tract kind of field of microbiota. It’s low, but something about it also manages to give us the Firmicutes to bacteria. That ratio, which is essential to see we have a balanced gut microbiota. So this is very interesting as well. And the other critical information that is also provided with the Genova GI FX is so profound that we get the opportunistic bacteria or those types of a family of bacteria that contribute to SIBO or IBS. So this is also something that could be used for us to follow up with the treatment of this patient. So another essential thing is there is a decent bacterial composition that we are carrying in our bodies. So right now, we can see that in this sample, the patient is pretty much average in its bacteria and fungi and spree, which is very, very significant. And also, the virus says something else. So this is very intense. Something you mentioned previously was this on the urine test, which is an important marker for gut permeability. So right here, we can see that the patient has gut permeability. This is one of the main differences between the GI map and the Genova GI FX. It doesn’t tell us what is going on, even though it provides the amounts and results. So this may be a test that I would instead read as a clinician than to give to my patient because I find it easier to read the GI FX than the GI map. Personally, that’s what I think.
[00:25:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We use them both differently, depending on the situation. We like to sometimes patients want to just they just want someone to take care of it. Some people want to become really part of their nutrition and their recovery process. For those patients, we like the effects. For those really into the science of GI maps, maps have always been considered the primary test or the go-to one most clinicians go. Most clinical environments, hospitals. So what we need to do is figure out what’s best for the patient and see what’s happening. So the correlation, the association, the coincidence, and the causation of disorders, gets put together in the clinical story. So we just can’t say that the bacteria is the cause that goes along with many things going on, from environmental to dynamics to physical too emotional to even, you know, the history of trauma they’ve been experiencing. So there’s a lot of reasons why inflammation gets its basis. So when you seize on, it could be a factor to food sensitivity or even an immune reaction that is in response to foods that are not favorable to the individual. Gluten itself will cause an enormous release amount of zion. And because it’s like blades, different foods irritate the intestinal walls, and we need to change people’s diet. Because once you establish normal flora and get the bacteria as your buddies, as your friends, and work with it, you can take on a lot of indirect and direct health benefits. So what we want to do is learn about these processes that we did. Today was to demystify the procedure to understand the dynamics of taking a stool test from the moment you take your assay, and you send it off, that it’s demystified. It’s not complex, and it’s not complicated. So I got a question for our young nurse to be here that she’s going to to tell us a little bit, how did you feel when you were talking about when you were looking at the GI maps, how did you feel, mainly what I want to do is I want to open up the fact of how did you feel having t work with this?
[00:27:47] Faith Arciniaga: So what I consider it may seem uncomfortable at first, but it’s a tool to help you improve your health. So I started to view it that way and see that I will get better when I do this. And I hope that the patient similarly sees that and that once we see these results, we can help pinpoint the areas where they’re experiencing inflammation. And so it may feel uncomfortable, but we’re all health care professionals who want to help the patient ultimately get better. And this is a tool that will help us to do that for them.
[00:28:17] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Excellent. And Adriana, how did you feel when you had to kind of work through opening this box and figuring out what a patient would go through?
[00:28:26] Adriana Caceres: Well, I want to relate to the patient as, of course, you open the box, you know, you see the small tray, like, “Oh my goodness, why do I have to do now?” That would be the first impression. OK. And then, of course, it can be uncomfortable if you haven’t done it before. I think as a mom when you’ve cleaned so many diapers, you kind of get used to getting your hands messy. So you’re like, OK, I can do. But definitely, it can make people feel a little awkward because trying to figure out how to use the tray, how to put it in position, where you can use it, you know, so that can be a little; I can relate to being a little uncomfortable, but as Faith says, at the end of the day, this you have in mind that this is because you have an issue. You wanted to get to the bottom of that issue. And this is one of the tools that will help us diagnose what you have now.
[00:29:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Ana, talk to me about how you recommend people perceive this and go forward with this type of testing.
[00:29:29] Ana Paola: First of all, I think that those patients have to compromise with the treatment, and once they’ve made the connection between gut health and everything that it’s there it affects, they are fully committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure to go back to their normal health or to improve their health. So I guess that that is the first thing that I think about when I get these packages. And the second thing that I think about is refrigerating your samples, so that is the second thing that comes to my mind.
[00:30:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, honestly, it’s usually good, so you can probably do it on Sunday and refrigerate so that on Monday morning goes out, they do indicate that by Friday, we should have the results. So that would be a good thing. So maybe Sunday do it on a Sunday evening if possible, or some plan some time during the day when nature calls. But the idea is to get it out by Monday, and we get the results by Friday. We do different types of tests, some from Vibrant and some from Great Plains. Some from GI map, some from US Biotechs and Doctors Data. We do different types of procedures. Functional wellness is a spinoff of functional medicine, and we pretty much correlated with inflammation. Our goal is to see what are the things that are causing inflammation in the body. So it’s not so apparent. So again, we got to get to the root cause. Not only is it related to an injury, but I’m finding more and more as time goes on that our patients are highly educated and sometimes that they may have trauma, an injury after a bout of sometimes some as extreme as two-three years of antibiotic use. And suddenly, they have a lot of drama as a result of that, and they don’t realize what’s happened. And you know, our buddies are bacteria that have been affected due to that, causing indirect results in our body specifically and our inflammation dynamics. I just wanted to thank you, guys. I don’t want to take more than half an hour, and we are at around precisely about 30 minutes. We discuss some issues here. We talked about it will go ahead and elaborate on the next one. We’ll be covering up some more complex issues. So as we go through these processes. Thank you, Adriana. Thank you, Faith, and thank you, Ana, for representing your point of view from a female point of view because sometimes you know it’s essential to understand the dynamics. I don’t know; for me, as a guy, to be pretty straightforward. But it’s good to have a point of view, so I hope that made sense. You guys have a good one. Thank you very much, and look forward to discussing the following topic in functional medicine, functional wellness function, nutrition dynamics of getting better, and your body. Thank you.
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Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, RN*, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*
email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com
Licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) in Texas & New Mexico*
Texas DC License # TX5807, New Mexico DC License # NM-DC2182
Licensed as a Registered Nurse (RN*) in Florida
Florida License RN License # RN9617241 (Control No. 3558029)
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Graduate with Honors: ICHS: MSN-FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner Program)
Degree Granted. Masters in Family Practice MSN Diploma (Cum Laude)
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, MSN-FNP, RN* CIFM*, IFMCP*, ATN*, CCST
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