You wouldn't ordinarily think that processes occurring in your gut could have any impact on hair growth or hair loss, but more and more evidence is emerging, which makes a definite connection between the two. Because nutrient absorption is impaired for potentially long periods of time, the results can be felt in a number of different bodily processes, including the healthy maintenance of your hair, for those unfamiliar with SIBO. It's a condition that occurs when bacteria from other parts of the digestive tract begin growing in your small intestine.
This generally causes the victim to feel pain, have nausea and/or vomiting, bloating, abdominal pain, and it can also cause a loss of appetite. The reason that SIBO gets started in your small intestine is generally because partially digested food does not pass through the small intestine quickly enough, and that allows bacteria to become attached to the small intestine and begin growing. This slow passage usually happens when a person becomes ill for some reason or if they've gone through a recent surgery.
Bacteria is always present in your digestive tract, but it's usually confined to the large intestine. The small intestine is an area where food gets mixed with digestive juices and where the nutritive elements in food get extracted and passed on to the bloodstream for absorption by the body. This is a fairly quick process, which does not require assistance from bacteria, and that's why there aren't normally any bacteria found in the small intestine.
Connection to hair loss
One of the side effects of SIBO is malnutrition for the person affected, and that means hair loss can definitely become a factor. When the body is unable to obtain all the nutrients it needs for all the necessary processes, it is forced to prioritize the delivery of nutrients to those processes which are considered life-sustaining. Other processes are at least temporarily ignored, and hair growth would be one of those processes. This being the case, once the underlying cause of SIBO has been cured or treated, it should allow for regular hair growth to resume, and any hair loss which occurred should be rectified.
However, that's not always the case, especially if you are a male who is also impacted by a hair-thinning pattern. If you've been bothered by SIBO for an extended period of time without realizing it, your hair follicles may have sustained irreversible damage and will be unable to resume normal growth. There are specific approaches you can take to try and overcome this SIBO-induced hair loss, for instance, regularly massaging the affected area. But there's just no guarantee that circulation will increase in the massage area, so that hair growth can resume and be sustained.
The first step in trying to recover from hair loss is to eliminate the SIBO in your small intestine, and this can be done with an approach of integrative treatment, which helps to restore the good bacteria through diet recommendations and acupuncture treatment. CoLymph Diet Therapy is consists of recommendations to promote probiotics and to reduce inflammation. Probiotics are naturally found in protein-rich foods and fermented foods like sauerkraut. After this, you'll need to increase blood flow to the scalp, and the best way to accomplish this is through acupuncture. With a little luck and a lot of perseverance, you may be able to undo the damage done to your hair by SIBO.