Follow Your Gut Podcast

Sometimes Symptoms Get Worse Before They Get Better

• Season 3 • Episode 105

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Rebalancing your gut is a life changing experience but it's important to know that sometimes symptoms get worse before they get better. For some people, healing can look like a few steps back before moving forward. It can sometimes bring about uncomfortable symptoms that may seem counterproductive. This is known as die-off, or a Herxheimer reaction. While it might feel discouraging, it's actually a sign that your body is undergoing a significant transformation.

The term "die-off" or Herxheimer reaction refers to the process where harmful bacteria, yeast, parasites, mold and other pathogens in your gut die in large numbers. When you start taking Cleanse and Nourish and eliminate the foods that feed these undesirable overgrowths, they begin to die. As this happens, you may experience a temporary worsening of symptoms. These symptoms can include:

  • Headaches
  • Fatigue
  • Digestive discomfort (bloating, gas, diarrhea, or constipation)
  • Joint or muscle pain
  • Skin rashes
  • And most common, the worsening of whatever symptom you had in the first place

How long does it last? And what should you expect if you are pregnant or breastfeeding? Will the toxins pass through your placenta or breastmilk? Tune into this episode for tips to support your body through this process and embrace the healing that awaits on the other side.

Links from episode:
Episode 101: How to Prepare Your Body for Cleansing
The Children's Gut Rebalance Kit
The Women's Gut Rebalance Kit
Balance CBD

Thanks for listening! I would love to connect with you ♡


Sending love and wellness from my family yours,
xx - Juniper Bennett
Founder of ōNLē ORGANICS

The term die -off or a Herxheimer reaction refers to the process where harmful bacteria, yeast, mold, parasites, fungus, and other pathogens in your gut begin to die. When you start taking cleanse and nourish and you eliminate the foods that feed these undesirable overgrowths, they begin to die.

This is why you were rebalancing your gut in the first place is to kill these overgrowth. But as this happens, you may experience a temporary worsening of symptoms. These symptoms can include the onset of headache, fatigue, digestive discomfort, like bloating, gas, diarrhea, or constipation. You may experience the onset of a fever, joint or muscle pain, skin rashes, and most commonly the worsening of whatever symptom you had in the first place. So why does this happen? Your gut is a complex ecosystem home to trillions of microorganisms, both good and bad.

When the balance is tipped in favor of the beneficial bacteria, the harmful ones are starved of the resources they need to survive. Their mass die -off can overwhelm your body, leading to uncomfortable symptoms of their dying off.

But it's important to understand that while cleanse and nourish trigger the die off phase, they are not the root cause of your symptoms. The root cause is the years of accumulated exposure to chemicals, pathogens, toxins, and possibly unhealthy foods that have disrupted the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. When you start the rebalancing protocol, it begins to address these long standing imbalances by helping your body eliminate the harmful buildup. The die -off symptoms you experience are your body's response to clearing out these accumulated overgrowth. Essentially, rebalancing is facilitating this crucial cleansing process, not causing the symptoms directly.

Something that's really important for you to know is that not everyone will experience die -off symptoms. Everyone's got microbiome and immune response is unique. So the process of rebalancing will vary significantly from person to person.

Some may go through their gut healing journey with very minimal discomfort while others get worse before they get better. This episode is not intended to scare you or intimidate you, but to empower you and validate your experience. It is really important to not compare your healing journey with anyone else's. It is so easy to want to look at someone else's experience, someone else's journey and try to find answers for yourself. But the truth is the more

can embrace your own healing journey, your child's healing journey, the more healing you will find. If you are someone who does not experience die -off, it's important for you to know that this does not indicate the ineffectiveness or the effectiveness of your rebalance. It's simply how your body reacts to the shift of balance in your gut. 

So how long does die off last?

The duration of symptoms can vary so much from person to person. Generally, it can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. It's hard for me to know how long it will last for you or your child. To come up with your own best guess, you can look at your level of imbalance and the current state of your body. Everyone's gut microbiome is unique and the extent of imbalance and type of harmful microorganisms present will affect the duration your die off. You can evaluate how efficiently your body cleanses. These are factors like hydration, liver function, sleep quality, stress level, and overall health. You can evaluate yourself. You can evaluate your child as a whole to come up with your best guess of how long your die off phase may last. For most people, it typically peaks within the first week of starting the women's or children's gut rebalance kits and generally passes within two weeks.

If you are someone who is pregnant or breastfeeding while rebalancing, you might have concerns about how die -off could affect your baby. The dying overgrowth do not pass through your breast milk or your placenta. So your baby will not experience die -off symptoms from your body's cleansing process. Your breast milk and placenta are highly regulated by your body to protect your baby. Your body so intelligent. Do not let our culture discredit how magic your body is. You have a blood milk barrier that selectively allows certain substances to pass while keeping others out. It prevents the dying overgrowth from entering your breast milk.

Your placenta does the same thing. And actually this is why your baby's gut is sterile while in utero. They do not have good or bad bacteria in their body until they pass through your birth canal where they are inoculated with your microbiome.

We should also talk about how your liver and kidneys play a crucial role in cleansing your body and preventing the accumulation of die -off waste that could otherwise reach your baby. This is what makes the women's and children's gut rebalance kits so powerful. By supporting your gut, you're indirectly supporting your liver and your kidneys, and they will naturally begin to function more optimally and flush built -up toxins and on their own.

Now, while the dying overgrowth are effectively filtered out of your body and do not pass on to your baby, the supplements on the other hand do pass through your breast milk.

So you may notice your breastfeeding baby experience die off symptoms, but again, this isn't a reaction to your die off. It is the supplements working their magic on your baby's body, killing off bad bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, and other pathogens. And their body is cleansing.

Now let's talk about how to support your body during die -off. If you do experience die -off symptoms, there are several things you can do to manage and mitigate the discomfort.

First, make sure are drinking an abundant amount of water. This will help flush out the dying yeast, bacteria and parasites from your body, which helps quicken the cleansing process.

Second, Epsom salt baths will be your best friend. They will help in drawing out the dying overgrowth and alleviating muscle aches or skin irritations. Speaking of skin irritations, the third tip here is oatmeal baths. Throw some organic rolled oats into an old sock, tie a knot, and throw it into your bathtub. You can squeeze

the sock to make like an oat milk onto your skin or your child's skin. It's so soothing for any topical rash, diaper rash, eczema, psoriasis. It feels so good.

Fourth, topical relief. It's really important to make sure that you are only using topical products that are pH balanced and support your topical microbiome. Chemical based products counter all of the hard work that you are doing internally to heal your body. The Balanced Bacteria Skin Care Kit and Reliev Healing Gel are really nurturing and healing if you need anything to support your skin through your healing journey. Also, Organic Coconut, Olive and are amazing. 

Fifth, for internal support, as an alternative to ibuprofen and Tylenol, Balance CBD is really supportive in the die -off phase and many people actually incorporate it throughout their whole rebalancing journey and beyond because it is really healing for your digestive, mental, hormonal, and sleep health.

It will help alleviate headaches, body aches, hormone imbalances, restless sleep, and so much more. Sixth, I would highly recommend you consider incorporating celery juice during your die off phase, if not throughout your entire rebalance.

Celery juice is known for its natural cleansing properties and aids in the flushing out of toxins, including dying bacteria, yeast, and parasites that contribute to your die off symptoms. By supporting your liver during your rebalance, celery juice helps in eliminating waste and promoting a healthier gut environment. Imbalances cause inflammation in your body and celery juice contains anti -inflammatory compounds that will help reduce and support your body's response to die off.

Another last thing about celery juice is that it has an alkalizing effect on the body. When bad bacteria, pathogens, yeast, mold, fungus, and parasites die, they often release an acidic byproduct causing an imbalance in your pH levels. Consuming celery juice will help restore the alkalinity in your body, creating an environment that is less favorable to that bad bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, and parasites, meaning celery juice will help enhance your healing journey as a whole.

Seventh, make sure you are following the food side of the rebalancing protocol. When you purchase the women's or children's gut rebalance kit, you get free access to my course where there is so much guidance and support for the foods to eat and avoid. This is really important because if you continue to feed the bad microorganisms while the supplements are killing them, your die off will be much more significant as there is a battle happening

your body. Lastly, have patience. Remember that healing is a process. Give your body time to adjust and don't rush it. Embrace the die -off phase as part of your healing journey.

For more tips and if you want to shorten or minimize your potential die off phase, be sure to listen to episode 101, how to prepare your body for cleansing.

Before we wrap up, we have to talk about the healing on the other side.

While die -off symptoms can be really hard, they are most often short -lived. And once your body has adjusted to the new balance in your gut, you will experience significant improvements in your overall health and well -being. Your digestion, hormones, energy levels, skin, mood, and immune system will all be better than ever before. It will all be worth it. Commit, trust the process, and

Remember your why. Remember why you were rebalancing in the first place and hold on to the unwavering knowing that the happiest and healthiest version of yourself and your child is on the other side of this.