Pros and Pitfalls of Stool Testing: Beyond Black-and-White Thinking

 

In the clinical application of Functional Medicine (FxMED), we frequently experience the truth of Hippocrates’ famous quote – All disease begins in the gut. And if it doesn’t begin there, disease is often exacerbated in the gastrointestinal tract through a host of varying mechanisms. Hence, it’s critical for practitioners to explore the role of the gut in every one of our clinical encounters.

Due to its centrality in health and disease, FxMED practitioners are always on the lookout for tools that can help them assess the gut in order to build more effective clinical interventions. Comprehensive stool testing is one such tool. 

You have likely heard of / ordered / interpreted a comprehensive stool test – a mainstay of many FxMED practices. This type of testing can provide the practitioner with important clues to a case.  However, perhaps more frequently than you might expect, the results are inconclusive or highlight NTA – Nothing To Action new beyond what was already evident in the case. And the practitioner is left in a frustrating situation where the patient has made a sizable financial investment, gone through the “yuck factor” that the sample involved, had their hopes raised for major insights – only to be left without a notable clinical Aha and payoff. 

Why does this happen? 

Most comprehensive stool tests are effective in discovering a specific set of pathological dynamics e.g. overt pathogens, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, excessive, localized intestinal inflammation. However, such testing cannot thoroughly assess many of the functional gut imbalances that are oh-so-common among our patients and clients – dynamics such as maldigestion, malabsorption, hepatic-biliary congestion, and dysmotility, all of which have dozens of possible variations at play in a unique individual. Instead, these test results are often indicative of low-grade dysbiosis without an obvious cause – leaving the practitioner often spinning their wheels in what we at SAFM refer to as the “revolving door of gut dysbiosis.”  

Watch this short tip for key considerations on comprehensive stool testing. A powerful and important tool!  But one that is often overused and doesn’t replace the role of essential practitioner skills in assessing and sustainably addressing functional gut imbalances.

SAFM offers an accredited, practitioner course in doing just this!  Learn more about the Essential Gut Deep Dive, a self-paced clinical course eligible for 10 CME/CE for many credentials (12 hrs video, access for 8 weeks). This is a deep exploration of functional gut imbalances AND how they overtly drive systemic disease – from Anxiety to Asthma, Type 2 Diabetes, Autoimmune disease, Obesity, and more. Don’t be dependent on protocols that maybe work well 20-25% of the time. Gain the capability and the confidence you need to customize a clinical plan for each unique case.