May 10, 2026
#318 What if the gut symptoms no one can explain are connected to something your gastroenterologist was never trained to look for?
Dr. Susan Trachman is a board-certified psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience treating medically unexplained illness — and the gut shows up at the centre of those mystery cases more often than you'd think.
In this episode, we explore the bidirectional relationship between the brain and gut, why chronic stress and unresolved trauma can silently reshape the microbiome, and what it takes to break the cycle of symptoms that won't respond to conventional treatment.
You'll discover:
- What alexithymia is and why it keeps gut symptoms stuck
- How early childhood trauma wires the gut for dysfunction decades later
- Why anxiety and gut distress feed each other — and which one comes first
- Dr. Trachman's MENDS framework: Medication, Exercise, Nutrition, Dhyana, Sleep
- Why exercise may be the single most underrated gut health tool
- The threshold effect of over-exercise on the microbiome
- What leaky gut looks like from a psychiatric perspective
- How to identify anxiety as the hidden driver when gut treatment isn't working
- The connection between sleep deprivation and neurodegenerative disease
Dr. Trachman is the author of It's Not Just In Your Head: Demystifying the Brain-Body Connection in Medical Illness — a must-read for anyone whose symptoms have been dismissed.
Find Dr. Trachman's book here
To work with Lynda or explore Microba gut microbiome testing, visit lyndagriparic.com.