Beyond Bathroom Blues
Beyond Bathroom Blues
Welcome to Beyond Bathroom Blues, a podcast for men living with IBS.
Hosted by CharlieJeane, a Registered Dietitian (RD), Sports Nutritionist (MSc), and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist — alongside Glenn, an Army veteran who has lived with IBS since 2003, the show brings together professional expertise and real-life experience.
Our aim is to meet men where they are on their IBS journey and provide calm, practical insight to help them better understand their symptoms, reduce overwhelm, and regain a sense of control.
Inside each episode, CharlieJeane shares over 12 years of experience supporting men with IBS, while Glenn offers perspective from managing symptoms day-to-day in real life, alongside the mindset shifts that support long-term IBS management.
Together, we focus on clarity over confusion, understanding over guesswork, and sustainable strategies — rather than quick fixes.
Disclaimer:
The content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from your GP, physician, or qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical or mental health condition. Never disregard or delay seeking professional advice because of something heard on this podcast. Use of the information provided is at your own discretion and risk.
Beyond Bathroom Blues
S3E113. Quick Fire: Why Gut Tests Are Failing You
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Before you spend another penny on a gut microbiome test — listen to this.
Most men with IBS are being sold something that qualified doctors, gastroenterologists, and registered dietitians don't use or trust.
There's a reason for that.
CharlieJeane breaks it down in under 3 minutes.
No waffle. Just the truth.
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Men’s IBS Mastery® - IBS relief for men.
Disclaimer: The content provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition. Users should never disregard or delay seeking professional medical or mental health advice because of something they have heard on this podcast or seen on the website. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is solely at the user’s own risk
In a 2025 study, researchers spoke to gastroenterologists or GI doctors, meaning doctors, medical doctors who specialize in the digestive system, and they spoke to functional medicine doctors, so functional MDs, and they found that the GI doctors don't use these microbiome tests. Hmm, interesting.
SpeakerAnd from my own experience of working alongside loads of GI doctors, they don't use them. Why? The lack of strong scientific evidence, concerns about the accuracy and reliability of these tests, and not providing meaningful results versus functional MDs who are much more likely to use them or encourage their clients to use them.
SpeakerAnd that mismatch should make you pause and think. And I've seen this myself with loads of so-called gut experts, functional nutritionists, functional MDs, and holistic practitioners who routinely get their clients to do these tests, and then they base their entire diet plan and supplement protocols and restriction lists off the back of one of these reports.
SpeakerAnd here's the problem: there's no agreed definition of dysbiosis, there's no reliable, healthy or even unhealthy reference ranges, and the same microbiome pattern can mean completely different things in different people. And importantly, the expert panel also states any changes to someone's treatment based on microbiome testing should only be made by the physician or dietitian who requested it. Because clinical decisions should never be based on one test alone, but on the full medical picture.
SpeakerYet commercially, this flies in the face of what's actually happening out there because there's loads of companies out there offering a consultation with their in-house nutritionist or nutritional therapist or health coach or whoever based on these reports, but bearing in mind that they are totally different from a dietitian.
SpeakerSo it isn't about snobbery with who can and who can't request these tests. It's about training, accountability, and understanding limitations. So you have to ask yourself if experts around the world, including GI doctors, microbiome scientists, pharmacy experts, and health law specialists, have raised concerns about these tests, then there's reasons for you to be cautious as well.
SpeakerAnd I appreciate you know, you might be struggling with symptoms and pulling your hair out at your wits' end, and so you're keen to try anything, but think about this because if there was strong high quality evidence to support these tests and genuinely improve outcomes, then GI doctors would be using them all the time, wouldn't they? B