However, if you go to a conventional physician complaining of a leaky gut, your concerns are likely to be dismissed and more often than not, you will leave with a recommendation to spend less time on the internet — or even worse, your
symptoms will be branded
psychosomatic and your doctor will label you a hypochondriac, as almost half of autoimmune patients
experience in the subclinical stages of their disease (AARDA, 2017).
Furthermore, there was a strong association between a high level of musculoskeletal pain and the exhibition of
psychosomatic symptoms in both women and men; this is an interaction that may intensify the total
experience of illness and thus needs to be further investigated.