My gut healing protocol. This is the story about how I restored my gut health through a targeted gut healing protocol under the supervision of a qualified medical professional. Through my gut healing protocol, I was able to eradicate a parasitic and bacterial overgrowth, heal leaky gut, and hormone imbalances.
Disclaimer: I am not a health professional and am not recommending you mimic my gut healing protocol. Before making any changes to your health and lifestyle, be sure you seek advice from a qualified individual.
Wow, what a trip.
If you have been around my site for quite some time, you may know I had some pretty gnarly gut issues for a number of years. I spoke about it in a few blog posts, and then went radio silent on the topic. Well, here I am with an update, as my gut health made a huge turnaround for the better over the last year after completing my gut healing protocol.
I know many of you have battled with your own gut health, so I wanted to share what it took for me to heal my gut. My hope is something in this post will help you with you restore gut health.
This is a three-part series. I’m starting by giving you the hard facts and figures – the medical stuff – in this post. Equally important to the physical is the emotional and spiritual part of healing, so I’ll be following up with a separate blog post on the psychological and mindset aspects of my journey. Finally, in a third post, I will be sharing with you supplements for gut health.
UPDATE (8/11/2020): You can read Part Two here: How I Healed My Gut, Part Two: Healing Through Mindset and Manifesting.
If you’re currently dealing with any health-related problems, I encourage you to read this post! I truly believe the mindset changes I made were what ultimately brought me to where I am today.
To any of you who are struggling, know that you are capable of healing. Your body is designed to heal, and there are so many people out there who can help you along the way.
If I could gather up all of my experience into one perfectly packaged unsolicited advice bomb, it would read a little something like this: your healing will begin the second you make space for it, and healing is just as much a state of mind as it is a physical process.
Buckle up!
My Gut Health Timeline:
Discovery: I began having IBS symptoms in 2011 but they were intermittent and largely manageable…mostly they were annoying but not debilitating.
The Plot Thickens: My gut health began declining in 2015, then took a dramatic turn for the worse in 2017 and peaked in 2018. I was going through a breakup, was writing a cookbook, was over-exercising and under-eating and was constantly stressed.
My symptoms: I reacted to almost everything I ate, the worst being high-FODMAP foods. I had constant gnarly smelling gas (but we’re talking constant), chronic constipation punctuated by loose, gnarly stools, low energy, depression, acne, persistent athlete’s foot and occasional hives. You can read more about this phase in my blog post, My Journey with Gut Health.
When my gut health was at its worst, I was afraid to leave my house. Anyone who has struggled with chronic illness has likely experienced an immense amount of fear wrapped into their condition.
Trial and Error: I spent 2016 through 2018 trying to heal myself through food and lifestyle by troubleshooting my own health using internet research. Stubbornly, I thought if I tried hard enough on my own, I would be able to figure it out.
During this time, I went to an integrative health doctor, but we never uncovered the source of my symptoms and our efforts to improve my gut health were minimal. I tried everything from elimination diets to natural antimicrobials to celery juice, to coffee enemas to colonics and more. It seemed as though the harder I pushed, the worse I would become.
The Resolution: Deciding once and for all I couldn’t figure out my gut issues by myself, I made 2019 the year of the doctor. It took many attempts to find the right practitioner, but I got in contact with Dena Norton in July of 2019 and it has all been uphill from there. She was the person who developed my gut healing protocol, enabling me to get back to health.
The Year of the Doctor (2019):
During 2019, I worked with 5 different medical professionals to help heal my gut. The short story is, Dena Norton, who I continue to work with, played a pivotal role in bringing health back to my life. But there is more to the story, so I’ll start from the beginning.
The Holistic Nutritionist: Understanding western medicine often overlooks root causes, I began by seeing a Holistic Health Specialist who did muscle testing in order to determine my ailments as well as the supplements that could be beneficial to me. While the supplements did help, the muscle testing did not uncover the root cause of my gut issues. Even though my symptoms improved slightly, they only did so for a short time, as the root cause was still present.
The Gastroenterologist: Being the science-minded person I am, I acknowledged that alternative medicine has its place but so wanted more testing and scientific backing. I went to a gastroenterologist who gave me a colonoscopy, endoscopy, and had me take a blood test for Celiac. He also had me take two standard stool tests. Everything came back normal. Still, I was experiencing nasty gut symptoms. This entire experience did nothing to advance me, but rather helped me rule out things I didn’t have.
The Functional Medicine Doctor: Reverting back to what I believe to be true, I went to a functional health doctor who happens to be one of the leading gut doctors in the country. I’ll skip a long story and say I didn’t get what I needed out of the experience.
The Registered Dietician (Dena Norton): Here is where the tables turned in a BIG way. I began working with Dena, who is a Registered Dietician. Through the Dena, I…
- Took the GI Map and learned I had a parasitic infection, H. Pylori, very low immune cells, and a SUPER leaky gut. We addressed all of this with antibiotics (prescribed by my general practitioner) and a gut healing protocol. This is when my healing began. A quick note: while Dena recommended I take natural antimicrobials to address my overgrowths, I had tried them so many times in the past with no result that I chose to bypass that option and go straight for the pharmaceuticals. Everyone’s journey is different so whether one takes natural antimicrobials or pharmaceutical antibiotics is entirely person-specific.
- Did a comprehensive blood panel, revealing I am hypothyroid. I began taking Levothyroxine (synthetic thyroid hormone) prescribed by my general practitioner.
- Took a Food Sensitivity Test and learned I’m super sensitive to coffee, dairy, cumin, tuna, and a few other things
- Did the Dutch Complete hormone test. I am still waiting for results on the hormone test, but because I consider myself to be a strong healthy individual at this point, I don’t think the results are super relevant to this post.
The General Practitioner: In conjunction with Dena, I worked with (and continue to work with) a general practitioner. Because Dena is not an MD, I also needed my GP to prescribe the medications I needed and order some of the lab tests I took.
Let’s dive deeper into the lab tests I took, as they were what really revealed what was happening so that we could address each issue appropriately.
Lab Tests For Gut Health:
GI Map
What is the GI Map?: The GI Map is a stool test that looks for the DNA of various bacteria, pathogens, viruses, and more. In addition to testing for harmful bugs, it also looks for the DNA of beneficial bacteria and yeast.
How the GI Map Works: You poop in one of those cardboard containers they give you when you buy a corndog from the fair, collect some of your stool in a vial, shake it up, and ship it off. You then wait while the experts determine what wordly critters live inside of you. A report of your results is sent to your practitioner (I did mine under Dena Norton), who then analyzes them with you and comes up with an action plan if necessary.
The GI Map also tests for Secretory IgA, which are basically little soldiers that live outside your gut that peak in every once in a while to see what’s going on. If there is something amiss (bad bacteria/pathogens/viruses/parasites), these soldiers communicate with your immune system to destroy the threat. Low secretory IgA can then be translated to a weaker immune system.
In addition, the GI Map also tests for Zonulin, which is a protein that permeates your gut lining when it is damaged. The theory is, the higher your level of zonulin, the leakier your intestines are. So far, this is the only scientific measure I have come across to determine whether or not an individual has leaky gut syndrome. Most western medical doctors do not recognize it as an indication of leaky gut, and many don’t believe leaky gut exists.
After taking the GI Map, you’re given a complete report showing everything that was tested. One column shows the “normal range” of the bacteria/fungus/virus/yeast, etc., and another column shows your result. Based on your result, you can tell if you have an overgrowth or infection.
All humans have an ecosystem of good and bad organisms living inside them. Don’t be alarmed. Even if you’re perfectly healthy, you’ll likely have something come up on your GI Map. Depending on the situation, what comes up may not be a problem whatsoever. It’s only when the concentration of specific organisms or viruses are above a certain concentration that the issue needs to be addressed.
In addition, you can have no gut symptoms but still have an overgrowth or infection.
In my opinion, the GI Map is probably the most helpful test a human can do in understanding what is happening inside their gut.
My GI Map Results: After doing the GI Map, I was given a report showing the concentration of DNA of these various good and bad critters. I had a parasitic and bacterial overgrowth, and all of my good bacteria were low.
My GI Map revealed I had blastocystis hominis (a common parasite), h. Pylori (the bacteria that can cause ulcers, heartburn, and other upper abdominal issues), and extremely high zonulin (meaning I had massive gaping holes in my intestines).
Normal range for zonulin is lower than 107 ng/g, and mine was 1099.2.
In addition, my secretory IgA was very low, meaning my immune system was low in soldiers to look for foreign invaders. Normal range for Secretory IgA is 510 – 2010 ug/g, and mine was 279.
I was lacking in healthy beneficial bacteria (in particular, my Lactobacillus levels were very low), so in addition to getting rid of the bad, I would also need to introduce the good.
With this information, Dena and I decided on a protocol together – to kill the parasite and h. Pylori, and to heal and seal my gut lining. It was my decision to drop a nuclear bomb on the parasite and bacteria using antibiotics rather than slowly killing it with natural herbs. At that point I was so over being sick that I just wanted to start fresh.
Because Dena, my RD, could not prescribe antibiotics, I took my GI Map results to my general practitioner, who agreed I needed to address the issues and she prescribed me antibiotics. My course of antibiotics was for 10 days, during which time I also took probiotics and omega-3 fish pills.
The concept was to kill all living creatures inside me but also introduce helpful probiotics to do some healing between rounds of antibiotic pills. I continued (and still continue) to take probiotics in order to repopulate my gut with healthy bacteria. I also take a supplement to heal my intestinal lining, along with a multivitamin, and a few other supplements. I’m going to go into detail about the supplements I take in a future post!
How the GI Map Differs from a Regular Stool Test: A standard stool test (recommended by most gastroenterologist and western medical doctors) looks for actual specimens. Meaning, a lab technician sifts through your stool to see if they can find parasites and ova (eggs). If there are none present in your stool, or if the lab technician is inexperienced in looking for such things, your result comes back negative. Based on this information, you can probably see how inaccurate a regular stool test is.
Comprehensive Blood Panel:
A complete blood panel looks at your vitamin and mineral levels, blood platelets, white blood cells, hormone levels and more. It is common to do blood work each year, but doctors often don’t order up very complete tests.
At the recommendation of my friend, Robb Wolf, I had EVERYTHING tested. The most notable results were an elevated TSH, and low T3 and T4 to reveal I’m hypothyroid (for which I take medication).
The test also showed I was very low in iron, so I now take an iron supplement, cook only on cast iron and eat plenty of beef and chicken. In addition, I have high cholesterol – but it’s mostly good cholesterol so I don’t take medication to lower it. The panel also tested vitamin and mineral levels, and much much more, all of which came back normal.
Before doing this blood panel, I didn’t think it was important to keep tabs on these things, but I now can’t stress enough how crucial it is to stay on top of it. Because these types of tests are covered by insurance, I would strongly recommend you do it as it takes very little time or effort and as long as your insurance is decent, it should be nearly free.
While a standard comprehensive blood panel doesn’t peak into your gut, it can be telling that something is amiss. Addressing what comes up in your blood panel can improve your overall health and boost your immune system.
My blood panel added an extra layer of knowledge to my gut healing protocol, which enabled my body to function the way its supposed to.
ELISA-ACT Food Sensitivity Test:
How to ELISA-ACT Food Sensitivity Test Works: The food sensitivity test I took is a blood test, wherein your blood is tested against several hundred foods and household items (think: cleaning supplies, artificial ingredients found in food, etc) to determine if your immune system reacts to them.
In this sense, you aren’t testing for food allergies, which your body reacts to immediately, but rather reactions that occur throughout the digestive process and cause damage to the intestines and create inflammation in your body (this occurs 12 to 48 hours after eating the food). My food sensitivity test revealed I am extremely reactive to coffee and dairy and moderately reactive to cumin, red food coloring and tuna.
I was already doing pretty well before taking the food sensitivity test, as my IBS symptoms had basically disappeared after killing the parasite and healing my gut, BUT after I cut out coffee and dairy completely, my health leveled up quite a bit. I didn’t realize how good it could feel to feel good!
Dutch Complete Hormone Test:
How The Dutch Test Works:
You pee on little test strips for a month, send them off and wait for the lab to determine which of your hormones are caddywompus. From there, your practitioner can determine if anything needs further inspection and/or if you need supplemental hormones.
To throw a monkey wrench into this whole conversation, I stopped having periods in 2018. This could be due to my gut health or the fact that I was in a constant pattern of over-exercising and under-eating. I went a year and a half without a period, and while I have periods intermittently, I still have not begun regular menstruation.
With Dena overseeing the test, I ordered up the complete Dutch hormone test to see if there is anything off. There is a strong correlation between gut health and hormones, so when one is off they are likely both off.
If your body is fighting an infection, it makes sense that all hands are on deck to kill the infection rather than to procreate. If there is something off in your gut, it is very likely that your hormones are out of balance in some fashion.
I haven’t received my results from the hormone test yet and I may or may not share them, depending on how relevant or useful I think they are to you.
So to make a very complicated healing journey very simple, here is…
My Gut Healing Protocol:
This is the protocol Dena developed for me to help heal my gut. I’m keeping it vague because I don’t want anyone to repeat my protocol without working closely with a medical professional. Everyone’s microbiome and healing process is unique. I still take all of the same supplements I began taking during the killoff phase in order to give my gut the support it needs to heal.
- Antibiotics to kill blastocystis hominis and h. Pylori. I used Praziquantel which is commonly prescribed for blasto and some other parasites. Again, I went the pharmaceutical route instead of using natural antimicrobials.
- Probiotics to restore my gut flora.
- GI Revive – a combination of L-Glutamine, marshmallow root, and slippery elm to heal my leaky gut. This supplement has been truly transformative for healing my gut.
- Omega 3 fish pills
- Beef gelatin (I put it in my matcha every morning) to help heal leaky gut
- Iron Supplement to bring up my ferritin levels.
- Digestive Enzymes and Ox Bile with every meal, to help break down protein, carbohydrate, and fat.
- Magnesium to support good digestion, sleep, and hormone health.
- Electrolytes for hydration and brain health. I didn’t realize I was chronically dehydrated until I started adding electrolytes to my water and instantly had more energy and focus.
- Colostrum to boost my Secretory IgA levels. I use colostrum derived from goat milk because I find I tolerate goat dairy better than cow’s dairy.
- Low-inflammatory diet, moderate exercise, avoiding the foods I’m sensitive to.
Notice the last part is last for a reason. Food and exercise are very important, yes…but if there’s a parasitic or bacterial infection, it is incredibly difficult to get rid of with diet and exercise alone depending on the severity of the infection.
I will be posting more specifics about the supplements I take for my gut health in the future, but I still encourage you to work with an experienced practitioner before you begin any sort of killing or healing protocol.
The Importance of Seeking Medical Attention:
Simply put, you can live your whole life uncomfortably, but you don’t have to.
Based on my story, you can see it is easy to make the healing process longer than it needs to be when the right medical professional isn’t sought out from the beginning. I troubleshooted on my own for too long and once I did begin seeking help, I was unsure exactly where to go. I feel I lucked out in coming across Dena.
Without the GI Map, I never would have known the root cause of my gut symptoms as standardized methods for testing did not reveal any answers. Knowing exactly where my infection was coming from enabled me to address it and thereby heal from it.
When I consulted my gastroenterologist about my parasitic infection and leaky gut, he said they don’t treat parasites and they don’t believe in leaky gut. Suffice it to say, I stopped seeing that GI doctor. You can surmise there are large differences in the way professionals in various sectors of the medical field deal with things, and for me not dealing with my situation wasn’t an option.
My gut healing protocol of kill and heal worked to resolve my symptoms and gave me a far better standard of living. Had I continued relying on western medicine, I’m certain I would be exactly where I was, if not worse. This isn’t to suggest you should not seek attention from a GI doctor…it just happened to be that mine was not a part of my solution.
Similarly, before The Year of the Doctor, I got far off track with various cleanses and coffee enemas in attempting to improve my gut health. While parts helped in the moment, they never addressed the underlying issue. Even though momentary relief was much needed, nothing improved in the long-run until I found the help I needed.
When choosing someone to work with, be sure they are capable of running the right labs to nail down your underlying issues and are also proficient in the necessary targeted remedies to get your body functioning optimally again.
Best Foods For Gut Health:
The cold hard truth about eating to heal your gut is an underlying gut issue cannot be resolved through diet alone.
There are so many conflicting articles on the internet regarding what you should do for good gut health. What are the best foods for gut health? Which foods are bad for gut health? It’s all very convoluted and frankly neurotic.
The health community is in consensus that all eliminating processed foods, particularly gluten, dairy, and sugar helps improve gut health, some tout high-fiber diets, others may recommend a carnivore diet…and everything in between.
In general, those who face chronic gut issues are better off spending their time and energy figuring out the root cause of the problem versus elimination diets. Furthermore, many people who suffer from gut problems naturally don’t want to eat as much, which can actually be detrimental. While fasting is a trend in the health community and certainly has its place in healing, your body simply needs adequate calories to heal. Excessively restricting calories on top of restricting foods will not help but will often set a person back in their healing process.
That said, if there are specific foods that are known triggers, it makes sense to avoid them. For instance, high fiber foods (particularly onions, garlic and cruciferous vegetables) aggravated my GI when I had IBS, so I limited the amount I ate until I healed.
What helped me when I was in the thick of a flair was eating low-FODMAP foods, sweating regularly, and prioritizing protein and resistant starch over fiber.
If you’re starting (or are in the thick of) a low-FODMAP diet and need some inspiration, you can try my 46 Low-FODMAP Dinner Recipes. Just remember, Low-FODMAP should not be used as a long-term solution to control symptoms, as it will not fix a gut imbalance.
If you’re at a point where you’re trying various elimination diets to no avail, it’s likely time to figure out the culprit of your symptoms and work with a qualified professional who can guide you through the process.
What Are the Symptoms of Leaky Gut:
The intestines have tight openings that allow nutrients and water to permeate and pass into the bloodstream. Leaky gut syndrome is a condition where those openings stretch and become wider, allowing whole food particles to pass through into the bloodstream.
Common symptoms of leaky gut are:
- Chronic constipation and/or diarrhea (usually a combination of the two)
- Fatigue/low energy
- Chronic bloating
- Headaches or migraines
- lower abdominal pain
- Mood imbalances / depression / irritability
- Anxiety
- Skin rashes, eczema, acne
- joint pain
As I mentioned earlier, my GI Map results showed I had extremely leaky gut. When your intestines are leaky, you aren’t absorbing nutrients properly and you have an unhealthy GI, which is a perfect breading ground for harmful bacteria and pathogens.
The environment is ideal for illness to take hold, as your good bacteria can only do so much when your intestines aren’t sealed. My gut healing protocol eradicated the overgrowth of bacteria and parasites as well as healed and sealed my gut so that my body could fully recouperate.
Correlation Between Gut Health and Hormones:
There is a lot of science behind the gut-brain axis as well as how hormones and gut health interact. It makes sense…if yout gut is in disarray, your entire body and immunity are effected. If your hormones are out of balance, your digestion is off, which can then create imbalances in your gut microbiome.
I’ll allow the professionals who are articulate in such matters to be your educators, but I will point out one tidbit I learned that I found fascinating. It turns out that blastocystis hominis, which is the parasite I had, can be responsible for hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. Hashimoto’s is the autoimmune form of hypothyroidism, wherein your body attacks your thyroid, causing it to malfunction. You can read more about this in Izabella Wentz book, Hashimoto’s Protocol.
Correlation Between Gut Health and Mental Health:
Similarly, there is a strong correlation between gut health and mental health. The vagus nerve runs from stomach to brain stem, so if something is wonky with your digestive system, you may also experience anxiety and/or depression.
I wouldn’t consider myself to be a Type A individual or to be particularly particular, but when my gut symptoms were at their worst, I felt anxiety daily, had a bleak outlook on life, and also had obsessive compulsive behavior. It took healing my gut to calm my nervous system and to cease the obsessive behaviors to which I had grown accustomed.
Where I Am Today:
I feel like a newborn baby. A completely different human. I look back on who I was when my GI was at its worst before gut healing protocol, I can’t even believe that was me.
I would consider my GI to be mostly normal now. I can eat many of the higher FODMAP foods I had to steer clear of, like onions, garlic, asparagus, etc. The gas is completely gone, I have regular bowel movements, and my small bouts of constipation are short-lived. My anxiety has lifted, my energy is great, and my skin glows!
My thyroid function is in the normal range.
My hormones are still whacky, but I’m fine with that being a work in progress. The process of balancing them is not an anxiety-ridden concept the way healing my gut was.
I’m in a healthy, loving relationship with an individual who knows my health history and cares that I remain healthy. He’s the most honest and giving person I know and I can’t believe I lucked out to have him in my life.
Follow me on Instagram for more health-related content and for updates on my health 😉
You can read more about where I’m at today here: An Update on My Gut Health – Life After IBS.
I take it one day at a time. I try not to get stuck in the feedback loop of needing to control, needing to micromanage my health.
It has been a little less than one year since I began my gut healing protocol with Dena, and I am constantly shocked by the difference between my health today versus my health a year ago. I hope one year from now, all of this will be just that thing that happened that one time. I truly believe it will.
What I do for my gut health today: I still take probiotics, omega-3s, a multi-vitamin, magnesium, electrolytes and GI-Revive . I still eat a fairly low-inflammatory diet, but I try to avoid being overly restrictive, though there are some foods I stay away from because I either don’t process them well or they cause me depression. I do avoid gluten, dairy, excess sugar, and beans, and I don’t drink coffee or alcohol.
I notice if I eat too much sugar, I get incredibly depressed, so while I absolutely have a sweet tooth, I try to keep it under control. I’m definitely an abstainer by nature, not a moderator, so for me it works best to eat zero sugar.
I don’t believe we ever really “arrive” as humans. This is the same when it comes to health…there really is no destination and we don’t ever really just get to give up (unless of course we choose the path of unwellness).
We are on this constant journey. Embracing the ebb and flow and letting go of the need to control allows us to become who we are meant to be rather than fooling ourselves into pinpointing who we are. We are here to help each other.
I’ll be following up with another post within the next week on the mindset aspect of healing. Far more than the medical side of gut health, the mindset aspect is arguably more important. It happens to to be the fact of my story I find most interesting.
As always, feel free to comment below with any questions or input on my gut healing protocol. I’m always open to hearing your stories – after all, we are all a part of this system together.
Love, squeezes and kitty cat sneezes.
xoxo
I am a 33 year old kickboxe male and I really relate to what you mentioned . Thanks a lot for sharing your story. I had resolved IBS in my 20s through hypnotherapy but then last year new symptoms emerged and the tests for everything are always negative but I know something is not right. Thanks for sharing your story as it gives me hope.
I’m sorry to hear you’re having to deal with gut issues, especially after having resolved them years ago! I’m a big proponent of following your gut, so I’m glad you’re on a mission to heal whatever the issue is versus ignoring it. My warmest wishes go out to you!
Heyy,
I did my endoscopy and I was tested positive for h pylori
So they gave me treatment kit of 14 days
While taking the medicine all my issues were gone including abdominal distention but not after stopping the meds it started again just after 1 day of stopping
What should I do??
Hi there! I’m sorry to hear the treatment didn’t work long-term! Unfortunately I can’t give medical advice so it’s best to continue working with your doctor. Based on my limited knowledge, it could be there’s a different underlying issue that’s causing the h.pylori to grow, or it could be that there is a different infection that the antibiotics didn’t clear completely. Your doctor should have additional answers or tests you can take to gather more information about what is going on. That said, many Western medicine doctor’s aren’t schooled in uncovering the root cause of certain ailments (particularly gut issues) so it may be wise to work with a functional practitioner if you haven’t yet started working with one. My heart goes out to you and my very best wishes to you on your path to finding answers! xoxox
When I see these kind of articles, I see a light of hope.
I’m happy to hear that, Lavi! Sending healing energy your way xo
Wowsers this is an absolutely amazing guide!! I’m so happy I found this! I’m going through the process right now and this gives me hope and motivation. Thank you so much for sharing your journey
I’m happy to hear you find it useful, Chris! Thanks so much for the sweet words!
Wow, thank you for sharing. Going through this now. My GI doctor ordered a breath test for FIBO and then left that office before I got the results. I am following her because she is open to both traditional and alternative medicine. At least I think she is. I do have a functional doctor backup as well. In the meantime I have been following FODMAP and it’s helped a bit. I dont have the thyroid issues, but I’m miserable and anxiety is high.
Hi Cheryl,
Kudos to you for working to uncover the causes of your gut issues! I know it takes time and requires a lot of trial and error which in turn takes patience. I hope you’re able to start the healing process soon and that your doctor is able to come up with a great protocol based on your test results! Much love to you! xo
Thank you for sharing these details from your experience. Very illuminating. Just make sure not to ingest wrong kind of iron. Perhaps take a look at Morley Robbins’ work.
Thanks so much for the suggestion – Dena was careful to choose a quality iron supplement that she knew would work well for me. Turns out it did, because my iron labs are always great now. I’ll google Morley Robins now 🙂
Thank you so much for writing this! We hear all the time “heal your gut” but rarely will anyone share what actionable steps they’ve taken that actually gave them a good starting point.
I’m looking to address root cause issues for my allergies and asthma. I’m curious if you mind sharing how much the GI Map and ELISA-ACT testing were for you? After reading through the websites I still haven’t found info on cost and just want to see if they are feasible if there’s no insurance coverage.
Hi there!
Both tests costs about $500 and I don’t believe insurance covers either one, but that may have changed since I did them. Hope this helps! xoxo
Many thanks for this excellent article and for sharing your wisdom!
My pleasure! I’m happy it was helpful 🙂
Hello Julia,
I have been struggling with gut issues for a few years. Bloating is my biggest issue more than anything. I do deal with occasional constipation, less of not being able to go, more of lumpy harder to pass. Along with this major muscle and joint pain along with chronic fatigue. Earlier this year I did a stool test and it showed that I did have a parasite. I did a modified diet as well as supplements for a few month to kill the thing and did start feeling better but still no where near what I feel is my normal self.
Later I had surgery on my jaw to remove an infection that the naturopath I was working with said was the root cause of the issue. I have a week or so stretch where I will feel like normal self after the surgery but more weeks where I still deal with all the symptoms.
Nothing I have done has helped me resolve my issues. I work out daily, eat right, and maybe have 1 or 2 drinks once a month if that since this has gotten as bad as it has.
What do you recommend I look for in finding a good team between GI and dietitian to help me try and really sort out my root cause and get back to normal.
@Christian, I do also want to say thank you for this post. I was really eye opening in balancing the natural remedies as well as the science needed.
Thank you so much for writing this. I am currently in the thick of a health crisis and while googling the night away in an insomnia driven state suffering from arthritis – after reading your story it has just confirmed everything that I have always believed about the gut and H pylori. Numerous doctors have told me there is no need to treat h pylori because 70% of the population has it, but I have always known in my gut (excuse the pun) that my gut may be my root cause. Thank you for this inspiring article it has truly given me hope and pulled me out of the depths of depression.
Hi Mica,
Thanks so much for reaching out, and I’m so sorry to hear about your current struggle! It’s so challenging to go through a chronic health issue and even more difficult when you don’t have the support you need. I hope you’re able to uncover all the answers and that you start feeling better soon! Much love!! xoxo
Thank you for sharing your experience. I too am dealing with gut issues and recently discovered that I have a serious sensitivity to lectins. I am now starting a lectin-free diet and it has been working wonders for me. Lectins can cause leaky gut among other problems. It is something you might look into if you haven’t already. Thanks again.
I’m so happy to hear you’re feeling better on a lectin-free diet! I’ve heard they can be problematic for a lot of people. Thanks so much for sharing your experience – that’s so helpful to others who are facing health issues!
Hi there,
I really enjoyed reading your article! Much of The experiences that you shared is what I’m experiencing now. I’m curious to know, did the leaky gut, bacteria and parasites cause you to have bad breath?
Thank you in advance n
Lynn Mack
Hi Lynn! I didn’t notice having bad breath, but it is entirely possible that I actually did and just didn’t realize it 😉
I just stumbled across your blog! Thank you so much for sharing! I started seeing a functional medicine doctor a month ago and and mailed my GI Map test a week ago. I can’t wait to hear the results to really get to the root cause of my GI issues. I have horrible bloating and I’ve had racing heart and heart palpitations. All of my traditional doctor tests such as stress test, endoscopy, stool sample, ultrasound have all come back normal but there is obviously something definitely wrong. I can’t wait to begin the road to healing. I have already started some supplements due to my blood testing from my functional doctor. Have you heard of anyone else having heart related issues linked with GI issues? Thank you, again!!
I also have been diagnosed with h pylori and am seeking treatment for this. I was also low in good bacteria when I did the gi map. However, I’ve had a hard time finding probiotics that work well. What probiotic brand did you take while on the antibiotics? Please let me know. I am so desperate for relief.
Thank you for sharing! ❤️
@Alexa, I linked to the exact probiotics I took in the comment above 🙂 It can be difficult to see because in comments, links show up as black until you hover over them. Here are the links again –
https://amzn.to/3Jm5MqM
https://store.drruscio.com/products/soil-based-probiotic?variant=29360562176052
https://store.drruscio.com/products/sacchromyces-boulardii-probiotic?variant=8632522833972
I also have sibo and just tested positive for h pylori. I tried a herbal protocol and it did not work, so I am going to try the antibiotics too. Could you please share with me what probiotics you used while being treated with the antibiotics? I am desperate to know what brand worked for you, as many are not the great east quality. Also, how did you eat while being treated?
Thank you so much for sharing! You give me hope ❤️
Hi Alexa,
That’s great you were able to get a diagnosis and that you have a plan – that’s often the hardest part of healing! I’m not an expert on SIBO but based on my very limited knowledge, I thought folks who are susceptible to SIBO would need to be very careful with the amount of probiotics they take, as they can get themselves in the same position if they take too many. While you’re on the antibiotics, this shouldn’t matter as much, but I would be cautious after the course is complete.
In this sense, I can tell you what I took, but I’m not sure it’s advisable that you do the same. I did ProbioMed 50, which is a lactobacillus blend, this Soil-Based Probiotic, and Saccharomyces Boulardii, which is actually a yeast and is known to help kill parasites. I would definitely check with your healthcare provider before implementing any probiotics.
While I was taking the antibiotics, I ate the same way I always did at that time, which was meat, veggies and rice. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions and best of luck!
xoxox
Thanks for the info!!! Glad u r feeling better!