GI & Inflammation
Beyond Digestion: How Your Gut Affects Your Health
Gut problems present in many forms and flavors. Some patients come to us with upper stomach symptoms soon after eating and we can focus on gastritis (inflammed stomach), SIBO (Small intestine bacteial overgrowth), digestive enzyme insufficiency, or dysmotility leading to reflux and heartburn. Some come with lower symptoms of constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel sydrome, or even autoimmune inflammation.
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Others come with autoimmune conditions, brain fog, hormones imbalances or vitamin deficiencies and do not realize that their gut lies at the heart of their systemic symptoms.
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Answers
We consider GI contributions to every single patient’s presenting symptoms. From there, we almost always start with GI restorative therapies targeting inflammation, digestions, and nutrient absorption. With the disruption caused by a standard American diet and high stress lifestyle, everyone can improve their gut health.
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With these therapies, we see not only improvement and resolution of nause, diarrhea, constipation, reflux, and inflammation, we see hormone balance, increased energy, less brain fog, and more enjoyment of mealtime for these patients.
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Methods
Your story tells us the majority of what we need to know about gut health. The dietary history, the infection history, your travel history, and a review of GI related symptoms points us towards what testing will reveal the full picture.
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From there, we customize your testing with options from food antibody testing, stool function and microbiome testing, SIBO breath testing, or organic acid testing for yeast and bacterial imbalances.
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Hope
With a clearer picture, a personalized program moves past the basic restoration approach to a more comprehensive root cause long term recovery. A healthy gut promotes our patient’s healthier more abundant life.
Inflammation
Stop the Burn: Addressing the True Sources of Inflammation
The immune system targets microbial invades with metabolic flame throwers. Viruses and bacteria get burned and drive away but surrounding tissue sometimes gets scorched. Short term this can heal, but with chronic infections, autoimmune disease, or flame throwers that won’t turn off, your body tissues literally overheat.
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While you don’t see any flames, you feel the heat. Joints ache. Extremities swell. Skin reddens and itches. Brains grow sluggish and sometimes hurt. Guts pitch fits making eating barely tolerable.
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Answers
Conventional medicine begins and ends with sending in pharmaceutical firefighters. Flames are lessened, but without identifying the arsons behind the fires, smoldering hot embers continue low grade damage over time.
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Functional medicine begins with more natural firefighters with
fewer side effects and seeks to remove sources of the flames.
This starts with evaluating dietary contributors to excess
inflammation and looking for sources of toxins which throw
more fuel on the fire.
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From there, work presses into identifying the original
firestarter, the arsons such as chronic toxicity, chroinic
infection, intestinal dysbiosis, or autoimmune processes
stirring up trouble.
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Methods
Between a comprehensive history and advanced laboratory
analysis, we can go beyond labels and provide explanations.
Antibodies may point towards Lyme, mycoplasma, EBV, or
other microbes. Blood or urine tests may indicate metal
toxins, synthetic toxins, or natural environmental toxins are
fanning the flames. Stool tests may reveal bacterial or
fungal culprits.
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Hope
With a clearer picture, a program targeting the arsons and the fire moves past the simple firefighter approach to a more comprehensive root cause long term recovery. A healthy immune system absent unnecessary inflammation promotes our patient’s healthier more abundant life.