How to heal from IBS
When I had IBS, reading about other people’s healing success stories was my mental health lifeline.
Because I was trying to heal my gut with little success, it was important to know that others had done it. That it was not impossible, despite being on my own, with little help from my doctors.
I knew deep down that IBS did not have to be a life sentence, despite the lack of medical knowledge and resources about it.
I had many failed attempts, on my own and with various practitioners before I finally solved my digestive health puzzle.
I’m not that unique, as others have done it too, and there are many ways to get there.
I’m happy to publish Katya’s story with her permission, to illustrate one path to recovery.
Combining functional medicine with conventional medicine
I worked with Katya about a year and a half ago.
Like me, she had been suffering for IBS for years and could not get good help from doctors. The medications that were prescribed did not help and had unpleasant side effects.
Katya’s symptoms started years prior, after giving birth to her daughter. Ever since, she suffered with bloating, diarrhea, food intolerances and intestinal pain.
After years of suffering and getting nowhere with conventional medicine, Katya decided to research alternatives for healing her gut.
She came across Ayurveda, the multi-thousand year old medical system of India. This Eastern-based approach to healing the body focuses on cleansing and tailoring your lifestyle habits and diet to your body’s unique constitution.
Katya found some temporary success with Ayurveda. The cleanses she did helped banish her symptoms for a month or two at a time, but they always returned.
Further research led her to my website and she decided to give functional medicine a try.
The benefit of tests, like the GI Map and the SIBO breath test, is that they give a clear and current picture of what’s going on with the biome in the large intestine and small intestine. These tests are the most sensitive on the market for finding pathogens and overgrowths that other tests miss. These pathogens can really throw the digestive system and immune function off.
In most cases, IBS is caused by biome imbalances that are triggered by infections, toxicity or inflammation. All of these factors can then cause food intolerance and leaky gut.
Testing takes the guesswork out of rebalancing the biome and eradicating unwanted visitors that wreak havoc on digestion. It skips the frustrating and expensive trial and error process.
A word of advice: Avoid working with doctors, naturopaths or other practitioners who want to skip testing to save you money. They likely don’t know how to correctly interpret the results. Any approach that’s not based on current testing is just guesswork.
Katya’s tests showed that her digestive system was reacting to an overgrowth of giardia in her large intestine. This highly inflammatory parasite greatly disrupts the biome, and can get into the liver bile ducts, interfering with detox and digestion.
In Katya’s small intestine, we found an overgrowth of bacteria commonly referred to as SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).
Katya’s approach
Katya decided to take the pharmaceutical approach to both the intestinal parasite and to SIBO, and it worked well for her.
Most importantly, she knew exactly which pathogen she aimed to kill, so she could targeted the medication to the bug.
Along with the medications, she continued with her Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle changes, to support healing.
Different approaches work for different people. While many of my clients have experienced a worsening of symptoms after antibiotics, Katya’s targeted pharmaceutical approach worked well for her.
Targeting means using the antibiotic for the problem. For parasites Alinia is the best antibiotic. And the best antibiotic for SIBO are Xifaxan or neomycin or both, depending on which gases are present.
I advised Katya on what order to address her gut pathogens and overgrowth. This step is very important and often overlooked. And I had an herbal back up plan for her if the conventional approach did not work.
Tackling SIBO
While some doctors are now offering SIBO testing. It’s also important to look at what’s going on in the large intestine.
Often SIBO treatments fail because biome imbalances and inflammation in the large intestine can drive SIBO. Before SIBO can be successfully address, the large intestine needs to be rebalanced and cleaned up first.
The gold standard approach to SIBO is either pharmaceutical antibiotics or herbal antimicrobial combined with a low fermentation diet. After treatment is completed, a prokinetic is used to support motility in the small intestine to keep bacterial overgrowth at bay.
Had Katya addressed the SIBO, without first clearing out the parasite, she may not have been successful with her antibiotic approach. I think this is what made all the difference.
Designing your own healing path
Before working with me, Katya feared eating and planned her life, schedule and activities around having a bathroom nearby.
After treatment, she no longer suffers with symptoms and is able to eat a lot more foods that used to bother her.
She is now using principles from Ayurveda to live in accordance with her constitution and maintain her healthy diet and lifestyle.
I love that Katya created her own personal marriage of functional lab testing, western medications and an Ayurvedic lifestyle to solve her digestive distress.
I always support what makes sense to the client and offer help and alternatives if it doesn’t work.
What I’ve learned from working with hundreds of clients is that everyone’s reason for having “IBS” is different and everyone needs a very personalized plan and approach.
What worked for Katya will not work for everyone, but taking a leap of faith, doing the right testing and getting knowledgable support is key.
After her gut transformation, Katya is now studying to become a functional medicine practitioner and has recently completed a program as a soul realignment practitioner and reader of the Akashic records.
She is also encouraging her boyfriend to take the GI Map.
If you need help with testing, want a personalized plan or help getting off the the trial and error hamster wheel, get more info here.
Angela Privin is proof that IBS is NOT an incurable disease or a disease at all. IBS is a body out of balance. It’s an invitation for change. After solving her own IBS mystery more than a decade ago Angela trained as a health coach to help others.
Angela uses both science and intuition to help people figure out what’s out of balance in their body. She works with lab tests, dietary changes, supplementation and nervous system rebalancing. Get help rebalancing your digestive system and solving your IBS mystery here.
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