Client Success Story: ME.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you know a little about my journey. I’ve had some form of IBS forever. However, in 2015, while on vacation no less, I was struck with crippling pain, nausea and extremely low energy. I had to lean on my husband to walk across the parking lot to board the ferry to the San Juan Islands. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to get on the plane to travel across country a few days later. I didn’t go to work much that first week back because I was afraid that I would writhe in pain during an important meeting—yes, my symptoms were severe but also so random.
When I did go back to work, I locked my door and took a nap during the early afternoons. I can tell you; I’ve never, ever done that my entire life. That’s how so tired and lethargic I felt. All of this went on for two months. Then the symptoms gradually subsided.
When I went to my GI doctor—3 weeks after the ruined vacation--he suggested that it was just a strong IBS attack and that he would give me meds next time it happened. Except I didn’t want it to happen ever again. And thankfully, I kept the debilitating symptoms at bay. How? I had no clue.
Over the next few years, the symptoms became less intense but could come out of nowhere. I had to have a friend cover me at work, especially in the morning. I was afraid to schedule morning meetings—just in case my day didn’t start off well.
A few years later I started to study nutrition and found that part of my issue was that I have non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. (I also may be Celiac, but we will discuss that later). I’ve written about gluten sensitivity and my journey since I took the Wheat Zoomer test. You can find out more about that HERE. I also attempted a healing diet last summer, the Autoimmune Paleo Diet (more HERE) to see if the removal of offending foods would cause a reduction in my symptoms.
Although last summer’s diet was successful, after that experimentation, I still didn’t feel as if I had the whole picture of what might be happening with me. I knew when I ate some foods, even healthy foods, I didn’t feel well. It didn’t make sense. And even though I was taking some supplements to improve my leaky gut I thought more could be done to help me feel better. And I wasn’t so sure that I could find the answers in my doctor’s office.
Enter more testing…
Test, don’t guess, is my new motto. This spring and summer I learned some new testing protocols during my studies with Restorative Wellness Solutions. (You may have seen me boasting and posting my diploma on Facebook and Instagram—it was a hard course!) I tested the protocol on myself during my time in the program because I knew that there may be something more going on with my gut.
The combination of stool testing (they warned me that we’d start talking about poop constantly and I didn’t believe them…now look at me!) and food sensitivity testing was the ticket to help me discover more about what’s going on with my digestion.
It’s so important to look at the digestive system and food sensitivities in combination. If you just do the digestive (stool) test, and don’t remove the offending foods during your healing, you might waste all those supplements. The foods may still affect your gut lining. And if you do the food sensitivity test—no matter how robust it is (and I believe the MRT test is the best on the market), you might remove some foods but have no idea why you might be removing them. You aren’t tackling the issues that a stool test could reveal.
When these two tests are looked at in combination, the results seem so clear. At least to me. I have brewing H Pylori, exceptionally low commensal bacteria and a digestive function dysbiosis along with many food sensitivities. (What, you may ask? That was nutrition-speak, but I just wanted to let you know what was happening with my digestion)
The result is that I’m upping some supplements, adding new ones and removing some of the foods that I thought were causing issues all year. Yes, almonds, my go-to. And tapioca, one of the major ingredients in my favorite gluten-free bread. Coffee needs to be rotated; I can only start my day with it 1 to 2 days a week. So hard…but it will be worth it. And thank God I don’t eat turkey for Thanksgiving, because it’s a RED food, which mean it’s out of my diet for six months. Along with cardamom (no loss…)
I’m feeling better and hope this will be the end of most of my troubling symptoms. The abdominal pain, awful mornings, and the lethargy specifically. Mine is a twelve-week protocol after which I will test my troubling foods (yellow foods on the MRT test) one by one to make sure I can tolerate them with an improved gut lining. I will also retest the GI Map (stool test) to make sure that I’ve improved and that something else hasn’t popped up.
The moral of the story…
I’ve had friends ask what exactly I do as a nutrition therapist. And I thought telling my story of working through my own issues to find success is how I can best describe what I do.
Yes, I can help you with weight loss. Yes, I can help you regulate your blood sugar. Yes, I can speak to your yoga class, or corporate gathering—I’m prepping a great presentation right now! Yes, I love to teach cooking classes. But what I really love to do is help people tap into their own body’s resources to heal themselves.
My tools are testing. Then food, supplements and lifestyle. And attention from someone who is rooting for you. That’s all you might need.
I hope that clears up some confusion about what I really do. And what I can do to help you feel your best.
To your health,
Bev
PS: Pass this blog post on to someone you love who is dealing with something they can’t seem to understand. You see, migraines, fuzzy thinking, fatigue, and joint pain (among others) may be the symptoms of poor or compromised digestion. Really.
Another PS: Next up: HORMONES!