Case Study – IBS

This is the case history of a woman who had both Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS and Migraines since she was in grade school (35 Years!), and how she discovered what “feeling human” felt like again.

As a child, she started having stomach aches, eventually diagnosed as IBS.

What do you do for your kids’ stomach aches?  We offer True Digest Ease.  And our experience is exceptional.  Even the bible says “When you feast on bread and meat, remember to take your ‘bitters.'”  It feeds and replenishes the healthy bacterial residents, and…hey, the stomach ache goes away…the burning urination goes away. This is what I call “Meeting the Need,” vs what medicine does… symptom suppression.

Her momma took her to the doctor and they found “nothing wrong!” If you took your car to a mechanic because the engine was knocking, would you accept, “there’s nothing wrong!”?? Why on God’s Green Earth do we accept this with doctors!?

Then with puberty the migraines began. Severe incapacitating headaches that kept her in bed. Another doctor…another diagnosis of “nothing wrong.” (Imitrex wasn’t available until 1991, which STILL doesn’t solve the ROOT CAUSE!)

35 years later.  A life of IBS and migraines

By the time she sat in my office, some 35 years later, she had seen so many doctors that she couldn’t count them anymore. And every single one told her the SAME THING… “nothing was wrong with her,” and she just needs to learn to manage stress. They offered her an antidepressant….which, at this point she was willing to try anything!! Unfortunately, it improved nothing…not even a tiny fraction better!

Speaking of trying ANYTHING…she was trying acupuncture for the headaches, and her acupuncturist suggested True Health (that’s OUR CLINIC!) WHY does it take TOTAL DESPERATION to visit the Natural Medicine doc!? WHEN and Why did Natural Become the ALTERNATIVE!!?? You likely know the reason…$$!

By the time I saw her, she was having constant stomach pain, bloating, gas, and the characteristic IBS symptoms… Alternating constipation and URGENCY…and her migraines had continued to worsen until they were DAILY!

My mom had migraines a couple times a year when we were growing up, so I witnessed how debilitating they are. This person had learned to live AND WORK with them!!… MOSTLY…she said she called out of work an average of twice a week!

Exhausted but can’t sleep

Over the years, she had also developed severe PMS, exhaustion (she went to bed at 6 most nights to make it to work)…and then developed insomnia, which caused severe depression.

I hope you have never experienced insomnia! It is one of the most frustrating (and depressing!!) experiences…feeling exhausted… (she also related that she felt “weak” like her muscles couldn’t contract to hold a cup of coffee)…and YET…she couldn’t shut down to sleep!

I have studied sleep in great depth, and one critical component of “switching off” is ENERGY (ATP). Energy is made from glucose and oxygen…sounds simple right? We struggle to not eat TOO MUCH sugar, and we only need to take a breath for oxygen…simple!!??  But her primary diagnosis (which I will share in a minute) caused ANEMIA…her blood couldn’t adequately DELIVER the oxygen she breathed, so her brain couldn’t switch off!

Do you ever feel like your doctor isn’t even listening to you!?  And just naming your symptoms, in her case, IBS.

The next symptom she also reported “flu like” body aches. When you have the flu, your body’s immune system is fighting off a rather resistant intruder, and the inflammation from the fight opens up pain reception pathways to the brain, and even while lying in bed, your brain is certain your body is being beat with a sledge hammer. I remember the last time I got the flu…over 10 years ago…even my hair hurt!

The point here is that her immune system MUST be fighting something with that symptom. There HAS to be an intruder, and if I, as a doctor, listen to my patient, I would set our sights on finding that intruder, for the person in front of me, and for the oath we take to serve our patients!

35 years, and countless doctors didn’t find what I found, because I listened and refused to stop looking until it was revealed. We used a very comprehensive stool analysis, and found a HOOK WORM infection.  The root cause of her IBS and inflammation.  No, not a single hook worm, she was infested with these buggers. And, these little buggers are KNOWN to sink their hooks into the soft lining of the intestines, causing microscopic bleeding, inflammation, and…slowly…over time…ANEMIA.

Side effects of the battle

The rest of the story and symptoms can be explained by the sheer duration of her struggle. She was in adrenal fatigue (low cortisol)…which over time lowers progesterone, and increases testosterone. So, by the time she hit puberty, she was already unable to produce progesterone, and then by the time she is 40, she was growing a beard and mustache!!!… which… just ADDS to the pleasure of constant severe stomach pain, headaches, and exhaustion!

So, it is likely that she contracted hook worm in grade school and carried it for 35 FLIPPING YEARS! Through so many doctors she couldn’t keep track…telling her she was “fine” and “just needed to learn to manage stress.” (Your car is fine, you just need to learn to drive better!)

So how did we treat her?

What does a natural doctor do for parasites…hook worm!? Oh…No…we need medicine! Wrong…in fact, I’d feel better with natures medicines than anti-parasitic drugs! There is a spice in your cupboard right now, that is documented on the National Library of Medicine to remove parasites effectively…called…oregano.

We used a concentrated source of oregano oils, in fact that very product used in the published study! Six weeks after starting oregano, she noted that she felt the “heaviness” lift…that she could last longer through the day, and that her muscles started working again. She felt strong and alive!!

It took a bit longer to fully build back up her adrenal glands and other hormones from the chronic infection and inflammation…35 years of hook worms is damn exhausting to a body! . We also had to clean up her elimination system, particularly her gall bladder, which responded amazingly well to beet root!!

At six months

She had no more pain, and constipation was RARE…there was NO urgency or loose stools, and NO headaches! She said her energy was so high, she couldn’t stay still!! I imagine so, after carrying that excess baggage for so long. (We did verify on repeat testing that the parasite was eliminated…and we retested the high testosterone…back to normal, and the puny progesterone…back to normal. Natures medicines really work!)

And as much as anything, she was so grateful that she wasn’t crazy after all! I still remember when I was breaking the news of the hook worm. I was laying it on gently… “here’s the bad news…hook worm.” I have never seen somebody so excited to have a hook worm!! She was validated…after 35 years! Literally…she was so happy…that she was not crazy…that it was not ALL IN HER HEAD!

The REAL CRAZY thing…was that the flippin’ solution was in her kitchen for 35 years. Oregano and beets. If only our healing traditions had not been replaced by major medical insurance…labeling your symptoms…and symptom suppression pharmaceuticals…for life…and doctors following “insurance protocols” to secure their income….

Please… do your fellow humans a service and SHARE this to spread the word of HOPE and the rapidly expanding science of Functional Medicine…these are TRUE “root cause” doctors…healers! Don’t let ANOTHER human suffer for so long…SHARE and spread the word. We need YOU…as we don’t have BigPharma $$!!