Last year I got a message from someone on social media who was battling digestive issues and looking for help.

At this point, it had been over 10 years since the issues started and they were causing major disruptions in his life.

Like most people who have had health issues for a long time, he was questioning whether or not resolving his issues was even possible.

He’d lost so much hope over the years that he even mentioned his goal wasn’t to fully resolve them. Just to get them to a manageable point where he had some quality of life again.

In less than 6 months not only did he achieve that, but he resolved his digestive issues completely and had no symptoms.

Let me walk you through exactly how that happened.

First, I think it’s important to understand his situation and just how bad things were when we met.

Stress was a big factor. He worked a competitive job and also just dealing with his health issues increased his stress as most of us can relate to.

The stress was worsening the issues and sort of creating this continuous loop of stress worsening the issues and then the issues causing more stress.

He was dealing with symptoms like bloating, exhaustion, irregular bowel movements and the frequent urgent need to sprint to a bathroom.

As you can imagine, these were impacting many areas of his life. Work, relationships, mental health, etc.

He’d been diagnosed with IBS and was led to believe that this was the main/only issue.

He’d done a breath test to look into SIBO early on, but no other testing was done and no other issues were really considered aside from the IBS.

He worked with several different practitioners including doctors, naturopaths, health coaches, etc.

As most practitioners do after diagnosing someone with IBS, they recommended dietary restrictions, supplements, etc.

None of these recommendations were providing any lasting relief.

He’d been following me for a while and seeing the results I was helping other people get, but like many people, wasn’t sold that it would work for him too.

Plus, all of these healthcare professionals he’d worked with told him they could help him but failed to do so.

So, he was skeptical.

What we focused on first were the basics. The low-hanging fruit. The things that every other practitioner he’d worked with overlooked.

There were major gaps in the foundation of his health both from a diet and lifestyle perspective.

His diet included several foods that were harder to digest and caused irritation for him. Spicy foods, foods with preservatives, nuts & seeds, processed foods and a fair amount of eating out at restaurants.

The structure of his diet was also not ideal for resolving his issues. Calorie levels were inconsistent, carbs were high while protein was low and there were major deficiencies in micronutrients.

We focused on removing problematic foods and replacing them with nutrient-dense, healthier options such as the ones I talked about in this post.

We focused on keeping things consistent from a calorie perspective, restructuring macros to get more of the animal foods that were great sources of the micronutrients he needed and reducing the amount of low quality carbs he was consuming.

From a lifestyle perspective, there were some issues we needed to address as well.

Stress was a huge factor that was directly contributing to his issues. We incorporated several things to help reduce and manage his stress like limiting time on devices/social media, meditation, consistent exercise, etc.

Sleep quality, light environment and inconsistent daily routines were also causing some issues. We spent several weeks focusing on optimizing each of these.

From there, we shifted our focus to one of the biggest missing pieces:: understanding what the underlying issues were.

As I mentioned, he did a breath test years ago that came back normal. But there wasn’t any other testing done.

So, we ran comprehensive blood work looking into things like hormones, liver & thyroid function, lipids, metabolic health, iron, blood count and micronutrients. We also ran a stool test to look into things like enzymes, microbiome composition, immune function and intestinal permeability.

The testing came back with several issues.

Dysbiosis, pathogen overgrowth, leaky gut, nutrient deficiencies and inflammation.

For the first time in 10+ years, he could finally understand why he was feeling the way he was and why he was experiencing the symptoms.

We got to work addressing these issues over the next several months.

First, we focused on preparing.

Providing support to detox pathways like the liver, kidneys, gallbladder and regulating motility.

We increased consumption of the nutrients he was deficient in, especially B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin C, etc. We also prioritized things like lactoferrin, glutamine and glycine.

Due to disruptions with detox pathways and his body’s ability to get harmful substances out as well as the fact that intestinal permeability was a factor, we focused on supporting the gut lining.

We incorporated foods to boost antioxidants, removed inflammatory foods (from the previous weeks) and focused on staying consistent.

Next, we started addressing pathogens and toxins.

We incorporated natural substances to help break up biofilm and kill off pathogens like oregano oil, berberine and mastic. We also used charcoal to help bind to the harmful substances we were trying to remove from the body.

After many weeks of focusing on this detoxification, we began repopulating the microbiome, continuing to focus on lowering inflammation and restoring immune function and “resealing” the gut lining.

Getting plenty of probiotics via fermented foods and prebiotics via plant foods. Continuing to prioritize antioxidants, addressing key nutrients like vitamin C & vitamin A as well as continuing to incorporate lactoferrin.

This process took over 4 months. From there, we continued focusing on filling in gaps with nutrients, supporting the immune system and shifting his diet back to more of a balanced and sustainable structure that supported maintaining his health we’d been focusing on building back up.

His symptoms improved very gradually throughout the process. There were definitely ups and downs and points where things felt worse (especially as he started to address things head-on).

By the time he got to the end, his symptoms were gone.

He was having regular bowel movements, the urgency was gone along with the bloating and fatigue.

He was able to start enjoying a social life again without having to worry about constantly being near a bathroom.

He didn’t have to severely restrict his diet anymore and was able to start eating out at restaurants again without having symptoms flare up.

He struggled for half of his life with digestive issues despite trying every diet, supplement, etc. that he was recommended.

The problem was that the things he was doing weren’t properly addressing the specific issues that he had.

The most important things for him were:

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1) Focusing on establishing a strong foundation with his diet & lifestyle

If he hadn’t done this first, everything else would have been inhibited. This is what supported the effectiveness of everything else and also removed the problematic things contributing to his issues.

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2) Identifying the underlying issues

Up to this point, he’d just been told that IBS was his problem. There is no real 'cure' for IBS.

So everything was focused on just managing his symptoms. Not finding underlying issues and addressing them.

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3) Taking it one step at a time to address the issues identified

Too many people try to go through a protocol where they do everything at once. There’s 40 different supplements involved and there’s no real strategy or progression.

I’ve yet to see anyone achieve a successful long-term outcome by approaching things this way.
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4) Staying consistent

There were certainly times along the way where he didn’t feel great. It was not all smooth sailing the whole time.

When there are flare ups or days where things feel like they’re regressing, it’s easy to question things or give up.

But he stayed 100% committed the entire way.
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His situation wasn’t unique.

Many of the clients I’ve worked with were in a similar situation and followed a similar process to resolve their issues.

If you’re where they were, having dealt with issues for so long and feeling like you tried everything, hopefully, this gives you a sense of how he got the outcome that he thought was impossible.

And if you’re interested in the 1:1 support my client got to help you identify and address the real causes of your digestive issues, I’d love to help.

Click this link for more information on my coaching.
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- Nick