What to Expect
Gastrointestinal symptoms can be daunting, confusing, and frustrating to evaluate and treat. You could be experiencing:
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Bloating/Belching/Gas
- GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)
- IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
- SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)
- Skin rashes/acne
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver
- And so much more…
How do we determine the root cause(s) of your digestive complaints?
At our center, you start your healing journey by filling out a comprehensive patient history.
You will keep a 10-day diet log which includes fluids consumed and time, frequency, and characteristics of your bowel movements.
You will provide us with blood work within the past year and any other testing you may have had done with another healthcare practitioner. We may require a more in-depth profile of your blood work.
An integral part of treating digestive disorders is to run a comprehensive stool analysis to look at functional markers, gut bacteria, yeast, parasites, and viruses. It is a window into the gut microbiome that can give us a starting point correlated with signs and symptoms and past medical history to prioritize your treatment plan.
After all, data is compiled, we can then start organizing your treatment plan. Often time, it requires several phases of treatment to treat the complexities of an unhealthy gut.
The treatment plan could encompass:
Dietary and lifestyle changes
This might include detoxification, exercise, testing for gluten and other food sensitivities, and/or reduction of toxins in your immediate environment (food, body products, cleaning products,etc.).
Supplementation and Testing
Supplementation with high-quality pharmaceutical grade ingredients is often used to help heal and maintain the gut. Organic Acid Testing and Hormone Testing are used to help us better understand the issues you are facing.
Gut healing takes time.
A gut healing program can take time to execute and see improvement. It is dependent on your compliance with the program and commitment.
Since this is a functional nutrition approach to treatment, monitoring every individual regularly is required to evaluate if changes are to be made to the existing treatment plan.
After the treatment is complete and symptoms are abated, there may be a need to re-evaluate with repeat testing when warranted.
Supported Conditions
Candida
Candida is a type of yeast that naturally exists in the human body. Individuals who have an altered natural flora or are immunocompromised are more susceptible to candida overgrowth that cause infections.
Candida can grow out of control and populate the mouth, throat, genitals, skin, and digestive tract causing yeast or fungal infections in other parts of the body. Several factors can contribute to Candida overgrowth with the most significant factor being the use of antibiotics.
Stress is another factor for the development of Candida in the digestive tract due to its negative effects on the immune system. In reaction to stress, the adrenal glands release Cortisol, a steroid hormone.
Candida’s impact on the body is severe; however, it has often been under diagnosed by the current medical community. Candida overgrowth can be responsible for many chronic illnesses and can have a profound health impact to the entire body even if Candida remains confined in a local area.
Candida overgrowth in the stomach can cause irritation to the stomach lining. The overgrowth can cause the gut wall to develop openings, which leads to Leaky gut syndrome due to the destructive enzyme activity of the SAP proteins and their irritation to the intestine. Candida overgrowth and the resulting leaky gut syndrome can directly lead to many other systemic inflammatory and immune-related symptoms beyond food allergies, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, eczema, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, chronic urticaria (hives), and inflammatory bowel disease.
Leaky Brain Syndrome
Just like your gastrointestinal (GI) tract has a protective barrier protecting it from its surroundings, your brain has its own casing that protects it from your body and bloodstream. It’s called the blood-brain barrier (BBB). And, just like you can get a leaky gut, you can also get a leaky brain.
Basically, when the blood-brain barrier is punctured, ruptured, or loosened, things like heavy metals, toxins, molds, fungi, and chemicals produced by our post-industrial world seep in and wreak havoc. In this article, you’re going to find out a little bit more about the mechanics behind the BBB, what can damage it, and then how to repair and maintain it.
Leaky brain can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s Disease. There are treatment protocols that can assist the brain to heal.
What weakens the Blood-Brain Barrier?
Sleep Deprivation – Your body needs you to sleep and enjoy appropriate amounts of each sleep phase in order to properly regulate the functions and integrity of the BBB.
Excessive Alcohol Intake – The alcohol you drink is essentially ethanol (EtOH), which, among other things, enhances reactive oxygen species (ROS) that damage brain cells.
High Blood Pressure – One study found that the BBB dysfunction present was quite clearly related to the combined effects of elevated blood pressure and cerebral vasodilation (the widening of blood vessels in the brain).
How do you fix a Leaky Blood-Brain-Barrier?
- Sleep
- Limit Alcohol
- Control Blood Pressure
- Caution With High-Fat Diets
- Drink Coffee and/or Tea
- Supplementation
- Magnesium
- Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve
- Limit Snacking
- Nourish Your Gut
- Cryotherapy
Symptoms of Leaky Brain Syndrome:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Brain Fog
- Seizures
- Tremors
- Loss of Balance
- Forgetfulness
- Cognitive Decline
Call Dr. Maria at 813-964-0847 for a consultation.
Leaky Gut Syndrome
Leaky gut, or “intestinal permeability” is a condition in which the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, causing undigested food particles, toxic waste products and bacteria to “leak” through the intestines and flood the blood stream. The foreign substances entering the blood can cause an autoimmune response in the body including inflammatory and allergic reactions such as migraines, irritable bowel, eczema, chronic fatigue, food allergies, rheumatoid arthritis and more.
With leaky gut, damaged cells in your intestines don’t produce the enzymes needed for proper digestion. As a result, your body cannot absorb essential nutrients, which can lead to hormone imbalances and a weakened immune system. In many cases, leaky gut is caused by your diet. Leaky gut can also be caused by medications including antibiotics, steroids or over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin and acetaminophen, which can irritate the intestinal lining and damage protective mucus layers.
Symptoms of Leaky Gut include:
- Chronic diarrhea, constipation, gas or bloating
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Poor immune system
- Headaches, brain fog, memory loss
- Excessive fatigue
- Skin rashes and problems such as acne, eczema or rosacea
- Cravings for sugar or carbs
- Arthritis or joint pain
- Depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD
- Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, celiac disease or Crohn’s
Call Dr. Maria at 813-964-0847 for a consultation if you think you may have Leaky Gut.
Thyroid Disease
Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck, just above your collarbone. It is one of your endocrine glands, which make hormones. Thyroid hormones control how fast you burn calories and how fast your heart beats. Thyroid disease is one of the most common, yet misunderstood and overlooked, conditions in Americans. Women make up the majority of thyroid patients.
Everything in your body relies on thyroid hormone—including digestion, the growth of your hair and nails, your sex drive, and the function of your organs and glands. Your brain, heart, and metabolism are especially dependent on the right levels of thyroid hormone to function properly and well.
Thyroid problems include:
- Goiter – enlargement of the thyroid gland
- Hyperthyroidism – when your thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormones than your body needs (Graves’ Disease)
- Hypothyroidism – when you thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormones (Hashimoto’s Disease)
- Thyroid cancer
- Thyroid nodules – lumps in the thyroid gland
- Thyroiditis – swelling of the thyroid
Common Symptoms of Hypothyroidism:
- Fatigue
- Weight gain
- Inability to lose weight with diet and exercise
- Constipation
- Infertility
- Feeling cold
- Hair loss (including the outer edge of the eyebrows)
- Brain fog
- Muscle and joint pains/aches
Common Symptoms of Hyperthyroidism:
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Panicky feeling
- Tremors
- Exaggerated reflexes
- Elevated heart rate
- Diarrhea or loose stools
- Feeling overheated
- Unexplained weight loss
It is important to have a complete serum panel to determine the type of Thyroid Disorder a person might have.
Contact Dr. Maria at 813-964-0847 for a consultation.
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