Getting rid of silent reflux and bloating is possible with functional testing, the right herbal protocol and some diet change.
My series of client success stories are intended to teach about digestive health topics like silent reflux, h. pylori and parasites, in this case. These are real life, natural approaches that worked for real people.
What worked for one person will not work for everyone, but if when you recognize your own issue(s) in a success story, it creates a mindset of hope and possibility.
In my experience, the first step towards improving symptoms and gut health is the belief that it is possible.
Belief is foundational for healing, that’s why I’m now helping clients rewire self-sabotaging beliefs using hypnosis.
Ingrid is a dear friend of mine who was been interested in my work for years and eventually became a client when she developed digestive issues after a knee surgery.
It is not uncommon for symptoms to show up or worsen after a medical procedure because of the antibiotics, pain and anti inflammatory meds used during and afterwards. And there’s typically some stress involved in a major medical procedure and the struggles of the healing afterwards.
Ingrid had symptoms of silent reflux for years but in the beginning she tried to ignore her symptoms because she did not realize they were the signs of silent reflux. Another name for silent reflux is LPR.
Silent reflux is not as easily recognizable as a reflux disorder because the symptoms are not as obvious.
Silent reflux has the same root causes as regular reflux: stomach acid escaping into the esophagus and causing inflammation, damage to the delicate lining or pain. This is because the lower esophageal sphincter does not seal tightly enough to prevent this and that is usually do to low stomach acid, foods that relax the sphincter muscles or inflammatory pressure from poor digestion.
Instead of a heartburn feeling, silent reflux is characterized by change in voice (harness or pain while speaking), sore throat, asthma-like symptoms, chronic throat clearing, food regurgitation, belching, the feeling of mucus or lump in the throat or fullness, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose/throat/airways, post nasal drip and coughing. There are more symptoms, like nausea and frequent infections, but there are the most common.
Ingrid had many of these symptoms and after surgery they got pretty bad. She reached out to me for help.
Our protocol
We ordered the GI Map and discovered the root cause of her issues. She had h. Pylori and blastocystis hominis,. H. pylori is a bacterial overgrowth in the stomach and blasto is an inflammatory parasite that often comes with h. Pylori. Blasto can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain or other digestive symptoms.
We put Ingrid on an h. Pylori protocol that included 2 months of Matula tea , DGL licorice powder to repair the damaged mucous lining , NAC as a biofilm buster and a broccoli sprout supplement.
We also added digestive enzymes to support digestion because her pancreatic enzymes were low according to the GI Map.
And because her immune system was low from the stress of the meds and trauma of the surgery, we supported it with MegaIGG 200 and saccharomyces boulardii. Supporting a low immune system is often the missing piece in many natural or conventional protocols.
She also took liposomal vitamin C capsules and gastro-ease, a supplement that combines zinc l-carnosine and lactobacillus reuteri, a probiotic shown in research to help clear h. pylori.
You don’t need to take ALL of the supplements above to clear h. pylori, but Ingrid didn’t want to take any chances, so we included everything.
The supplement brands that I use are all available under my h. pylori recommendations on Fullscript.
Things that supported the protocol
She also stopped the lemon water and mint tea she was drinking regularly. Both can worsen the symptoms of reflux and silent reflux.
Before starting the protocol we tested her stomach acid with an at home baking soda test and it showed that it was low. The full detail of the self test can be found in my h. Pylori rescue guide.
What’s interesting about Ingrid’s case is that she improved very slowly. Most people worry if they don’t see progress at the end of the 2 month h. pylori protocol, but Ingrid improved very slowly and gradually. This is because it takes time for the inflammation to go down and the parietal cells, that produce stomach acid, to bounce back.
She noticed that her symptoms were gone in the 3 month mark after starting her protocol. The improvement coincided with when she began to address the parasite.
Because Ingrid had unwavering faith in my expertise, she did not panic or get discouraged when the protocol did not work right away. She stayed diligent and on track and allowed her body to heal slowly, which it eventually did.
The stress of worrying about why the protocol did not work or being impatient about progress can actually influence the rate of healing and efficacy of the protocol as cortisol floods the system and the nervous system stays on alert.
Changing to an anti-inflammatory diet without deprivation
To improve the overall health of her gut, we made some nutritional changes. Ingrid is a foodie who loves being able to eat anything she wants.
We decided to keep it simple and take out the biggest causes of inflammation and gut distress: dairy, sugar, gluten and alcohol.
She also reduced animal fats due to issues with high cholesterol. I explained that it’s just as important to cut out sugar as it is to cut out red meat for balancing cholesterol. She now focus on eating gluten-free grains, olive oil and avocado oil and a diversity of veggies.
She bypassed feelings of deprivation by replacing her favorite comfort foods with anti-inflammatory recipes from my Treats That Heal cookbooks. I wrote the cookbooks for to provide more than 100 grain free and gluten free substitutions for things like sandwich bread, crackers, flatbread, cereal, english muffins and very low sugar/lower carb cookies, muffins, donuts, tarts, etc..
While many people wonder what there is to eat after giving up so much, Ingrid found a whole new world of possibilities.
“The cookbooks made the experience creative and fun. I learned to think outside the box of what I usually ate and didn’t miss anything because I could easily replace it.”
While there is no replacement for alcohol in the cookbooks, it’s something that needs to be removed and avoided for a successful healing protocol.
Revamping their diet is the biggest gift people get from having digestive issues. While change is hard, once the transition is made the health improvements experienced is what keeps people motivated to continue.
Fear of eating is a trauma-induced issue from painful symptoms and is addressed through rewiring the brain and nervous system. This is also where hypnosis can help.
Dealing with parasites
Ingrid used the same parasite protocol that I used on myself when I had parasites. The details are here.
After her blasto protocol, the quality of Ingrid’s stool improved. It went from being hard pebbles to a healthier, softer consistency. And her excess gas and bloating is now just a bad memory.
Reducing the inflammation in her gut also helped reduced the inflammation in the supportive tissues around her knees.
When she redid the stomach acid test she was happy to see that it bounced back also.
We are currently waiting a month and a half to do a GI Map retest to make sure all the pathogens are gone and that everything looks good in Ingrid’s gut.
She wanted to share that the most important part of her recovery was the faith that it would work.
“It was a psychological struggle for sure. The surgery and the gut issues were challenging. But with the right support and some faith, I got everything back on track and my digestion is better than it was before.”
Angela Privin is proof that IBS is NOT an incurable disease, but a cry for help from a gut out of balance. When the body AND mind are complaining, it’s an opportunity to examine what’s not working and change it. After solving her own IBS mystery almost two decades ago, Angela became as a health coach to help others. Angela uses root cause medicine protocols personalized to the individual to solve each IBS mystery. Her tools are lab testing, dietary changes, supplementation, subconscious mind work and nervous system rebalancing . Learn more here.