Kristen’s IBS success story & advice “test don’t guess”

Kristen’s IBS success story is not unusual. Because she couldn’t get help from doctors she sought a natural remedy for IBS.

But before she reached out to me, she did her own online research and guessed at what was wrong based on her symptoms. She concluded that she had SIBO. She put herself on a restrictive low FODMAPs diet and took antibiotics to clear SIBO.

Her biome suffered a bit because of her approach, as she tested as having low beneficial bacteria but she had no better ideas or what to do. Fortunately I know how to help people recover and rebalance their biome.

When Kristen found me on Instagram she was drawn to my data-driven functional testing approach. But she was also skeptical because past medical testing never found anything of significance, thus she was labeled with the IBS diagnosis. She took a leap of faith to try a natural approach and signed up for my testing package.

In her own words, she tells her story below.

What is powerful about her story is that she used a team to help her heal. As a digestive health coach, my job is to provide direction with diet, testing and lifestyle changes, but for some people, particularly complicated cases, getting additional support will improve outcome.

Because Kristen now had a road map, she had less anxiety about her gut. Also, through our coaching, Kristen was able to relax around her diet and other parts of her life. This was a very powerful part of her recovery.

Now, she’s what she has always wanted to be: “a normal person” who can eat what she wants and make plans without thinking about her gut.

I follow Kristen on Instagram and it’s wonderful to see how she has thrived after getting rid of a particularly nasty and destructive parasite. She is a true example of the power of functional gut testing.

Kristen’s story in her own words

My digestive problems started straight out of the womb. As a child, I struggled with bloating and constipation and in college, I ended up with an IBS diagnosis following an emergency room trip for intense abdominal pain.

After that, I spent the next ten years having lots of fun, traveling, hiking in Colorado, building my career, and taking days off work whenever my pain got too bad.

At 30, I was married with a 10 year old step-son and my symptoms started changing. Instead of just pain, I started having extreme bloating as well as alternating constipation and diarrhea.

I blamed stress and tried a variety of supplements but symptoms remained and slowly got worse. Finally my symptoms got bad enough that I decided to start the low FODMAP diet.

I went through elimination and reintroduction in about six months, and just like my other attempts, my symptoms returned. After an endoscopy and Celiac test both came back negative, I decided that I had SIBO and my gastroenterologist prescribed a round of Xifaxan and a low carb diet without testing.

After my symptoms returned yet again, I reached a mental tipping point of “this is all not working.” Both my doctor and gastroenterologist were out of ideas, so I did some research and found Angela on Instagram.

A look inside the gut with the GI Map

For me, the fact that Angela offered the GI Map test was important, and I liked the possibility that I could be tested for a huge number of potential issues that doctors hadn’t even brought up. I also decided to take a SIBO test.

In my first consultation with Angela, we worked through various lifestyle factors that I could adjust before taking the GI Map. Two major factors in my life that didn’t allow for much healing space were perfectionism and needing to push myself all the time. Healing takes self-grace and rest, so I swapped in qi gong, yoga, meditation, and walking for running, HIIT, and a maxed out schedule.

We also talked about how cleaning products, beauty products, and processed foods all put unnecessary chemicals into your body. Instead of being able to focus on healing, my body was spending time and energy cleaning out extra substances.

That concept made complete sense to me, so I started experimenting with making my own personal care products and using baking soda and vinegar for most cleaning.

Much to my surprise, the SIBO test was negative, and the GI Map came back positive for a parasite called blasto. I travelled quite a bit during the last twenty years but never imagined I had picked up a parasite along the way, and no doctor had suggested that might be a consideration.

The GI Map test also showed that my guts were high in bad bacteria and low in good bacteria. Angela explained how the gut healing process works in steps. The first step is treating the parasite and then rebalancing gut bacteria. To eliminate the parasite, I followed Angela’s advice to use an herbal protocol which has multiple components to break down biofilms, kill parasites, and clean out dead parasites.

Several weeks into treatment, I was following the protocol but still having problems with pain and diarrhea. Angela suggested this could be due to inflammation, and I started following an anti-inflammatory diet.

Getting additional help with the mind body connection

Although this helped with digestive symptoms, my brain was maxed out and I started experiencing a lot of anxiety and depression symptoms that interfered with daily life. I was already following all of the DIY treatment steps for mental health, so I talked to my doctor.

I started mental health medication and working with a counselor, both of which helped enormously and gave me more space for physical healing.

After finishing the parasite protocol and spending a month working on rebuilding my gut biome, I took the GI Map test again. Fortunately, blasto the parasite was gone and my gut bacteria was in better shape. I unfortunately still had some digestive symptoms of inflammation and could not figure out why.

The final piece

The parasite was gone and I was following the anti-inflammatory diet, so what persisted? A few months later, the answer arrived when severe abdominal pain landed me in the ER and I found out I had a 2 cm appendix stone.

I was grateful that after working with Angela, I knew how to bounce back from the IV bag of antibiotics they gave me. The antibiotics were necessary since my white blood cell count was 36,000, and I had almost gone septic. No one knows how long the appendix stone had been growing, but after my appendix was removed, my inflammation symptoms went away.

My journey wasn’t quite over since I was still experiencing daily diarrhea. I started a supplement elimination plan and found out that my body was not reacting well to both turmeric and a paleo collagen powder.

Once I discontinued use, my gut symptoms became those of a normal person. I’m now able to eat pretty much anything and can make plans with my husband and step-son without fear of missing things due to IBS symptoms or worrying about what food is available.

Through this whole process, I learned several valuable lessons.

1. Test don’t guess.

2. Get support from any and every corner available; I was able to heal with the assistance of Angela, my doctor, my counselor, the local ER, and my family and friends.

3. Make space in your life to heal.

I am incredibly grateful to Angela for guiding me through this process of parasite elimination and bacteria rebuilding.

I can now live my life without constant abdominal pain and wondering where the closest bathroom is. The healing tools she taught me extend past parasite healing and continue to impact my life today.

I’m looking forward to continued travels and adventures, and if digestive issues come back, Angela will be my first call.