A lot of people go their doctor complaining of gut issues, only to be given a prescription to deal with the symptoms and told to come back in 4 weeks if things aren’t better.

People with digestive issues often experience bloating, acid reflux or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), diarrhea, stomach cramps, as well as fatigue and brain fog.

Doctors usually recommend things like antacids or proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) to deal with “overactive” stomach acid or some other medication to deal with the symptoms.

While some medicines may slightly ease symptoms in the short-term, they can seriously harm you in the long-term because you’ll never explore why you have the bloating, diarrhoea or heartburn in the first place!

This is the typical conventionally-trained practitioner’s approach – observe the symptoms, form a diagnosis, then prescribe a medication to to deal with that symptom. It doesn’t look “under the hood” and ask why this symptom is there is the first place.

It’s a conveyor belt system designed so that the doctor can get people in and out in typically around 7 minutes.

The problem with this is that there’s many reasons as to why you could be experiencing chronic digestive distress and unless you understand the true root cause of what’s ultimately leading to your digestive symptoms, you won’t know how to fix it for good.

What’s more is that to fix digestive issues you often need to “re-model” the gut bacteria that live in the digestive tract so that the gut becomes a source of health rather than disease.

This usually requires diet and herbs which are outside the scope of conventional practice, which favours a drug-based approach.

This is why many patients and doctors alike find digestive problems so frustrating.

Getting To The Root Cause Of Symptoms

While the symptoms of 100’s of gut diseases are literally the same (bloating, gas, diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal pain), they may be caused by very different mechanisms that require a different approach to standard conventional medicine.

It’s actually dangerous to mask symptoms with over-the-counter remedies like antacids, laxatives or antidiarrheals – as without treating the “root cause” they can get worse over time and affect other areas of health.

In the last couple of decades, we’ve made incredible advances in understanding that our health is deeply linked to our microbiome. The microbiome is a collection of microbes including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses that live inside the digestive tract.

The bacteria in our gut microbiome help digest our food, regulate our immune system, fight harmful bacteria or viruses, and produce important nutrients like B12, thiamine (B1) and riboflavin.

They also produce important neurotransmitters that allow for proper brain function. This is why people with poor gut health oftentimes report brain fog.

Unfortunately, these new advances in science take around 17 years to find their way into conventional doctors’ practices.

On the other hand at the International Clinic of Nutrition, we use the most recent scientific advances in both our testing and treatments so that we can deliver the most powerful outcomes.

Our approach to healing gut issues is very different from the standard conventional approach. Rather than treating symptoms on an ongoing fashion, we seek to get to the root cause of the problem and restore full gut health.

This is known as the functional medicine approach. After gaining an understanding of your digestion and overall health though consultation, we’ll use state of the art lab testing to see exactly what’s going on “under the hood”.

We’ll then create a custom-tailored, personalized protocol to restore your body’s innate healing potential so we can bring your digestion back into balance.

Your symptoms resolve not because you are masking them with medication, but because your gut is now actually healthy, which benefits your overall health in many other ways too.

Since the gut impacts our health on so many levels, it’s the first place we focus on when we explore many different health issues – determining whether our patients have leaky gut, food intolerances, or an imbalance in between the friendly and unfriendly organisms in the microbiome.

The lab tests that we use give us a very precise description of various biochemical factors affecting the gut, as well as the various organisms in the microbiome, so we understand how to address the underlying dysfunction for good.

Armed with this information we can create a very specific and personalised protocol that will balance any biochemical issues and remodel the microbiome so that instead of causing problems, it becomes a source of health for the whole body.

Sadly, conventional doctors aren’t equipped to untangle these complex, interdependent issues. There isn’t enough time in a standard 7-minute visit, nor was the topic covered in their standard medical school training.

Even after seeing a gastroenterologist many patients are still in the dark as to what’s actually causing their gut issues and are left to “just grin and bear it.”

However, your symptoms may be the result of a serious gut imbalance that might have far-reaching consequences for your overall wellness.

With our approach, we can discern if your gut issues are having knock-on effects in other areas of your health and restore your well-being.

If you have been experiencing chronic symptoms that may be connected with digestive problems and are looking for answers, then schedule a Discovery Call with us today and find out how we can help bring your gut back to 100% health.