For over 20 years, I dealt with digestive issues that kept evolving—lactose intolerance, chronic reflux, bloating and eventually three autoimmune diagnoses. Along the way, I was on long-term proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, Prevacid, etc.), took repeated courses of antibiotics, and had food poisoning twice while living in Costa Rica. My gut—and my health—kept getting worse.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that all of these issues were connected.
Doctors had little to offer beyond monitoring my Hashimoto’s and waiting for my thyroid function to decline to the point where medication would be necessary or my thyroid had to be removed entirely. Meanwhile, my digestion continued to deteriorate—bloating after meals, poor stool quality and eventually daily stomach pain upon waking.
An elimination diet was the first real turning point. Removing gluten and dairy—and adding psyllium husk fiber—resolved my reflux, chronic cough, and stomach pain. I was finally able to come off proton pump inhibitors after 10 years. I also discovered that my issue with dairy wasn’t just lactose intolerance, but a sensitivity to casein, the protein in dairy.
But over time, symptoms returned, and I still hadn’t addressed my most serious condition—Hashimoto’s. I followed a targeted protocol and saw a significant drop in my thyroid antibodies—from 103 to 15 in 6 weeks—and eventually into the normal range over the following year, where they’ve remained.
With the help of a functional medicine doctor, I also learned the name of my digestive issue—SIBO—and how to manage it naturally when it reappears. My platelet counts normalized, and my ITP diagnosis was eventually removed.
Later, I learned about post-infectious IBS—a major contributor to many cases of recurrent SIBO—and tested positive for anti-vinculin antibodies, which helped explain why my symptoms kept recurring. After two months of the ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet, those antibodies returned to normal levels in 2025.
That said, I likely still have some underlying motility challenges—possibly related to past surgery or other factors—so I manage this proactively with prokinetics and small, targeted doses of selective antimicrobials.
This experience taught me two things: many chronic health issues are solvable, and the answers often require looking beyond conventional approaches and doing careful, sometimes frustrating, detective work.
My five years of advocacy work around healthy school food also reinforced this for me: sometimes meaningful change requires going against the system—whether that’s the food system or the medical system.
If you’re dealing with gut issues or autoimmune disease, this is exactly what I help people with.
I offer a free, 30-minute Breakthrough Session to understand your situation, hear how it’s impacting your life, and see if we’re a good fit—no pressure. You can schedule anytime online. I’d love to connect with you.
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