Does This Sound Like You?
Have you already seen your primary care doctor (or even GI specialists) about chronic gut issues, only to be given a prescription to deal with the symptoms? Perhaps you are dealing with regular bloating, acid reflux or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), diarrhea, stomach cramps or even fatigue and brain fog? Unfortunately, most doctors recommend antacids (like Tums, Pepto-Bismol) or proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) to deal with “overactive” stomach acid or some other medication to deal with the symptoms. While some OTC medicines may temporarily ease symptoms, they can seriously harm you in the long-term because you’ll never explore what caused your symptoms in the first place. This is emblematic of a conventional medicine approach – going downstream from observed symptoms towards a diagnosis (to be addressed with a symptomatic prescription medicine). In an insurance-based practice, that’s really the only thing that can be accomplished in a typical 7-minute visit! The problem with this is that there are many reasons why you could experience chronic digestive distress, and unless you understand the true root cause of what’s ultimately leading to the observed digestive symptoms, you don’t know how to fix it for good. That’s why the conventional approach to chronic digestive disorders is really frustrating for both patients AND doctors: Patients never get to truly resolve their digestive issues… instead just managing their symptoms, while primary care doctors feel ill-equipped to identify what’s really causing the observed gut issues.
