“I Healed My Diarrhea, Skin Rash, and High Cholesterol—All Thanks to Functional Medicine”
Curious about functional medicine but on the fence to discover the benefits of it for yourself? If so, you’ll definitely want to keep reading. Below, I’m sharing the case study of one Fearless Fig client who healed her gut, skin, and greater health issues in one fell swoop.
While most of my clients come to me to heal their digestive issues, the majority of them have overlapping health and wellness concerns that they’ve never quite been able to detect or understand—let alone fix.
In this blog post, we’ll explore a case study illustrating how gut restoration and the science of functional medicine helped one such client heal her:
chronic diarrhea
skin inflammation
high cholesterol
and more
Meet Susan
Susan is a high-achiever with a successful accounting / financial consulting career, and a mother of two. Like many of my clients, Susan found me at the end of her rope after being let down by conventional medicine. Although she ate a healthy, balanced diet consisting of organic and pasture-raised foods (and, okay… drank wine nightly), her level of health and quality of life were nowhere near where they should have been.
While digestive distress was her primary concern, she also struggled with a mysterious rash on her chest and high cholesterol—all of which we were able to mitigate through the Fearless Fig method!
Here’s a quick background of her concerns before we get to her jaw-dropping results and the *exact* steps we took to achieve them.
Diarrhea
Susan came to me with the primary concern of diarrhea. Every morning, like clockwork, she struggled with liquid stools. Sometimes it’d be worse than others depending on her stress levels and what she recently ate, but she wasn’t able to make any solid correlations (no pun intended)... and neither were her doctors. And while she even had multiple rounds of conventional stool testing done (which doesn’t measure many key markers or offer the full picture that functional stool tests provide), findings were still inconclusive.
Skin inflammation
In addition to dealing with diarrhea, Susan had a mysterious rash on her chest that never seemed to go away. Again, her conventional MDs were unable to understand why it was there and what to do about it.
High cholesterol
Lastly, Susan was diagnosed with high cholesterol a few years before we started to work together. Her doctor put her on Lipitor to “manage” her cholesterol—but lo and behold, it only made her diarrhea worse. To add insult to injury, her doc told her she’d have to take this medicine for the rest of her life!
Susan was overwhelmed by her symptoms and felt dismissed when her doctors said medication was her only option. There was no discussion of what she was eating, her stress levels or how she was sleeping—aka the foundational elements of good health! It was just “take the medication, deal with the symptoms.” This wasn’t acceptable for Susan.
Luckily, she had the strength, courage, and determination to take control over her health narrative… and then she found me!
What we discovered through functional labs
As is the case with all of my incredible Fearless Fig clients, we always start with a stool test and food sensitivity test to truly understand what’s going on in the body. *Only then* is it possible to begin to heal the gut for good.
Let’s take a closer look at Susan’s findings, shall we?
Imbalances and Inflammation
Based on her functional lab work, we discovered:
Giardia: a parasitic pathogen that causes diarrhea
Dysbiosis (gut imbalance): high levels of inflammatory bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, which is prone to causing diarrhea
Yeast overgrowth: maintains gut imbalances and can trigger intense sugar cravings; we found two different types that prevent good bacteria to grow at levels needed for protection
For reference, here are some of the key insights from her labs:
I’m sharing these lab results for a few reasons:
to show what you can anticipate if you get your own tests done with a functional medicine expert
to illustrate how critical these findings are to actually be able to restore your gut with the right protocol for you (without personalization you’re just guessing in the dark)
Functional labs use data from your body at this moment in time to pinpoint the root causes of imbalances and inflammation. Armed with this data, you can clearly see why it wasn’t enough for Susan to simply stick to a balanced, organic diet and expect her symptoms to heal themselves—and the same goes for anyone else who isn’t able to heal their digestive issues, skin inflammation, hormonal imbalances, autoimmune symptoms, and so many other signs of unwellness.
Why “healthy diets” fail
As far as Susan’s case goes:
She had high levels of inflammatory “bad” bacteria, so adding more bacteria in (yes, even “good” kinds like those in probiotics) couldn’t possibly fix her issues
Her yeast overgrowth clued me in to know that fermented foods, which are loaded with good-for-you bacteria, would likely make her symptoms worse
Simply put, it’s not enough to follow general “healthy” nutrition guidelines and expect a clean bill of health and wellness. You need to know the exact root causes of symptoms—which is why functional labs are 100% essential for full gut restoration.
And speaking of nutrition…
Food sensitivities
Again, even if foods are generally healthy and part of many balanced diets, it doesn’t mean that they work for your own body—and that’s why high-quality food sensitivity tests are total game-changers.
(Note: You’re unlikely to get a full, accurate reading from many of the at-home food sensitivity tests on the market today, as their mechanisms for detection are more flawed than foolproof. If you’re curious as to why, we can discuss this in your FREE 30-minute health audit!)
Back to Susan, we found that many of the items she ate regularly—including “perfectly healthy” ones—were on her sensitivity list:
I’ll say it again because it bears repeating: all of these personalized insights, which are guided by the science and raw data of functional medicine, hold the secrets to healing your gut and improving your health across the board.
How we healed Susan’s gut through functional medicine
Once we had the detailed insights from Susan’s lab results, only then were we able to get to the good stuff—and by that I mean full gut restoration!
We worked through my Fearless Five protocol to kickstart the healing process. In a nutshell, here’s what it entailed. (Note: While the framework of my method is the same for my 1:1 clients, the actual game plan will vary based on your very own precise needs!)
1. Reduce burden
The first step is pretty straightforward: remove the foods that are causing inflammation and reactivity to begin with, as informed by food sensitivity testing. Only once you get rid of them can you rebuild the foundations for gut restoration. We also looked at environmental toxins and cleaned up her daily environment like water, skincare products, air, and food choices… more on these below!
2. Manage stress
It’s one thing to say you need to reduce stress, but it’s another to find stress management practices that you enjoy and will actually stick to to promote long-term results.
With Susan, this looked like:
Discussing which stress-reducing tips she enjoyed, then implementing them
Optimizing her sleep hygiene to promote sleep quality
Using data from her Fitbit to track progress and gain even greater insights
Measured cortisol response throughout the day via saliva tests (we discovered that while her adrenals made adequate cortisol, it didn’t spike at ideals time—so we boosted them through lifestyle adjustments and the right supplements)
For reference, here’s a look at Susan’s cortisol response results:
3. Restore the gut microbiome
We knew exactly what to tackle through Susan’s lab work, which enabled us to spring right into action. First we removed the yeast and inflammatory bacteria via supplements formulated to combat her exact imbalances. (Any old probiotic or vitamin wouldn’t do in her case—and it most likely won’t for you either, which is why precision and personalization are key in any gut restoration protocol.)
Second, we had to restore the resiliency of her gut function so she could defend invading pathogens in the future. Susan began to take a mix of prebiotics, probiotics,, and additional nutrients, which helped to repair her gut and thus build a healthier, more protective microbiome.
We eased inflammation through specific blends including slippery lem, aloe, DGl, and immunoglobulins.
4. Detox
By sticking to the first three steps alone, Susan’s bowel movements started to become solid. By the time we reached this step of my Fearless Fig method, we took greater care to support detox pathways, which included removing additional toxins from her environment. Among other things, for Susan, this entailed reducing her nightly wine intake to boost her already sluggish detox pathways and decrease elevated lipid levels.
(All of the *many* toxins we encounter daily are too much to go into detail here, but rest assured that I cover them super thoroughly with each and every one of my clients!)
5. Boost longevity
Once you start to heal your gut and feel great in your body, you naturally want to prioritize longevity! When it came to Susan in particular, we looked at her genetics to target key steps that were critical in supporting wellness and permitting her to stay healthy. Since she had an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, I set her up on a higher-vegetable, lower-protein diet to address her unique dietary needs and health predispositions.
Susan’s life-changing results, powered by functional medicine
Within just six months, Susan was able to experience relief from her symptoms for the first time—and the results were insanely impressive, both on paper and in real life.
Now, for the best part: Susan’s results following the Fearless Fig method! Drumroll, please…
Her diarrhea disappeared and her BMs were consistently solid
The rash on her chest healed completely
She slept undisturbed throughout the night
She woke up with energy, ready to take on the day
Her cholesterol levels improved so significantly that her doctor said she didn’t need to take Lipitor anymore(!!!)
Summary
As we can see, Susan was able to heal her gut, improve her digestion, clear her skin inflammation, and so much more—all through the power and science of functional medicine.
In her case—as well as in hundreds of others over the years that I’ve led as a registered dietitian—it’s clear as day that when you heal your gut, you achieve the health and wellness you never thought was possible.
Each and every one of my clients experience game-changing results that improve so many aspects of their body and mind, leading to:
Greater comfort and confidence
More ease and energy
The ability to show up at work and for their loved ones
Long-awaited relief from symptoms and health conditions they couldn’t get from conventional medicine
I’m sharing Susan’s case study with you so you can gain a clearer understanding of the detailed insights and life-changing benefits available via my proven Fearless Fig protocol. If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired—and want to stop hurting and start healing—be sure to book your FREE 30-minute health audit with me today.
A healthier, more fulfilling life—and your best, most confident self—awaits you!