Overview

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Goals

1. Relieve Symptoms
2. Eliminate Infections & Toxins

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Elimination Diet

Goal: Identify and eliminate potential food triggers that may cause or worsen symptoms.

Action Plan:

1. Diet Protocol: Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)
2. Avoid Allergens: Prevent exposure to foods causing sensitivities or allergies.
3. Quality Hydration: consume filtered water to minimize potential negative impacts on gut health.
   1. Choose Appropriate Filtration: Utilize reverse osmosis, activated carbon, or store-bought filtered water.
   2. Avoid Tap Water Contaminants: Minimize exposure to chlorine, heavy metals, pharmaceutical residue, forever chemicals, and fluoride.

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Gut Infections

Goal: Identify and eradicate infections that contribute to gut inflammation and health problems.

Action Plan:

1. Detect Infections: Screen for common infections like microbial overgrowth, parasites, and H. pylori.
2. Implement Targeted Treatment: Utilize appropriate therapies to clear infections.

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Taper off Medications

Goal: Reduce medications that can disrupt the gut microbiome and negatively impact gut health.

Reduce:

1. Antibiotics: Decimate gut flora indiscriminately, leading to long-term imbalances and susceptibility to pathogenic overgrowth.
2. Acid Suppressants: Lower stomach acid impairs digestion and nutrient absorption and can lead to pathogenic overgrowth.
3. Immunosuppressants: Alter gut immune homeostasis, leading to imbalances and a more permissive environment for pathogens.
4. Corticosteroids: Can weaken gut lining integrity and disrupt microbiome balance by suppressing immune function.
5. NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs): Disrupts gut lining and contributes to leaky gut, ulcers, and imbalances in gut flora.

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Heavy metals

Goal: Remove harmful heavy metals that may accumulate in the body and affect health.

Action Plan:

1. Identify Heavy Metals: Test for the presence of mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium.
2. Implement Chelation Therapy: If necessary, use chelation to cleanse the system.

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Mold exposure

Goal: Eliminate exposure to environmental mold that may contribute to gut health issues.

Action Plan:

1. Detect Mold: Identify and remove any mold in the living environment.

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Testing

Goal: Diagnose the root cause of gut issues and guide infection and toxin removal.

Core:

• Reduced-Scope Comprehensive Stool Analysis (CSA)
  • How it works: Provides a targeted analysis of key gut bacteria and markers related to digestion, inflammation, and infection.
  • Usage: Administered at the initial stage to establish a baseline and evaluate the gut’s current condition.
• Fecal Calprotectin
  • How it works: Measures the level of a protein that increases in the presence of intestinal inflammation.
  • Usage: Used periodically throughout the treatment to monitor inflammation and guide symptom relief strategies.
• Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)
  • How it works: Consists of brief surveys capturing patient symptoms and well-being, providing insights not captured by biochemical tests.
  • Usage: Administered at key milestones to evaluate the subjective impact of interventions and adjust treatment plans accordingly.

Conditional:

• SIBO Breath Test
  • How it works: Measures the amount of hydrogen and methane gas in your breath, which can indicate bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine.
  • Usage: Administered if SIBO is suspected, particularly when initial tests such as CSA do not provide conclusive evidence.
• qPCR
  • How it works: Uses DNA amplification to identify and measure the presence of specific pathogens or toxins.
  • Usage: Employed for targeted monitoring and treatment following the initial discovery of specific pathogens through the CSA.
• Heavy Metal Testing
  • How it works: Utilizes blood, hair, or urine samples to measure the levels of heavy metals in the body.
  • Usage: Administered when there’s reason to believe that heavy metal toxicity could be impacting gut health or overall well-being.
• Mycotoxin Test
  • How it works: Identifies the presence and levels of toxic substances produced by molds that might be contributing to gut issues.
  • Usage: Administered when symptoms or environmental factors suggest the likelihood of mold exposure affecting gut health.