Sarah was 30 years old when her digestive symptoms started.
Bloating was the first symptom that developed, seemingly out of nowhere, and she assumed that it would eventually go away, just as other annoying symptoms had in the past.
But, a few months later, when her bloating hadn’t improved, and she started having indigestion and diarrhea every day, Sarah realized she needed help.
She scheduled an appointment with her primary care doctor, but when he didn’t have any ideas, he referred Sarah to a gastroenterologist who was “quite good” at diagnosing unusual symptoms.
Maybe he could help to figure out what was going on.
Sarah showed up for her appointment a month later, desperate for answers.
Staring at his computer, her gastroenterologist asked her a few questions about her symptoms before arriving at his diagnosis: irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
An irreversible condition
While she initially felt validated to finally get a diagnosis, after doing her own research, Sarah ultimately learned that IBS, like other clinical diagnoses, was simply a convenient label for a collection of symptoms, and that being diagnosed with IBS didn’t actually get her anywhere (other than to the pharmacy, for a prescription for antidiarrheal medication).
What’s more, when Sarah asked her gastroenterologist what she could do to reverse the condition, he insisted that IBS is irreversible, and that she would just have to accept that she would have IBS for the rest of her life.
Her doctor’s unwavering conviction that there was nothing she could do made her uneasy.
She was perplexed why he had so quickly diagnosed her with IBS, in her first appointment, without ordering any tests.
And she wondered how he could be so confident that there was nothing she could do to resolve her symptoms, when he didn’t actually know the causes.
Enter Quantify
Eventually, seeking answers, Sarah discovered Quantify.
She saw that other members had reversed their IBS with diet, supplements, and lifestyle, despite also being told that the condition is irreversible, so she was excited to get started.
After getting matched with a certified health coach specialized in gastrointestinal health, completing a health questionnaire, and meeting with her health coach over video chat, a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) stool analysis was ordered for Sarah, to test for parasites, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and evaluate intestinal permeability, inflammation, and the health of her microbiome.
Quite the contrast to her typical experience with laboratory tests, involving waiting rooms, forms, and vials of blood, Sarah was able to conduct the qPCR stool analysis from home, by collecting a stool sample in a test kit, and shipping to a lab for analysis.
Dysbiosis
She received her test results a few weeks later, and her health coach helped her to make sense of them, explaining that her results showed significant dysbiosis—an imbalance of good bacteria to bad bacteria—which often causes gastrointestinal symptoms, such as bloating, indigestion, and diarrhea.1
To address dysbiosis, her health coach continued, Sarah would need to eliminate processed foods, grains, and dairy from her diet, increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fermented foods, take certain supplements to address opportunistic bacterial overgrowth, such as astragalus, ginger, and olive leaf, exercise regularly, and optimize her circadian rhythm, by minimizing exposure to blue light and getting to bed on a consistent schedule.2 3
Recovery
Sarah’s initial anxiety from seeing abnormal test results was soon replaced by an overwhelming relief.
Finally.
She had answers.
And she knew what she had to do.
Following her health plan closely, her symptoms gradually improved, over the course of a year, and ultimately resolved.
Her gastroenterologist eventually retracted his diagnosis, citing that he had misdiagnosed her.
And, today, Sarah continues to live symptom-free, often reflecting on how things might have gone if she hadn’t questioned her doctor’s insistence that there was nothing she could do.