CASE STUDY CORNER: MIGRAINES, SINUS CONGESTION AND MORE...

I was fortunate enough to meet Linda, age 42, in late 2019.   Despite having recently undergone a stressful divorce and struggle with infertility her dry humor and wit were not under appreciated.   Linda came to see me for debilitating migraines, chronic sinus congestion since childhood and depression since her teenage years.  

I often see people suffering with uncomfortable symptoms just barreling through life in a very high functioning state.  Linda was one of them.  A strong and centered women tired of feeling bad.

Linda lived a fairly healthy lifestyle from an outsider’s perspective…. she ate a vegetarian based diet, hiked, did yoga and even still she did not feel well.

One of the first things we do in the office is take a good look at the diet and make some additions and eliminations. Linda was open to this. So we immediately added a small amount of meat from sustainable and organic sources to her diet. I also asked her to eliminate several food stressors from her diet.

We also started high a potency and bioavailable form of B vitamins. After a long time on a vegetarian diet… B vitamin status can be extremely low. (learn more about b vitamin deficiency here)

In addition to the minor dietary changes and B vitamin supplementation, we began to clear her gut with an Okra based supplement as she had signs of GI disturbance as well.

I taught her the importance of a healthy gastrointestinal (GI) environment and explained that the GI health is one of the main doorways to our total health.  Teaching is one of my favorite parts of my job.

We ordered a functional blood analysis and a stool analysis called a GI Map to fully look at the health of her gut and the microbes that reside there.  

She left ready and eager to finally feel better.

2 Weeks Later…

Linda came in for an Advanced Allergy Therapeutics treatment for her sinuses.  Remember Linda’s sinuses had been congested her entire life?  

6 Weeks…

• Linda’s sinuses were nearly clear.

• She had been Migraine free the entire 6 weeks!  

• Her mood was great AND she had lost 10 pounds

Linda had done very well on the food elimination.  At one point she “caved” and ate a bagel. She pretty quickly discovered that she has a severe GI reaction to wheat.  Needless to say that was all the motivation she needed to keep wheat out of her diet.  

Her lab results were back and showed that she was housing a very scary form of E.Coli associated with lots of toxicity and inflammation.  Her stool analysis also revealed that her GI tract was very toxic and her liver was having a hard time keeping up with the overload.  

As suspected her B vitamin levels were very low. (but we already took care of that!)  In addition, vitamin D and magnesium was also very low.  Linda’s cholesterol and blood sugar were also not optimal.  Her stress hormone, cortisol was elevated and so was her major inflammatory markers.

Linda’s body was definitely out of whack.

Even so… just the small amount of intervention we did at the first visit made a difference.

Now it was time to clean up the rest…

The number one goal of treatment was to eliminate the scary microbe in her gut.  That little bugger had been silently causing lots of distress. 

We needed to do 2 things: get rid of that guy and mop up the mess. We began high dose probiotic therapy + enzymes + herbal antibiotic + specific fibers + charcoal + zinc. Linda was very willing patient and I reassured her this would only be a few weeks.

The food elimination was also fine tuned and we allowed back several more foods that did not seem to be a problem.

…and before she left we did more Advanced Allergy Therapeutics work.

Linda was motivated and ready!

12 Weeks…

Linda arrived feeling great she looked refreshed, lighter and clear We sat down and she told me wonderful stories about her recent adventure to an exotic country. Ancient temples and blissful beaches were in her recent past and it felt good to just be with her. I was so inspired by her independence, her sense of life and adventure.  

• We retested her gut and the scary bugger (E.Coli) was gone!

• Still no headaches and sinuses were clear

• 16 pound weight loss

• happy and great mood

One of my favorite parts of this story is that she was headed to her psychiatrist that week to begin the process of reducing her depression meds.  

I am so proud of her. She put in the work, trusted the journey, was brave and did not let little set backs get her down. 

This process is NOT atypical. We see cases regularly where filling nutrient deficiencies and healing the gut makes all the difference. If Linda’s story reminds you of yourself or someone you know… please contact us as we would love to help you live with a lot less suffering and more time for adventure and joy. We offer 15 minute free consults with one of our functional practitioners.

*All identifying factors have been changed to support the patient’s privacy.