Published July 14, 2010 in the North Island Weekender 

Darlene, age 56, came in for treatment of chronic diarrhea. She had been on a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) for treatment of chronic intestinal reflux and then developed a Clostridium difficile intestinal infection. This was finally eradicated but she did not feel any better. She was coming in because I had helped one of her friends with a similar problem.

After taking an extensive history and doing some blood work I found that she was low in B12 and that she wasn’t absorbing nutrients from her food very well. I also learned that, as a child, she was never breast fed as a child and had numerous antibiotics as a child for ear infections.

I explained that the best introduction to a healthy immune system is being born vaginally and being breast fed. This contact with healthy bacteria  early in life sets up the best milieu in the intestinal tract and the incidence of ear infections and colic in such  babies are greatly reduced. Over the years this milieu is negatively impacted by poor diets and over use of antibiotics. Antibiotics upset the normal microbial balance of the intestinal tract where 60% of the immune system functions. The goal of naturopathic therapy is to re-colonize and  maintain the gut with a healthy mix of healthy bacteria called probiotics and to also reduce the use of antibiotics.

For the first month I put Darlene on a dose of probiotics four times the normal strength flooding the gut and crowding out the unhealthy mix of bacteria. Then over the next 3 months she maintained on a therapeutic dosage. After this I encouraged Darlene to keep on it to help with her immune system. Her diarrhea completely cleared within the first 3 months of the prescribed diet and probiotic therapy.

Darlene was low in B12 because when she took proton inhibitors her stomach acid production was greatly reduced and absorption of nutrients was impeded. B12 is a common deficiency with low stomach acid and after a series of weekly and monthly B12 injections her energy was back to normal.

Dietary counseling included determining and removing her food sensitivities, following the blood type diet and encouraging her to combine her food differently. This resulted in the disappearance of her chronic gastro intestinal reflux.

Darlene came in one year later for a check up. She looked great! She had not been sick with the flu once, she had lost a few pounds and she was back exercising. She was very happy that her acne rosacea had also cleared up. She wondered why. I reminded her that the health of the intestinal tract is paramount to the immune system and over the years of clinical practice I have found that many skin conditions clear as the gut health improves. In addition one of the contributing factors of acne rosacea is low stomach acid possibly aggravated by the chronic use of the PPI. She admitted that she had tried other probiotics over the last year and found she did much better on the human bacterial strains that I had prescribed for her.

This is the joy of naturopathic medicine. Getting to the underlying cause of the problem and helping people look and feel great!