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IBS—Discovering Root Causes and Natural Treatments

May 10, 2021
ibs

Today I’m going to talk to you about IBS, which stands for irritable bowel syndrome, or in my opinion, It’s BS. And why would I say that? Because certainly millions of people have IBS. Well, I’ve been practicing for over 30 years and have seen over 100,000 patient visits, treating all sorts of conditions—pain, fatigue, brain fog, depression, anxiety, thyroid, adrenal issues, autoimmune.

But the one thing though that almost all my patients have in common is digestive issues. I’ve seen it more so lately, and it seems like almost everyone comes in with some sort of gut symptoms. Many of my patients have been to other doctors and get labeled as having IBS.

IBS Traditional Treatment

So I want to talk about what you can do to find out what’s causing it and how to correct it. So, typical scenario, you go to the doctor saying you have symptoms such as gas, bloating, abdominal pain, cramping, constipation, diarrhea. Even mucus in the stool can feel miserable. 

And so you go in and your primary doctor says, all right, well why don’t you take this medication (usually acid-blocking drugs)? See if that works. 

You go back, still no better. All right, well, let’s send you to the GI doctor.

So you go to the GI doctor. What’s going on? 

Well, doc, I don’t know, I have some gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, just feel really irritable. My bowels feel irritable all the time. I don’t know what’s going on. 

All right, well, let’s do some tests. We’ll do a colonoscopy. 

Maybe they’ll do a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. So you get the results back and go in. 

So what is it? 

Oh, well you have IBS. 

Oh, what’s that Doc? 

That stands for irritable bowel syndrome.

Well, wait a minute isn’t that what I told you I had, irritable bowel? 

Right, you have irritable bowel syndrome, exactly. 

Well, what causes that? 

Well, no one really knows what causes it. 

What can I do about it? 

Well, you can get this medication for it. We have acid-blocking drugs. 

That’s the one that didn’t work.

Okay, we can do muscle relaxers or anti-anxiety pills, or you can do these pain meds or even anti-depressants. These are all common medications used for IBS. 

And that’s why I say It’s BS because IBS is not a condition, it’s simply a description of what’s going on. It would be like going to the orthopedist and you say, 

Doc, my neck hurts, it’s been really hurting a lot lately. 

They do some x-rays, maybe an MRI. 

Okay, well, you have something very serious. It’s called HNS. 

HNS, what’s that? 

Hurt neck syndrome. 

What do you mean?

You have HNS. 

Well, I know, my neck hurts. 

But this is an actual condition. Look it up online.

You go online, HNS, there are support groups. There are all kinds of blogs, websites all over the place. I’m making this up, by the way, maybe I’m not, maybe it does exist. But this is how it works. Anyway, that’s why I say it’s BS. 

Root Cause of IBS

However, IBS does exist. I know, I had it years ago, even as a kid I had all these symptoms. I was miserable. And as I got older, it even got worse. So I went through all this. I was able to get it cleared up and basically what it comes down to is finding out the root causes of IBS. 

Number one is pathogens (infections)—bacteria, yeast, parasites. And why don’t they ever test for this? It’s so rare that you can even get your doctor to order a stool test. I like to order these comprehensive stool tests, not just to check for parasites, but also yeast, bacteria, digestive enzymes, different markers of inflammation, immune health. So it gives a clear picture. 

So parasites, for instance, in one study I read almost half of the IBS patients had this parasite called Blastocystis hominis. I did other videos on that if you want to check that out. But 46% had blasto. and all the symptoms of IBS can be from this blastocystis and other parasites, the gas, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, constipation.

Yeast overgrowth is also a common cause of IBS symptoms, and bacterial overgrowth (dysbiosis) as well. And when I tested myself, these are just some of approximately 20 stool test parasite pictures and everything that I did years ago when I had these issues. I wanted to get to the underlying root cause. And it took me a while to figure out and get it cleared up. But you should do a comprehensive stool test if you want to find out and figure out what’s causing your gut symptoms. 

So infections, pathogens are one. And what do you do about that? Well, depending on what it is, for parasites, there’s certain natural formulas we use and sometimes you need a prescription medication. For me, I use a series of products that I found really worked, and this was after I tried a few different prescription drugs for the parasites which did not work.

Natural Treatment for IBS

If it’s yeast, there are certain protocols for that. I use a product called Yeast Defeat™. If it’s a bacterial overgrowth, I use Microb-Balance™.  There are probiotics that I use that are effective and powerful called ProbioSupreme™SB or other of our probiotics depending on the findings. So, eliminating the cause of the infection is one thing.

Second, are deficiencies—nutrient and digestive enzyme deficiencies, so that has to be addressed and they are different types of enzyme supplements, such as GastricZyme™ or PanAbsorb™ that can be a huge help.

Third, are food allergies/sensitivities. Gluten is the most common one I see. There are other foods that are highly reactive as well. You have to find out which foods you are sensitive to. That’s a major cause of digestive issues. Two ways to do this are, you can test, there is a comprehensive gluten celiac test, food allergy and sensitivity tests. You can check upwards of 100 or more foods. 

So the typical tests doctors run for gluten, if you can get them to do that, is for just 2-3 markers for gluten sensitivity and celiac. But meanwhile, there is a particular lab test I use to check more than 20 different antibodies, which is a very comprehensive approach to find out if gluten is an issue. 

Testing Options for IBS

So another option besides testing for gluten are testing for others. A food allergy test if you can get your doctor to order that. Some of the major labs offer panels of 10 or 15 foods, and those are true allergies. Most people have sensitivities more so than allergies, so I like to test both in panels of about 100 foods or more. 

So aside from food testing, another option I came up with is a diet I call the FreeDiet® because it’s not only free of gluten but gluten, grains, sugar, yeast, dairy, eggs, soy, legumes, nightshades, and processed foods. And you go through that, phase one is typically four weeks where you are eliminating these potentially reactive foods. And most patients, usually within the first couple of weeks are doing so much better.

And then as everything clears up, we go onto phase two, we start adding foods back one at a time. So, this is what worked for me. Because I tested positive for gluten sensitivity, and I went gluten-free but was eating all the gluten-free grains, millet, rice, corn, gluten-free pasta and bagels, everything. 

I was not feeling any better because you must eliminate the bacteria, yeast, parasites, all of those things. All of those live on, they love sugar, grains, yeast, starches. So this diet, the FreeDiet® is free of all of those. 

It really helps your gut calm down. If you want a complimentary copy of the FreeDiet® phase 1 food chart, feel free to click here to check that out. So the FreeDiet® gives your gut a rest, calms down the inflammation, allows it to heal. If you have infections, pathogens, it also is the diet you would follow for that. So it’s all-encompassing as far as to help clear up gut issues and that’s what worked for me after I finally figured it out over many years of testing and tweaking and for many of my patients since then.

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Are Food Allergies Making You Fat and Tired?

June 30, 2018
food allergies

Hi, everyone. My name is Dr. Tom Rofrano from the Natural Medicine Clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and today, I’m talking to you about food allergies, food sensitivities, and how do you know if you have them. So these can cause all sorts of health problems.

Health Issues and Food Allergies

Everything from- starting from the head down, headaches, brain fog, lack of focus and concentration, fatigue, throat- sore throats, canker sores, sinus congestion, ear infections, digestive issues, constipation, diarrhea, IBS. Food sensitivities and allergies can also cause skin reactions, itchiness, eczema, psoriasis, acne. I mean, there are just- at almost any health issue you can think of, food sensitivities or food allergies can be involved.

Even in the heart- heart palpitations, fast heartbeat, lung congestion, asthma- I think one of the most common causes for asthma is food allergies- bronchitis, and muscle- overall body aches and pains, inflammation- rheumatoid arthritis is linked to food reactions and sensitivities, food allergies. In overall, fatigue, sluggishness, even hyperactivity related to food sensitivities. And weight gain is a huge issue with food sensitivities- inability to lose weight.

Patient with Food Allergies and The FreeDiet™

I had a patient recently. She was 35 years old, and she came in for a host of health issues but one was that she was unable to lose weight and she even- she went on a number of different diets- even the ketogenic diet which, as you know, is really popular right now. So she did that for an entire month and lost- she said, lost like two or three pounds at the most in a month’s time. And once we figured it out, we put her on the FreeDiet™ which I’ll talk to you about in a little while and also provide you a free copy of phase one of the FreeDiet™. But anyway, she went on that and in the first two weeks, dropped ten pounds. But weight gain and losing weight, it’s not all about the calories per se, but food sensitivities are a huge part of inability to lose weight.

True Food Allergies

And we’ll talk about the basic types of food allergy. So one is a true food allergy- acute immediate reaction and this is something like for instance, if a child eats peanuts they’re allergic to, they can get- I don’t- you know, swelling, difficulty breathing, anaphylactic shock or you know, even cause death. That’s a true food allergy and there are different levels of it, from mild to severe.

Skin reaction types and breathing issues are the most common but also vomiting- vomiting and diarrhea- the digestive issues as well. But those are true food allergies and how do you know if you have them? Most people know because they have an immediate reaction that’s very easy to see. And also, there are skin testing- skin test for that, testing a number of different foods or environmental allergies. And secondly, blood test, you can do a panel of- a number of different foods to see if you have a true allergy.

Food Sensitivities

Much more common than that is food sensitivities. Those are very common and probably, almost every patient that comes into the natural medicine clinic- and I’ve been practicing over thirty years now- and I would say almost every person that comes in with health issues has food sensitivities. And these are delayed reactions. You don’t necessarily notice something right away. It could take an hour or two, even the next day or two- two or three days later. Gluten is a common one where if someone eats gluten, they’re not necessarily gonna have very quick reaction, necessarily. But you know, within an hour or two or in the next day or day after, it’s a sense of food sensitivity, not necessarily a true allergy.

Finding Out if You Have Food Sensitivities

So how do you know if you have sensitivities? So this is two ways- for this also, there are food sensitivity tests you can do and there are a number of different labs that do food sensitivity test. I’ve used quite- I use quite a few different ones over the years and I found one recently that I like the best because it has a multitude of different factors, not just, say IgG or like IgG, IgA, IgM and two other separate distinct pathways. So that’s you know, very comprehensive blood test where you can check 150, 200 or more foods and even chemicals and preservatives, things like that- molds.

An Elimination Diet

So that’s one way to find out and another way is to do an elimination diet which- the elimination diet but like- typically, what that means is you eliminate one or more foods and see how you do and then you bring it back in and see if your symptoms clear up but that is very difficult. I’ve done it- again, followed with different ones over the years but I came up with a better option which I call the free diet because it’s free of not only gluten- gluten but also the most common- actually, the most common allergens and sensitivities- gluten, grains, yeast, soy, corn, legume, eggs, sugar, GMOs. So ten different main categories of foods and again, we’ll provide a link there for a complete copy of phase one. So typically, what happens, you follow the free diet for- phase one is four weeks. It takes about three weeks for your antibody levels for these particular foods to go down.

Clearing Up Health Issues

So phase one is typically four weeks and usually within that time, a lot of these health issues will start to clear up and then when we get into phase two, we start adding foods back one at a time to see if there is- to see what kind of reaction is and then we can gauge the certain way we add and back, you know, once- so many days, you know, one new food so you can really pinpoint what it is. So that’s a great way- an alternative to say, lab testing where you can identify what you’re sensitive to.

Gluten-Free Experience

And we just saw an example that- I have a patient who’s 25 who ate- she actually had some- she was giving some gluten free cookies. She has a real strong sensitivity to gluten. You know, it caused a lot of health issues for her and she was doing great. And so she had these what she thought were gluten free gingerbread cookies for the holidays and then turns- come to find out, they weren’t though. So what happened is after she started eating, easily within an hour, she started getting headaches, nausea, and indigestion.

She’s just wondering what was going on. So she then looked at the package, at the ingredients and she’s like, oh my gosh, the first ingredient was wheat. So she just didn’t realize it. Not only that, this lasted for the next day and that leaded into other- like more long-term digestive issues for a couple weeks. Because like I said, your antibody levels can- it takes a few weeks for them to go down, when you eat a food that you’re sensitive to. So that’d be an example of a delayed sensitivity.

Another Patient’s Experience

Another example- well, speaking of the holidays, so you know, we just got through with Christmas. And so I had patients come in, just tell me different things. So one patient, she’s a 29 year old woman, and she gained five pounds over the holidays not from eating a ton of food but just eating foods that she was sent to. She had already gone through phase one of the free diet, lost a bunch of weight but with her was mainly sugar and gluten- those are the two big ones. And she gained five pounds within you know, over the holidays and another patient who actually- 49 years old- and she lost three pounds over the holidays because she’s stuck with- she was in phase one so and she’s stuck with it because she’s doing so well that she didn’t want to screw it up.

And actually, she’s actually into it for three months now and she has lost 28 pounds over three months. So she didn’t want to get off track which- so it is possible to yes, even during the holidays, to stick with something if you’re motivated enough and really encouraged about how great you’re feeling compared to how you used to feel.

An Extreme Case

I did have one extreme case where a patient was very sensitive to gluten, yeast, and sugar and she had a slice of a cookie cake and by the next morning, she said she was seven pounds heavier- after one slice. Now, it’s not the calories. It’s not the amount of food but when you eat a food you’re sensitive to, it can cause inflammation, watery tension, bloating, and you can really just get all swollen just literally overnight.

So on the plus side, you can also get phenomenal results if you identify what foods you’re sensitive to and then eliminate those. When you’re testing the FreeDiet™, you can really clear up a lot of health issues whether it’s energy. You know, literally having fatigue, or skin problems, or brain fog, anxiety, you know, lack of focus, you know, again, digestive aches and pains- just a whole- a whole lot of issues that we mentioned earlier can be cleared up when you eliminate foods you’re sensitive to. So if you have any questions or comments or have an experience you want to tell us about, you know, feel free to comment below. And if you want a copy of phase one of the FreeDiet™, just click on the link. And thanks for joining me today and look forward to seeing you next week. Take care.

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3 Hidden Causes for IBS and Digestive Problems [Video]

December 10, 2017
causes for IBS

I am Dr. Tom Rofrano, from the Palm Beach Gardens, Natural Medicine Clinic. I am going to talk to you about three hidden causes of digestive issues today.

It’s one of the most common things that patients have when they come in, digestive problems. It seems like almost everyone that comes in has some abdominal pain, gas, constipation, bloating, indigestion, diarrhea, nausea. It’s just so rampant these days, and a lot of people are wondering why they have it.

They go to this doctor and that doctor and tell them all these symptoms are having. People can have them for months, if not years. And they typically will get an endoscopy, colonoscopy and just tell them, you just need to take this medication, and you have IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. This is not really a disease in and of itself. It’s just telling you what you already know, you have an irritable bowel. But there are causes. What we like to do is find out exactly what’s causing these issues so that we can then provide a solution for you to get better.

One: Food Sensitivities and Allergies

Out of the three things, number one, we see are food sensitivities or allergies that can cause digestive issues, gas, bloating, indigestion, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, all of these and more. There’s a couple of ways to find out what you can do, such as blood testing for allergies and food sensitivities. There are labs we use that can test 100 or 200 different foods.

Then second are certain types of diets, such as elimination diets. I came up with a diet I call The FreeDiet™ because it’s free of all the common allergens, gluten grains, sugar yeast, dairy, eggs, soy, legumes, nightshades, and processed foods. So it’s free of those, and it also allows you become free of digestive issues, pain, and inflammation. That’s what we can use as an alternative to testing. Those are the two different ways.

I’m going to give you an example of a story. A patient, a 35-year-old woman, recently came in and had all those symptoms I mentioned including severe abdominal pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea indigestion. She was having issues here and there all along, but nothing major. It started after a weekend of celebrating with pizza, cake, wine, beer. After that, she had severe pain and diarrhea, and she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, that’s how bad it was.

But after doing some testing and finding out what was causing it, she was sensitive to dairy, gluten, yeast; those are the three main things. Getting her off those and putting on The FreeDiet and certain supplements helped her to heal, and it completely cleared up. Now she is fine. Food allergies or sensitivities are one huge hidden cause of digestive issues.

Two: Digestive Enzyme Deficiencies

And secondly, are the digestive enzyme deficiencies. So your stomach produces a normal amount of acid and a normal amount of enzymes to break down your foods, hydrochloric acid being the main one. If you have a deficiency of this, you tend to get bloated after you eat. So your stomach will just get large and bloated. Some women tell me they feel like they’re 8 or 9 months pregnant. It’s not that they’re eating a lot, but this is what happens if it’s a lack of enzymes in the stomach. The food just sits there and kind of swells and expands, and then it even causes acid reflux to come up.

What they typically prescribe or recommend is taking acid-blocking drugs either prescription or over-the-counter, and you can feel better temporarily. However it doesn’t take away the problem, it doesn’t fix the problem or correct anything. What we do is find out if that’s a cause then we can recommend some stomach enzymes. We use a product that contains HCL and other enzymes to break down the food in the stomach so that you can then absorb and digest the food and eliminate the bloating. So enzyme deficiencies are a huge cause.

And I recently saw a woman in her sixties who was on prescription acid-blocking drugs for many years. I know if you’ve seen the news lately, all the side effects long-term they’re talking about these including dementia and osteoporosis, bone fractures and on and on from the long-term use of acid-blocking drugs. In her case, we put her on the FreeDiet, some other supplements, some stomach enzymes, Gastriczyme, I was telling about that we have here at the Natural Medicine Clinic.

Within a couple of weeks, her stomach symptoms cleared up, and she didn’t need to take the medication anymore. That’s what we do is look for just root causes to clear up the underlying problems that are being covered up with medications for symptom relief.

Third: Pathogens

And then thirdly are pathogens. Pathogens meaning, for instance, parasites, yeast or bacterial overgrowth. We just had a case recently, a 12-year-old boy who just all of a sudden started getting nausea, loss of appetite and constipation, bloating. He started losing weight, he just didn’t want to eat, and was very fatigued. After he’d been to the pediatrician and other specialists not coming up with anything, we did some more extensive lab testing and stool testing. What it turned out was that he did have a parasite. After putting him on supplements and some different herbal remedies to help clear that up and diet, he got better within a matter of a few short weeks. And he started eating normally again, the symptoms started clearing up, and he began gaining weight.

These are just some of the things that we look for what when someone comes in with digestive issues. Again, these can be sensitivities, enzyme deficiencies, pathogens, yeast, parasites or bacterial overgrowth. In each case, there are different protocols we use to clear these up.

In future entries, I can go over the others more specifically, including different protocols we use.

If you have any questions or want other topics in future talks, make the comments below or email us at info@nmcwellness.com and I would be happy to help you in any of those areas.

Dr. Tom Rofrano

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