“What seems like many moons ago now, I was lucky enough to go on the trip of a lifetime. Six weeks travelling around Europe. Overall, it was an incredible experience. Unfortunately, very early on in the trip, my parents and I got a very bad bout of food poisoning in Athens, Greece. After a few very long days, we felt better and continued enjoying our holiday.
While I didn’t realise it at the time because I was too busy enjoying the best sights Europe had to offer, my digestion has never been the same since that trip. Reality is, there’s probably a bigger picture to factor in as to why my digestion was impacted so horrendously, while my parents haven’t had any issues since. I remember going back to work after being recently promoted and struggling horribly – the stomach pain was so bad that I recall feeling like I was going to pass out on the first or second day back at work. While the pain subsided, I was still experiencing horrible, odd movements in my stomach and everything I ate seemed to go through me (I’ll avoid being any more graphic than that).
After trying to struggle through, I finally accepted something was wrong and went off to see a GP. Without running any tests, the GP said I had IBS after asking a few questions and suggested I try Iberogast. I didn’t realise at the time that this wasn’t the standard process for diagnosis IBS – I simply trusted the GP. I tried the Iberogast and it didn’t work. So I went to another GP and they ordered stool tests. I was soon called back into the medical centre and told the tests had found the blastocystis hominis parasite in my sample. I was then prescribed two rounds of Flagyl. It seemed to work… until my symptoms came back with a bang while I was at a work conference interstate.
Between that point and seeing Ange for the first time, I had visited dieticians, nutritionists, had gut microbiome testing, tried the FODMAP diet, gut hypnotherapy… I was desperate because whatever I had was impacting my life considerably. And then I stumbled across a digestive naturopath online – the Digestive Detective (aka Ange) – and began working with her via Zoom. Given I have my own business and often juggle multiple jobs/contracts, that was really convenient and to be honest, it felt no different than if I were in the same room as Ange.
It’s now been a few years since I first saw Ange and I can confidently say, she’s been able to help me the most out of everyone with my digestion issues. My digestion still isn’t 100% but my quality of life is so much better than when I first started working with Ange. Certain things are still hard – flying interstate for work, sitting in all day meetings, early starts… but I can now mostly manage and work my way through them. It’s hard but I am determined not to let my digestion issues rule my life.
Ange has been incredibly patient with me at times and has looked at my entire lifestyle – from environmental factors, to what I am putting in my body in terms of food/drink, to my stress levels, supplements/herbs that may help me and so on. It wasn’t too long ago that after eating, I’d be in a considerable amount of pain – I am happy to say that I can now enjoy food again.
I am still working on my digestion being 100%, as it was once upon a time. For the first time in a very long time, I believe it’s possible. Especially given Ange has been so supportive and is always only just an email away (and trust me, I have come up with some odd questions over the last few years).
If you’re reading this and experiencing digestive issues, unfortunately, I can’t tell you that you’re likely to discover the solution overnight or that there is a quick fix that’ll take your woes away immediately. What I can confidently share is that if you work with Ange and commit to following her advice, with patience and time, your quality of life will vastly improve.”
If you would like to know more about how I could help you, book in for a free 15 minute GUT HEALTH ASSESSMENT and let’s get you started.