This is a first-person testimonial by Lana, a nurse in California, describing a roughly 10-year struggle with gastrointestinal symptoms later diagnosed as SIBO via a breath test. She recounts multiple diagnostic procedures and treatments (antibiotics, herbal antimicrobials) with recurring symptoms and the emergence of anxiety. After trying the Gupta Program retraining (art exercises, guided meditations, mindfulness) and stopping supplements, she experienced gradual improvement over about a year, now reporting approximately 80% symptom reduction and greater ease with social eating.
Questions this video answers
A breath test.
About 10 years ago.
Approximately 80% improvement.
Chapters
My name is Lana and I am a nurse here in California. And I started having nausea and just an upset stomach. Just, it came out of nowhere. This was 10 years ago. And I ended up being worked up and having endoscopies and colonoscopies and the whole bit. And was finally diagnosed through a breath test with sibo. And, and so they treated me for SIBO with antibiotics and all went well. I was, I was symptom free for about a year, but then they came back as SIBO symptoms do. And then since then, it's been a long process of seeing different doctors, different, even different GI doctors. And they don't always agree on how to treat it, not even how to test for it. Sometimes they don't, they don't agree on. And so ultimately I went to a functional medicine doctor. Actually she's an integrative medicine doctor, probably one in the same. But she started treating me more with herbal antibiotics, as she called them, things like oregano oil and such. And that went along pretty well. But again, the symptoms would come back. They would come and go and it was, it was pretty uncomfortable and miserable. I was always watching what I ate and. And then my symptoms progressed into a, an anxiety. I was become anxious. Even when I first woke up in the morning, I hadn't even had my caffeine yet. I would just have this anxiety. And out of nowhere, with no reason to be anxious. Finally my integrative medicine doctor, who by now we had tried several different options for treatment. And she suggested that I do a retraining program. I researched it and what I read about the Gupta program I liked and kind of connected with. So I tried it out. I started feeling more calm as I started doing the art and especially the meditations and practicing mindfulness. At that point I had just stopped all of the supplements that I had been given and just really stuck with the retraining program. It took almost a year to really see any improvement to the point where I almost gave up. But I thought, what am I going to do instead? Let me just stick this out. Finally, I, I am probably 80% have, 80% improvement. I don't really have the GI problems I did before or the anxiety and such. I still, I still get a little nervous when I eat certain things, but so far, I mean, once in a while I'll get a little bit of an up. Upset stomach or, or have bloating, which is a typical symptom of sibo. But for the most part it's, it's much improved. Let's face it. Having food and drink is, is a big part of our, our social lives. And I would go out to eat with, with friends, and I, I would avoid eating this and that, and, and I didn't like being center of attention as far as when people would say, oh, that's right, you can't eat this such and such, and it's embarrassing. And, and, and so that, that was one of my biggest reliefs is to be able to go out with friends and not worry about what they're gonna think and what I can eat and.
