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In this video I explain in great detail why autoimmune disease develops, there are several reasons and the great news is, something can be done about it.

The causes of autoimmune disease which have created stress on your immune system to the degree that it mistakes self tissue (you) from a bad guy, are as follows:
1. Leaky gut or inflammation
2. Gluten sensitivity
3 Toxins
4. Infections
5. Stress

Autoimmune disease is increasing dramatically in our society, but that trajectory doesn't have to continue. There are workable solutions and I discuss them in depth here.

If you are suffering with an autoimmune disease and like this approach, we'd be delighted to help. Consider contacting us for a consultation: call 727-335-0400.

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Why do you feel dizzy or nauseous when you poop and is it normal?
It's not normal and it's called a vasovagal response.

Your vagus nerve gets irritated when you bear down and in response your heart rate goes down, your blood pressure goes down and you can feel nauseous or faint.

The reason why is constipation, even though you perhaps you haven't realized it. Many Americans are constipated and don't know it because their doctor has told them that skipping days is probably "normal" for them.

This isn't true. Normal bowel rhythm is 1 to 3 times per day of a soft, formed, easy to pass bowel resulting in full evacuation.

Bearing down is troublesome as it can irritate the vasovagal response we've just discussed but it can also cause a hiatal hernia which in itself further irritates your vagus nerve as it encircles your esophagus. This can cause acid reflux, heart palpitations, mood swings, anxiety and more.

It's a combination of factors which must all be addressed to not only take the pressure off your vagus nerve, but to normalize your digestive tract, which in turn will handle the symptoms we've just discussed.

If you've been trouble with this and want to feel good again, consider calling us for a consultation: call 727-335-0400. We're here to help!

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Regarding your healthcare, are you a lion or a lamb?
A lamb goes docilely along taking whatever drugs your doctor gives you, never questioning if there's a better way, or more importantly, WHY you got this way and what can be done to resolve it.

A lion is more aggressive, asks questions, doesn't take advice on face value.
Our healthcare model is pharmaceutically drives, very siloed, meaning every symptom is treated individually with individual drugs.

No one is looking at the root cause of why your various symptoms have occurred.
In Root Cause Medicine we appreciate your body's ability to heal and we feel that it is our job to unburden your body from whatever is preventing healing from occurring. That is very different from "managing" symptoms, or band-aiding them with drug after drug after drug, never identifying the reason underlying your symptoms.

Now a lion would ask questions about the drugs and the lion wouldn't just take every drug handed out but instead try to find a clinician who listened and agreed that a solution needed to be found. And platitudes like "you're just getting older", or "you're under stress" wouldn't be accepted as reasons - because they aren't.

Stop being a lamb. Demand the right to know what's happening and your body and what can be done about it.

Your body is strong and it loves to heal. It just has to be given the chance to.
If you're tired of feeling terrible and you're ready to improve your health, we'd be happy to meet with you for a consultation: call us at 727-335-0400. We're here to help!

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Hiatal Hernias are common, but certainly not normal and not innocuous.
They typically begin with acid reflux and when that continues, the ongoing pressure on your stomach causes the stomach to elevate and push upwards on your diaphragm until the opening where your esophagus passes through widens, thus allowing your stomach to move upwards - the definition of Hiatal Hernia.

Treatment for reflux is antacids of various types, perhaps starting out with over-the-counter and then moving towards stronger PPI medications which are prescribed.

While antacids can diminish the symptoms of acid reflux, their trickle down effects are severe. Let's review:

Antacids decrease the acid in your stomach, thereby preventing the transformation of inactive enzymes into their active form - it requires acid to perform this transformation and activation. The result is that you are unable to digest proteins properly, which will cause you to experience gas and bloating.

Additionally, the reduction of acid allow bacteria to grow. This can cause SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and other infections which put a strain on your immune system. This scenario also creates a leaky gut, basically a severe weakening of your gut immune system that is designed to protect you from dangerous organisms entering your bloodstream.

These are all very serious consequences for long-term health because inflammation and a leaky gut IS linked to the development of all the diseases you're trying to avoid: diabetes, obesity, heart disease, autoimmune disease, dementia and cancer.

What symptoms might indicate such changes. Along with reflux you can experience bloat, gas, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and/or constipation.

What I want to convey is the importance of not ignoring early symptoms of acid reflux or being diagnosed with a small hiatal hernia.

Handling the root cause of these imbalances is critical to protect your long-term health.

If you'd like help restoring your health to its optimal status, consider calling us for a consultation: call 727-335-0400. We're here to help!

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Are GERD and Hiatal Hernia the same thing? Does on cause the other? Let's discuss.

First let's define our terms: A Hiatal Hernia is when part of your stomach moves upwards above your diaphragm.

GERD, or gastro-esophageal reflux disease, is when your stomach moves its contents, acid, up your esophagus.

When the stomach moves acid up into your esophagus you'll often feel burning, the classic acid reflux or heartburn. Can you have reflux without a Hiatal Hernia - yes and no.

You can have very rare reflux which occurs from overeating or eating a large meal and lying down, as an example. If this is something you feel a few times per year, the odds are you would not have a Hiatal Hernia

But you can have chronic reflux and be "living" on TUMs or some other antacid. Now you are at risk. The chronicity or frequency of your acid reflux means that your stomach is frequently under pressure and that pressure is forcing acid to move up your esophagus.

That pressure is, by definition, what causes a Hiatal Hernia over time. The upward pressure, over time, causes a widening of the opening where the esophagus passes through normally. The stomach, which has a larger diameter at its top than your esophagus, is slowly widening the opening, creating a textbook Hiatal Hernia.

Therefore, if you have a Hiatal Hernia you DO have GERD. But, despite what conventional medicine says, when you have GERD, chronically, I have found that you are moving toward, or already have, a Hiatal Hernia, for the reasons I've just explained.

As a note: 50% of GERD is "silent", meaning you can't feel it. So it can be happening due to a Hiatal Hernia, or better said, Hiatal Hernia Syndrome, and you won't know it. The symptoms associated with silent reflux are higher up in the esophagus and include: hoarseness, a cough, trouble swallowing, regurgitation, and more.

Because Hiatal Hernia Syndrome has so many symptoms associated with it, I do recommend that you get to the source of your GERD as soon as possible. This will avoid things like bloating, gas, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, anxiety and panic attacks.

In summary, it's not difficult to get to the root cause of GERD or treat Hiatal Hernia Syndrome, if you already have it.

We are here to help so consider contacting us for a consultation: call 727-335-0400.

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Burping is normal until it isn't. It isn't normal to have a lot of burping and it isn't normal to feel uncomfortable such that you wish you could burp. And it's definitely not normal to have burping that lessens symptoms of heart palpitations, anxiety or panic attacks.

There's a nervous system connection that I think you'll find fascinating, especially if you suffer from Hiatal Hernia Syndrome symptoms: including reflux, gas, bloat, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, anxiety or panic attacks.

The specific nerve I'm referring to is the vagus nerve - your longest cranial nerve. The vagus nerve is all about relaxing and calming. So if your esophagus has trapped gas, your short of breath, having heart palpitations or anxiety, those are all symptoms of a sluggish, irritated vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve can get irritated secondarily to acid reflux because the stomach is pushing up against the base of your esophagus where the vagus nerve is located in a web-like fashion. The vagus nerve travels to most of your organs, but many of its symptoms are digestive and mood related.

The diaphragm is also irritated in Hiatal Hernia Syndrome due to the stomach elevation pushing on it and creating some spasming. Again, you'll find it interesting that a branch of the vagus nerve becomes the nerve that travels to the diaphragm (your phrenic nerve). It is lack of normal diaphragmatic movement that can create not only shortness of breath, but panic attacks and anxiety.

If you suffer from a lot of burping, you may never have made the correlation between your burping and the other symptoms I've mentioned. But they very much can be related and the root cause is not difficult to treat.

If this sounds like you or someone near and dear to you, consider giving us a call for a consultation: call 727-335-0400. We're here to help!

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Are you taking a beta blocker? It's one of the most prescribed drugs in the U.S., so you're in very good company. But perhaps you don't have heart failure or high blood pressure. Perhaps you were prescribed the drug due to heart palpitations or anxiety.

If so, please listen. You truly may be able to avoid the dangerous side effects of this drug while restoring your health naturally.

What do beta blockers do? Beta blockers are used to reduce your heart's pumping force, decreasing the number of times if beats per minute.
Beta blockers also block the effect of adrenaline on your nervous system, so are used to reduce anxiety.

Primarily the drug is used for high blood pressure and heart failure, but also for irregular heartbeats and anxiety.

The drug is not without side effects - no drug is. You can expect side effects of include: shortness of breath, decreased blood pressure to the point that you're dizzy or lightheaded, irregular heart rhythm (yes, perhaps the reason you were given it!), fatigue, nausea, insomnia, ED and sexual dysfunction, along with hypoglycemia that results in passing out, confusion and/or seizures.

What if you could get to the root cause of your heart palpitations (arrhythmias) or anxiety and treat it naturally, making it unnecessary to continue the beta blocker?

We see this often with our patients suffering from Hiatal Hernia Syndrome. It's the pressure on the stomach which spasms your diaphragm and elevates both organs up into the area where you heart sits. The result? Heart palpitations and/or anxiety. The root cause is actually digestive in nature and the treatment is natural, no drugs or surgery.

And if you do have high blood pressure, please know that we are very successful getting to the root cause of it as well.

The summary is that beta blockers are commonly prescribed but not always necessary - there is a natural alternative.

Do you want to learn more?
Contact us for a consultation: call 727-335-0400.

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The connection between your stomach and your heart (called gastro-cardiac reflex) is a real one that's been well documented. Even though the connection is understood, you may very well have been told by your doctor, cardiologist or gastroenterologist that no such connection exists.

You've perhaps felt the connection between your heart and your digestion, but not gotten any validation from your doctor.

Symptoms include bloat, gas, acid reflux, regurgitation, shortness of breath, anxiety, and heart palpitations, to name a few.

Treatment involves a number of medications to treat both high and low blood pressure, anticonvulsants, and antacids, of course. The side effects of these drugs include many of the same symptoms of hiatal hernia including dizziness, constipation, nausea, fatigue, rapid heart rate, and cognitive decline, to name just a few.

These drugs do nothing to treat the root cause and in fact can create more of the same symptoms.

I'm assuming when I share this with you that you have had your heart checked and you do not have heart disease. That should always be ruled out. But when it is and you continue to suffer with heart palpitations, please know there IS a root cause and it's generally treated successfully, naturally.

If you've been suffering with this and you're frustrated as to what you can do to really fix it, consider reaching out for a consultation. We're here to help! Call us at 727-335-0400.