H- pie what? H. Pylori. It’s a bacteria that lives in the stomach, but more often than not, a root cause factor for heartburn, SIBO, IBS, chronic bloating, persistent burping and even autoimmune issues.

I recently had a patient start working with me to tackle SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), persistent bloating, burping and hypothyroidism. She had already been to 2 other functional medicine doctors who gave her a proposed treatment plan that was going to cost over $1000 in supplements alone.

I mean … who wants to take that many supplements? More than that, can a digestive system dealing with such digestive distress even absorb all those pills?

I suggested we do a combination of essential oils and herbs instead, relying on essential oils for the most part. We chose to start with H.Pylori because it effects the top of the digestive tube, whereas the SIBO effects the small intestine, just below the stomach along the digestive tube.

When you work on the top of the tube, you’ll often notice improvement in the lower parts of the tube too! And for the sake of taking it slow and keeping our approach simple, we chose to focus on a single part of the digestive tube, knowing that some of those essential oils and herbs would also have an impact on the small intestine too.

Essential Oils are 50-70 times stronger then herbs, making each needed dose much less

It’s a good idea to consider all the contributing factors when taking a holistic approach

I want to be very clear here, herbs and supplements are often required and can work better than essential oils at times. Different bodies have different needs.

When it comes to helping the body get rid of any bug that doesn’t belong in the gut, there are few factors to consider:

1- establish a healthy foundation

2- support proper digestive mechanics

3- help the immune system get rid of the “bad bugs”

4- general supportive blend for other body system(s) struggling

Here are some of the things we decided to start my patient off with, giving her natural support for each factor:

1- establish a healthy foundation

Nutrition lays the foundation for every single process in the human body, including the healing process. In this case, the patient adopted a gluten free, anti-inflammatory diet.

In most cases, like 99%, food alone is not enough to restore proper vitamin and mineral status. We reinforced her nutritional foundation with doTERRA’s Life Long Vitality Pack.

The ingredients in this pack are full of easy to absorb vitamins and minerals and also contain herbs and essential oils that work synergistically to support a healthy inflammatory response. All of this makes it easier for the gut environment to balance out. Additionally, the pack contains essential fatty acids, quercetin and Frankincense, all aiding in the gut repair process.

2 - support proper digestive mechanics

When the gut is dealing with bacterial overgrowth (or any immune challenge), the digestive mechanics can be effected. We decided to support healthy digestion using a digestive enzyme that was extra supportive for proper stomach acid and gall bladder enzymes. Usually these are off when the body is struggling with flora imbalance in the stomach.

3- help the immune system get rid of the “bad bugs”

We did a combination of essential oils and herbs for targeted immune support in the gut. The essential oils we used were Myrrh and the Digestive Blend. We also used an herbal blend that combined Goldenseal, Oregano extract and Oregon Grape extract.

4- general supportive blend for other body system(s) struggling

The low thyroid in this case could be contributing to the digestive issues, since the thyroid fires into the gut, telling it how quickly work. However I didn’t want to work on too many systems at once. This conservative approach allowed us to see how much shifted by addressing the gut alone.

The body is super smart and highly connected between body systems. Everything is effecting everything else, all the time! However I often see drastic improvement of anything hormone or nervous system related by addressing the gut first! So that’s why we began with a generally supportive essential oil roller blend for the thyroid in addition to the gut protocol above.

You can check out my general thyroid support blend, the Thyroid Cooling Blend, here.

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We still have work to do in terms of completing her digestive balancing protocol. After her initial phase of immune support, we’ll move onto repopulating the good bacteria with a pre/probiotic blend and also focus on healing leaky gut. At that point, we’ll move on to addressing any lingering thyroid or other hormone imbalances that haven’t resolved with the balancing of the digestive system.

With this patient’s digestive symptoms drastically improved, we know she’s on the right track and feeling good about her care program.

Another demonstration of how powerful pure Mother Nature can be when applied methodically and thoughtfully.