I didn’t just study IBS. I lived it.
I’m Dr. Su — a physician, a woman, and a patient who walked the long road of IBS and chronic pain, and found her way to the other side.
Frustrated, exhausted, and told it was all in my head
For years I battled IBS, chronic pain, and unexplained symptoms. I did the tests. I followed the diets. I sat across from colleagues who reassured me that everything looked “normal.” But normal isn’t how I felt — and being a doctor didn’t spare me from being dismissed like so many women are.
I was high-achieving and capable on the outside, and quietly unravelling on the inside. The harder I pushed, the louder my body protested.
My body wasn’t only asking for medical answers. It was begging to be heard.
Healing began when I confronted what I’d buried
When I faced the emotional wounds beneath my symptoms — childhood trauma, toxic relationships, neglect, and the lifelong habit of being everyone’s “strong one” — my nervous system finally began to settle. And as it did, my gut followed.
That’s the work I now do with other women: medicine and meaning, the body and the story, together.