Gut health, healing & the inner work
Evidence-based, compassionate writing on IBS, the gut–brain connection, the nervous system, and the trauma so many of us carry.
You’ve had the bloodwork. The colonoscopy. Maybe the endoscopy, the ultrasound, the food sensitivity panel you paid for out of pocket because your gastroenterologist said everything looked “unremarkable.” And still, your stomach twists after meals you didn’t even overeat. You cancel plans because…
Somewhere along the way, someone probably told you your stomach issues were “all in your head.” They meant it as a dismissal. What they didn’t realize is that they were, in a strange way, more right than they knew, just not in the way they meant it.
For almost a decade, I lived inside my own abdomen. Not metaphorically, I mean that my attention, my planning, my sense of what kind of day I was allowed to have, all of it lived downstream of what my gut was doing that morning. I was a physician.
There’s a woman I want to introduce you to. I call her a Boundarista. She protects her peace vigilantly, without apology, because she’s learned what it costs her when she doesn’t. She says no without..
For years, I carried the weight of childhood trauma, rejection, and emotional neglect — and I don’t mean that only emotionally. My body became the unwilling storage unit for years of suppressed fear, pain, and anxiety. If trauma were luggage….
When I look back on my teen years, the signs were there. There was no single moment that would have made anyone stop and pay attention. But they were steady, and they were real. I complained of stomach pain and heartburn, and then told everyone I was fine. I missed school because…
For many people, visiting a doctor feels less like a step toward healing and more like an exhausting negotiation. You sit in a waiting room for an hour, only to be rushed through a ten-minute appointment and sent home with more questions than…
IBS, The Diagnosis That Changes Everything—And Nothing
I still remember the day I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.
After years of unpredictable stomach pain, bloating, and the constant low hum of fear about when my symptoms would strike next, I finally sat in a doctor’s office hoping for an answer. Hoping for relief…
It starts with a whisper, a little cramp here, a flutter of discomfort there. You blame it on stress, hormones, or that second cup of coffee. But over time, your gut speaks louder. Bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain sharp enough to stop you mid-sentence….
Why Traveling, Dating, and Eating Out Feel Impossible with IBS, And How to Reclaim Them
IBS has a way of shrinking a life. Not all at once, just one declined invitation at a time, one trip not taken, one first date turned down. If you’ve noticed your world getting smaller around your symptoms, I want you to know that pattern has a name, and it has a way back…
The 5 Minute Morning Routine That Calms an Anxious Gut
If your worst gut symptoms tend to show up within the first hour of waking, you’re describing one of the most common patterns I hear from women with IBS
Is IBS the New "Hysteria"?
For most of Western medical history, when a woman presented with symptoms doctors could explain…