Background info: This 44 year old female has a history of depression, anxiety, ADHD, digestive pain, chronic pain and chronic stress. She is currently on Prilosec that her Dr suggested to help her digestive issues. She didn't have reflux, but does struggle with bloating, pain, and general digestive upset.
This client has an extremely stressful job, and works long hours. She has a pristine diet, including things like local pastured meats, and almost everything is organic. She eats over 150mg of protein a day and her macronutrient ratios are really well managed. She is getting a good amount of calories for her activity level.
She works out and lives a very active lifestyle that she loves. She does struggle to keep weight on, and build muscle. This client lives in a large city, but has a weekend home on a lake in a rural town. She drinks tap water at both homes, and there is no shower filter.
HTMA Results: Slow 1 metabolic type, 3 Lows
Despite a very healthy diet that is protein heavy, we can see this client is in 3 Lows, and calcium is below optimal.
Chromium is slightly below optimal, which we know is an important mineral for blood sugar regulation.
Cobalt is very low, which can be a sign of inadequate stomach acid.
Uranium is off the charts. After doing some digging, this client has not had any known exposure, but lives in New England states that have high soil uranium. She also drinks tap water and doesn't use a shower filter.
Lithium levels did not even register on the test. Lithium is an essential trace mineral important for mental health and those with mood disorders.
Ca/K thyroid ratio shows sluggish thyroid and hormone uptake. We know she is eating enough calories so that isn't the cause here. I requested a full thyroid blood panel.
Ca/Mg ratio is elevated showing a tendency towards hypoglycemia, which she did tell me she feels is an issue. We know she's under immense stress and has some inflammation, which can elevate this ratio. In her case I do not feel this is diet related, other than her struggles with digestion.
6 copper imbalance indicators are present, but digestion is taking priority over this. We will support her liver and adrenals, which will have positive downstream effects in helping with copper imbalance.
Pattern for low iodine, which is an important anti viral and protective against radioactive elements. She will increase this with food sources like seafood and kelp.
Conclusions: This client came to me with blood work and it was apparent she is suffering from low stomach acid, which the HTMA test points to as well. When someone presents with low stomach acid, I always like to recommend the book, Why Stomach Acid Is Good For You.
She felt like the acid blocking medication was just causing her more problems, and she was completely open to titrating off. We did this VERY slowly and methodically, so as not to have any rebound symptoms. We also added soothing upper GI support like ginger, slippery elm, licorice, DGL, and marshmallow root.
She added in a digestive enzyme, and will be starting HCl to make sure she's truly digesting and assimilating her food. We also discussed herbal prokinetics in the future, which can help with that "stuck food" feeling.
We discussed basics like chewing food thoroughly, not eating in front of a screen, getting into a parasympathetic state before meals.
I recommended bone broth, nutrient dense smoothies, and a balanced bedtime snack to see if it helped with blood sugar balance and cortisol release overnight. I didn't have a lot of dietary changes, she's already doing so many great things here. We just needed to get her body digesting the high quality food she's putting in!
Stress is having a big impact on her digestion and overall health. She is taking steps in her life to reduce and manage stress, and doing meditations at bedtime, when she has trouble winding down. We talked about sleep hygiene, and there was some room for improvement, like no screens before bed.
Supplemental Support (added to her current supplements)
digestive enzyme
topical magnesium chloride
desiccated beef liver
cod liver oil
chlorella binder
I recommended that her next step be a GI MAP stool test to get a detailed picture of her dysbiosis and digestive dysfunction. We will be adding HCl as well. She has already purchased water filters for both homes. This will be someone that I work with over a longer period of time, making small changes with big impact, that are sustainable to keep up with!
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