IBS, Gastritis and SIBO recovery: How Escarlin Healed Her Gut without More Elimination
When Escarlin came to me last summer, she had spent months barely leaving her house. Her gut symptoms were so unpredictable she didn't trust her own body in public. She hadn't eaten at a restaurant in eight months. Before we recorded this episode, she told me she'd had sushi the day before — and felt completely fine. That's the conversation I want to share with you today.
Where It Started
Escarlin had her gallbladder removed at 19, and like many people who go through that surgery, she was told that some digestive changes were just part of life now. So she normalized them. For years. Until her symptoms stopped being manageable and became something else entirely — rapid weight loss, nutrient deficiencies, food literally not staying in her system, energy so low she could barely get through the day.
She tried the low FODMAP diet through an insurance dietician, and it gave her a starting point. She could identify some patterns. But it wasn't sustainable, and she started to suspect it was actually making things worse by starving her gut microbiome of the diversity it needed. That's when she found her way to me.
The Two Things That Actually Moved the Needle
When I asked Escarlin what made the biggest difference in her healing, she didn't hesitate: food reintroduction and nervous system regulation.
The food piece surprised even her. When you're dealing with acid reflux and gastritis and everything feels like it burns, food starts to feel like the enemy. But the turning point in her healing came when she started adding foods back in rather than cutting more out. Her gut finally had the material it needed to repair itself.
The nervous system piece was just as important. She came to me in full fight-or-flight mode — researching every symptom, running every result through ChatGPT at 2am. We actually had to ban ChatGPT for a while. She started doing breathwork, meditation, and somatic exercises, and she describes it as learning how to stop being her own worst enemy. "I stopped focusing on the diagnosis," she said, "and just focused on healing."
Healing as a Latina
One moment in this conversation that I loved: Escarlin asked me early on if she would have to give up adobo. And I get why she asked. When you're handed a restrictive protocol, it can feel like your culture's food is part of the problem. It's not. The goal was never to take those foods away forever — it was to lower inflammation, then bring everything back. Escarlin is almost there. Onion and garlic are coming, I have no doubt.
Slow and Steady Still Gets You There
Escarlin's healing took longer than most. She had more layers to work through. But she never stopped believing her body could heal — and it did. This week she had coffee for the first time in months. No reaction. No burps, no acid, no urgency. She said she was waiting for it the whole time, and it just never came.
That's what healing looks like. And if your journey is feeling slow right now, I hope her story reminds you that slow and steady still gets you to the other side.