Overcoming Chronic Heartburn and Fatigue Through Tailored Functional Medicine and Nutrition

I just wanna come home. I felt like maybe I was not depressed, but just like kind of just struggling with mood swings all the time. It's like I was living to work, and I wanted to work to live. My name is Ariana. I live in Houston, Texas, and I'm a realtor and a property manager. So I was working out, and I knew I needed to make a change in my life, but I was not seeing progress, and in fact, doing the things that I loved was getting harder and harder. I also was having chronic heartburn, which I knew that if... I just knew that this couldn't be the way that I continued, and especially if I wanted to have children, I just knew that, like, my body couldn't support a pregnancy because I wasn't even living right. You know, I just... Everything I ate was causing me problems. I was working out, and I couldn't recover. Like, if I played tennis, it would take me out for the whole day. My body would ache, and I would just be drained and tired all the time. And so I felt like I wasn't living a full life. Like, I would go to work, and then I couldn't do anything else, so I didn't wanna do anything else. In the past, I would try to be restrictive. I knew a lot about health. I knew, you know, protein's important, and sugar's not good, and like, I even was trying to go dairy-free and gluten-free just because those were the things that caused me the most issues. I tried intermittent fasting, but the thing was it just, it wasn't giving me relief. It was just restrictive, and then I found myself being like, "This isn't life either." And then I just found myself in the same cycle. I knew I wanted a functional medicine doctor, but as I was doing my research, I wanted a doctor who really specialized in heartburn, and I wasn't seeing a whole lot of that. And then when I did meet with Dr. Ian, it was just such a plus because he was a believer, and then just his functional medicine approach of, like, doing it in a natural way, which is just what I was looking for. It really worked out perfectly because I didn't have the time to just be going in and out of the doctor, so the fact that everything can be done meeting virtually was just really great. What I also really liked about him was that he was gonna do my labs. I liked what Dr. Ian said about running labs and all the tests he offered, and that really is the way to go so that it's tailored to you. Um, the thing that surprised me the most was working with a nutritionist and just she became my favorite. Stevie was the best. She gave really helpful information, really good tips. She was encouraging, so that was probably my favorite part. I think the first moment I realized was just when I didn't have heartburn, so I wasn't plagued by this chronic heartburn, like going days just feeling normal. That was so huge for me. And the second one was when I started to enjoy food more. And then the third thing was when I went back to working out, and I was making progress. Like, I was able to do workouts that I've never been able to do before because my body is recovering so much better. I would say, like, maybe the first four weeks were the hardest, but as I continued, I actually did start enjoying the food, and things that, like, I would have never eaten, like for example, one of my go-to meals is just a can of tuna with a little bit of mayo. Even the fact that I can eat pretty plain, I can still enjoy it and not just like hate it, is such a difference, and I think going through this process, because one, it's an investment into your health, it's an investment financially. I was just really determined to change my mindset and be like, "This can't be another diet. It has to be a lifestyle change." And another thing that really helped was just keeping it simple, and so that was life-changing too. It really was a journey and a process, and so it was kinda like this give and take. So there would be good things, and then there would be challenges, but the good things always outweighed the challenges, and I think, I think I just had to remember why I was doing it, and for me, I just knew that I couldn't go back. And just like, you know, I'd spent years living one way, and now that was something that I really had to give myself grace and be gentle. And even in the first four weeks, it was like so much change to just, you know, go on this elimination diet and your body is changing drastically, so just being patient with my body. I think the biggest thing differently that I'm doing is really the meal prep and being so intentional with how I plan out my food. It's just like protein and veggies is the main thing, and so that has... That's really been a game changer for me because I wasn't as consistent in that area. Also, my sleep has improved. Like before, I would just be like, "I can't function." It was just game over, but now I can function off of six hours because my body's doing so well and it can recover. I would definitely recommend Dr. Ian. I love his approach. I love how he creates a tailor-made plan for you, and if you think you've tried everything, I promise you haven't. And so you might have gotten the test, but one thing is have you gotten all of the panels that Dr. Ian's gonna run? And then ask yourself honestly, have you really put in the work? 'Cause I think we can go through these programs, but if we really are not being consistent with what we're eating and staying on top of, like, all of our metrics, like, and I know it can sound overwhelming, but this is how we're gonna get results. So if you don't change what you're putting into your body, you can't expect different results.