my beef with doctors

In the holistic wellness space, it’s really easy to fall victim to the MAHA conspiracy theorist mindset. I don’t personally subscribe to the “everything is toxic and doctors are trying to kill us” philosophy and I really try to distance myself from the new wave, alt-right conservative takeover, but I can see how people get there. To clarify, I don’t think all medication is poison or that all doctors are out to get us. I also don’t believe that doctors are these omnipotent healers who should be trusted without question, but I do believe in a mysterious third thing.

And that is that doctors may not always have our best interests at heart, and they are trained to treat most stomach disorders in the same programmatic way. Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) are essentially the automatic response to any and all stomach issues, from heartburn to chronic nausea and indigestion. Unfortunately, they’re at best unhelpful, and more often, they actually worsen a chronic condition.

Since I started experiencing gastritis symptoms back in 2023, I have visited 7 different doctors. They each had vastly different opinions about what was “wrong” with me, although they all wanted to put me on PPIs (of course).

I thought I was alone in my experience with doctors, but after I started talking about gastritis on TikTok, so many people resonated with my videos, complaining about the exact same issues I had faced. It was equally disappointing and validating.

Doctor #1

In terms of testing, each and every one of the doctors I’ve visited told me my symptoms are not serious enough to warrant any testing beyond an H. Pylori test. And in that case, my doctor put me on PPIs before I got tested for H. Pylori without telling me that PPIs can cause a false negative test (!!!). She put me on PPIs for 2 weeks, and I felt a bit better while taking them, but after the 2 weeks, my symptoms came back even worse than before. I didn’t try PPIs again until I met with a second doctor in May of 2024.

Doctor #2

This doctor had told me with utmost confidence that I did not have gastritis and instead was probably suffering from GERD, which in and of itself is just wrong: the 2 are not mutually exclusive. You can absolutely have GERD and gastritis. I asked for a SIBO test during our meeting, and she refused to give me the test, saying that SIBO is extremely rare and it’s likely that I don’t have it. She put me on another round of PPIs for 5 weeks, assuring me that this is what I needed to heal. I did the 5 weeks and stopped immediately per her instructions. When I began to feel extreme heartburn after stopping the PPI, I wrote to the doctor to tell her what was happening, asking if this could be that “acid rebound” I’d heard about. She told me that acid rebound was a myth (!!) and that it was strange my symptoms had returned. She recommended another 4 weeks on the PPI. At this point, I got the picture, decided to stop the PPIs, and decided to stop relying on doctors.

I had a realization that doctors are not healers.

Once I stopped believing that doctors were going to help me heal a chronic condition, I was able to lower my expectations and proceed with a new sense of reality. Doctors are helpful in treating acute conditions or if you truly need medication, testing, or surgery; they’re not helpful in healing chronic conditions.

Doctor #3

Only after a year of seriously struggling and a very desperate plea to one doctor was I finally granted permission to get an endoscopy. I wanted an endoscopy 1. to see if I even actually had gastritis and how severe it was, and 2. to retest for H. Pylori through biopsy since I had stopped taking PPIs back in May. In November of 2024, I finally had an endoscopy, which revealed mild chronic gastritis with some bile pooling in the stomach. Luckily, it showed no damage to the esophagus. I told this doctor that I didn’t want to take PPIs, and I wanted to heal my stomach rather than covering up symptoms. They seemed to hear me out on this one and started me on sucralfate to help protect the stomach from bile and acid without reducing my stomach’s acid production. I wasn’t healed, but I felt like this was a step in the right direction.

Doctor #4

I visited a holistic doctor shortly after my endoscopy, just to hear what her perspective was. I appreciated her holistic approach, and she certainly didn’t push a PPI. She recommended an L-Theanine supplement as she suspected my anxiety was worsening my condition. She also told me I might consider removing my permanent retainer, as it could be the cause of my chronic inflammation. I thought this was pretty strange, but at that point, I was willing to try anything. Much to the chagrin of my dentist and general practitioner, I got the permanent retainer removed. Did this heal me? Over a year later, I can’t say it did. But I don’t regret trying.

Doctor #5-7

I had various check-ups over the past year with different GI doctors each time, simply because I hadn’t found one doctor who would actually listen to me. One doctor gave me another prescription for sucralfate, understanding that I didn’t want to be on PPIs. I did ask her how I could actually heal this for good, and she flat-out told me it’s something I’ll probably deal with for life. I also asked for a HIDA scan to see how my gallbladder was functioning and if that was the cause of my nighttime symptoms. She refused to order a test, saying that my symptoms were not raising any red flags. I tried 2 other doctors to see if they would order me a HIDA scan, and both refused.

So what now?

Roughly two years later, I feel better, but I still have so many unanswered questions. It’s clear that I need to take matters into my own hands. I found a reputable clinic that delivers at-home SIBO tests, so that’s the next step in my journey. If I do have SIBO, it could be worsening my bile reflux and slowing down motility, so treating that would be key to healing everything else. If I don’t have SIBO, I’ll keep pushing for a HIDA scan. I hate to say this, but sometimes it feels like I have to lie about symptoms to get proper testing done.

Unless you have anemia, bleeding, severe dysphagia, or extreme weight loss, it’s unlikely that doctors will take your symptoms seriously and order testing. This is unfortunate, because testing and figuring out functional issues years before they may become something more serious would be great! And this is where I turn into a bit of a conspiracy theorist, because it’s becoming clear that doctors are not in the business of preventative care.

Before I had gastritis, I was privileged enough to have never needed doctors on a regular basis. Now that I do see doctors frequently, the patterns are clear. I have beef with some of the doctors I’ve seen because many of them have confidently told me incorrect information, told me my symptoms are not serious enough, and denied me the right to understand what’s really happening in my body.

It’s disappointing, and it’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality. I used to view doctors as a one-stop shop for optimizing health and longevity. But they’re actually one piece of a much larger puzzle. They can provide testing and medication when and if it’s needed. But there are so many other aspects of our life that we can control to help support our healing: our environment, our diet, the people in our lives, our jobs, our activity level, how much time we spend on our phones vs outside.

It can feel really isolating when doctors don’t help as much as we expect them to. But it’s also important to remember that we can make steps towards healing every single day. We have the ability to heal, with or without a doctor’s permission.

If you’re ready to build a plan towards healing tailored for you, you can sign up for a free consultation with me today.