Do you ever wonder if doctors in the same situation as you would take their own advice? I wondered that myself until I was fortunate enough to have an experience with a doctor that changed my life forever.

When I was in college, I had colitis, an inflammatory bowel condition characterized by loose and bloody stools. I was going to the toilet 15 times a day. The university campus was enormous, housing the activities of 54,000 students. I had to know which buildings were open when, and the distance between bathrooms, just in case. Naturally, I was miserable and embarrassed. My immune system got so stressed that I got hepatitis. I was way too young to be so unhealthy.

My first trip home that semester, I went to Dr. McGuire our family MD. He gave me some medications, but it only got worse.

Desperate, and back at in school, I decided to go to the University’s Health Center. The doctor was a young, kindly doctor with new ideas- a doctor who did not want me to rely on addictive or harmful pharmaceuticals. He advised me to throw away my medications, pointing out that their primary side effect was damage to the liver. A liver that was already inflamed by hepatitis!

He helped me see that if I changed my diet, my colitis would get better. And it did. I was not perfect and I still had bouts of irritable bowl (IBS). As a result, I since have become a doctor who specializes in using healthy alternatives to drugs and surgery for bowel problems. And, I no longer have IBS. I was fortunate to become sick early in my life to learn that there is a better way to heal your body of illnesses such heartburn, irritable bowel, GERD and indigestion.

So, thank you Dr. McGuire for teaching me a lesson that I have had the pleasure of passing on to thousands of patients since 1997. Drugs don’t heal; they only mask the symptoms.

If traditional medical approaches to digestion problems are not working for you, call my office today at 530-899-8741 to schedule a consultation.

Dr. Patrick Giammarise, DC, IHS

2012, © Dr. Patrick Giammarise, DC