Harmony Hub Health
Functional Medicine, Hormone Health and Weight Loss with Michele Postol, CRNP
Harmony Hub Health
The Root Cause Approach to Healing Ulcerative Colitis
Your immune system is setting off false alarms, attacking your colon as if it were defending you from danger. But what if there's more to the story than just taking biologics forever? What if we could identify exactly what's causing your immune system to go haywire in the first place?
Ulcerative colitis happens when multiple factors collide – genetic predisposition, gut microbiome imbalances, intestinal permeability issues, environmental triggers, and immune system dysregulation. While conventional gastroenterology excels at controlling inflammation quickly, it rarely addresses why your body started attacking itself. That's where functional medicine steps in – not to replace your GI specialist, but to complement their care with detective work that uncovers your unique triggers.
Biologics like Remicade, Humira, and Entyvio work by blocking specific inflammatory pathways, providing crucial relief during flares. But they suppress your entire immune system, not just in the colon, and don't fix the underlying issues that keep your body in attack mode. Many patients find themselves stuck on an endless medication carousel, cycling through one expensive infusion after another as effectiveness wanes.
Through comprehensive testing – from gut microbiome analysis to mineral status evaluation – we can identify exactly what's disrupting your immune balance. Our systematic approach removes triggers, repairs gut integrity, rebalances beneficial bacteria, and retrains your immune system, potentially reducing or eliminating your need for long-term immune suppression.
For those looking to transition away from biologics, our UC Freedom Roadmap provides a gradual, medically supervised path to natural remission. This isn't about stopping medications cold turkey – it's about earning your way off them by healing from the inside out. The process takes 6-12 months of dedicated work, but imagine a life without constant bathroom mapping, medication side effects, or fear of the next flare.
Ready to discover what's really driving your ulcerative colitis? Book a consultation today and take the first step toward lasting gut health that addresses causes, not just symptoms.
Welcome to Harmony Hub Health, where my mission is to provide comprehensive, affordable, integrative care that addresses the root cause of health issues. At the Hub, the focus is on individual patient journeys. I strive to optimize health, vitality and longevity, fostering a community where each person can thrive in body, mind and spirit. So today I want to talk about a topic that has come up a lot lately, and many patients walk into my office or they see me online with the same story. You know, my GI specialist put me on a biologic and it's helping, but I don't want to be on this forever. Can you help me? And honestly, I get it.
Speaker 1:Having celiac disease myself, I have always considered myself lucky that I never had to battle ulcerative colitis or Crohn's. But over the years I've seen just how much ulcerative colitis can hijack a person's life the constant bathroom mapping, the anxiety of will I flare this week and the exhausting routine of infusions or injections. Now biologics absolutely have their place. They can be life-saving and I've seen them pull patients back from the brink of severe flares. But here's the thing they're not designed to fix the problem. They're designed to keep the inflammation quiet while the underlying triggers keep smoldering. And this is where functional medicine flips the script. Instead of just silencing symptoms, we start playing detective. Why is your immune system attacking your colon in the first place? You know what is going on in your microbiome, what's happening at your gut barrier and what foods or toxins or infections are fanning the flames. For many of my patients, the goal is not to replace their GI doctor. It's to build a team that uses the best of both worlds Biologics when you need them, functional medicine to work on the root cause, so you might not need them forever.
Speaker 1:Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease, or also known as IBD, where your immune system mistakenly attacks the lining of your colon. This is your large intestine. Think of it like a fire alarm that won't stop going off, except the smoke it's reacting to may not even be dangerous. The result is chronic inflammation, tiny open sores or ulcers and symptoms that range from annoying to completely life-disrupting. Common symptoms could be frequent diarrhea, sometimes very urgent blood or mucus in the stool, abdominal pain or cramping, fatigue, unexplained weight loss and extra intestinal symptoms like joint pain, skin changes or eye inflammation. The gastroenterologist's main goal is to stop the inflammation fast and prevent colon damage, and that is very important. I love GI doctors and I don't want anybody to misunderstand that. But sometimes the conventional approach does include steroids for short-term flare control, amino salicylates this is anti-inflammatory meds for the colon, lining biologics to suppress specific immune pathways and, in severe cases, surgery. You know, for many this works, but it's often a maintenance plan, not a fix. And that's why so many people come to me and they say I know my biologic is working. But I know there's more to the story and there is hope.
Speaker 1:And functional medicine is all about finding that hope through root cause solutions. It's about understanding what's causing your immune system to attack your gut and then addressing the underlying triggers, not just cover up the symptoms. And ulcerative colitis happens when your immune system gets so confused and it starts attacking your colon and it thinks it's defending you. It's usually a mix of genetics, gut microbiome changes, environmental triggers and immune system dysregulation. So the result is this chronic inflammation that your body can't turn off. In functional medicine we don't just ask how do we stop the inflammation, we ask why is your immune system so mad in the first place? We see ulcerative colitis as the end result of a series of imbalances and triggers that set your gut immune system into overdrive. This means our job is to work upstream, identifying and addressing the factors that lit the match and keeps feeding the fire. So here's where I start to play detective. Okay, biologics are like noise-canceling headphones for your immune system. They block the inflammatory signal so you feel better. Everybody wants to feel better. Functional medicine is more like rewiring the sound system so the noise isn't there in the first place. Does that make sense? I'm not here to replace a GI doctor. It's kind of a second strategy, one that can work alongside biologics to strengthen your gut, balance your immune system and possibly reduce your need for medication in the future.
Speaker 1:In functional medicine we think of ulcerative colitis in multiple layers of dysfunction. The main one would be genetic predisposition. Some people carry genes like the HLA variants, the NOD2. They make the immune system more likely to overreact to normal gut bacteria, and having those genes they don't mean you're going to get ulcerative colitis, but it does set the stage.
Speaker 1:Number two is the gut microbiome imbalance, or what we know as dysbiosis. It's a loss of protective bacteria and overgrowth of inflammatory or pathogenic strains changes how your immune system interacts with your gut lining. This can be triggered by antibiotics, infections, poor diet or even chronic stress. The third one is leaky gut or that increased intestinal permeability. The gut barrier gets damaged from gluten, processed foods, alcohol, nsaids and infection. It allows bacterial fragments and food proteins to leak into your bloodstream. This fuels immune activation and inflammation and then we have immune system misfire. So instead of healing, the immune system stays in attack mode, producing inflammatory cytokines like that TNFA and IL-6 and IL-17. These all damage the colon lining. This is why conventional medicine uses biologics to suppress those cytokines, but it doesn't fix why the immune system went haywire in the first place.
Speaker 1:The next thing is environmental and lifestyle triggers. When you have high sugar or processed diet, chronic stress, poor sleep, pollution ironically, even smoking cessation can throw you into this. Heavy metals, mold exposure they cannot tip the balance toward a flare. And then another big one is the mitochondrial and nutrient deficiencies. So if you have low vitamin D or low omega-3s, magnesium, zinc, selenium and antioxidants, they all reduce your gut's ability to repair and calm inflammation. Ulcerative colitis is the smoke alarm going off because your gut immune ecosystem is under attack. The key is to find out what exactly is lighting the fire. It's not just about managing flare-ups. It's about understanding why your immune system is attacking your gut and addressing the root causes.
Speaker 1:Functional medicine provides a roadmap to uncover those hidden factors that contribute to ulcerative colitis from gut imbalances to environmental triggers. And instead of simply masking symptoms, we do work to heal your body from the inside out, focusing on long-term wellness and sustainability. So if you're tired of being stuck on a never-ending cycle of medication, you might be wondering does this whole root cause approach cost a pretty penny? And yes, it does. Functional medicine testing is an investment, for sure, especially ozone therapy. It's not the least expensive option either. But here's the deal it's an investment in your health that can help you avoid relying on long-term biologics or constantly tiptoeing around with the fear of a flare-up. The goal is to put an end to the cycle of uncertainty and give your body the tools it needs to heal and then stay healed. Okay, for ulcerative colitis.
Speaker 1:Symptoms often come in flares during the active inflammation, and then you have remission, where you have minimal or no symptoms Without treatment. Flares can become more frequent or severe over time and these symptoms, you know, can be diarrhea, often very persistent, sometimes very urgent. Blood in your stool, you know, bright, red or mixed with mucus. Mucus in the stool is from the inflamed intestinal lining and usually lower abdominal pain or cramping that can ease a little bit after having a bowel movement. But then there's that urgency where you have the sudden intense need to go and even tenesmus this is a feeling that you still need to pass stool even after you just went and whole body symptoms like the fatigue. You can get fevers during a flare. You can have that unintentional weight loss, which is not the healthy kind of weight loss, and loss of appetite. Your joints can have pain and swelling and stiffness. You can feel like severe arthritis. You can have ulcers or painful red nodules on your skin. Your eyes can become red and you can have blurred vision and your liver definitely comes inflamed. This can lead to primary sclerosing cholangitis, which is rare but can be very serious.
Speaker 1:So when you do go to see your GI specialist, their job is to literally put out that flare, stop the bleeding, get inflammation down, keep you out of the hospital. They don't have time or tools to figure out who lit that match. Gi training is designed for crisis intervention. So you see them help bleeding, strictures, obstruction. They're taught to stop inflammation fast and they don't have the time to spend months testing your gut microbiome or your mold exposure or methylation genetics and ulcerative colitis is not caused by one single thing.
Speaker 1:It's messy. It's a messy combination of genetics, the gut microbiome going rogue, that leaky gut, environmental triggers and an immune system that's basically in fight club with your colon. Ulcerative colitis is almost always a perfect storm, not just one thing. With that genetics, leaky gut, it's all kind of just plays off of each other. And the conventional model is great at treating diseases with a single cause, like bacterial pneumonia, but struggles with multi-layered chronic conditions.
Speaker 1:The standard GI workup might be a colonoscopy, some biopsies, blood work for inflammation, maybe even checking stool, calprotectin. These are all great. Functional medicine takes that much further and does testing like the GI map or the OATS test, the HTMA. There is the small intestine, bacterial overgrowth, breath test and all different kinds of mycotoxin panels. They're not standard and they're not covered by insurance. Insurance will, however, pay for biologics and surgery faster than it pays for any type of root cause, detective work and the GI doctor. They only get about 10 minutes with you. They don't get a full hour to talk about your diet or your stress and your moldy basement okay. So conventional treatment goal is remission, not resolution. Remission means no active bleeding, no active inflammation, but not fixing the microbiome, repairing the gut barrier or retraining your immune system, and that's why many patients still feel lousy in between flares. Functional medicine's goal is to fix that microbiome, heal the gut, calm the immune system and stop chasing flares forever.
Speaker 1:In case you're wondering what a biologic is, a biologic is a medication that's made up from living cells, often proteins, like antibodies, that's designed to target very specific parts of your immune system. For ulcerative colitis, the immune system is in overdrive, producing inflammatory chemicals that attack the lining of your colon. Biologics work by blocking those specific inflammatory signals, so the immune system calms down and your colon can try to heal. Examples of some that are used are anti-TNF drugs. This would be the Remicade, the Infliximab, the Adalimab and Humira. It always gets on my tongue. I might have to write it.
Speaker 1:Hold on Adalimabab and Humira. They block tumor necrosis factor, which is a major inflammatory signal. Then we have the anti-integrin drugs like Vitolyzumab and NTVO. They stop certain white blood cells from entering gut tissue. And then we have the anti-interleukin drugs. This is the Stelara or the I can't even say the generic, so we'll just say Stelara, since that is the most popular. It blocks the IL-12 and the IL-23, which drive inflammation. They're often prescribed when steroids or other medications don't keep inflammation in check. They're also used to induce remission or stop a flare and maintain remission long term, given by IV or injection, typically every few weeks to every few months.
Speaker 1:So biologists can be life-saving and life-changing for ulcerative colitis. And yes, it's cheaper to use your insurance than to pay for months of gut repair and functional labs and supplements out of pocket. But here's the catch Biologics work by turning down your immune system for everything, not just your colon. So it gives you that increased infection risk because your immune system's job is to patrol for viruses, bacteria, fungi and even early cancer cells. And if you keep it on the leash 24-7, you can be prone to opportunistic infections like shingles or fungal infections. You can have slower healing after surgery or an injury and more severe cases of everyday illnesses. Long-term immune suppression can also blunt your body's ability to detect and destroy abnormal cells early. So this does increase the risk of certain cancers over time.
Speaker 1:And then you know, if you never address the microbiome imbalances or the gut barrier damage or food triggers or environmental exposures that start the inflammation, you may stay dependent on biologics indefinitely. And if the drug stops working, then what your only option is to switch to another biologic or to cut out your gut. Over time, your body can develop antibodies against the biologic and make them less effective, and that's when people get stuck in the medication merry-go-round and they cycle through one expensive infusion after another and you know the fatigue, the joint pain, the rashes, the liver enzyme changes. They aren't rare and because biologics affect the whole immune system, side effects can pop up months or even years after starting it. Biologics are such a powerful tool, but they should be seen as part of a bigger plan, ideally a short to medium-term safety net while you work on calming your immune system. Naturally, the more root cause work you do, the less your long-term health depends on immune suppression.
Speaker 1:Some of my key functional medicine tests to uncover the root causes of ulcerative colitis, which you know, functional medicine testing is not cheap. When you consider, though, the long-term cost of biologics, the constant flares, the ongoing health issues, the hospitalizations, it is an investment worth making, and I'm going to break down some of these tests to help us get to the bottom of ulcerative colitis. One of my favorites is the GI map. This is a gut microbiome analysis panel. It's a stool test. It looks at your gut microbiome to determine whether harmful bacteria, fungi or parasites are causing the issues.
Speaker 1:Dysbiosis or an imbalance in your gut bacteria is often a significant contributor to ulcerative colitis. This test helps identify which pathogens, which are bad bacteria, are triggering inflammation in the gut and gives us the opportunity to address the imbalance with targeted probiotics, prebiotics and antimicrobial treatments. So, yes, it is an investment, but knowing what's happening in your gut can save you from years of trial and error with traditional medications that only mask the symptoms. Studies have shown that gut dysbiosis plays a key role in the development of ulcerative colitis. There is a study I saw that ulcerative colitis patients have significantly lower levels of beneficial bacteria, like firmusutes and bacteriodetes, and higher levels of harmful bacteria, like E coli.
Speaker 1:The next test that I like to use is the OATS test. This is an organic acids test. This provides a comprehensive picture of your body's metabolism and detoxification. It measures the byproducts of bacteria and fungi in the body and reveals imbalances that could lead to gut inflammation and autoimmune activity. It also looks at toxin buildup like mycotoxins or heavy metals that can trigger ulcerative colitis flare-ups. Yes, this test also costs some money, but the insights it provides allows us to address your unique metabolic needs and guide treatments that can lead to real healing. This isn't about throwing supplements at the wall to see what sticks. This is precision, and precision does cost a little extra. The OATS test can detect mycotoxins produced by fungi like candida, which have been linked to autoimmune diseases, including ulcerative colitis. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology found that the presence of mycotoxins in the gut correlates with increased intestinal permeability of. Mycotoxins in the gut correlates with increased intestinal permeability, often referred to as leaky gut, which is a major factor in ulcerative colitis flare-ups.
Speaker 1:The next test is my HTMA or hair tissue mineral analysis. It's all about understanding your body's mineral status. Your minerals are the unsung heroes. I call them the spark plugs that regulate everything from immune function to inflammation. Mineral imbalances like low magnesium or high calcium is a significant driver of ulcerative colitis. By analyzing hair tissue, we can identify which minerals need balancing and create a plan to restore them. This test gives us a roadmap for optimizing nutrition and supplementation and helps prevent the inflammatory response that leads to flare-ups. Again, it is a small investment for a big payoff in terms of balancing your body's core health. Magnesium deficiency has been shown to exacerbate inflammatory conditions like IBDs, like ulcerative colitis, and a study in inflammatory bowel diseases revealed that low magnesium levels were linked to increased intestinal inflammation and oxidative stress in ulcerative colitis patients. So when I treat a patient with ulcerative colitis I have a whole roadmap that I use to go.
Speaker 1:Number one always is identifying and removing triggers. We do food IgG sensitivity testing. This allows us to do the proper elimination diet. Sometimes it's gluten, sometimes it's dairy, sometimes it's soy or corn processed sugars. Those are all common culprits, but we can really trigger or see what triggers could be causing your inflammation. And then the GI map or an oat test or even just a SIBO breath test to rule out parasites, yeast or bacterial overgrowth. If you have exposures or you're not sure, there's the mold mycotoxins test, the HTMA does show me some heavy metals.
Speaker 1:And you know just the medication review have you been on antibiotics? Are you taking chronic NSAIDs? You know? Are you taking PPIs that are disrupting your gut lining or your microbiome? Then we'll head into the second phase, which is the repair phase, where we'll look at healing and sealing the gut lining. After that I like to do a re-inoculate phase where we want to rebalance the gut microbiome, and then the next thing, of course, is calming your immune system. I have a whole protocol for calming your immune system to reduce inflammation and have anti-inflammatory signaling. And then you know, just supporting mitochondria and reducing oxidative stress. That is a whole nother treatment phase in functional medicine, because we want to modulate your stress response using either vagus nerve activation or adaptogens or mind-body therapies, and that's something you don't see in conventional medicine.
Speaker 1:I do offer some very advanced functional therapies as well, like ozone therapy. This is antimicrobial, immune-modulating. It improves tissue oxygenation. I do love to use low-dose naltrexone to reduce autoimmunity and inflammation and ulcerative colitis. Peptide therapy might be my next favorite, with BPC-157 or thymus and alpha-1. And then just IV nutrition to bypass the gut completely to get the good vitamin C, the glutathione and all these minerals, especially during a flare. So you can see, with these long programs, treating ulcerative colitis in functional medicine means doing the detective work to remove the triggers, repair the damage and retrain the immune system so you're not stuck in a flare, suppress flare cycle.
Speaker 1:Ozone therapy is one of the most effective treatments in functional medicine for ulcerative colitis. It is not cheap, but when you weigh it against the cost of long-term medications that only address symptoms, ozone therapy becomes just an overall investment in your health. And ozone, or O3,. It's such a powerful anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agent that helps cleanse the body of harmful bacteria and restores oxygenation to tissues. It can reduce inflammation and promote healing in the gut without side effects of traditional medicine. While it is an investment, it can help you get off the medication roller coaster and enjoy long-term relief. So ozone therapy has been shown to reduce intestinal inflammation and promote healing of the intestinal lining in ulcerative colitis patients. There was a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine that found that ozone therapy improved gut barrier function and reduced inflammation, leading to significant symptom relief in IBD patients.
Speaker 1:But let's be honest. Functional medicine, tests and treatments like the GI map, the oats, the HTMA, ozone therapy it all adds up fast. Supplements are ongoing and that's an ongoing cost as well, but it can really be worth it. It's worth it for long-term health. The goal of functional medicine is not just to treat symptoms temporarily. It's to create lasting change. By addressing root causes, like those gut imbalances and heavy metal toxicity and mineral deficiencies, you're setting your body up for long-term health, which means fewer flare-ups, fewer trips to the doctor and, ultimately, fewer medications and treatment options that are traditional for ulcerative colitis. Like the biologics or steroids, they might suppress symptoms, but they don't heal the underlying issue and over time they come with a host of side effects. So by investing in functional medicine, you're giving your body the chance to heal naturally, without relying on long-term medications that could do more harm than good, and especially when I have patients that are already on biologics.
Speaker 1:I do have a functional medicine journey for someone that wants to transition off biologics for ulcerative colitis, because this should be a realistic, layered, safe method so you're not swapping one bad flare for one bad idea. And I do have. I call it the ulcerative colitis freedom roadmap and it takes you from biologics to root cause remission, and this is definitely something that needs to be coordinated with your GI specialist. There's no cold turkey stops and this is a journey. This is going to be a minimum of 6 to 12 months, so this has to be in your mindset. So while you're still on biologics is when you'll go ahead and go through the functional medicine testing so that we can get a clear starting point and set expectations, and then you know we'll move into calming inflammation and healing the gut lining while you're still on biologics. This includes that elimination diet, treating any infections we find or that dysbiosis, having those gut healing nutrients and anti-inflammatory support and working on that lifestyle so that when we go to phase three, which is rebuilding the microbiome, we can create that gut ecosystem that does not fuel autoimmunity. This could be the probiotics, the prebiotics, even maybe fermented food and environmental cleanup. And then, once we get to that sweet spot which is phase four, usually this is about month six to 12. This is when we transition off of biologics.
Speaker 1:The goal is to safely taper medication without triggering a flare. So this has to be done, working closely, letting your GI doctor know what you're doing for slow reduction. You wanna overlap with immune modulators like LDN or ozone therapy or those peptides like BPC-157. And you have to have a flare rescue plan. So these are pre-agreed supplements and therapies that are ready, ready to go if your symptoms return. And then, once you get through that, then we have the resilience and maintenance phase. This is where we want you to stay in remission naturally Personalized, long-term diet from reintroduction results. Off that elimination diet, there might be quarterly or semi-annual labs just to monitor inflammation and your nutrient status Seasonal gut tune-ups, I call it, and detox protocols to make sure everything is still running very smoothly, and then making sure you have that flare first aid kit ready for emergencies, because sometimes you never know if you might do something to tip that scale. So you don't just stop biologics, you kind of earn your way off by repairing, rebuilding and retraining your immune system.
Speaker 1:First, ulcerative colitis is not just a colon problem. It's a whole body, immune, gut and environment problem. Conventional medicine is excellent at putting out that immediate fire, but if you want lasting results you have to dig deeper into what's lighting the match in the first place. At Harmony Hub Health I take the time to do the detective work uncovering root causes, repairing gut integrity, balancing the microbiome and calming your immune system so you can live without that constant fear of the next flare. If you're ready to explore a root cause, personalized approach to ulcerative colitis, you want to book a functional medicine consultation.
Speaker 1:Let's create a plan that supports remission from the inside out. You can find me online at wwwharmonyhubhealthcom. You can find me on Facebook as Harmony Hub Health, also Instagram, or you can come see me in person at Monarch Beauty and Spa in Manchester, maryland. You can also feel free to send me an email at michele at harmonyhubhealthcom. The information in this episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always talk to your healthcare provider before making any changes to your medications, diet or treatment plan, especially if you have ulcerative colitis or you're considering stopping biologics. Functional medicine approaches should be tailored to your unique situation and nothing here replaces personalized medical guidance.