There is a huge backstory, but there was a point when a lot of tiny problems that I had ignored for decades as "part of life", "stress", "everybody has small problems", "too much computer work" or attributed to external factors like "the cold viruses have gotten worse over the last twenty years" reached a crisis point in the form of problems with the digestive system so bad I had it checked out, from both above and from below. At the end of it all was the prediction by the professor of gastroenterology whom I had consulted (yeah, I thought the grand title would not hurt and it was almost within waling distance from where I live) that I would have to take PPIs for the rest of my life.

I looked it all up and read a lot online afterwards, his procedures were immaculate and complete including all the blood work he had ordered, beyond a normal checkup, left nothing left to ask for given the symptoms I had presented. His diagnoses was 100% correct and according to all guidelines in the modern medical world, whether you are in Europe or the US.

Except that nothing made sense.

He completely ignored when I told him that I had never in my life had so many issues as with the PPIs. He asked me to be patient, just a few more weeks and we could lower the dose. But in addition, I felt that 99.9% of all my problems were "unaccounted for" in that diagnosis, that it only was about one tiny issue, but I felt it was much more systemic and that the recommendations would do nothing whatsoever towards finding a solution. It was putting buckets under the leak instead of finding the leak in the roof and fixing it. But I found that it was perfectly normal not to look for the deeper explanation, the cause of problems such as I had had!

First thing I found after a few weeks was that I had a huge candida outbreak. The professor had ignored the symptoms, I found the description on some website that I thought was entirely bonkers and esoteric, which is why I ignored it at first. But after weeks of no solution, and it got worse, I went back to that website and checked other ones too. I thought, it must be candida! I got an oral anti-fungal (cheap, no recipe required) - and within 15 minutes I had confirmation that it was a fungal infection. I went to a doctor with the diagnosis and got it confirmed, and I even got systemic anti-fungals (fluconazole based), all of it with huge success.

HOWEVER - I soon learned that a fungal infection isn't a cause, it is itself only a symptom. The only thing I found that was a remote possibility was: heavy metal poisoning. I did a test, I searched for specialists, I had to go travel a few hundred kilometers to an environmental medicine doctor at a university clinic, he said I'm a gray area case and I must have something else but that I should start chelation. He never found anything else, and ALL problems I ever had slowly disappeared, including miracles such as the thyroid thing. The prediction about "PPIs forever"? I have not taken one since 5 weeks after the professors prediction and my gut health now is PERFECT, like I never knew it, not even in childhood.