My Journey Toward Remission
Following burnout, when I was 25 years old and working in software engineering, I developed irritable bowel syndrome, which stayed with me for six long years.
I did not know what to do with this daily suffering.
I did not know where to look for the help that would allow me to recover my health, who to believe, or even whether I would ever be able to relieve my symptoms in a lasting way.
For six long years, I went through this ordeal as best I could, mostly missing out on a fulfilling social life, even though I was not yet 30.
Doctors and gastroenterologists had eventually convinced me that I would have to live like this for the rest of my life. So, because I am resilient, I kept going with my life, trying to act as if nothing was wrong, accepting the medical system’s lack of effectiveness on this issue.
We are given a benign diagnosis and told, “Don’t worry, just carry on with your life,” but we experience it as an injustice. We feel as though we are not being taken seriously. Then, eventually, the subject becomes taboo, and we no longer even want to talk about it… even though deep down, we know that others do not understand our suffering and that we need help.
After several years, as I felt that my situation was getting worse, I doubled down on my efforts and perseverance to find new solutions.
I value accurate and relevant information, getting straight to the point, facts, and understanding the real causes of problems beyond misleading appearances. But these causes are not always easy to find — and sometimes they may even seem impossible to find — especially when we are suffering from isolation. Still, sometimes recognizing what we do not know that we do not know is more important than searching for answers to the questions we already have.
To reach the solutions that were still unknown to me, I needed entirely new perspectives. So I opened my mind and placed my trust in the universe, consulting many specialists in both physical and mental health: psychotherapists, naturopaths, nutritionists, yoga and relaxation teachers, even traveling abroad to meet an Ayurveda specialist, while also paying attention to social health by seeking group activities that made me feel better.
I began to understand that, as with many other chronic conditions, the origin of my symptoms was probably not single, but multiple. In other words, it was a multifactorial disorder.
After putting into practice many pieces of advice from the new information I had been exposed to — not one by one, but all at the same time — within just a few weeks, almost all of my digestive problems had disappeared.
Surprised by how effective this holistic experience had been, I wanted to remember and organize this information. I therefore identified 7 natural and flexible keys to restore normal digestion:
- Awareness
- Optimal hydration
- The use of food supplements
- Balanced nutrition
- Management of food intolerances
- Restoration of the microbiota
- Movement
My empathy pushes me to share the details of all this knowledge I have accumulated, in order to guide the many people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome toward lasting recovery.
