Lindsey Parsons shares her healing journey through reflux, Hashimoto’s, and SIBO. By tackling her gut health and eliminating problematic foods like dairy, gluten, and soy, Lindsey reversed Hashimoto’s and overcame many of her health challenges, including reflux. Her story offers inspiration and practical advice for managing chronic conditions naturally.
Lindsey Parsons’ Early Digestive Struggles and Path to Gut-Health Advocacy
Josef Kreitmayer
Welcome to another session at the Reflux Summit. Our guest today is gut-health coach and podcast host Lindsey Parsons. Lindsey, great to have you here.
Lindsey Parsons
Thanks so much for inviting me. My journey started in college when I realized I was lactose-intolerant. After a bad bout of food poisoning while teaching in Costa Rica, my digestion never fully recovered. Years of bloating, loose stools, and silent reflux followed. I later learned that post-infectious IBS and SIBO are common after food poisoning, and they explained most of my symptoms. A Hashimoto’s diagnosis pushed me to dive deeper into root-cause healing. Through an elimination diet—ditching gluten, dairy, soy, sugar, seed oils, alcohol, and caffeine—plus targeted supplements, I reversed my Hashimoto’s antibodies and finally addressed the underlying gut issues.
Autoimmune SIBO, the Migrating Motor Complex, and Chronic Reflux
Josef Kreitmayer
How did you discover the link between SIBO, reflux, and that post-infectious pattern?
Lindsey Parsons
Testing showed I had autoimmune SIBO. My body makes anti-vinculin antibodies that damage the migrating motor complex—the clean-up wave that sweeps the small intestine every 90 minutes. Without that wave, bacteria regrow, gas builds, and pressure pushes stomach contents upward. That’s why people with SIBO often have reflux or a chronic cough. I still manage my SIBO by cycling antimicrobials or rifaximin, spacing meals four to six hours apart, and avoiding late-night eating.
Diet Tweaks, Dairy Withdrawal, and Real-Life Food Choices
Lindsey Parsons
Giving up dairy was huge; lactose is one of the most bloating sugars for SIBO. I relied on lactase tablets until a French friend asked, If you need a pill to eat something, should you eat it at all? That hit home. I’m stricter at home than in restaurants—eating out still means the occasional food baby—but I’ve learned my limits: half an avocado, gluten-free pizza only when I’m willing to bloat, and digestive enzymes if I stray.
Josef Kreitmayer
We all bend the rules when we socialize, but knowing your triggers lets you choose when it’s worth it.
Common Root Causes Lindsey Sees in Clinic
Lindsey Parsons
For reflux clients, I most often find H. pylori—especially strains with virulence factors, SIBO or IMO, hydrogen-sulfide overgrowth, constipation-related pressure, and hiatal hernia or low stomach-acid physiology. I’m cautious with H. pylori: if it’s low-level and non-virulent, I may leave it alone; if it’s pathogenic or causing gastritis, I treat it.
Functional Stool and Breath Testing: What’s Worth the Money?
Josef Kreitmayer
Which tests guide your protocols?
Lindsey Parsons
I rarely rely on breath tests anymore—they miss too much. I prefer comprehensive stool panels like Tiny Health Pro, GutZoomer, US Biotek GI Advanced, or GI-MAP if that’s the only option. Shotgun metagenomics shows every microbe down to the strain level plus markers like pancreatic elastase, steatocrit, secretory IgA, and short-chain fatty acids. Pathogens, dysbiosis, leaky-gut markers—it’s all there. The gut can change day to day, but pronounced overgrowths, pathogens, or missing keystone species are real red flags.
Spotting Hydrogen-Sulfide SIBO and Mold-Related Dysbiosis
Lindsey Parsons
Hydrogen sulfide overgrowth often masquerades as sulfur-smelling gas, multiple bouts of diarrhea, histamine reactions, palpitations, and even interstitial cystitis. Key culprits include Fusobacterium, Desulfovibrio, Klebsiella, and Bilophila wadsworthia. Mold toxicity can present similarly. If an Epsom-salt bath suddenly improves digestion, sulfur metabolism is likely involved.
Reflux Resolution Rates and the Hiatal-Hernia Exception
Josef Kreitmayer
Once you treat the drivers, does reflux fade?
Lindsey Parsons
Nearly always—unless a structural hiatal hernia persists. Manual techniques and devices can help pull the stomach below the diaphragm, but large hernias sometimes need surgical or chiropractic support.
Chronic Gastritis: Elemental Diets and Stomach-Healing Peptides
Lindsey Parsons
In stubborn gastritis with reflux, I may use a two-to-three-week elemental diet plus BPC-157 peptide to let the stomach lining heal. It works when PPIs fail.
Low vs. High Stomach Acid: Testing and Betaine-HCl Trials
Lindsey Parsons
About two-thirds of my reflux clients have low stomach acid. I confirm with blood markers and symptoms like food sitting in the stomach, sulfur burps, and fat in stool. A careful betaine-HCl titration—starting with one capsule at protein meals and increasing until a mild warmth appears, then backing off—often restores proper digestion. We avoid HCl if gastritis or ulcers are present. Magnesium deficiency or low-salt diets can also suppress acid.
Stress, Mind-Set, and Meal Hygiene
Lindsey Parsons
Sympathetic overdrive wrecks digestion. Before eating, sit down, put away screens, breathe deeply, smell your food, chew thoroughly, and stay seated a few minutes afterward. Healing often requires nervous-system work every bit as much as supplements.
Constipation, IMO, and Simple First Fixes
Lindsey Parsons
If constipation is the main issue, I start with magnesium citrate or buffered vitamin C. If bloating persists, we suspect IMO or hydrogen sulfide. Fiber and legumes help hydrogen-sulfide cases but worsen IMO; history and response to foods guide the distinction.
Tiered Treatment Strategies for IMO and Hydrogen-Sulfide Overgrowths
Lindsey Parsons
I reserve antibiotics for last. First-line tools include serum bovine immunoglobulins to bind pathogens, pomegranate-husk powder and MSM for IMO, diet shifts—reducing fermentable fibers for IMO and using ultra-low-fat, sulfur-free, legume-rich diets for hydrogen sulfide—and elemental diets when necessary. If those fail, I add berberine, neem, or as a true last resort oregano oil, because it wipes out good microbes along with the bad.
The Ultra-Low-Sulfur, Low-Fat Diet for Hydrogen-Sulfide SIBO
Lindsey Parsons
For two to four weeks, we remove saturated fat, meat, crucifers, garlic, onions, quinoa, and soy, while emphasizing legumes, non-sulfur veggies, and white rice. Daily Epsom-salt baths supply magnesium sulfate. Most clients—often carnivore or keto converts—are shocked by how quickly bloating and palpitations disappear.
First Steps for Persistent Reflux Sufferers
Lindsey Parsons
Eliminate gluten and dairy for two weeks and note changes. Seek a functional stool test interpreted by a knowledgeable practitioner. Avoid radical long-term diets until you know the root cause.
Josef Kreitmayer
Where can viewers work with you?
Lindsey Parsons
Visit HighDesertHealthCoaching.com for a free 30-minute breakthrough session. I offer single consults and three- or five-session packages, with new appointments opening in August. And check out my podcast, The Perfect Stool, for more gut-health deep dives.
Josef Kreitmayer
Lindsey, thank you for these actionable insights.
Lindsey Parsons
My pleasure—fix the cause, not just the reflux.
