In this 2nd part with Courtney Cowie, we uncover one of the most overlooked root causes of hormonal imbalance — gut dysfunction. From SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) and SIFO (Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth) to how these hidden infections can fuel inflammation, cravings, bloating, fatigue, and even irregular cycles, this conversation breaks down the complex science in a way that finally makes sense. Courtney shares what testing really reveals (and why your doctor’s “normal” results might be missing the mark), how to approach healing with food and functional testing, and why two foods — wheat and dairy — may be standing between you and relief. Together, we highlight the mind-body connection in healing, reminding listeners that true transformation happens when you combine gut repair, mindful eating, and nervous system regulation. If you’ve ever wondered why you “do all the right things” and still feel stuck — this episode could be the missing piece.
Our Unwritten event kicked off last week! Still interested in joining the next two nights so you can start rewriting your story? Click HERE to register for FREE! It's not too late! You are going to receive massive benefit by hearing from any of our speakers. Hope to see you there!
✨ Show Notes & Key Takeaways:
🧘♀️ Episode Quote:
“It doesn’t matter how many nutrients you take in if your body can’t absorb them. Healing your gut is the gateway to hormonal balance.”
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(0:01 - 2:10) Welcome back to PCOS unfiltered, nourish, heal, thrive. The show where we cut through the noise and talk about what really works when it comes to healing from the inside out. I'm your host, Lindsie, nurse, health coach, and mindful eating advocate. And today's episode is going to open your eyes to a massively overlooked piece of the PCOS puzzle, your gut. We're talking all things SIBO and SIFO, that's small intestinal bacterial and fungal overgrowth, and how they may be fueling your hormone imbalance, inflammation, and stubborn symptoms like floating, fatigue, cravings, or even cycle irregularity. Joining me today is Courtney Cowie, a brilliant functional nutrition practitioner who specializes in uncovering root causes and healing the gut from the inside out. We'll unpack what SIBO and SIFO actually are, how they relate to PCOS and insulin resistance, and what steps you can take to support your gut and your hormones for real lasting change. So if you've ever thought, why do I feel like a hot bloated mess no matter what I eat? Girl, this episode is for you. But before I go any further, I have something powerful to share with you. This October, I'm hosting a virtual event called Unwritten, Healing Beyond the Diagnosis. And if you're ready to finally go deeper than symptom management, this is for you. You'll hear real stories of healing from women who've been where you are, including Courtney, and learn practical tools that actually work, mind, body, and beyond. Tap the link in the show notes to guide your spot for the last two sessions. You don't have to settle for managing it. It's time to rewrite the story your doctor never told you was possible. As a reminder, the content shared on PCOS Unfiltered is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are not intended to serve as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or treatment plan.
(2:10 - 2:33) The information shared is based on personal experience and expert interviews, and is not a substitute for professional medical guidance. Okay, now let's dive in. What are the best ways? I think you mentioned a little bit, but if you want to go into it, the best ways to test, you know, for SIBO and SIFO and kind of the limitations, you know, between those.
(2:34 - 17:19) Yeah, for sure. So lactalose breath test would be probably the easiest way for most people to assess for SIBO. And, you know, generally, I don't know that that's actually direct to consumer. I think you would either have to go to a doctor that's running that testing, which many of them are if you want to do the GI doc route, or obviously a functional practitioner that is credentialed and has access to that lab testing is the other option. And so one thing I will say about that, just for people to be aware of, because I found this to be true in my experience before I even became a practitioner, I took my first lactalose breath test at the local hospital through my personal GI doc and he was very willing to run it. And I appreciated that, but here's the thing, right? So they do the test comes back positive. And then the next thing that happens is they write you a prescription. And this was back in the days when rifaximin, which is typically the go-to for like SIBO to eradicate it because it's active specifically in the small intestine. So it's less likely to cause microbiome damage in the, in the colon, which is a good thing, but it's an expensive drug and certain insurance plans won't cover it. So that was true for me. So as an alternative, he prescribed me a different antibiotic that wasn't necessarily just active in the small intestine. So there was that trade-off of like, okay, now we're going in and it's probably killing off some of my good gut bacteria too. But here's the crazy part. Like I took the like regimen. I can't remember if it was maybe two weeks or so felt terrible the whole time, Lindsie. And I remember towards the end of it, like even calling the nurse and being like, I'm still running to the bathroom all the time. Like, is this normal? And I think she was stumped and she's like, I mean, I don't know, like finish it out and see what happens. I did. And I didn't get any better. And the, and the worst part about this is, but this is common when you go through a treatment, especially antibiotics. It's not like your doctor is a standard practice, pulls you back in to retest you and be like, well, now did that work? They just make the blanket assumption it did. Right. And so as I discovered later on, when I became certified in SIBO, right. Like there's a lot of these, like a lot of people are actually going to be resistant to pharmaceutical approaches to SIBO. Like you could do refaximin all up and down on them and it won't actually eradicate the SIBO from their system. So I think whatever sort of approach you take, just go in understanding that, you know, you might not have that pre and post measurable, and that could be really, really helpful. And if you're still having symptoms after you go through whatever treatment process that is, that would be the time then to try to go through a reassessment and just figure out, did that just not work? Or if it did work and I'm seeing evidence that it cleared, okay, this probably means something else is going on. So the lactalose breath test is one of the best breath tests to check for both what's called hydrogen dominant and methane dominant SIBO, which are basically gases produced by different types of microbes in the gut. And they can both potentially be overgrowing and causing both of those types of SIBO at the same time, or someone could have just one or the other. Now there is a third type of SIBO called hydrogen sulfide, which is a little bit different. And what's interesting about that is the lactalose breath test doesn't directly measure for that. There is a newer breath test out called the Trio Smart Test, which can. However, if someone takes a lactalose breath test and they're completely flat lined over the three hours, and you're seeing like no elevation in either hydrogen or methane, that could be a really strong clue. They actually have hydrogen sulfide. So there's still ways to contextually get information around like, might we be dealing with this third type? And it's good to know that because if it's hydrogen sulfide, there's different things that you would want to do theoretically to try to eradicate that type of overgrowth. And so it can really get sort of complex in that if someone has one or both or all three, first of all, it could take a while in multiple rounds of treatment to really knock it down to a point where it's gone. And people don't necessarily know that. And then the other thing just to be aware of is two-thirds of all cases of SIBO are chronic and recurrent. So even if you successfully knock it down, it could always regrow again if you don't really correct the root cause factors driving it. So yeah. So for SIBO, there are like gold standard tests that can really give us a clear yes or no. For SIFO, just to answer that real quick, to my knowledge, there's really not a test available to tell us if there's fungus growing in the small intestine particularly other than potentially biopsying it, which again is very invasive. However, we could get a sense of whether or not there's a fungal load in the gut sometimes through stool testing, although it's not super accurate, it can definitely miss it. But I think the more just sensitive way to test for it is a blood-based test and just look for antibodies to candida. And then, you know, it will give you a pretty black and white yes or no answer on that. The only thing you can't really tell is like where in the body is this located, but on some level, as long as you know it's somewhere, you can still go ahead and do things to help eradicate that from the system. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that whole root cause thing again, which is, yeah, where we need to go with that. And so can these infections go undiagnosed for, I mean, years? I mean, I feel like a lot of things even can, right? Yeah. Yeah. And what kind of role does that play into, you know, the IBS and even mental health, you know, anxiety and mood disorders that we see as well? Exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, this is probably one of the biggest misnomers or myths I have to try to speak to, especially with prospective clients where if I'm having this conversation, they're like, well, my GI doc already did a stool test on me. It's like, well, yes, they did, but that's not the same kind of test that like a functional practitioner would run. The testing technology is very different. There's tend to be stool cultures, which means you have to have a pretty roaring infection for that bug to show up. But when you're looking at it with like say PCR analysis, it's a lot more sensitive. And just the way I'm trained as a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, I've never not seen a test where imbalances have come back or gut pathogens have shown up and I haven't been able to correlate it back to the symptoms the client's having. So, you know, it's interesting when they come to you and they're like, I've been told everything's normal and they're having all these symptoms. Then you run like a functional stool test. You're like, well, gosh, I'm seeing a lot go on here. And this actually does correlate with your symptoms. It's like, how do you make that compute lens? I mean, the only way to really understand that is to just, you know, realize that the testing technology is different. And I think, again, in the conventional world, they're really not as tuned into or interested in detecting low level pathogen loads in the gut. If it's major life-threatening, yes, they'll handle it. You know, they can check for life-threatening C. diff, for example, but like a tiny little protozoa parasite that is probably not going to show up on a stool test. They're going to miss that every single time. You know what I mean? Yeah. I was actually going to ask about C. diff because, you know, you mentioned about the docs kind of giving it the rounds of antibiotics and that type of thing. So are you seeing, you know, an increase in cases of C. diff even because of that? Yeah. It's actually one that the preferred stool test I like to run is called the GI map, and it will actually look at C. diff toxin A and B. And I've kind of gotten myself not in trouble, but like butted up a little bit against like conventional GI docs from time to time because I always am willing to try to collaborate and, you know, work alongside other practitioners to serve clients. And I've sort of realized over time, like, hmm, maybe I should be less assuming that they're going to want to do that. I've had a few cases where I've tried to do that with, you know, alongside their testing and I've had sort of the client's GI map and we've tried to collaborate. And, you know, it's interesting because although it very much correlates with what they're struggling with, like, again, that's one where their testing has such a high criteria threshold that they would look at the GI map and say, well, that's not going to qualify, you know, for us to treat that C. diff. They have to come in and, you know, first they have to meet this criteria and then they have to meet that criteria. And it's like, well, yeah, but this person's having symptoms and like, what would be the harm? And I don't know that they need to give them like, you know, the antibiotic to treat it per se. There's things we can do naturally for that, but yeah, it does show up quite frequently. And I think a lot of it is coming from just repeated rounds of antibiotics that people have had over time. It's not at that level where it's like majorly acute, they're having crazy unrelenting diarrhea. They have to go to the doctor for that, but it certainly has caused enough disruption. It's there. Yeah. The stool test is detecting it for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So what does your approach, the functional approach, you know, look like in treating these conditions? Yeah. So I definitely use functional testing, like as a, as a component of the work I do with clients. And, you know, people will sometimes ask me, well, like, what are the tests you run? And the answer is a lot, I have a lot to choose from a lot to choose from. And it's a, it's a very like individualized and customized process. So I don't just run people through a conveyor belt and give them all the same three tests, because obviously people are going to present differently. And you could have two people with IBS that have similar presentation and their symptoms. But when I go deeper and I start to gather information and I'm looking at that data, I might be seeing very different potential root cause factors going on. So based on that impression, I go through that kind of initial like hour long appointment where I've gathered all this data, you know, gotten my impression of what I really think is going on with the client. And then from there, I can say, look, I really feel like we have to run these two or three tests or whatever it is, right. To really fill in the gaps and confirm what we think is going on. And that's going to vary person to person. So that gives us kind of that root cause physical stressor data that a lot of people feel is happening and often is happening that we want to try to identify and address. And then in tandem with that, like the other big piece of this is teaching people nutritional and lifestyle changes to minimize their symptoms and optimize their health, similar to like your process, Lindsay, right? So I've got like an entire course I've built to like supplement the one-on-one work I do with clients where I literally am trying to impart to them, like, I want you to be like stellar when I get, when you go to the grocery store, when we're done with this work, say four months from now to be able to go in and with confidence, pick up any food, look at the label and know whether this is something you can eat or not eat kind of thing. So, so it walks them through kind of understanding what could be helpful or not helpful in terms of just various food choices and what they need to understand about having good nutrition. And then a lot of that is just working with them one-on-one, looking at their food journals with them, going through those things specifically and helping them decide which adjustments we're going to start to make over time and then building on that to try to continue to make progress on those results. And then of course, a lot of it is the, the lifestyle piece too. So if I know someone's dealing with a lot of work stress or they've got major sleep issues, like that will absolutely become a focus too. And sometimes it's just troubleshooting the environmental piece or the mental piece, if you know, that's coachable, right? So it's, it's a, I guess I would say it's a holistic process that does involve functional testing, but it's very adaptive to the people that I work with. Meaning that the process looks different person to person, just depending on what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I say that with PCOS all the time too. I mean, it's, it's different for everybody. I mean, and you hit it too, because we come from different backgrounds and, you know, we touched on the, the mental side, you know, different traumas, just different at this point in our lives, we have different sensitivities and different ways of life, obviously. So all of that, all of that plays a role. Are there any specific foods or, you know, eating habits or anything that you recommend for navigating either of these? Yeah, definitely for IBS. I would say this is probably true for PCOS too, because it's also inflammatory, but the two foods I focus on having clients get out like, like right away. But the first one we focus on is wheat, right. And, you know, this is one where just, you look at even like PubMed, which I get is like government research, but if you look at it, there's even still a ton of compelling data showing there's a lot of correlation between wheat sensitivity and IBS symptoms. And so I'll explain to clients, like we could do a wheat food sensitivity test on you. I run a great one and it's awesome. And I'll sometimes use it anyhow, just to actually affirm to a client they're getting exposure, even when they think they're not, or so they can have that data to really understand, yes, you're wheat sensitive, but we could also just make a very safe assumption you are and just humor me and let's work with getting that out. And I'll help you find appropriate substitutes that you're going to enjoy. And, you know, give me like 12 weeks to work with you on that or whatever. And a lot of people they're serious enough because they're there, right. They've already invested in the process. They're willing to do that as long as they have reasonable substitutes and a plan to follow to help them succeed. Right. So that's almost always where I start all of my clients, if they're not there. And then the second one would be dairy, which tends to be a big one in the Midwest, right. Being in Wisconsin, dairy, right. And not everybody I work with is in my state, but still it can be, it can be very pervasive in just everybody. Like, I think it's actually harder to go to a restaurant and eat dairy-free than it is wheat-free nowadays. So I, yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah. And so I just tell people like, because of the food protein similarity, chances are really good. If you're sensitive to wheat, you're probably also sensitive to dairy. Now, again, we're going to try to restore your gut and balance your microbiome. And some of the food sensitivities will go away when those things get better. But I will just say with wheat, I think it's problematic enough that once somebody has been sensitized to it, they probably aren't going to regain tolerance. You know, at least I haven't seen it, Lindsie, like over their life.
(17:20 - 19:16) So yeah. Yeah. I can attest to that. Yeah. And it's okay. We're like a growing number of people that you're going to see more and more just as a standard of thumb, right? Like restaurants are entirely wheat-free or whatever. Right. Oh, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. There's so many options. I mean, we don't eat out a whole lot, but, and you also start learning kind of what questions to ask as well, because do they use the same fryer, for example, you know, that type of thing. So they might put a gluten-free breading on there, but if they're using the same fryer as everything else, then that could be, you know, for some people that could be triggering. Yeah. I mean, I think the one thing is just like taking it day by day, whenever somebody is doing something like that, because, you know, like you said, commit to it, you know, for the four months, but even think about like committing to it for just a day and then a week. And, and I think, I know what I see a lot of times is once you feel, you start feeling amazing. And I don't know if you probably see this with your clients as well, you know, then it's, it should be a no brainer as to if you, if, and when you want to bring that stuff back for sure. For sure. It's self-reinforcing and people, if they fall off, they'll feel the effects often. And then they'll be like, Oh my God, it was working. Like exactly go back to this. Right. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And that's part of what I do too, because we remove a lot, all that stuff. And then with me, they start bringing some of that stuff back and I give them a little bit more freedom, but then a lot of times they learn like actually how sensitive they really are because we just, we've been living like that, you know, for like how many years? I mean, yeah, it sounds like you did it. I did it. You know, we just, we thought that was the normal way. Like I just thought you were supposed to eat and be bloated all the time. And yeah. And so you start realizing like, no, that's not, that's not normal. And that's not how I'm supposed to feel. I'm supposed to live.
(19:17 - 22:50) Yep. So if someone listening suspects that they might have either SIBO or CFO and they may be also have PCOS, what would be the first step that you'd recommend they take? Ooh, that's a really good question. I mean, you know, probably what my answer's going to be, Lizzie. I just think starting with diet is central to all of this really. And I mean, it's such a generalized answer. Like, well, where in the diet, right? Well, my simple, easy answer is going to be trying to minimize the processed foods in the diet, which I mean, is so many things, but I think whatever you can easily start with, like, you eat an apple a day to start, right? Like, what are the easiest whole foods that if your lifestyle is busy or you're just like, I don't have a clue how to cook for myself, right? The main thing is just finding easy ways to start to incorporate more nutrient-dense foods into the diet, right? Because we want to be able to give the body what it needs to repair and fuel these metabolic processes. Yes, there often are food triggers at play that have to get removed too for full healing to happen. However, that's a lot to bite off, right, in one shot. So I just think, like, you know, you might not even be eating breakfast, right? Like that's sometimes a thing for people. It's like, hey, could you get like, you know, a little bit of apple with nut butter or something simple in the morning that's got a little healthy fat or some protein? Could you make yourself a high quality protein shake to start, right? Like, that is just a very simple first step to just start to get the body more regulated, both with sugar handling, but also giving it more good quality input. So, you know, that's probably the easiest way to answer that question without digging into all the details, right? Of like, what's going on with this particular person? Yeah. Yeah, just finding those times that work for you to really just add in just the, even just the littlest thing, because your body's going to start realizing it needs more of that for sure. Exactly. Can you share a story potentially of someone who healed their gut and saw improvements, you know, maybe with or without PCOS symptoms, or that maybe had a hormonal component as well, along with, you know, maybe the IBS or SIBO that you see? Yeah, that's a really great question. So to my knowledge, nobody I've worked with to date has had PCOS. However, it's possible it could have been there on some level on that spectrum, right, in the background. I will tell you in this, this kind of is somewhat related because this particular client I'm thinking of had metabolic dysregulation, meaning she had weight loss resistance. And she didn't present with like major hormone imbalances, but she did have a relatively rare autoimmune disease that was impacting her kidneys. And so I feel like with like so many of these things, we're talking about like these conditions that are on this chronic inflammatory spectrum. And so that was her main goal when she started is like, I want to try to remedy this without eventually resorting to major hard hitting like biologic drugs or immunosuppressive drugs and or potentially like declining more and then having to be on dialysis or something like I could see how that would be super scary. And this stuff the doctors were doing wasn't really progressing her very well. And so but what was interesting is when we dug into her case a little bit, and I took a history and then I ran some testing on her. She actually had bouts of diverticulosis going on in the past. And so there was actually that gut component.
(22:51 - 24:06) Was there SIBO there? I'm trying to remember, like, I don't remember that I saw signs of SIBO on her GI map, but she did have C. diff toxin A, I believe, elevated. And so and I was along with a lot of other things like Candida came back, which was interesting, too. Because again, when it's showing on a stool test, it definitely means it's a lot more of it because it's getting picked up, it's detectable. And it could also be indicating some of this is up in the small intestine, right? Because you don't really necessarily know where this Candida is colonizing. So it could be SIFO too. But long story short, you know, she did the protocol to try to remedy these things we found on the stool testing that took some time, but she was really gung ho and committed to like the diet and lifestyle change. And so just walking through improving nutrient quality, one of her big limitations with her with her condition was she was basically recommended to eat like a more low protein diet. So that was an interesting challenge, Lindsie, because, as you know, protein is so necessary for tissue rebuilding, repair, as for satiety, right? And she's got the metabolic dysregulation. So it's like, well, we don't want you eating carbs to compensate for too many carbs.
(24:06 - 26:21) So we had to kind of push her in the higher fat, lower carb, sort of lowish and medium, lowish and like protein, which again, I had to do the best I could to work because I understood the fear and the worry around like, oh gosh, I've been told not to do this because this could make this condition worse. But long story short, she really saw a ton of improvement and interestingly, like did drop some weight. I think it took maybe a couple of months. And then you knew, I think we've talked about this, like you've mentioned, this is something you see too, where there was kind of this like jump she had where some weight came off. And now and she's been making progress as she's continuing to finish out and do some continuity support. But, you know, she's like, I've kind of like, sort of like leveled out with my weight loss. And I was like, well, just be patient. I bet it's going to come again. Like this isn't something where it's like every month, you're just dropping two pounds and then dropping, but it's been one of those. And what she has reported back is like her family, her doctors, her friends, they have all said like, wow, you look younger, you look more vital. And, you know, I think what's interesting is sometimes on paper, there can be a little bit of that, like delayed effect where you start to see the numbers start to look better too. But the person's actually starting to feel better a lot faster, just depending on how complex and chronically ill they are. It can take a little bit of time. So, yeah. So that's one that I just share to say that like, even if you've been struggling for a long time and told there isn't another option for you, you actually could heal and be like patient with that process. Because I just see all the time people feel better. And then eventually the numbers start to come along or eventually like the results start to show up on paper. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's where, I mean, nursing, you know, we used to focus so much on the labs and all those numbers things. And it's like, yeah, you just need to look at the patient, look at the client, you know, talk to the client, how are they feeling? You know, all those things we didn't really touch on it, but I know I've spoken a lot about it in my other episodes as well, the skin. Cause you even mentioned that she like, you know, she, you said her family said she looked better, you know, it was more vibrant.
(26:22 - 28:12) And I always feel like the skin just, I even saw that. I remember back in my nursing days, again, the skin tells so much. And so I know I see it with my clients. You probably see it with yours as well is as their health improves too. They just, they have brighter skin or whatever that rash that's been there, that redness that's been there for a while, you know, maybe the acne is now clearing up. So you probably see a lot of that too. 100%. Yeah. And some of that is just hormones balancing better. And some of it is actually just the body's ability to detoxify is improved to a point where it doesn't have to try to push this junk out through the skin. Or if there's an autoimmune thing going on that dampens down and then the skin isn't as like rashy or prone to eczema or whatever it is. Right. Yeah. Yeah. What's one myth or misunderstanding about SIBO or SIFO that you wish more women understood? Oh yeah. I think I kind of covered it. I will, I will mention it again and I can maybe throw in a few more things here is like, you don't have to have GI symptoms to have it. So, you know, that kind of gets back to the whole like correlation with autoimmune disease and things that people might not think about just to put this out there that are commonly associated with SIBO, SIBO especially would be restless leg syndrome and also like chronic iron deficiency anemia. Yeah. Both have a SIBO component. So if you're struggling with those issues and you feel like you really haven't found the answers or some of the root cause answers and you have never considered something like SIBO, that could be a piece to really look at. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. I'm glad we're doing this because I'm still learning. I'm always learning too. So kind of the last question, last big question I should say, I mean, you have answered it, but I want you to really answer it.
(28:12 - 31:41) Can someone truly heal from SIBO, SIFO and restore optimal gut health, or is this something that they might just have to manage long-term? Yeah, that's a great question. I would say yes. And I would say it could take some management of it long-term too. And that's probably commonly what I see. I feel like the big key to really restoring GI function and preventing SIBO from coming back is getting the upper GI organs to work. So particularly stomach, right? Because I think the majority of the people I work with have low stomach acid problems, right? And a lot of it goes back to stress and maybe even poor meal hygiene where they're eating on the run or they're not really taking the time and using their five senses to like enjoy their food. And all of that really supports producing good digestive fluids. But sometimes it's also like some of these gut pathogens that can impede good stomach acid production or digestive fluid production in general. So, and then as we age, this is the other thing you probably know this, Lindsie, like after age 50, most people are going to have some degree of stomach acid underproduction just because the body's getting older. And so just something I'm classically known for saying repeatedly to my clients, and I'm sure I've said it like even on podcast episodes and stuff is like, I would almost much rather they spend their money on stomach acid support and enzymes if it's warranted versus a multivitamin because it doesn't matter how many multivitamins and nutrients supports you ingest, if you're not literally breaking those down and absorbing them, you're never going to get 100% from them. And so I'd rather they have their digestive function completely supported than take more stuff that could be just going right through the tank, right? So, so I feel like that's a big piece to really kind of remedy it, you know, once and for all. But that being said, yes, I'm definitely seeing cases where there's been enough degree of damage because of rounds of antibiotics or just overall microbiome alterations. And for whatever reason, this person maybe will never be able to just eat whatever the heck they want to, right? Or let's say like best case scenario, they're able to settle into like a wheat-free, dairy-free type of regimen. They might still need to be a little bit mindful around like the types of carbs and the amounts of carbs they eat, because those do tend to be the foods that feed that bacterial overgrowth and cause the symptoms. And so it kind of becomes this process of like, where do we land after we've gone through the self-treatment process? And what is going to be easiest for the client long-term to do? Is it, you know, managing some of the carb load? Have we optimized their digestion? In some cases, people can feel fine for a while, and then they have to do another round of say like herbals to try to eradicate again. And that might be what they choose to do just so they have more freedom in their diet. So it can really look so many different ways, but yes, ultimately the goal is to try to really get to the root of it. And even it can be things like parasites that are secondary to SIBO, that if we don't detect those and get rid of them, that could be, you know, impeding the body's ability to fully heal. So there's a lot of things that could be driving it that have to be dealt with effectively, just in my experience. Yeah. So you said you mentioned you have like a four-month program.
(31:41 - 34:18) I know like I do three months basically, but yeah, I feel like you make a lot of progress probably in that time. You probably see it too, you know, four months for you, but then there's still, you're not healing everything basically, you know, in that time. There's still a lot more that probably needs to go into that depending on, you know, severity and their goals and all of that stuff. Exactly. Yeah. It's not uncommon for clients to go back in and do another retest and sometimes you retest because the gut can heal in layers and it can take some time to deal with all these things. And yeah, that's just it, Lindsie. Like even just to run a protocol based off of one functional stool test can take upwards of three to four months. So, you know, by the time they're kind of finishing that and feeling better, there could still be residual stuff. So we're kind of at that place of like, do we go back and check? What do you think? You know? And so we'll have that conversation and just see what their desire to keep staying the course with it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Last question. How can somebody get ahold of you or find you? Absolutely. So my website is the best way. It's super easy. Courtneycowie.com. So C-O-W-I-E.com. And if you are listening and you have IBS or IBD, I do have a free PDF guide on how to resolve that naturally. At least three simple steps you can take that, you know, anybody can start with to get some symptom relief. Yeah. Awesome. And I'll put that link, of course, in the show notes as well. And then, as I mentioned, just kind of depending on when you're listening, we have an event either coming up or going on. It is called Unwritten, Healing Beyond Your Diagnosis. And it is about writing the story the doctor never told you was possible. And so, yes, Courtney is one of our speakers. She is speaking on the 16th. It's a three-day event over three weeks. So the 9th, the 16th, and the 23rd from 6 to 730 p.m. Eastern time. So, again, Courtney will be on the second night of the event. Super excited to have her. So, yes, you'll learn more about her, what she does, but then also be able to walk away with some actionable items and, yeah, be able to start making some changes right away. That's the goal. Yeah, that'll be super fun. I'm excited for that. So, thank you. Thank you so much for joining me and educating myself and the audience about, you know, these conditions. And I'm sure we could have gone down many rabbit holes with all that. But I really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
(34:18 - 35:14) Wow. How eye-opening was that? Gut health is often the missing piece when it comes to healing PCOS from the root. And today's conversation with Courtney should light on how SIBO and CFO could be secretly sabotaging your progress, even when you're doing all the right things. If this episode struck a chord or made you think, wow, this might be me, don't ignore that inner nudge. If you want to learn more from Courtney, check out all her info in the show notes to get her tips, resources, and program. Healing your gut can be the key to finally unblocking balanced hormone, better energy, and a body that actually works with you, not against you. If today's episode spoke to you, just imagine what's waiting for you inside Unwritten. This event is raw, real, and so full of hope. With speakers who get it, tools that help, and a community that truly understands.
(35:15 - 35:20) Click the link in the show notes to join us. Your story is not over. It's just Unwritten.
(35:21 - 35:32) Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of PCOS Unfiltered. I'll see you next time when we continue exploring real strategies for healing, nourishing, and thriving from the inside out.