About Me
Nicola Warran BA (Hons), DNNP, FMAR, mANP, mGNC, Hompes Method Functional Medicine Practitioner Levels 1 and 2, Pukka Health Guide
I am a Naturopathic Nutritional Practitioner and a Maternity & General Reflexologist.
I am qualified in Naturopathic Nutrition (Dip NNP) and Functional Medicine. I am a qualified Reflexologist and Maternity Reflexologist and a Fellow member of the Association of Reflexologists.
I am a member of the Association of Naturopathic Practitioners and the General Naturopathic Council.
I am also a Pukka Health Guide trained with Pukka Herbs Life Academy.
I have spent the last 17 years working as a Reflexologist with people who are stressed, trying to achieve pregnancy or pregnant and love my work.
I have been a qualified Nutritionist for 16 years and furthered my training in 2015 when I studied Functional Medicine and I now focus my practice primarily on digestive conditions. My work involves a lot of testing and analysing results in combination with client symptoms (using the GI EcologiX mainly) and the SIBO breath test. I have a real passion for the gut and gut health.
I am also a mum of two amazing boys who I love dearly.
I have taken additional courses in SIBO training, both with U.S. Functional Medicine Practitioner, Chris Kresser www.chriskresser.com and world renowned SIBO expert Dr Allison Siebecker from www.siboinfo.com
IQORO®
I have done Practitioner Training in IQORO® for Sliding Hiatus Hernia, Acid Reflux, Heartburn, Persistent Cough and Gassiness with IQORO
I also regularly undertake CPD in digestive related training to further my knowledge and experience to help my own clinical practice.
January 2020 - Navigating the complexity of the GI microbiome in clinical practice
May 2020 - The Mucosal Barrier & Immunity - How The Microbiome Optimises our Defences
June 2020 - The Hormonal Rollercoaster
July 2020 - Anxiety and Stress: Causes, Consequences and Countering Naturally with Therapies
October 2020 - Probiotics, prebiotics and phytobiotics: tools to achieve a diverse and healthy human microbiome
February 2021 - Clinical Application of GI Testing
February 2021 - CYP Enzyme Masterclass
February 2021 - Thyroid Conditions in Practice
February 2021 - From Dysbiosis to Rebiosis - 5R protocol application
March 2021 - Blood Sugar Regulation
April 2021 - Optibac Probiotics
April 2021 - IQORO Practitioner Training
My Story
I always had problems with my own gut. As part of my gut health journey I have done a lot of testing!
I had h pylori probably for over 20 years as I had this in my late teens and was never retested to see if it had gone. In my late teens I was given two strong antibiotics and a PPI (proton pump inhibitor or acid blocker) which I was then given for over 10 YEARS! Yes, you did read that correctly – 10 YEARS on a PPI)
Once I began my studies in nutrition I was horrified to learn I should have been on this for a maximum of a few weeks, not 10 years. I retested and the H Pylori was still there! Of course it was, I had killed all my stomach acid with the PPI so the H pylori was having a great time destroying my gut.
I had two parasites, one unknown, one Dientamoeba Fragilis. I didn’t leave the country for over 10 years prior so have no idea where I picked these up from.
I had a high anti-gliadin reading despite being tested negative for celiac by my GP. Non-gluten sensitivity is very common.
I had a high yeast overgrowth. + 3
Basically my gut was a mess !!
I worked on this, I killed the h pylori, I took anti-parasitic herbals and cleared the parasites and the yeast and fungal over growth cleared up.
But I STILL had gas, bloating and pain.
I had worked really hard, cleared everything but still ended up with a gut looking like this by the end of the day! (and no Not Pregnant!)
I couldn’t understand why. I had changed my lifestyle, I meditated, I ate better but I was still getting gas and bloating daily. And then as part of my Functional Medicine training we learnt about SIBO.
I performed a breath test on myself and found the probable cause of my 20 years of IBS – Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO.
So I believe my very damaged gut story was due to the following:
Not being breastfed as a baby
Antibiotic use as a child
Weakened immune system
Genetically susceptible
Glandular fever as a teenager twice
H Pylori in late teens and then probably for the next 20 years
Very strong antibiotic use to kill h pylori (never re-tested)
PPI use (initially for h pylori) for over 10 years
Poor vegetarian, high carbohydrate, fermentable diet
STRESS (relationship breakdown, studying, working long hours, party lifestyle, too little sleep, too much sugar!)
So that is my story? What is yours ? Everyone will have a different story and a different pathway to a poor gut.
What can you expect from me?
I will analyse your questionnaire and then we will have an hour consultation where i will take a detailed case history. If you have already had some testing I will look at these but if they are not up to date then I will quite likely want to run current testing.
I generally run the GI EcologiX and the Aerodiagnostics SIBO test with the majority of clients. Depending on case history and symptoms then sometimes I will just run one but both together give me an overall picture of the immunology, inflammation levels, pathogens, commensals, parasitology, yeast levels and general strength of the host.
The breath test alone will look for SIBO in your small intestine but it does not give me any other information about the condition of the whole digestive tract.
I will be as thorough as I can and give you as much knowledge as I have without being a medical doctor. If you want to run the tests and take these back to your own Gastroenterologist then that is fine, but most people prefer for me to provide a complete analysis of the test results and a treatment plan.
Please note there is no one size fits all, even the top experts can sometimes disagree how a SIBO test can be analysed and what the best treatment plan is. SIBO is often very hard to eradicate as well and has a relatively high rate of reoccurrence so please manage your expectations from the beginning ! It sometimes takes several rounds of antibiotics and/or herbal antimicrobials to get rid of SIBO and can then sometimes come back, depending on numerous things. I will attempt to look for the route cause of SIBO so we can help to mimimise the risk of this.
If you are prepared to put in the hard work then you should get great results and at least have the tools and knowledge with which to make some great digestive improvements. You have probably taken many years to reach this point so it will take some time to reset your digestive system and heal the mucosal barrier. You may need some liver support/pancreatic enzyme support. Dysbiotic, pathogenic bacteria give off LPS (lipopolysaccharides) which have been shown to cause pancreas and liver inflammation, and thus insufficiency. You will most likely have damage to the mucosal barrier caused by the pro-inflammatory, toxic bacteria so I will work on this with you.
I will offer a customised and individualised plan which will hopefully help you.
What do I expect from you?
Commitment !! You cannot just take a few supplements, eat rubbish and live a stressful lifestyle and expect a miracle !
You will most likely need to change your diet, especially in the beginning. I do not want you on a long term restricted diet however, as this will cause more damage to the microbiome. You will need to work on stress levels and may need to make some lifestyle changes.
You must be willing to put in some work to see improvements in your health. Unfortunately I cannot do that bit for you !
