The Case That Broke My Heart (And What I Missed That Made Everything Worse)
February 3, 2026
What do you do when everything you try doesn’t work – and the patient gives up before they see any change?
A former competitive athlete came to me barely able to function. He had severe nausea, almost constant stomach pain, a known ulcer, crushing anxiety, and unrelenting fatigue. He was weak, frail-looking, and his voice sounded thin and hopeless.
After looking at his intake forms, it seemed obvious that his digestive system was screaming for help so I did what any practitioner would do – I started by supporting optimal upper digestion.
And I made him worse. Every. Single. Time.
Bitters? Worse. Gallbladder support? Worse. Aloe? You guessed it – worse.
I kept changing the protocol, thinking I just needed to find the right combination. But here’s what I missed: his digestive system wasn’t the problem. It was just where the symptoms showed up.
His nervous system was so completely dysregulated that it was overriding everything else. He wouldn’t be able to process anything – not food, not supplements – until his nervous system came back online. And I didn’t see it until I’d lost him.
This one hurt. But the lesson was unforgettable.
In this episode:
- Why I got tunnel vision (and how you can avoid it)
- Unsuspecting signs of a dysregulated nervous system – and how easy they are to miss
- Why asking him to track his symptoms made everything worse
- What I should have done sooner
- When to stabilize the patient vs. trying to ‘fix’ them
Resources:
- Download the free resource: 6 Principles of Clinical Thinking
- Ready to learn the “how” behind functional medicine? Join Clinical Academy
Connect with Ronda
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