Diana M Drake Natural MedicineDigestion, immunity & environmental burden

Your gut may be where your root causes converge.

It’s where what you take in either gets absorbed — or leaks out through the gut lining, into your lymphatic system, and eventually comes out through your skin. Deficiency and toxemia both run through here, which is why so much of my work starts in the gut even when the complaint is somewhere else entirely.

What people come to me with

Digestion that stopped working properly

GasBloatingIndigestionHeartburnLong-term antacid usePain after mealsConstipationLoose stoolsInconsistent bowel movementsUrgency after eatingFood sensitivities

Some people come to me because their digestion is the problem. Just as many come for their skin, their thyroid or their energy — and we end up here anyway.

How I see it

Two root causes, one place

Deficiency lives here

Absorption

Vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants and fiber all have to be absorbed before your body can use any of them. An inflamed, dysbiotic gut can’t do that properly — so you can eat well, supplement carefully, and still be deficient.

Toxemia lives here too

Burden

Your gut is also a barrier and an elimination route. When it’s compromised, what should be cleared gets held and recirculated instead — and the burden climbs while nothing obvious looks wrong.

Why it matters elsewhere

The gut is upstream of things that don’t look like digestion

Your skin

Most skin issues I see are associated with a fungal infection or another type of infection in the gut. The skin is an elimination organ — it takes the load when the routes below it are congested, and it shows you the result.

Your thyroid

A significant share of thyroid hormone conversion happens in the gut. When digestion is inflamed, conversion suffers — which is why thyroid work so often has to start somewhere that has nothing to do with the thyroid.

Your hormones

Hormone clearance runs through the gut. If that isn’t working, what your body has finished with gets reabsorbed rather than eliminated, and the balance shifts.

Your mood and energy

Absorption determines what your body has to build neurotransmitters and make energy with. Low mood, brain fog and fatigue are often downstream of a gut that isn’t delivering the raw materials.

Burden from outside

Mold, metals and what your environment has added

Some of what accumulates didn’t come from your diet at all. Mold exposure in particular is frequently missed for years — people are told their symptoms are stress, or anxiety, or nothing, while the exposure continues.

Environmental

Mold

Often dismissed or never investigated. It can drive fatigue, brain fog, sinus and immune symptoms that look like a dozen other things.

Accumulated

Heavy metals

A burden that builds quietly over years and interferes with systems well beyond digestion, including thyroid function.

Organisms

Candida & parasites

Overgrowth and infection that standard workups rarely look for, and that show up on the skin as often as in the gut.

Chemical

Pesticides & glyphosate

The sprays on food add to the load your cells and organs carry — glyphosate in particular. It accumulates faster than the body can clear it.

Halides

Fluoride, chlorine & bromine

In drinking water, treated water and the food supply. They compete with iodine and displace it — which is why they turn up in thyroid work as well as digestive work.

Synthetic

Microplastics & endocrine disruptors

In water, packaging, cookware and personal care products. They interfere with hormone signalling at very small doses, and exposure is now effectively constant.

Testing

This is not a guessing game

What I’d look at

Your lab recommendations are custom to your symptoms — I don’t run the same panel on everyone. For digestion, that generally means two things:

Food sensitivities & allergies
  • IgG — what you’re sensitive to
  • IgE — what you’re allergic to
Microbiome panel
  • Beneficial versus harmful bacteria
  • Gut barrier function — checking for leaky gut
  • H. pylori infection
  • Fungal overburden

All labs are included in your program. You don’t pay for them separately.

How long it takes

Usually three to six months

3–6 months

Straightforward digestive work can move in a season. Long-standing candida, parasites or mold take longer — there’s a sequence to it, and rushing it tends to make people feel worse rather than better. I’ll tell you which one you’re looking at once I’ve seen your labs.

Everything is included for the whole duration — your labs, supplements, herbal and homeopathic formulas, your diet plan, every appointment, and direct messaging with me throughout.

In their words

Fifteen years, and a normal life back

★★★★★

I feel better than I have in years.

Last fall I attended an Integrative Dermatology Symposium, where I met Diana Drake. I was intrigued by her knowledgeable and expertise in healing the body holistically through proper nutrition and supplements. I had been struggling with candida overgrowth for over 15 years and at the time that I met her I was at my wits end with it.

When I got home from the conference, I made a consultation with Diana. She set me up with a plan and all the necessary diet recommendations and supplements I would need. I started to feel better almost immediately and a few months later, I feel better than I have in years! Thank you, Diana!

Heather ClarkGoogle reviewCandida overgrowth · 15 years
★★★★★
I was dealing with severe mold illness when I found Diana. She has now helped me recover and get back to living a normal life!
Rachel SalomanGoogle reviewMold illness

Find out what’s actually in there

Start with the free assessment, or book a complimentary 15-minute call. It’s a short appointment to see if we’re a good fit, what labs I’d recommend for you, and how to get started.

100% virtual · Serving all 50 states

What I am, and what I’m not

I’m a Board Certified Traditional Naturopath — not a licensed medical doctor. I don’t diagnose disease or prescribe medication. Most people come to me because they’re tired of the western medical sick-care model and want to understand and heal their body rather than manage it. What I do is find the patterns underneath how you feel and build a program that supports your body in correcting them. When it’s appropriate I’ll work alongside a medical practitioner — and I’ll tell you directly when something belongs with one.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is educational and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor to substitute for care from a licensed medical provider. Program length is a clinical recommendation and individual results vary.