The gut-brain, made legible.
Tools, plain-English explainers, and the Rome V science behind the conditions we work on. Start with a check or a quiz, then go as deep as you want.
Is it the cannabis? A CHS pattern check.
Cyclic vomiting that hot showers seem to fix has a name. Walk through the pattern clinicians actually look for.
Start the self-assessment →Find the formula matched to your pattern.
A handful of questions about how your days actually run, pointed at the MGB+ formula built for it.
Take the quiz →The gut-brain glossary.
DGBI, visceral hypersensitivity, central sensitization, nociplastic pain. Every term, plain English.
Open the glossary →Explore by topic
Every piece is written by an ER physician, answer-first, and points back to a clinician where it should.
Nausea, vomiting & CHS
Cyclic vomiting, cannabinoid hyperemesis, and the nausea that hot showers seem to settle.
Why hot showers help nausea, and why nobody can prove it yet
Nobody knows. The relief is real and reproducible, and every proposed explanation is still a hypothesis. The most popular one, heat switching on TRPV1 receptors in...
Read →Cyclic vomiting vs cannabinoid hyperemesis: how to tell them apart
Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) and cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) are both disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI), a group of conditions where the signaling between the gut...
Read →Abdominal migraine in adults: the diagnosis nobody checked for
Yes. Abdominal migraine has long been filed as a childhood problem, but the Rome framework, the international system that defines gut-brain conditions, now recognizes it is...
Read →What triggers cyclic vomiting syndrome episodes
The most common triggers are stress, lost or disrupted sleep, infections, skipped meals, physical exhaustion, and for some people the menstrual cycle. Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS)...
Read →The four phases of a cyclic vomiting episode
Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) runs in four phases: the inter-episodic or well phase between attacks, the prodrome that warns an attack is coming, the emetic phase...
Read →Cyclic vomiting syndrome in adults: the diagnosis that gets missed
Yes. Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is widely treated as a childhood condition, but adults get it too, and adult CVS is one of the most frequently...
Read →CHS treatment: what helps at home and in the ER
CHS is a disorder of gut-brain interaction (DGBI), the category doctors used to call "functional," and it comes from prolonged, heavy cannabis use. It is not...
Read →How is CHS diagnosed? Why there is no single test
No. There is no blood test, no scan, and no single lab that diagnoses cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS). It is a clinical diagnosis, meaning a doctor...
Read →Why anti-nausea meds do not work for CHS
Zofran fails in cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) because it blocks serotonin, and CHS vomiting is not a serotonin problem. The nausea is driven by changes in...
Read →Capsaicin cream for CHS: does it actually work?
Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is the cycle of severe, repeated vomiting tied to long-term cannabis use. One of the stranger tools for calming an attack is...
Read →CHS warning signs: the prodrome before the vomiting
The earliest signs of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) are morning nausea, vague upper-belly discomfort, and a nagging fear that vomiting is coming, usually in someone who...
Read →How long does CHS last after you quit?
For most people, the hard part, the relentless vomiting and cramping of the hyperemetic phase, eases within hours to a few days after the last use....
Read →Scromiting: the ER name for cannabis vomiting, explained
Scromiting is a slang term, screaming plus vomiting, for the intense presentation someone can have during a severe vomiting attack: forceful retching, crying out, doubling over...
Read →Morning nausea when you are not pregnant: what explains it
If you have been searching "morning nausea not pregnant," you already ruled out the first thing everyone assumes. That queasy feeling the moment you sit up,...
Read →Reflux & functional dyspepsia
Post-meal fullness, early satiety, and the burn antacids never quite fix.
Peppermint and caraway for functional dyspepsia: the evidence
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is one of those conditions where people get told everything is normal and still feel lousy after every meal. The fullness, the pressure,...
Read →The functional dyspepsia diet: what actually has evidence
Not a proven, named one. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a disorder of gut-brain interaction (DGBI), meaning real upper-gut symptoms without a structural cause. The dietary research...
Read →The two types of functional dyspepsia: PDS and EPS
The two types are postprandial distress syndrome (PDS) and epigastric pain syndrome (EPS). PDS is defined by meal-related symptoms: bothersome fullness after eating and getting full...
Read →Full after a few bites: what early satiety means
Because your stomach is not making room the way it should, and its nerves are reading normal stretch as "full." That combination is the core of...
Read →Heartburn and anxiety: one wire, two symptoms
Here is the thing nobody tells you about heartburn and anxiety: they are not two separate problems that happen to share your worst weeks. They are...
Read →Heartburn after every meal: why the burn keeps coming back
If you get heartburn after every meal, you have probably been told the same thing I heard as a medical student: it is just acid, take...
Read →Taking antacids every day? Read this first
If you are asking whether it is bad to take antacids every day, the honest answer is that the antacid is not the problem. A tool...
Read →IBS & bowel habits
Why IBS is now twice as common, the subdiagnostic middle, and what actually helps.
Magnesium for constipation-predominant IBS: what the evidence supports
Magnesium is one of the most common questions I hear from people managing IBS with constipation. The honest answer is more interesting than a yes or...
Read →When IBS travels with fibromyalgia and fatigue: the central sensitization cluster
Most people in this situation have the same story. It starts with one problem, say the gut. Then a rheumatologist adds fibromyalgia. A neurologist adds migraine....
Read →'Almost IBS': the people who don't quite meet the criteria
One of the most frustrating sentences a person can hear in a clinic is some version of "everything came back normal, but you don't quite meet...
Read →IBS is twice as common as we thought: what changed
If you follow gut health news, you may have seen a startling headline lately: irritable bowel syndrome is now roughly twice as common as we thought....
Read →Food sensitivities & intolerances
Nickel, histamine, alpha-gal, and the cross-reactions that masquerade as gut disease.
Alpha-gal syndrome: how a tick bite can make red meat a problem
Yes. In the United States, a bite from the lone star tick can sensitize you to a sugar called alpha-gal (galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose) found in mammal meat. After...
Read →Why raw apple makes your mouth itch: pollen-food allergy syndrome
Because your immune system is confusing the apple for pollen. If you have seasonal hay fever, the antibodies you built against pollen also latch onto similar-shaped...
Read →Histamine intolerance: why aged cheese and wine can make you flush
Histamine intolerance is when your gut cannot clear dietary histamine fast enough, so it accumulates and spills over into symptoms. The key player is diamine oxidase,...
Read →Your nickel allergy and your gut: the IBS link most people miss
Yes, in people already sensitized to nickel. The metal that reddens your skin under a cheap ring is also in a lot of everyday food. Swallow...
Read →Hidden food sensitivities: when a food you did not suspect is the problem
Here is the pattern I see over and over. Someone has been chasing a symptom for months. Bloating, headache, an itchy mouth, a skin flare, a...
Read →Ingredients & foundations
The mechanisms underneath the symptoms: what specific nutrients and compounds actually do, and why the form matters.
How much thiamine per day: the RDA, the study doses, and the gap between them
The RDA is 1.2 mg a day for men and 1.1 mg for women, and most Americans already take in several times that from food alone....
Read →Does magnesium help bloating? The honest answer
No human trial has ever measured bloating as an endpoint for magnesium, in any form. Not one. The real evidence is for constipation, with magnesium oxide,...
Read →When to take magnesium glycinate: the timing advice online is mostly invented
There is no human evidence that time of day changes how much magnesium you absorb. Not for glycinate, not for any form. Take it with food,...
Read →Magnesium glycinate side effects: what is real, what is dose, what is the wrong form
The common side effect is loose stools and cramping, and it is dose-driven, not form-specific. Magnesium you fail to absorb stays in the bowel and pulls...
Read →Magnesium L-threonate vs glycinate: what the human trials actually show
If the goal is correcting a magnesium shortfall, glycinate wins. It delivers roughly twice the elemental magnesium per gram of material, at a fraction of the...
Read →Benfotiamine and inflammation: what the research shows, and what it doesn't
Benfotiamine shows up on a lot of supplement labels with the word "anti-inflammatory" close by. The laboratory science behind that word is real. The human science...
Read →Starting a lipid-soluble vitamin B1? Here is what to expect
Most people who start a lipid-soluble form of vitamin B1 notice almost nothing. That is the honest headline, and it is a good one.
Read →Probiotics for kids' stomachaches: what the newest evidence really shows
The supplement aisle promises a simple fix for a hard problem: a chewable that ends your child's stomachaches. The headlines agree. The shelves are full of...
Read →GLP-1 drugs and vitamin B1: what the Wernicke's reports actually mean
People assume the biggest risks of drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound are nausea and the monthly bill. The medical literature is starting to describe a rarer...
Read →Why stress makes you bloated (it is not your food)
You can eat the same lunch on a calm Saturday and a brutal Tuesday, and only one of those days ends with your waistband cutting into...
Read →Benfotiamine: the B1 form built for steady nerves
Most people who take vitamin B1 never get the benefit they paid for, because the standard form washes out of the body in hours. Benfotiamine was...
Read →Beta-caryophyllene: the calming-receptor molecule in black pepper
Most people meet beta-caryophyllene without knowing it, in the bite of black pepper and the warmth of cloves, and never learn that it quietly acts on...
Read →Zinc-carnosine: the stomach-lining compound prescribed in Japan
In Japan, zinc-carnosine is a prescription drug for the stomach lining. In the United States, the same molecule sits on a supplement shelf next to the...
Read →Mastic gum: what a Greek tree resin does for the upper gut
Most people meet mastic gum through a health-food label and assume it is another trendy botanical with a thin story behind it. The truth is more...
Read →PEA: the calming molecule your body already makes
Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is one of the most-studied molecules almost nobody in America has heard of. Your body already makes it. It has been in the scientific...
Read →Subtle signs of low thiamine most people miss
Severe thiamine deficiency is a hospital diagnosis. I have seen it in the emergency department, and it is dramatic: confusion, unsteady walking, a heart that cannot...
Read →The 3 p.m. crash is not a sleep problem
The afternoon energy crash gets blamed on sleep, and that advice is incomplete. Plenty of people sleep eight solid hours and still hit a wall at...
Read →Brain fog after eating: why meals slow your mind
You finish lunch, sit back down, and your mind clocks out. The screen blurs, the sentences stop connecting, and for the next hour you are running...
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