Dr. Andrew Hubbard, ND

11/09/2026

“It’s IBS. Take fibre.”

I understand why people don’t resonate with that.

Honestly, I wouldn’t either.

IBS is a real diagnosis. Fibre can be useful. Sometimes it’s exactly where I start.

But that alone doesn’t explain how someone’s symptoms fit together. Or what we’re going to do if it doesn’t help.

A useful IBS diagnosis should give someone direction.

Why might the symptoms fluctuate?

Why does the pain improve after a bowel movement?

Why do constipation and diarrhea sometimes alternate?

What roles might bowel motility, gut sensitivity, meal patterns, stress and sleep be playing?

What are we trying first? What are we tracking? What comes next if it doesn’t work?

The alternative isn’t automatically a SIBO breath test, a stool microbiome panel or a more complicated diagnosis.

Sometimes the missing piece isn’t more testing.

It’s a better explanation—and a plan that actually connects to the symptoms.

IBS should be the starting point for treatment, not the end of the conversation.

10/20/2026

Your heart rate and digestive symptoms may have more in common than you think.

Two recent systematic reviews highlight the overlap between POTS and disorders of gut–brain interaction. Among patients with POTS, the most common digestive symptoms were nausea, bloating, abdominal pain and postprandial fullness.

When these symptoms occur alongside dizziness, palpitations or generally feeling worse when upright, POTS may be worth considering.

Research on PubMed:
PMID 42790485
PMID 41952073

10/15/2026

3 things I’ve changed my views on over the years as a gut-focused naturopath

10/13/2026

Each intervention needs to earn its place.

Good care isn’t measured by the length of the treatment plan. More recommendations do not necessarily mean more thorough care.

Sometimes the most appropriate option is a familiar over-the-counter medication rather than a stack of supplements.

Sometimes it means stopping something that hasn’t helped.

Sometimes it means not automatically adding a probiotic, fibre supplement, restrictive diet or antimicrobial simply because the symptoms involve the gut.

Integrative care shouldn’t mean choosing a supplement over a medication by default.

It should mean choosing the tool that best fits the problem.

Before adding an intervention, we should be able to answer:

* What specific problem are we targeting?
* Is there a reasonable basis for expecting it to help?
* Does the likely benefit justify the cost, burden or risk?
* How will we decide whether it worked?
* When will we stop?

If we cannot answer those questions, the intervention may not belong in the plan.

A simple plan can reflect more thought—not less.

Sometimes the best recommendation is the one we deliberately don’t add.

10/05/2026

Digestive care is full of uncertainty.

Be cautious when someone on social media claims to know exactly what’s causing your symptoms—especially when the answer leads straight to the product or program they’re selling. 🚩

Digestive symptoms are complicated and rarely have one universal cause. The same symptom can come from several different things, many diagnoses don’t have one definitive test, and even if a treatment helps, that doesn’t necessarily prove why it worked.

There’s nothing wrong with simplifying a complicated topic so people can understand it.

The problem is simplifying it so much that it stops being accurate:

“You have this symptom, so you have this condition.”

“This is the root cause.”

“This one protocol will fix it.”

Good digestive care can still give you a clear plan. It should also be honest about what’s likely, what’s uncertain, what else needs to be considered, and when the plan might need to change.

Feeling confident about the next step is helpful.

Certainty packaged as a sales strategy is something else entirely.

09/30/2026

Sometimes being told that a test was normal—or that it did not find the condition you were being tested for—doesn’t feel like good news.

When you’ve lived with digestive symptoms for months or years, you may be asking a test to do more than measure something.

You may be hoping it will:

* give the symptoms a name
* confirm that something real is happening
* explain why previous treatments failed
* reveal the treatment that will finally work

So when the test doesn’t provide that answer, “good news” may not be how it feels.

It can feel like being returned to the beginning.

But a normal or reassuring result is not the same as learning nothing.

It can narrow the possibilities, prevent treatment for something that is unlikely to be present, and force us to reconsider the story we have been telling about the symptoms.

With persistent bloating, for example, moving away from one explanation may allow us to look more carefully at bowel function, visceral sensitivity, gut–brain signalling, and how the diaphragm and abdominal wall respond after eating.

That does not make the symptoms less real.

And moving forward does not always require one final, definitive answer. Sometimes it requires the best current explanation, a thoughtful next step, and enough time to see what happens.

Sometimes a test gives us the answer.

Sometimes it tells us which story to stop telling.

09/25/2026

Information moves fast. Good digestive care shouldn’t rush.

Within a few minutes on social media, you can encounter five possible diagnoses, ten supplements and three different diets for the same digestive symptom.

That access to information can be valuable. It can also create pressure to keep changing the plan.

A treatment is started on Monday.

By Friday, another supplement is added.

The following week, a food group is removed.

Soon, there are so many moving pieces that no one knows what helped, what caused a side effect, what was never given enough time to work, or what was unnecessary from the beginning.

In digestive care, sequence and patience matter.

Each intervention should have:

* a clear purpose
* a reasonable trial period
* a way to assess whether it helped
* a decision to continue, stop or change direction

A slower, simpler plan is not passive care.

In an era of unlimited information and instant solutions, it may be the most thoughtful way forward.

07/29/2026

“Do I need another test?”

It’s one of the most common questions I hear in practice.

Sometimes the answer is yes. The right test at the right time can change everything.

But sometimes another test creates more questions than answers.

More information isn’t always the same thing as more clarity.

Here’s the framework I use to decide when testing is likely to move us forward

07/28/2026

“Do I need another test?”

It’s one of the most common questions I hear in practice.

Sometimes the answer is yes.

But sometimes more information doesn’t bring more clarity—it simply creates more complexity.

I wrote this article to explore why so many people with persistent digestive symptoms end up feeling stuck in an endless cycle of testing, and how a different way of thinking can sometimes move us closer to recovery.

I hope you enjoy the read.

🔗

The Patient I Meet Every Week This is the story of a patient I meet every week. Well prepared for their visit. They’ve done their research. They’ve sent all their medical records ahead of time. They bring their list (or bag) of supplements. They’ve seen multiple practitioners. There’s a gene...

05/15/2026

Silent Reflux. The not-so silent digestive condition many people don’t realize they have. Saving marriages one case at a time 😉