Thanks for the suggestion.

I had not heard of Swedish bitters before. I like the option of trying this out first -- b/c dig enzymes can get expensive.

I got a stool test from Genova Diagnostics some months back - and yes it did show inflammation.

Overall the results were the following:

- Mild candida overgrowth
- Extremely low diversity of bacteria
- Inflammation of fecal secretory IgA
- A slight imbalance of beta-glucuronidase (on the higher side)
- Finally, while my overall fecal fat is in the normal range, the triglycerides and cholesterol are very high.

I've heard VeganZyme (the same people who make Oxypowder ) is quite effective. I might try that.

Well, before I got the results from my stool test - which I mention above - I took the hydrochloric acid challenge, and took 4 HCL supplements without any feeling of warmth. So I jut decided to stop there and take that amount with protein meals - doc said this was fine.

My functional med doc after going over my stool test results said I did not have low stomach acid because my pancreatic elastase and products of protein breakdown were in the normal range - my chiropractic doctor mentioned that this shows it's not a stomach acid prob and I don't have issues breaking down food.

I since learned that I do have low stomach acid in light of my vitamin deficiencies and on the advice of another doc. Anyway, as far as the dosage I was taking about 5 tablets per protein meal. I confess I wasn't feeling warmth ... but I can't imagine taking 7, 8, 9, 10 tablets per meal. That seems excessive, not to mention expensive.