Digestive & Gut Health Treatment in St. Petersburg, FL
Chronic bloating, irregular bowels, reflux, and food sensitivities rarely live in the gut alone. They reach into mood, energy, cognition, and immune function through the gut-brain axis. At Neuroplasticity St. Pete, Dr. Leo Gallego pairs functional medicine laboratory diagnostics with acupuncture to identify the specific drivers of your digestive symptoms and address them at the source.
Your gastrointestinal tract houses roughly 100 trillion microbes, the largest concentration of immune tissue in your body, and a nervous system substantial enough that researchers describe it as a second brain. The gut produces neurotransmitters, regulates inflammation, trains your immune system, and signals continuously to your brain through the vagus nerve. When digestion is functioning well, you barely notice it. When it is not, the effects extend well beyond bloating and bowel patterns.
Most patients arrive at our St. Petersburg clinic having tried elimination diets, probiotics, and over-the-counter remedies without lasting results. They have often had standard endoscopy and bloodwork that came back unremarkable, leaving them with real symptoms and no clear path forward. The gap is usually that the testing did not look at the right things. SIBO, gut microbiome composition, food sensitivity patterns, intestinal permeability, and inflammatory markers are not part of standard workups, yet they are the drivers in most chronic functional digestive presentations.
Dr. Leo’s approach combines comprehensive functional medicine laboratory testing with acupuncture and Oriental medicine. The lab work gives a precise picture of what is happening in the gut. The acupuncture supports the autonomic nervous system regulation that gut function depends on. The two together address the structural and functional sides of digestive recovery.
The gut and the brain communicate constantly along several biological highways. The vagus nerve carries roughly 80 percent of its fibers from gut to brain, sending continuous information about gut state, motility, and immune activity. The enteric nervous system, embedded in the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, contains around 500 million neurons that operate semi-autonomously. The gut microbiome produces metabolites including short-chain fatty acids that influence the central nervous system. The intestinal barrier and the blood-brain barrier share regulatory pathways, and inflammation in one tends to track with the other.
When the gut is dysfunctional, these signals carry that dysfunction outward. Inflammation in the gut shows up as systemic inflammation, fatigue, and brain fog. Disrupted microbiome composition affects neurotransmitter precursors, mood regulation, and cognitive function. Vagal tone, which depends on healthy gut function, influences anxiety, sleep, and stress recovery. This is why patients with SIBO, IBS, and chronic dysbiosis frequently also experience anxiety, fatigue, and cognitive symptoms, and why addressing the gut is often the missing piece in care plans for those concurrent presentations.
The relationship runs in the other direction too. Chronic stress, autonomic dysregulation, and unresolved trauma all influence digestive function through the same vagal pathways. A patient whose nervous system is locked in sympathetic activation will struggle to digest food properly regardless of what is on the plate. This is part of why acupuncture has a meaningful role in functional digestive disorders. It is one of the most direct interventions for modulating autonomic tone and supporting parasympathetic recovery, which is the state in which digestion actually works.
Gut health care at Neuroplasticity St. Pete begins with comprehensive testing. Dr. Leo orders and interprets the laboratory panels appropriate to the presentation, builds a targeted protocol from those findings, and integrates acupuncture to support the autonomic regulation that digestive recovery depends on. For patients with concurrent neurological or autonomic symptoms, Dr. Silver’s functional neurology assessment adds a complementary layer addressing the brain side of the gut-brain axis.
Dr. Leo orders the laboratory panels appropriate to your presentation, which may include comprehensive stool analysis, SIBO breath testing, food sensitivity panels, organic acids testing, and inflammatory markers. The combination produces a precise picture of microbiome composition, digestive function, pathogen burden, intestinal permeability, and the metabolic environment of the gut.
Treatment is built directly from the lab results. SIBO eradication uses targeted antimicrobials with prokinetic and dietary support. Microbiome restoration uses prebiotic and probiotic strategies matched to the specific imbalances identified. Intestinal permeability is addressed through gut-restorative protocols. Food sensitivities are managed through structured elimination and reintroduction. Each component is selected from what testing reveals.
Dr. Leo integrates acupuncture into care for its modulating effects on autonomic regulation, vagal tone, and central pain processing, all of which influence gut function. For patients whose presentation includes brain fog, anxiety, fatigue, or other neurological symptoms, Dr. Silver’s functional neurology assessment evaluates the brain side of the gut-brain axis and contributes a coordinated plan.
We address chronic digestive presentations including SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), IBS, bloating, reflux, gut dysbiosis, intestinal permeability (sometimes called leaky gut), food sensitivities, and gut-brain axis disruption. The common thread is that these are functional digestive disorders where standard endoscopic and bloodwork findings are often unremarkable, yet the symptoms are real and the underlying drivers are testable.
SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) occurs when bacteria normally found in the colon migrate or multiply in the small intestine, where they ferment carbohydrates and produce hydrogen, methane, or hydrogen sulfide gas. The result is bloating, abdominal pain, irregular bowel patterns, and food intolerance. SIBO is diagnosed through a breath test that measures the gases produced after a substrate drink. Treatment is built from those test results and typically involves a course of targeted antimicrobial therapy, prokinetic support, and a structured dietary phase.
Yes. Acupuncture has multiple meta-analyses supporting its role in IBS, particularly for symptom severity and quality of life measures. Mechanisms involve modulation of the autonomic nervous system, vagal tone, and central pain processing. Dr. Leo integrates acupuncture into care for patients with IBS, functional digestive disorders, and conditions where the gut-brain axis is involved.
The gut-brain axis is the bidirectional communication network between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system, mediated largely by the vagus nerve, the enteric nervous system, gut-derived metabolites, and immune signaling. Disruption in either direction can produce symptoms in both: cognitive fog, mood changes, and fatigue from gut dysfunction; digestive symptoms from chronic stress or autonomic dysregulation. This is why patients with persistent digestive issues often also experience brain fog, anxiety, or fatigue, and why integrated care produces better outcomes than addressing either system in isolation.
Functional medicine testing for gut health typically includes comprehensive stool analysis covering microbiome composition, digestive markers, inflammation, and pathogens; SIBO breath testing where indicated; food sensitivity panels; and organic acids testing for metabolic and microbial markers. Dr. Leo orders and interprets these panels and builds a care plan from the specific findings. The goal is precise identification of what is driving the symptoms, so that intervention can be targeted rather than empirical.
This depends on the specific findings and the complexity of the presentation. SIBO eradication protocols typically run 4 to 12 weeks. Microbiome restoration after antimicrobial treatment generally takes several months. Long-standing conditions with multiple contributors (SIBO with concurrent food sensitivities and intestinal permeability, for example) often require six months or more of layered care. Dr. Leo gives an honest estimate of expected trajectory after the initial evaluation and lab review.
This page is written for information only and does not replace the judgment of a clinician who has examined you in person. Persistent digestive symptoms have multiple possible drivers, and identifying them accurately is the essential first step. Our team sees patients in St. Petersburg, FL. Call (727) 202-6006 or book a consultation online.
Persistent digestive symptoms deserve thorough functional medicine evaluation, not another round of guessing. Book a consultation in St. Petersburg and let us identify what is actually driving your symptoms so the care plan can be built around the answer.