The Microbiome: Where MS and the Gut-Brain Axis Collide

Your gut isn't just for digestion. It's a command center for immune regulation

— and in MS, it may be one of the most underused tools we have.

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When I was diagnosed with MS in 2004, I was a gym rat who mostly ate protein shakes and a mix of restaurant and processed food. I thought my diet was better than average. As the first known family case of MS in roughly 200 years, I believed my diagnosis was a mix of genetics and luck. I immediately began what would become $1 million worth of DMT therapy.

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But when my sister was also diagnosed with MS six years later, she chose to forgo the medication-first approach and treat her MS with diet. I cautioned her that broccoli wouldn't cure this. (Spoiler Alert: I was mostly wrong.)

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When I ended up in a wheelchair in 2016, I started asking better questions. While the sibling connection suggested a genetic link, I felt it would have shown up in grandparents or others if genetics were the true root cause.

 

My search for other triggers led me toward more recent environmental changes — a processed diet, antibiotic exposure, disrupted gut biology. That search led me to Dr. Terry Wahls and the Wahls Protocol, a resource I'm genuinely grateful for. Ignoring guidance to start slow, I went all-in on the Wahls Protocol diet in June 2017 — and my MS immediately got much worse.

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I soon realized my rapid dietary shift had disrupted my gut microbiome and likely triggered an MS exacerbation. (Oops. My bad.)

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But it was also a clue. I've learned that if my actions can make something worse, it points to a lever I might also use to make things better. So it was with the microbiome. It turns out the microbiome has significant influence on MS-relevant functions — inflammation, immune regulation, gut wall integrity, and more.

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While Dr. Wahls focuses primarily on cellular nutrition and mitochondrial function, the microbiome is a supporting foundation I could easily access — so I started there. I realized I had a new toolbox and began building on my Wahls Protocol foundation with fermented foods, intermittent fasting, functional mushrooms, and more. All of it designed to seed and support a healthy microbiome.

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What is the Microbiome?

The antibacterial soap and bleach crowd would like to believe the human body is a pristine temple. The reality is it's closer to a filthy school bus — packed with bacteria, fungi, yeast, and more. And that's not a problem. That's the design.

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Most of this community — collectively "the microbiome" — are allies doing critical jobs we don't even know exist: training the immune system, regulating inflammation, and protecting the intestinal lining that separates gut contents from the bloodstream. When that lining is compromised — what's commonly called leaky gut — inflammatory compounds pass into circulation that shouldn't be there, adding fuel to a fire MS has already lit.

In MS, that system is frequently out of balance.

 

So I treat the microbiome as a root cause issue. Not the only one. But a foundational one.

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My response is simple: I eat for my microbiome as much as myself.​​

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That means building a daily recurring system — not just swapping out a few foods.

 

At the center of it is my Garbage Disposal Green Smoothie (GDS): a custom-built, high-fiber, high-ferment blend of roughly 30 different plants and fungi. A functional system inspired by the Wahls Protocol, it has been significant part of my daily diet since June 2017.

 

As a meal replacement or beverage, the GDS is designed to feed and support a diverse gut microbiome. But it doesn't work alone. From day one, I've cut the GDS with live-fermented homebrew kombucha — because feeding the microbiome and seeding it are two different jobs, and both matter.