Food Sensitivities Treatment in Greenville, SC
Food sensitivity testing and treatment in Greenville, SC. Dr. Hendry identifies hidden food reactions driving your chronic symptoms. Call (864) 365-6156.
"I was referred to Dr. Will Hendry after spending thousands of dollars for medical doctors and procedures regarding a digestive issue. I will never forget the amount of time he spent with me on my first visit — something that had never happened with conventional medicine."
— Stuart M. · April 2015 · Google Review
What Is Food Sensitivities?
The 72-hour delay is what makes food sensitivities so difficult to self-identify. A food allergy announces itself immediately — that's the IgE response, the one that causes anaphylaxis. Food sensitivities are slower and diffuse: IgG-mediated reactions and gut permeability effects that show up as bloating the next day, brain fog the day after, a headache on Thursday from something you ate Tuesday. Without systematic elimination and reintroduction, most patients never connect the dots. What makes food sensitivities clinically significant is their mechanism. When intestinal permeability allows partially digested food proteins into the bloodstream, the immune system mounts a response to them. Every subsequent exposure triggers that immune response again — generating systemic inflammation that shows up wherever the immune system is most reactive: the gut, the skin, the joints, the brain. The food isn't the fundamental problem. The compromised gut barrier that allowed it in is.
Common Symptoms
Root Causes: A Functional Medicine Perspective
Food sensitivities develop when intestinal permeability allows partially digested food proteins to enter the bloodstream, where they stimulate immune responses. Once sensitized, the immune system reacts to those proteins with each subsequent exposure, generating inflammatory mediators that cause symptoms in various organ systems.
The most common food sensitivity triggers are: gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, nightshades, and high-FODMAP foods. Gluten sensitivity (non-celiac) is increasingly recognized as a real and prevalent condition distinct from celiac disease, capable of causing neurological, gastrointestinal, and systemic symptoms. Healing the underlying intestinal permeability — not just avoiding trigger foods — is essential for long-term recovery.
How We Treat Food Sensitivities at IHP
Dr. Hendry uses a systematic elimination and reintroduction protocol as the gold-standard approach to food sensitivity identification. IgG food sensitivity testing provides a useful guide for the elimination phase, though elimination-challenge remains the definitive diagnostic tool. The elimination diet is followed for 30–60 days (long enough for immune reactivity to clear) before systematic reintroduction of one food every 3 days.
Concurrently, the gut is healed through a 5R protocol: Remove irritants, Replace digestive factors, Reinoculate the microbiome, Repair the gut lining, and Rebalance lifestyle factors. This protocol addresses the root cause — intestinal permeability — rather than simply avoiding trigger foods indefinitely.
Dr. Hendry's Approach
IgG food sensitivity testing gives us a useful starting map, but the elimination-reintroduction protocol is where the diagnosis actually happens. I use the IgG panel to guide the initial elimination phase, then walk patients through systematic reintroduction — one food every three days, tracking symptoms carefully. What we learn from that process is more accurate than any lab panel alone. Simultaneously, I'm working on the underlying gut permeability that allowed the sensitivities to develop. Eliminating trigger foods without healing the gut lining is a temporary fix. Once the barrier is restored, many patients can reintroduce previously reactive foods in rotation without problems. The goal is genuine gut healing, not permanent dietary restriction.