Mystery Solved: Gut-Brain Connection Can Impact Digestive Health

Imagine being stuck at home, isolated, and your social life indefinitely on hold because you are afraid of being too far from the bathroom. This was the case for one woman in her 60s, who was experiencing incontinence, chronic diarrhea, and bathroom urgency to the point that she couldn’t leave her home for fear of an accident. She stopped visiting with friends, no longer went out to eat, and, after visiting multiple digestive disease specialists with no resolution, simply lost hope. Then a friend suggested she try one more thing: visit Dr. Tina Storage, functional gastroenterologist at Adventist Health Glendale. After hearing the full details and history of the patient’s condition, she identified a gut-brain disorder. Dr. Storage prescribed a neuromodulator medication with plans to stop in 6-12 months and at the same time, addressed her symptoms with diaphragmatic breath work and lifestyle modification. Within weeks, the patient returned with news — “I'm going out with friends again. I have a life again. I am cured!”

Dr. Storage graduated from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Stanford University, and then returned to UCLA for a fellowship in gastroenterology. She joined Adventist Health Glendale in the beginning of 2025 and with her practical approach to gastroenterology, established a center for inflammatory bowel disease and functional bowel disorders.

"People tend to think that if you have a complex diagnosis or a diagnosis that others can't figure out, or that you've sought multiple medical opinions for, then it's time to seek an academic medical center. But I think that Adventist Health Glendale is that tertiary care center. It's in the community and it's highly accessible, so it makes it so much easier for patients," suggests Dr. Storage.

Her approach as a functional gastroenterologist is practical and holistic. She routinely performs upper endoscopy, colonoscopy (recommended at age 45+ or earlier with family history), sigmoidoscopy, and enteroscopy, as well as examines the whole person with a sophisticated consideration of controllable factors like diet, exercise, stress control, and factoring in the gut-brain connection. She also offers treatment via the latest medications, including newer, safer options approved as recently as March of 2025. In addition to her institutional experience, she completed certification as a gluten-free practitioner and earned functional gastroenterology certification through the Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM).

Dr. Storage defines functional medicine as having a focus on the whole body and the root cause of what is going on. It delves into when and how a condition started, especially examining the body’s microbiome — trillions of bacteria that live in your gut that need balance. When there's a microbiome imbalance, gastrointestinal disorders show up. Medication is one way to treat it, but rebalancing the gut through simple means of diet, exercise, stress control, and removing offending agents is an effective way to heal.

“A lot of patients weren't getting better with these chronic symptoms of bloating, abdominal discomfort, constipation. I was trying to figure out why we're giving this medication, that medication, and I realized we were missing a key piece in treating patients,” says Dr. Storage, “and that's really starting from the bare bones and looking at healing things from the root cause.”