What's the Root Cause? by Dr Vikki Petersen

Root Cause Medical Clinic
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

"What's the Root Cause?" is brought to you by Root Cause Medical Clinic, featuring Dr. Vikki Petersen—renowned doctor, functional medicine expert, author of "Hiatal Hernia Syndrome" and host of a highly popular YouTube channel. Dr. Vikki Petersen and her team of clinicians provide cutting-edge solutions in gut health, hiatal hernia syndrome, nutrition, food, hormones, genetics, lifestyle, and more. You don’t have to accept feeling unwell or struggling with chronic health issues. Your body has the power to heal, and with the right approach, reversing many health conditions is possible. We're here to help you do just that. Have questions about your health? Contact us today at 727-335-0400 or visit RootCauseMedicalClinics.com.

  1. May 18

    5 Signs Your Hiatal Hernia is Getting Worse

    Most people with a hiatal hernia are told to manage symptoms. But a hiatal hernia can get worse - and it doesn't have to be getting larger.  Functional worsening can happen even when your scan looks the same. ➡️ Book a Consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/ Root Cause Medical Clinic | Clearwater, FL | Functional Medicine | Telehealth Available In this video, I'm walking you through 5 specific signs that your sliding hiatal hernia is progressing functionally, not just flaring. If you recognize three or more of these, it's time to address the root cause. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔍 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ → Why symptoms moving to your throat or voice is a warning sign → What difficulty swallowing actually means at the tissue level → Why position-dependent symptoms signal functional instability → Why your medication working less is a structural signal, not a dosing problem → What it means when symptoms happen without eating at all ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📺 RELATED VIDEOS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ▶️ Hiatal Hernia Attack Feels Like This: https://youtu.be/zVzSVNyDLkY ▶️ Why Bloating Triggers Heart Palpitations: https://youtu.be/PZvcShFPy3k ▶️ GERD, Silent Reflux, or Hiatal Hernia - What's Actually Causing Your Symptoms?: https://youtu.be/MNA8lNkJuEI 👩‍⚕️ About Dr. Vikki Petersen: Dr. Vikki Petersen is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner with 40 years of clinical experience specializing in gut health, hiatal hernia syndrome, GERD, and the root causes of digestive symptoms. She is the founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic, offering telemedicine consultations nationwide. 🌐 Root Cause Medical Clinic | Clearwater, FL | Functional Medicine | Telehealth Available Nationwide ⚕️Medical Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider with any questions about your health. Views expressed are based on Dr. Petersen's clinical experience and current scientific understanding as of the publication date. Individual results may vary. #hiatalhernia #gerd #acidreflux #functionalmedicine

    11 min

  2. May 9

    5 Myths of Hiatal Hernia

    Struggling with hiatal hernia and not getting real answers? Book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/ Root Cause Medical Clinic | Clearwater, FL | Functional Medicine | Telehealth Available If you've been told surgery is your only option — or that you'll be on PPIs forever — there are some things you need to know first. In this video, Dr. Vikki Petersen breaks down 5 of the most common hiatal hernia myths and sets the record straight with research-backed facts. THE 5 HIATAL HERNIA MYTHS: ❌ MYTH #1: Surgery is a permanent fix Nearly 1 in 4 patients require PPI medication again within a few years. Up to 50% experience complications including difficulty swallowing, bloating, and inability to burp or vomit. ❌ MYTH #2: PPIs are safe to take long-term PPIs are only approved for 2 weeks at a time. Long-term use is linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis, dementia, stomach cancer, and a weakened microbiome. ❌ MYTH #3: Acid reflux always causes heartburn 50% of reflux is completely silent. It may show up as chronic cough, hoarseness, or trouble swallowing — and some reflux is caused by too little acid or bile, making PPIs completely ineffective. ❌ MYTH #4: Endoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosis Endoscopy misses the most common type of hiatal hernia nearly 48% of the time. Manometry and impedance pH monitoring are far more accurate — but rarely used. ❌ MYTH #5: You have to be overweight to have hiatal hernia Weight alone isn't the issue — visceral fat is. A person can be a normal weight and still have dangerous levels of visceral fat driving abdominal pressure and symptoms. ABOUT DR. VIKKI: Dr. Vikki Petersen is a functional medicine doctor and founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic. She specializes in gut health, digestive disorders, and identifying the root cause of chronic symptoms rather than managing them indefinitely with medication. ───────────────────────────────────────── Disclaimer: Educational content reviewed by licensed medical staff. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read or heard here. The information shared reflects clinical experience and current scientific research at the time of publication. Individual results may vary, and no guarantees of specific outcomes are made. This content does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. #HiatalHernia #HiatalHerniaMyths #PPIRisks #AcidReflux #FunctionalMedicine #RootCauseMedical #DrVikkiPetersen #GutHealth #RefluxRelief #DigestiveHealth #HiatalHerniaSyndrome #SilentReflux

    21 min

  3. May 6

    Hiatal Hernia: 4 Hidden Symptoms

    Struggling with acid reflux, bloating, or unexplained symptoms?  Book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/ Root Cause Medical Clinic | Clearwater, FL | Functional Medicine | Telehealth Available If you’re dealing with multiple symptoms like heartburn, shortness of breath, or palpitations and not getting clear answers, you’re not alone. These issues are often treated separately—but may actually share the same root cause. In this episode, Dr. Vikki Petersen explains the 4 major symptoms of hiatal hernia syndrome and why they occur. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN: - The 4 key symptoms of hiatal hernia and how they’re connected - How mechanical changes in the diaphragm and stomach lead to reflux and bloating - The role of the vagus nerve in symptoms like palpitations and shortness of breath - How inflammation and gut imbalances contribute to worsening symptoms - Practical ways to begin addressing the root cause through diet, lifestyle, and testing ABOUT DR. VIKKI: Dr. Vikki Petersen is a functional medicine doctor and founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic. She specializes in gut health, autoimmune conditions, and identifying the root cause of chronic symptoms. Disclaimer: Educational content reviewed by licensed medical staff. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read or heard here. The information shared reflects clinical experience and current scientific research at the time of publication. Individual results may vary, and no guarantees of specific outcomes are made. This content does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. #FunctionalMedicine #RootCauseMedical #DrVikkiPetersen #GutHealth #HiatalHernia #AcidReflux #Bloating

    28 min

  4. May 4

    What You're Not Eating is Keeping You Sick

    What is the most important step you can take for gut health and preventing disease? It costs you nothing additional to fill this gap in your diet. In the episode, Dr Vikki Petersen explains a critical missing element in the American diet which is setting us up for weight gain, diabetes, cancer risk and depression. We're talking about short chain fatty acids (SCFA) - a type of fat produced in your colon from microbes. They are named: butyrate, propionate and acetate. Benefits?  Stabilizes blood sugar  Supports your metabolism  Strengthens your immune system  Balances brain health Practical examples:  Study of young men with diabetes - improved the microbes (bacteria) in their gut and they instantly had better blood sugar control.  People with cancer who “failed” immunotherapy - a treatment that requires your immune system to be strong enough to arm a defense against the cancer cells. Once their microbes were restored to a healthy level they successfully responded to the immunotherapy. Interesting melanoma research in the references below.  Did you know - people born in 1990s are 4x more likely to develop rectal cancer and 2x more likely to develop colon cancer in their lifetime as compared to their parents who were born in the 1950s?  People with depression - “gave” their microbes (via fecal transplant) to mice and the mice got depressed. Those humans with anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, Alzheimer’s - do NOT have healthy microbiomes. How it works:  Your gut is “outside” your body - mouth to your anus is closed system.  On the other side of the gut lining is 70% of your immune system  The microbes IN your gut maintain the gut lining.  When you eat fiber it's untouched until it reaches your colon  Why? We don’t have the enzymes to break it down - only microbes do. What are we talking about?  Soluble fiber - remains intact until it gets into the colon and then a feeding frenzy ensues by your microbes because soluble fiber is their preferred fuel.  NOW the magic happens! The microbes eat the fiber and they release a fat called SCFA.   SCFAs then enter your bloodstream and within seconds are circulating everywhere with healing effects to your metabolism, insulin levels, decreasing inflammation and protecting your brain  SCFAs have multiple mechanisms by which they can destroy tumor cells - they do this by empowering your immune system. Now the problem:  These amazing SCFAs are produced by eating fiber and most Americans (95%) don’t get even the bare minimum. 38gm in men, 25 gm in women.  Soluble fiber found in ALL plants - fruit, vegetable, nut, seed and bean. How to get the healthiest microbiome?  Fiber? YES  Diversity is key - different plants' fiber feed different microbes.  Eat 30 plants per week = healthiest guts. Note on Carnivore: they say you don’t need fiber but there are no human studies to support robust SFFA production and microbial diversity without fiber. Disclaimer: The information provided in this episode is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health, medical condition, or treatment options. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it. The views expressed are based on my clinical experience and current scientific understanding as of the date of publication. Individual results may vary. Our licensed medical team at Root Cause Medical Clinic can help you identify the root cause.  ➡ Learn more or book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/locations/telemedicine/ 📞 Call us: (727) 335-0400

    15 min

  5. Apr 30

    Why Bloating Triggers Heart Palpitations

    Struggling with bloating and heart palpitations? ➡️ Book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/  Root Cause Medical Clinic | Clearwater, FL | Functional Medicine | Telehealth Available If you've been told your heart is fine but you're still dealing with palpitations, irregular rhythm, or chest tightness after meals — your heart may not be the problem. Bloating and hiatal hernia can trigger real cardiac symptoms through a connection most doctors never check. In this video, Dr. Vikki Petersen explains why bloating triggers heart palpitations, the role of the gastrocardiac reflex, and how hiatal hernia creates mechanical pressure on the heart through the diaphragm. - Why a bloated or distended stomach can directly trigger heart palpitations and irregular rhythm — including AFib - The gastrocardiac reflex: how your gut and your heart communicate through the vagus nerve - The anatomical reason even a small hiatal hernia can irritate the heart's outer layer (without anything being structurally wrong with your heart) - Why treating the gut alone — or the vagus nerve alone — is rarely enough for lasting relief - How shallow breathing caused by bloating creates a cycle that worsens both digestion and cardiac symptoms - The root cause approach to resolving these symptoms rather than managing them indefinitely Watch my vagal AFib and hiatal hernia video here: https://youtu.be/vx2x00uCcf8 Watch my Gas and Bloating are NOT Normal video here: https://youtu.be/uhz0rVli53Y Dr. Vikki Petersen is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner with 40 years of clinical experience specializing in gut health, hiatal hernia syndrome, and the root causes of digestive and cardiac symptoms. She is the founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic, offering telemedicine consultations nationwide. This video is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider with questions about your health or treatment options. Views expressed are based on Dr. Petersen's clinical experience and current scientific understanding as of the publication date. Individual results may vary. #FunctionalMedicine #RootCauseMedical #DrVikkiPetersen #GutHealth #HiatalHernia #HeartPalpitations #GastrocardiacReflex #VagusNerve #Bloating #AFib

    14 min

  6. Apr 27

    3 Reasons Hiatal Hernia Persists

    Have you rushed to the ER convinced you were having a heart attack?  You had heart palpitations, shortness of breath and anxiety out the roof? You also suffer with acid reflux, bloat, gas, and/or constipation. Every test comes back normal, but your heart still races, the shortness of breath impacts your day to day life and your gut is a mess. Your cardiologist assures you there's nothing wrong, yet you feel "off" and keep suffering. In the video, Dr Vikki Petersen explains what the 3 missing "pieces" of Hiatal Hernia Syndrome are and why they need to be evaluated in order to achieve successful relief. We utilize a patient-tailored approach - Personalized medicine, because there isn't a "one size fits all" solution. Diet, posture, breathing - why “one size doesn’t fit all” Symptoms influenced by: diet, digestion efficiency, motility within the gut, microbiome health, diaphragmatic breathing, and vagal nerve tone 1. DIET  Recent work highlights that diet composition—not just acid suppression—matters for reflux and hiatal hernia symptom burden. Interventions focusing on reduced overall sugar intake, increased fiber, and mindful eating patterns SMOKING & WEIGHT  Risk factor data indicate abdominal pressure, physical workload, smoking, and central adiposity are risk factors. 2. MOTILITY & MICROBIOME  Current GERD/hiatal hernia literature recognizes the influence of gut motility and possibly microbiome interactions on reflux patterns. PPIs, given for reflux, can make it worse - can’t be the only treatment. You can’t feel the reflux but it’s still there.  It doesn’t correct motility or pressure issues 3. STRESS  Stress reduction and vagal nerve influence TIPS Eat smaller meals Stop eating 3–4 hours before bed Avoid tight clothing Chew thoroughly Avoid large mixed meals late at night Pay attention to early fullness, bloating, or nausea Walk after meals Stay upright for at least 20–30 minutes after eating. Belly breathing - before meals and practiced during the day Diaphragm part of anti-reflux barrier so needs to be exercised Address constipation and gas - increases pressure #hiatalhernia #acidreflux #guthealth #rootcausemedicine  Disclaimer: The information provided in this video is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health, medical condition, or treatment options. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have seen or heard in this video. The views expressed are based on my clinical experience and current scientific understanding as of the date of publication. Individual results may vary. Many viewers ask what to do next if symptoms persist.  Our licensed medical team at Root Cause Medical Clinic can help you identify the root cause.  ➡ Learn more or book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/ 📞 Call us directly: (727) 335-0400 About this channel: Dr. Vikki Petersen, DC, CFMP, is founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic. Our multidisciplinary team of licensed APRNs and clinicians provides functional medicine care focusing on gut, hormone, and metabolic health. Educational videos are reviewed by licensed medical staff and based on current scientific research.

    13 min

  7. Apr 22

    3 Foods that Secretly Cause Acid Reflux (It's Not What You Think)

    🔥 Still dealing with acid reflux after cutting out all the "bad" foods? Book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/ | Clearwater, FL | Telehealth Available You eliminated coffee, wine, and spicy food - and your reflux is still there. If standard dietary advice hasn't worked, these three foods are likely why, and most doctors never think to check them. In this video, Dr. Vikki Petersen breaks down three commonly overlooked foods that silently drive acid reflux through inflammation, delayed gastric emptying, and a weakened lower esophageal sphincter - not excess acid. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧠 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN → Why gluten triggers acid reflux even without a celiac diagnosis → The dairy connection most doctors miss and how it affects your esophageal valve → Why a popular "digestive aid" is actually making your reflux worse → How these foods drive reflux through gut inflammation - not acid overproduction → Why finding the root cause of reflux means looking beyond antacids and standard elimination diets ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔎 WANT TO FIND THE ROOT CAUSE? Our licensed medical team at Root Cause Medical Clinic can help identify what's truly driving your digestive symptoms. ➡️ Learn more or book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/ 📞 Call us: (727) 335-0400 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 👩‍⚕️ ABOUT DR. VIKKI PETERSEN Dr. Vikki Petersen, DC, CFMP, is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner with 40 years of clinical experience, specializing in gut health, acid reflux, GERD, and chronic digestive conditions conventional medicine often misses. She is the founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic, where a multidisciplinary team of licensed APRNs and clinicians provides functional medicine care focused on gut, hormone, and metabolic health. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This video is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider with questions about your health or treatment options. Views expressed are based on Dr. Petersen's clinical experience and current scientific understanding as of the publication date. Individual results may vary. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #AcidReflux #GERD #FunctionalMedicine #RootCauseMedical #DrVikkiPetersen #GutHealth #AcidRefluxRelief #DigestiveHealth

    12 min

  8. Apr 21

    Reflux Meds and Fatty Liver?

    Fatty liver prevalence is 40% and most people don’t know they have it. It's closely tied to diabetes, heart disease, and long-term liver damage.  In this episode, Dr Vikki Petersen explains the association between PPI medication and fatty liver. Secret #1 Observational studies have found that people taking proton pump inhibitors have a higher prevalence of Fatty Liver  Risk -dose and duration dependent (1–2 years) The mechanism: gut microbiome disruption PPIs reduce stomach acid → that changes what survives the upper GI tract. leads to: Increased bacterial overgrowth - SIBO link - PPIs are strongly linked with SIBO - creates gas, pressure and reflux.  Toxin-producing bacteria - lead to liver fat accumulation  PPI → SIBO → pressure + endotoxins → reflux + fatty liver PPIs change the gut in a way that makes the body send more fat to the liver. Secret #2: Your gut talks to your liver Almost everything absorbed from your intestines travels straight to the liver first.  1. The wrong bacteria start to grow when stomach acid is suppressed. You start getting more bacteria that create irritating byproducts. 2. Those bacteria produce toxins 3. The gut lining gets irritated and more permeable 4. Those toxins slip into the bloodstream 5. They go straight to the liver. Blood from the intestines goes directly to the liver through the portal vein.  6. The liver reacts like it’s under attack and activates an inflammatory response.  7. Changes how the liver handles fat- burning is less efficient and the fat export system gets impaired - the result is fat accumulating inside liver cells. 8. Fat plus inflammation is where the real problem starts That combination is what can drive progression from simple fatty liver toward a more damaged, inflamed liver. Secret #3 - fix the gut signal coming into your liver - the focus isn’t on the liver but what’s being sent to it. Restore stomach acid or stop suppressing it. It’s how you prevent bacterial overgrowth. Reduce overgrowth and fermentation  TIPS:  Stop snacking  Space meals 4 hours apart - MMC cleans house  Chew thoroughly   Walk after meals Strengthen gut barrier Eat whole foods - add polyphenols (berries, broccoli, tea, cacao,nuts and seeds) Fiber Get adequate high quality protein Remove triggers -  ultra-processed foods, alcohol, sugar Lower the fat coming into your liver  Reduce insulin spikes w/ less frequent eating  Reduce excess sugar/fructose intake  Improve insulin sensitivity w/ movement after meals and exercise - aerobic and resistance training helps manage blood sugar levels for 24 to 72 hours. If you’ve tried the basics and aren’t improving, it usually means something deeper is driving it—and that’s where a more comprehensive evaluation makes the difference.That’s exactly what we focus on—identifying and addressing the root causes behind these patterns, not just managing the surface symptoms evaluation of: SIBO / dysbiosis Gut barrier function Inflammation markers Insulin resistance / metabolic markers Liver function beyond basic labs References:  1. Pyo JH et al. Proton pump inhibitors use and the risk of fatty liver disease 2021, Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2. Yu H et al. Proton pump inhibitor use is associated with increased hepatic steatosis in US adults 2024, Biomedical Reports 3. Huang H et al. Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors is associated with increased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease 2024, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology 4. Fossmark R et al. Changes in the gastrointestinal microbiota induced by proton pump inhibitors 2024, Microorganisms #guthealth #acidreflux #fattyliver  Disclaimer: The information provided in this episode is intended for educational p

    14 min
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About

"What's the Root Cause?" is brought to you by Root Cause Medical Clinic, featuring Dr. Vikki Petersen—renowned doctor, functional medicine expert, author of "Hiatal Hernia Syndrome" and host of a highly popular YouTube channel. Dr. Vikki Petersen and her team of clinicians provide cutting-edge solutions in gut health, hiatal hernia syndrome, nutrition, food, hormones, genetics, lifestyle, and more. You don’t have to accept feeling unwell or struggling with chronic health issues. Your body has the power to heal, and with the right approach, reversing many health conditions is possible. We're here to help you do just that. Have questions about your health? Contact us today at 727-335-0400 or visit RootCauseMedicalClinics.com.

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