Gut and digestive health, explained
Clear answers about your gut, from a specialist who sees inside it every week
Plain-English guides to symptoms, conditions and tests, written by a practising gastroenterology specialist and checked against NICE and NHS guidance.
Ben JohnsonAdvanced Clinical Practitioner, Gastroenterology
Find your condition
Each guide explains what’s going on, the tests you may be offered, what helps, and when to get checked urgently.
Gastritis
Inflamed stomach lining: H. pylori, painkillers, alcohol, and how it heals.
Irritable bowel syndrome
Pain, bloating and bowel changes: diet, medicines and gut-brain therapies.
Acid reflux and GORD
Heartburn and acid: lifestyle steps, PPIs and when to have a camera test.
Iron deficiency anaemia
Why you’re low in iron, the tests you need and how to take iron properly.
Coeliac disease
Blood tests, biopsies and living well on a gluten-free diet.
Fatty liver
What a FibroScan shows and the changes that reverse liver fat.
Referenced to UK guidance
NICE, British Society of Gastroenterology and NHS sources, listed at the end of each guide.
Reviewed every year
Each guide shows when it was last checked and when it’s next due.
Honest about money
Any paid partnership or affiliate link is clearly labelled, and nobody pays to change our advice. How we work
Tests and procedures
What happens before, during and after the tests you might be offered, from someone who carries them out.
Gastroscopy
A camera test of your food pipe, stomach and the start of your bowel.
Transnasal endoscopy
A thinner camera passed through the nose, often without sedation.
Colonoscopy
Bowel prep, sedation and what the test looks for.
Capsule endoscopy
Swallowing a tiny camera to see the small bowel.
FibroScan
A quick, painless scan that measures liver stiffness and fat.
H. pylori tests
Breath and stool tests, and why you stop some medicines first.
Free download
Free: 7-day gut symptom diary
A printable diary to track meals, symptoms and triggers for a week, so you can spot patterns and get more out of your next GP appointment.
Workbooks to help you take control
Step-by-step printable workbooks that turn clinical guidance into a plan, with trackers you can take to your appointments.
Managing Gastritis: The Complete Workbook
A structured self-management programme in 10 parts: understand your diagnosis, track flares and triggers, get your medicines right and know when to seek help.
Managing IBS: Symptom and Food Diary
A printable tracker pack to spot your patterns, work through first-line and low FODMAP diet changes, and get more from your appointments.
Managing Acid Reflux: a 4-week plan
A practical 4-week plan to get reflux under control: the changes that work, your medicines taken the right way, and a safe plan to step down treatment.
Latest guides
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H. pylori tests: how to prepare and what happens next
The breath and stool tests for H. pylori, the two preparation rules that stop a false all-clear, and what happens…
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FibroScan: what the liver scan measures and your results
A quick, painless scan that measures liver scarring and fat. How to prepare, what happens and how to understand your…
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Capsule endoscopy: the camera you swallow
Swallowing a camera the size of a large pill to see the small bowel. Why it’s done, how to prepare,…
Ben Johnson
Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Gastroenterology
Qualifications
- MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Distinction), University of Warwick
- Independent Prescriber (Non-Medical Prescribing), Birmingham City University
- JAG-certified in diagnostic gastroscopy
- BN (Hons) Nursing, University of Birmingham; registered nurse since 2006
Elsewhere
Meet the author
Hi, I’m Ben
I’ve spent over 25 years in healthcare as a nurse, 15 of them in gastroenterology and the last 10 as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, with a master’s in advanced clinical practice. Most weeks I’m in the endoscopy room carrying out gastroscopies, or in clinic helping people with iron deficiency anaemia work out what’s going on.
Patients often tell me they left their GP or hospital appointment with more questions than answers. This site is my attempt to fix that: the explanations I give in clinic, written down properly, with the evidence behind them.