Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ

by Giulia Enders

about why I was suddenly able to drink milk again at the age of five. At some point I got fat, then thin again. Then, for a long time, I was fine—until I got “the sore.” When I was seventeen, I developed a small sore on my right leg, for no apparent reason. It stubbornly refused to heal, and after a month I went to see my doctor. She didn’t really know what it was and prescribed me some cream. Three weeks later, my entire leg was covered in sores. Soon they

about stress and psychological problems. Cortisone helped a little, but as soon as I stopped using it, the sores just came back. For a whole year, in summer and in winter, I wore tights to stop my sores from weeping through my pants. Then I pulled myself together and started doing some research of my own. By chance, I came across

carried out some pretty crazy experiments on myself. If I had already been studying medicine at that time, I wouldn’t have dared do half of them. Once, I overdosed on zinc for several weeks, causing me to have an extremely heightened sense of smell for the next few months. With a few tricks, I finally managed to get my condition under control. This success gave me a lift, and I experienced with my own body that