My name is John B. Symes, D.V.M., otherwise known as "DogtorJ" on the Internet. I graduated from Auburn University’s School of Veterinary Medicine in 1979 and followed that with a 14 month internship at Boston's Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in 1980. Following my academic studies, I entered private practice and have been involved in small animal medicine for the past 30 years. I have practiced in Massachusetts, South Carolina, and California and now own and operate a small animal practice in Mobile, Alabama, which serves as home base for my studies in animal and human nutrition.
In April of 2000, I discovered that I had been suffering from celiac disease (gluten intolerance) for a very long time. This diagnosis changed my entire life- personally and professionally. Once gluten was eliminated from my diet, I made a remarkable recovery from a myriad of long-term symptoms and plunged into medical research in a desperate attempt to fully understand how simple diet changes could have such a profound effect on chronic illness. In doing so, I discovered that my veterinary patients responded in the same fashion to this new elimination diet (“The G.A.R.D.”) and began a major campaign in my own profession to raise awareness of these issues. The most astounding finding was the response of epileptic patients to The G.A.R.D. (the glutamate- aspartate restricted diet, also known as the gut absorption recovery diet).
As “DogtorJ”, I offer consultations through two Websites that bear this name. I now speak to both veterinary and human medical groups concerning the vital relationship between diet and health and will soon be offering a book based on the amazing findings of my past ten years of nutrition-based research.