dogtrainer
Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2019
- Messages
- 180
I have been struggling for almost four years with really horrifically bad digestion. Long story short, my symptoms have been:
belching, perma-bloating, constipation, slow motility, loss of appetite (fatigue, dizziness, hair loss)
These symptoms came on suddenly after a year of intermittent fasting and never went away. It was determined early on that I was negative for both parasites and H Pylori.
I tried heroic doses of antimicrobials as well as pharma antibiotics. Garlic, allicin, oregano, berberine, cat's claw, ginger, mint, lactoferrin, pau darco, carrot salad (oh my god so much carrot salad), iodine, high dose thiamine, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12 in every possible permutation, elemental diet, monolaurin, caprylic acid, activated charcoal, high dose sodium, potassium, magnesium, taurine, thyroid, aspirin, digestive enzymes, Betaine HCL, inosinee, low fodmap, low carb, low fat, low protein. These things worked, kind of sort of? But only for a few days at a time before I was miserable again. And I was giving myself orthorexia and probably many other mental health problems taking 40 pills a day. I couldn't lick the back of a spoon to taste something I was cooking without taking 5 stomach acid pills and 2 digestive enzymes. I worried that heating the coconut oil for my carrot salad would cook the carrots and make them feed bacteria. I was popping ginger pills like candy.
I never had a "calm" settled feeling in the gut. It was more like "wow I took 4 grams of thiamine today and managed to fart twice - success!!" I'd have to take absolute boatloads of everything just to feel some semblance of normal. The only antibiotic that worked was Xifaxan, and only for 1 time. Subsequent times it never worked. I refused to take Neomycin or Cipro. Since I wasn't eating much I wasn't sh***ing much, so it was a vicious cycle where I couldn't eat enough to run my digestion, then my digestion would back up, and I would become bloated and full, so I wouldn't eat much. Take magnesium until I ***t water, then repeat.
The feeling of never hungry and never empty is terrifying.
I refused to take a SIBO breath test because I was convinced the lactulose would make me more bloated. The way I saw things, I was bloated from just water, bloated from plain chicken. What would lactulose do to me? I just assumed I had it. Problem was I had already tried everything they recommend for SIBO. Most people on forums don't have stellar results with antibiotics.
This December 2021, I was at my lowest point. couldn't eat anything on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Horrific hopelessness. Just feeling very very very bleak. So I started researching the candida angle more. And started trying other things. Found some writing on an old patent medicine called Wondro that had a cult following for gut problems and other ailments. Made that. Tried it. Got a massive headache. I've had headaches before in conjunction with other antimicrobials. Thought, hmmm maybe I have candida issues instead of SIBO. Took for a few days and felt a little better, but it is ******* heated flax oil and grosses me out to think about ingesting that long term.
So I started taking SF 722. Took that Jan 1-14. Felt alot better. Less bloated no belching. But still not very hungry and stools not great.
Started taking Vitamin D consistently and sitting under a sun lamp. Took cod liver oil for the retinol.
Got a stool test back. Turns out I have leaky gut. Zonulin is 10x what it should be. What could cause leaky gut? I dunno. Bacterial overgrowth, candida, Vitamin A deficiency? I dunno.
So I make a powder with slippery elm as a base. To coat the intestinal lining. Slippery elm isn't supposed to be "Peaty" but I was desperate. I add high dose MSM to it, because I read it can be antifungal in high doses. I added glutamine because I heard that is helpful for leaky gut. Took that a few days. Got a killer headache and was very thirsty. I consistently took it and started to feel better. Passing loads of gas. But it's passing. Yay! Hunger is returning.
Started taking PHGG, because I read it can increase transmit time. There are some studies saying it helps with bloating. Stools eventually become normal. Not "sh***ing water because I took magnesium." Just normal! I take it with homemade yogurt. Bloating went away. I take this alongside a homemade yogurt.
I had 1 or 2 bad days this month. That's it! My stomach is so flat it's crazy. I know that it's too soon to say I'm cured, and no one wants to say cured anyway. Especially in SIBO world. You're coached to expect relapses for the rest of your life until you figure out the "root cause."
Now I feel very normal, energetic, happy, light. I just don't think about my stomach much. My diet is still limited mainly due to my extremely significant food fears/PTSD, but is expanding slowly. I eat garlic and onion now. Green beans, pineapple, eggs, yogurt, OJ. Can hardly believe it.
TL; DR
Struggled for for years. All anti-microbial approaches failed. Now I've been mostly better for a month.
Now taking the following and feel much better:
-high dose msm, in a slippery elm gel
-1 scoop PHGG (Perfect Pass)
-2 cups homemade yogurt (Custom Probiotics D Lactate Free)
belching, perma-bloating, constipation, slow motility, loss of appetite (fatigue, dizziness, hair loss)
These symptoms came on suddenly after a year of intermittent fasting and never went away. It was determined early on that I was negative for both parasites and H Pylori.
I tried heroic doses of antimicrobials as well as pharma antibiotics. Garlic, allicin, oregano, berberine, cat's claw, ginger, mint, lactoferrin, pau darco, carrot salad (oh my god so much carrot salad), iodine, high dose thiamine, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12 in every possible permutation, elemental diet, monolaurin, caprylic acid, activated charcoal, high dose sodium, potassium, magnesium, taurine, thyroid, aspirin, digestive enzymes, Betaine HCL, inosinee, low fodmap, low carb, low fat, low protein. These things worked, kind of sort of? But only for a few days at a time before I was miserable again. And I was giving myself orthorexia and probably many other mental health problems taking 40 pills a day. I couldn't lick the back of a spoon to taste something I was cooking without taking 5 stomach acid pills and 2 digestive enzymes. I worried that heating the coconut oil for my carrot salad would cook the carrots and make them feed bacteria. I was popping ginger pills like candy.
I never had a "calm" settled feeling in the gut. It was more like "wow I took 4 grams of thiamine today and managed to fart twice - success!!" I'd have to take absolute boatloads of everything just to feel some semblance of normal. The only antibiotic that worked was Xifaxan, and only for 1 time. Subsequent times it never worked. I refused to take Neomycin or Cipro. Since I wasn't eating much I wasn't sh***ing much, so it was a vicious cycle where I couldn't eat enough to run my digestion, then my digestion would back up, and I would become bloated and full, so I wouldn't eat much. Take magnesium until I ***t water, then repeat.
The feeling of never hungry and never empty is terrifying.
I refused to take a SIBO breath test because I was convinced the lactulose would make me more bloated. The way I saw things, I was bloated from just water, bloated from plain chicken. What would lactulose do to me? I just assumed I had it. Problem was I had already tried everything they recommend for SIBO. Most people on forums don't have stellar results with antibiotics.
This December 2021, I was at my lowest point. couldn't eat anything on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Horrific hopelessness. Just feeling very very very bleak. So I started researching the candida angle more. And started trying other things. Found some writing on an old patent medicine called Wondro that had a cult following for gut problems and other ailments. Made that. Tried it. Got a massive headache. I've had headaches before in conjunction with other antimicrobials. Thought, hmmm maybe I have candida issues instead of SIBO. Took for a few days and felt a little better, but it is ******* heated flax oil and grosses me out to think about ingesting that long term.
So I started taking SF 722. Took that Jan 1-14. Felt alot better. Less bloated no belching. But still not very hungry and stools not great.
Started taking Vitamin D consistently and sitting under a sun lamp. Took cod liver oil for the retinol.
Got a stool test back. Turns out I have leaky gut. Zonulin is 10x what it should be. What could cause leaky gut? I dunno. Bacterial overgrowth, candida, Vitamin A deficiency? I dunno.
So I make a powder with slippery elm as a base. To coat the intestinal lining. Slippery elm isn't supposed to be "Peaty" but I was desperate. I add high dose MSM to it, because I read it can be antifungal in high doses. I added glutamine because I heard that is helpful for leaky gut. Took that a few days. Got a killer headache and was very thirsty. I consistently took it and started to feel better. Passing loads of gas. But it's passing. Yay! Hunger is returning.
Started taking PHGG, because I read it can increase transmit time. There are some studies saying it helps with bloating. Stools eventually become normal. Not "sh***ing water because I took magnesium." Just normal! I take it with homemade yogurt. Bloating went away. I take this alongside a homemade yogurt.
I had 1 or 2 bad days this month. That's it! My stomach is so flat it's crazy. I know that it's too soon to say I'm cured, and no one wants to say cured anyway. Especially in SIBO world. You're coached to expect relapses for the rest of your life until you figure out the "root cause."
Now I feel very normal, energetic, happy, light. I just don't think about my stomach much. My diet is still limited mainly due to my extremely significant food fears/PTSD, but is expanding slowly. I eat garlic and onion now. Green beans, pineapple, eggs, yogurt, OJ. Can hardly believe it.
TL; DR
Struggled for for years. All anti-microbial approaches failed. Now I've been mostly better for a month.
Now taking the following and feel much better:
-high dose msm, in a slippery elm gel
-1 scoop PHGG (Perfect Pass)
-2 cups homemade yogurt (Custom Probiotics D Lactate Free)