Breath Test day and recipe

I took the breath test this morning.  I was jittery and weak during the test.  I've never experienced that before while doing the test so it's probably due to the lack of food for the past 13 days and then just water all morning.  Fingers crossed the results go well.  I made soup during the test to eat after.  I ate a big bowl when I was finished and 3 hours later I am starving.  I didn't feel hungry like this at all during the elemental diet.  Not at all.  I never really felt hungry at all.  Because I am coming off the diet, I put the cooked chicken through a meat grinder so my body could digest it easier.  I may have opted to leave it out entirely if I had amino acids to supplement with.  I double checked all my ingredients with the Monash University FODMAP App.  I trust this source above all else.

I adapted this soup from Rodale's Basic Natural Foods Cookbook.

8 Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 2-3 T garlic infused oil or ghee
• 2 bunches green onion
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 1 potato
• 2 sm or 1 lg sweet potato
• 2 sm zucchini chipped
• 1/2 lb string beans
• 6 cups homemade meat broth
• 2 med sz tomatoes or 40g sundried tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 3 leaves basil or 1/2 tsp dried basil

• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 8 leaves spinach, finely shredded
• 16 oz meat of your choice
• 1 cup canned coconut milk or dairy substitute of your choice (just be careful about FODMAPs)

Directions

1. Melt oil in large soup pot. Add green onions and saute. Then add carrots, potatoes, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and green beans. Stir in stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add herbs and pepper, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.
2. Let soup cool, then remove the bay leaf and puree using a hand blender. Return to stove and stir in shredded spinach, cooked meat, and milk. Adjust seasoning, if desired. Simmer until heated through.

Soy Sauce Substitute

I am making this soy sauce substitute today.  When I was doing strict SCD/Low FODMAP and couldn't use tamari in my stir frys I used coconut aminos.  They are so expensive, I didn't know how they fell in terms of FODMAPs, and the bottles are so small that I knew there had to be a better way.  I discovered the recipe linked above and decided to give it a try.  Leave out the garlic granules, of course.  For the blackstrap molasses I substituted buckwheat honey and only used half.  It's unclear where buckwheat honey falls on the FODMAP list but honey is usually only a problem if you have trouble with fructose malabsorption.  I use a splash of the substitute when sauteing greens.  It really was a decent substitute.  I wouldn't say I couldn't taste the difference but it wasn't completely off putting either.  Since my doctor says I can have good quality (fermented) tamari I usually use that when stirfrying but I'm going to keep this on hand for when I saute just greens.  If you haven't tried Red Boat fish sauce you are missing out.  It tastes so much better than any other fish sauce I've tried.

Soy Sauce Substitute (adapted from The Clothes Make the Girl)
Ingredients:
1 cup beef broth (I use my beef/chicken meat broth)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons buckwheat honey
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Red Boat fish sauce

1. Place the following in a small saucepan: broth, balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, honey, black pepper and, ground ginger. Bring to a brief boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer — small bubbles should just break on the surface. Cook until reduced to about 2/3 cup — this takes about 7-10 minutes.

2. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the salt and fish sauce; stir to combine and taste to make sure it’s salty enough for you. Store in the refrigerator for up to 10 days (I've stored for longer and haven't noticed spoilage). This sauce can be used in any recipe that calls for soy sauce.

Elemental Diet Wrap Up - Day 13

So clearly I didn't plan well enough.  I only ordered the 500 gram bottle of amino acids since I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it the whole way through and I didn't order more in time.  Dr. Siebecker clearly states you will need a 1000 gram bottle ( I was mistaken on an earlier post).  I am really bad at visual spatial things so didn't realize how low I was until I was out.  I forgot that I only ordered half of what was recommended. So, yesterday I was really low on protein and had a headache and felt crummy by the end of the day.

When it came to honey I wasn't able to consume nearly the quantity recommended.  I only used half of my 1/2 gallon jar.  It was really hard to get all that sweetness down.

Today I need to prep for my breath test tomorrow so I cannot have honey.  Given that I don't have aminos either I opted to add in eggs at meals.  So my meals today are 2 T coconut oil, 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites.

My weight loss has really slowed.  I have only lost a pound since Tuesday.  I worry that my metabolism has slowed down.  I've exercised all week so realistically I should have dropped more since I was steadily dropping 0.4 to 0.8 lbs per day before.  I cannot recall what I weighed yesterday but I'm pretty sure I only dropped 0.2 lbs overnight.  My guess is that was due to the lack of protein.

What would have been really interesting would be to get an accurate measure of body fat before starting this and then an accurate measure after to see whether I lost more fat or muscle.  As it stands I only have the likely inaccurate body composition scale at the YMCA to go by and it says I've dropped 3% body fat (and 7.6 lbs).  I don't think that's accurate but who knows.

Elemental Diet - Day 12

I used the last of my powdered amino acids last night.  I have a bottle of aminos (same brand) in capsule form but not a ton of capsules left which means my protein intake at each meal is cut down by about 90%.  Not ideal.  I'm trying to decide whether to eat my protein in the form of scrambled eggs.  I don't like depriving my body and I lifted weights this morning. It's only 2 days but it still worries me.

I found a soup recipe that I think I can modify for my first few meals back.  I'll post the recipe if it turns out.  I have turkey vegetable soup and beef vegetable soup in the freezer but I think meat might be too much after eating nothing for 2 weeks.

Overall a good day, not much nausea or burping.

This may fall under "too much information" but when I do have bowel movements they burn.  I've read the same thing happens with the pharmaceutical elemental diet.

Elemental Diet - Day 11

I'm running seriously low on my amino acids.  The 500 gram bottle was supposed to get me through the 14 days and even though I am generally using less than recommended I am still almost out.  Thankfully I have a bottle of aminos in capsule form if needed.

Usually I drink only room temperature or hot water.  I don't like it cold at all.  But just like with the nausea that comes with morning sickness everything changed while on this diet.  The only water I can tolerate is cold.  I think anything warmer and it breaks open capsules that are slowly opening in my stomach and I'm thrown into waves of nausea.  If I get up early enough I have time to drink a cup of hot water before I start my premeal supplements.  Today I wasn't so lucky.  The dogs and cat woke us several times last night and so I ended up sleeping until the alarm.

Yoga was hard today.  A little nauseous, a little dizzy.  I made it through and felt better towards the end after (quietly) burping a few times.  

Down another 0.8 lbs this morning.

Elemental Diet - Day 10

Mornings always seem to go well.  I have good energy so I can get things done, workout, yoga, errands.  In the late afternoon and evening I get a bit nauseous, today quite a bit nauseous this evening.  It seems to be related to stomach gas because if I can get myself to burp the nausea subsides.  I didn't think I was going to be able to have my dinner but then 15 minutes later the nausea had passed and I could.  I've been increasing my supplements (Allimed and Neem Plus) and I do think it's the Neem Plus.  It's the newest supplement to my regimen and it was making me feel off before I started this crazy diet.

Went for a really short bike ride before dinner and my legs hurt so bad.  Not sure if it's from the leg workout yesterday or from the lack of real food.

On a good day I lose 0.4lbs, on a bad day I lose a full pound or close to it.  I'm still only down about 6 1/2lbs in 10 days.  I only have a few days left so that's not too bad at all.  Average weight loss on the pharmaceutical elemental diet is 10-15lbs.

On the downside, I look tired.  I'm having a hard time falling asleep but once I'm asleep, I'm out. When I say I'm having a hard time falling asleep, it takes longer than usual but still probably not more than 10-15 minutes.  The nighttime electronic use probably doesn't help.

Elemental Diet - Day 9

Lunch on the run was a bit difficult.  I always get a little bit nauseous and belchy after I consume my meals, not sure if it's the supplements I take with meals (multivitamin, Allimed and Neem Plus) or if it's the meals themselves.  Today I had to pack my lunch because I was out and about so opted for olive oil instead of coconut oil.  I think I'll stick with the coconut oil.  I'm accustomed to it now and the olive oil burps were pretty gross.  

All in all a really good day.  Excellent energy this morning with a great workout followed by a massage.  My mag citrate finally got things moving which always makes me feel better.  I picked up my new prokinetic (Erythromycin) which I will start tonight.

I can't believe I'm almost done.  4 more days on the diet and on what would be the 14th day of the fast I will do my breath test.  I know doing it after the 14th day would be ideal but I have commitments that prevent me from waiting.  It's going to be hard waiting for the results which can take up to 2 weeks!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I woke up to, "Mom!", followed by, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, after you're done with this diet you'll be all better, Happy Birthday to you".

It's really helpful that I was on the SCD low FODMAP diet for 6 months through Christmas, Easter, numerous birthdays and family dinner's out before going on the fast.  I'm used to not being able to eat what everyone else is eating.  Today will be a piece of cake (ha ha!) athough I don't think I'm going to be home for lunch so instead of coconut oil (which will solidify in our current temps) I'm going to have to pack olive oil.

If you think you can't do this diet because you love food, think again.  I am obsessed with food. The 4th of July is coming up, a holiday my son hates, so I suggested hiking.  My first thought wasn't where should we go it was, "oh I'm going to pack a turkey burger on a mac nut bun for lunch".  I planned my first post fast meal days ago.  Over the weekend my husband said, "even though you can't eat your still in the kitchen making food all the time".  I've made a batch of kale chips, kim chee and non food items - hard lotion bars and body cream.

My son's favorite ice cream truck (Ice Cream Social) is opening a shop today so we'll be going there to celebrate and support them.

I have to say the best birthday day gift was waking up at my pre-pregnancy weight, which has been my goal weight for years.

Elemental Diet - Day 8

More than 1/2 way there!  Wahoo!  My Lactulose breath test kit is in the mail and will be here before the end of my fast.  My ND called in the script for the prokinetic so I can pick that up later today or tomorrow (Erythromycin 50mg HS).  I feel like I am almost there.  Went to a short hot yoga class this morning, did good but my body doesn't like getting my heart pounding too fast so had to take it east.  This isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

I cringe to post these but this is me.

When I get up

Before bed. UGH!

I am so far in you would think it would be better.  I find this really discouraging.

So here's what I have always wondered.  Let's say I make a stirfry for lunch and I carefully measure out and use: cabbage, carrot, bell pepper, peas, green beans, green onion,  and zucchini, keeping them all at or under the measurements allowed.  How do I know all these low FODMAP foods don't just add up into one big FODMAP.  I know each has it's own concerns (eg - too much cabbage can be high in Polyol-sorbitol, too much zucchini can be high in Oligos-fructans, Peas in Polyols-mannitol), but who has the time to make sure all their vegetables aren't combining into a mod-high amount of FODMAP.  Not that I want to add a food combining restriction to the whole FODMAP thing.  Just makes me wonder.

I would love to hear from some of you.  What have you tried?  What works for you?  What was a total failure and waste of $$?

Elemental Diet - Day 7

In case anyone is unclear about what my "meals" are, here goes:

• 1 1/2 - 2 T Pure Form aminos acids mixed with about 2 T water, stir and let sit for a few minutes to try to get it to dissolve.  Drink, add water to get the leftover grains and drink.  Eat a spoonful of honey to remove the taste.
• 2-3 T coconut oil, melted.  Drink. Chase with water.
• 2-3 T honey, I just dip a spoon in the honey jar and savor this (I have a separate jar).
• 2 Pure Encapsulation Nutrient 950 multivitamins

I try to drink lots of water throughout the day to keep hydrated but if I'm nauseous it's hard.  I tried hot water because I love to drink hot liquids but it just makes me more nauseous.

If you had asked me if this diet was possible and if I would do it.  I would have said no way in hell.  But after spending a ton of money without much success I had to give it a try.  The Allimed alone is $98 a bottle and it only lasts 10 days.  I go through 3 bottles a month.  It's by far the most expensive part of my SIBO treatment but the others all add up.

The most frustrating part of the diet is I am still bloating.  I wake up with a fairly flat tummy and by bedtime I still look 4-6 months pregnant. Just die already!!  And the burping!  I think it's probably from shooting back the meals that gets air in my stomach but it could be something else.

Elemental Diet - Day 6

Today was a good day.  I spaced my "meals" 4 1/2 hours apart and didn't experience any crashes like I have on previous days.  Rode my bike to the farmer's market and bought a big juicy looking flat iron steak to throw in the freezer for later and bought some cherries for my guys.  I love Colvin Farms, my beef supplier.  Chatted with Gary from Heavenly Honey who supplies me with awesome local honey.  He's praying for this to work (such a nice guy).  Me too Gary.  Started getting a bit nauseus while there not sure if it's all the delicious food smells or the fact that I took my anti-parasitics this morning.  Think I'll try to add my SIBO supps back in tomorrow and forgo the parasite killers. One thing at a time.

Spent 3 hours in the garden doing some weeding with one of my chickens.  She thinks I'm part of her flock and sticks by me so I bring her along.  We grow most of our own veggies and raise chickens for eggs and meat.  And yes, I live in the city.  I was worried our neighbors would freak, but they love us, especially the ones with grandkids.  Our chickens can come up to the edge of the sidewalk and the grandkids just love it.

Before all this started I was mostly vegetarian.  I started dabbling in eating meat now and again prior to being diagnosed.  I noticed it made me feel better and the grains, especially whole grains, just didn't sit well at all.  It all makes sense now of course.  I was raised in the country on meat and potatoes but still the switch back to a paleo style diet was pretty hard.  If you haven't read Chris Kresser's book Your Personal Paleo code you should.  I think everyone should.  It's not the Paleo everyone has come to know, all bacon and bulletproof coffee.  He really talks about listening to your body and seeing what works for you.  Love that!  Hate the people who spew one size fits all programs.  Everyone is so different, the same thing can't possibly work for everyone.

I'm down about 4 1/2 pounds, 6 days in with below average weight loss, which is good.  I started to panic this morning saying I can't lose another 8-10 pounds.  I just don't have it to lose. Husband smiled and told me it would be fine, everything would be fine.  I tell ya, he's water to my fire.  My son, who's 8, said, "this is the most effective way to kill the bacteria.  You have to stick with it". Such a supportive team.

Walked 2 miles tonight after dinner.  Still feeling good.  It was a good day.

I so did not need to know this..

What Alcohol Does to Your Digestive Tract

I was poking around trying to figure out if I could cheat a little and have some alcohol, Vodka to be specific.  So I Googled "where is alcohol digested", to see if it just went through the stomach wall and didn't impact the small intestines.  Being a supreme light weight I figured a few sips and I would feel warm and fuzzy, all the wrong reasons to drink of course.  I guess the answer is no and I wonder if I really should be drinking at all.  My husband and I usually split a bottle of wine during the week, over 2 nights.  Not excessive but not all that helpful either for my poor gut.

Elemental Diet - Day 5

I'm in the single digits, only 9 more days to go, wahoo!  Seriously if I wasn't writing and people weren't watching I may have ditched this long ago.  Which is why I told everyone I know who is around me often.

I feel so good when I wake up in the morning.  Then I have to start in with the diet and I procrastinate and things go down hill from there.  I think if I stuck to a schedule I wouldn't have such lows but I put off breakfast, then put off lunch so by the time dinner rolls around I'm just fried.  I've never done very well with long periods in between meals.  At least I had some time to adjust since I have been doing the recommended 3 meals a day, no snacks since December. It really breaks your habit of eating because of stress, emotions or boredom.  Doesn't mean I have to like it.  I love to snack.

I made a batch of low FODMAP kim chee today.  Not sure I'll be able to eat it any time soon but I needed to use up some cabbage and carrots.  If it turns out I will share the recipe.

On to dinner and then a Relaxing Yin yoga class in a nice warm room.

Elemental Diet - Day 4

Had to change the name.  I didn't really like the first one but wanted to start writing.  There's really no other way to say it.  Nothing worse than hearing you have something you've never heard of and there's no clearcut treatment.  Listen to me complain, it's not cancer or something truly horrible, especially in my case.

Morning sickness!  Finally figured out how to describe how I feel.  I've felt on the verge of vomiting since around 10:30 this morning.  I was able to get lunch and my supplements down and move forward, distraction seems to help.  Tried to power down a very small "dinner" portion and 15 minutes later on my walk I retched it right back up in the bushes.  Lovely!  At least I feel better now :)  I'm considering taking tomorrow off and not swallowing any supplements.  I'm going to take the prokinetic, mag citrate, and probiotic tonight and forget the rest.  We'll see how things go with just the oil, aminos, mulitvitamin, and honey.

Elemental Diet - Day 3

I feel best in the morning and least turned off by the diet so I try to get in all the calories I can.  I've also found that I NEED salt and this diet doesn't really supply any.  If I am starting to feel really gross I sprinkle a bit of salt in my hand and lick.  In the afternoon I started to feel really gross but had some salt and bam! much better.  

"What's that?", asked my kid as we cuddled.  That's my stomach gurgling.  Not sure what's going on in there but it's not happy.  I'm hoping it starts to clear out soon!

Went out to my mom's for dinner on Day 3.  As you can probably imagine THAT went over well.  "You are doing what?"  "That's unhealthy!"  "You're going to starve!"  "Are you sure this isn't all a bunch of hooey?"  I didn't tell her that on average people on this diet lose 10-15lbs even though the diet as prescribed is 2000 calories a day.  I can tell you why, it's gross and sometimes it's more tolerable to eat nothing than to ingest something that while nourishes your body, tastes like butt (that would be my 11yo niece's perspective, she tried the aminos).

I emailed my ND last night and asked him to call me in a script for a stronger prokinetic.  At the moment there appears to be 2 options - low dose Erythromycin 50mg HS or low dose Naltrexone 5mg HS or 2.5mg BID.  Anyone out there tried either of these?  There were a couple of others listed but one is sold only in Europe and the other is available through Canada and I've been there, done that and not sure I want to try it again.

Surviving without garlic

I don't know about you but I love everything about garlic except that it's high FODMAP.  I was really sad about not being able to incorporate it in my salad dressings, stir frys, salsa, everything.  So I did some research and found that I could have garlic infused oils.  I ordered a fancy organic garlic infused olive oil from my favorite food delivery service Azure Standard.  It arrived and I was devastated to find that there was actual garlic sludge in the bottom of the bottle.  Yikes! Trader Joes does have an organic garlic infused olive oil tha is clear and t I have been buying and using it salad dressings.  For my stirfrys I have infused coconut oil in my crockpot but saw recently that you need to be very careful to get it up to an appropriate temperature to kill off botulism.  Who knew garlic was a carrier for botulism??  I figure the time in the wok will kill off the botulism but I'm not sure how comfortable I am infusing my own olive oil and using it cold for dressings.  

We have a garden bed full of garlic with beautiful scapes right now.  I wonder about the scapes and if they are low FODMAP since the tops of onions are okay.  Would love to experiment and try to make a salsa but I'm unsure about tomatillos.  There are several blogs with low FODMAP salsa containing tomatillos but the recipes also contain a large can of canned tomatoes, a slice of onion or 3 cloves of garlic so I'm unsure how reliable they are.  That's the most frustrating part, trying to find reliable informtion on the web.

I'll let you know if I come up with a decent recipe.

Elemental Diet - Day 2

Drinking the oil is the hardest part of the homemade elemental diet.  It's not the actual taste, it's the texture.  Not to mention I completely psych myself out and am on the verge of retching before I even drink it.  If I don't think about it and just down it it goes much better.

I definitely will be increasing my Magnesium Citrate tonight.  Whew!  My ND says this is common during die off (if you tend towards constipation) and she says just keep upping the Mag Citrate to keep it moving out.  

On my list of things to ask about is adding a stronger prokinetic. I currently take Motilpro but don't find it very effective.  It's such an interesting question, which came first the bacteria or the slow motility?  My guess for me is the slow motility.  Add on top of that a c-section followed by 2 bouts of gastroenterititis in a year and it's no wonder my gut tanked.

It's really nice that I haven't been hungry.  I tend to wallow though if I stay home.  I went to work tonight and did yoga and I was fine and felt pretty decent.  Guess I just gotta keep moving and not thinking about it.

I found this tapping video yesterday and it helped with feeling like I'm being deprived.  It's kind of kooky but it makes me feel better.

Link to SCD with Low FODMAP chart

Dr. Siebecker's Food Guide
I used this religiously when I was first diagnosed.  I have loosened my restrictions to include more SCD illegal but low FODMAP food only because tests have shown my gut lining is in good health and I don't react to them.

I was poking around the Monash University website and saw that dark chocolate is low FODMAP, up to 30 grams.  Looks like they researched a typical dark chocolate bar and not cocao powder itself.  I make my own fudgy conconction using cocao powder, honey, ghee and a tiny bit of coconut or almond milk, microwaved for about 15 seconds and stir.  It's not fabulous but it feeds my chocolate cravings.  I've also been know to mix a bit of peanut butter, clover honey, cocao nibs and goji berries. 

Elemental Diet - Day One

Ugh! is all I can really say.  What was I thinking??  There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there on how to do this diet.  Do you ease in?  Do you ease out after 14 days?  Do you continue to take all your bacteria killing supplements while you starve them?  I'm not sure.  So I took all my supplements as usual, downed 3 Tablespoons of melted coconut oil, tried to get down 2 T of honey and took the amino acids.  It wasn't as bad as I thought but the supplements make me feel a bit nauseous most of the day.  I love honey but trying to eat 2 T was really hard. I was afraid I was going to get a sugar headache, I didn't.

Lunchtime came and I really didn't want to do it again.  I held off until almost 2pm.  My powdered aminos had arrived so I ate those first, 2 T in a shot of water.  It stayed grainy but I've taken aminos before quite a bit so it wasn't too bad.  Next I tried to down the coconut oil.  I gagged and about spewed it in the sink.  It's not the flavor because it doesn't really taste at all, it's the greasy texture that's off putting.  I've tried to eat coconut oil in the past and that was harder.

I skipped dinner.  I just couldn't tolerate the thought and wasn't hungry.  I'm going to have to be careful about keeping my calories up otherwise I will give up.

Just a little side note what little research is out there indicates that fasting is not the best choice for women, especially intermittent fasting (all the rage in the Paleo/Crossfit world).  Here's an article that sums up what research is out there on fasting and women.

Breath Test #4

Let me just say that the tapping has helped me.  I feel much less frustrated and stressed about my diet.  I'm still sticking to it but I'm not so angry about not getting to eat what I want.

Then I got the test results..

WTF!?!?!  So there is many theories and no real answers.  One, the antibiotics from the Canadian pharmacy were inferior.  There is an Alpha and Beta form of Rifaximin and supposedly you want the Beta version.  I haven't seen anything about this anywhere so I'm not sure if it's proven.  There is also a possibility that you can get Rifaximin in the states for much cheaper if you have it compounded.  Second, it's just more bacteria being uncovered and killed off.  It was recommended that I go on the protocol being used at the SIBO clinic at NCNM.  They usually add Berberine in there as well but it was recommended that I hold off on adding it.

• Neem Plus by Ayush Herbs, 2 capsules, 3 times a day
• Interfase Plus, 3 capsule, 2 times a day away from food
• Allimed, 2 capsules, 3 times a day
• Motilpro, 3 capsules, 2 times a day away from food

I'm also still taking the Purge the Whorl and Green Tea Phytosome for the B. hominis.

On the long drive home I decided that it's time to give the Elemental Diet a try if my husband was in agreement.  I'm not keen on additives of any kind so I decided I would do the homemade recipe on Dr. Siebecker's site.  Positives, it less expensive than burning through all these supplements and antibiotics.  Negatives, no food.

Breath Test #3

The methane is looking better but I am seriously frustrated with the lack of progress.  I finally received my antibiotics in the mail.  The thought seems to be that as the bacteria is killed off, there's another layer of bacteria in biofilm that is released.  It was explained like a little back up army.  Either way I hate it.

The diet has been really, really getting to me so I decided to try a 7 week Weight Loss program through The Tapping Solution.  I don't need to lose weight but I thought the daily tapping meditations around food would be helpful in dealing with feelings of deprivation and frustration.

Plan, take 21 days of conventional antibiotics (Rifaximin/Neomycin) and then drive to Portland to do the breath test in person, get immediate results and formulate a plan with my ND at NCNM.

March 2014

Still have not received the antibiotics I ordered from Canada.  Was hoping to have them prior to vacation so I could cheat just a little on my diet.  Feeling discouraged now and then.  Met with my ND in Seattle and decided to do a GI Effects Stool Profile to see if there is anything else going on in my digestive tract.  Turns out I have "Many" Blastocystis hominis which was the bad news.  The good news is that I don't have any yeast or other opportunistic bacteria, no leaky gut.  Yay!  The results did show that I do need to try to get more fiber in my diet as my n-Butyrate was low.  n-Butyrate is produced through the fermentation of dietary polysaccharides and fiber. Polysaccharides are the P in FODMAPs so that's a no brainer.  My Seattle ND recommended Metamucil which I research and found on several FODMAP message boards that it causes problems in people who have IBS type symptoms and indicated Citracel was a better option. All seem to have sugar, fake sugar, coloring and flavoring so I haven't added any of them in.

Treatment for the B. hominis:

• Green Tea Phytosome, one capsule, 3 times a day away from food.
• Purge the Whorl, a tsp 3 times a day away from food.

Staying the course (early Feb 2014)

Current Protocol:

• Allimed, 2 capsules 3 times a day
• Motilpro - 3 capsules, 3 times a day, away from food to help with the Migratory Motor Complex (small intestine waves that move food down your digestive tract).
• Intestin-ol - once a day with food to help kill off the bugs.
• Lactoprime - one capsule twice a day away from food to help restore balance.

At this time I added in a biofilm buster to help move things along.  My ND from NCNM recommended Lipofos plus EDTA (nasty gooey stuff) or Interfase Plus by Klaire Labs.  I slowly worked up to 6 capsules of Interfase Plus (3 in the morning before breakfast and 3 before bed).

6 weeks later (mid-January 2014)

6 weeks later I did another lactulose breath test to find out how things were progressing.  Not very well it turns out!

At the recommendation of my ND at NCNM I added Allimed, an (expensive) garlic supplement slowly working up to 2 capsules, 3 times a day.

Both NDs felt the herbal protocol was working and that I should stay the course.  I had heard about biofilm busters and asked about adding them but was told to wait.  My docs don't like to add more than one thing at a time.

It was also felt by my providers that I may want to try additional rounds of conventional antibiotics given possible scarring and adhesions from my c-section 8 years prior.  I had heard that you could get Rifaximin much more affordably from Canadian Pharmacies so I decided to work on ordering some.  Turns out it's much harder than I anticipated, it took months to get the prescription filled (although it was waaaaay cheaper).

Sticking with the diet turned out to be easier than I thought.  I stuck to mostly smoothies, stir frys and soups.  And I discovered spiralizing vegetables with a Paderno spiralizer which was fun and made zucchini tolerable.  Zoodles anyone??  Also, be careful making your own bone broth, my ND told me that I could only use marrow bones and meat to make it, no joints or cartlidge because they contain FODMAPs.

The beginning....

I was diagnosed with SIBO (Small Intestinol Bacterial Overgrowth) in early December of 2013 after years of dealing with abdominal pain, bloating and constipation.  By the time I was diagnosed my belly was also starting to itch also, especially after meals.  Mild symptoms compared to accounts I've read from others.

These were my results:

I opted to do a round of conventional antibiotics to start.  Rifaximin 550mg, 3 times a day and Neomycin 500mg, 8am and 8pm followed by this herbal protocol prescribed by my ND:

• Motilpro - 3 capsules, 3 times a day, away from food to help with the Migratory Motor Complex (small intestine waves that move food down your digestive tract).
• Intestin-ol - once a day with food to help kill off the bugs.
• Lactoprime - one capsule twice a day away from food to help restore balance.
• Herbal biotic - 1 tsp, 3 times a day to help kill the bugs.  This concoction came in a bottle and is what is called a "kitchen sink" product because it's got a bit of everything.

The GAPS or SCD diet was also recommended at that time.  It all sounded like no fun so I started taking the antibiotics and scheduled a skype appt at the NCNM SIBO clinic.  Oh how glad I am that I did and how I wish that I hadn't.  The ND from NCNM said I needed to do SCD diet but restrict FODMAPs and emailed me a handy dandy little chart that showed just how limited the options were.  Who eats 2 asparagus???  I created my own spreadsheet and will upload it once I figure out how :)

The best resources I have found are Dr. Siebecker's site siboinfo.com (listen to all the podcasts!), SCD legal/illegal list on Breaking the Vicious Cycle, the Monash University FODMAP app http://med.monash.edu.au/cecs/gastro/fodmap/low-high.html and all the recipes on AgainstAllGrain.com (substitute macadamia nuts wherever cashews are called for).