10-reasons-your-sibo-is-not-healing
I'm also hearing amazing things about her book.
Still twiddling my thumbs, waiting on results. Meanwhile my gut feels weird a lot of the time, empty to the point of maybe being a bit raw.
I take my H. Pylori test tomorrow and hopefully my DUTCH test comes in the mail tomorrow so I can take that also. I need some answers!
Showing posts with label AIP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIP. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
Accountability vs. Victimhood
I did a 10 hour yoga workshop this weekend. Not the brightest idea but these teachers only come to town once a year. As we all know exercise is stress and given the recent diagnosis of Hashi's and the ongoing battle with SIBO, I should be keeping stress to a minimum. What can I say, I couldn't help myself!
My teachers talked a lot about alignment (of course) but also what that alignment does to your mental health and overall wellbeing. Slouch and you feel physically, emotionally, mentally like crap, not to mention what it does to your digestion, rounding in and compressing everything. When you raise your head, expand and raise your chest you are more likely to feel strong and empowered, you give your stomach, intestines, gall bladder, liver, etc. more room to do their thing. Think about the animals you see, the only time they slouch or tuck their tail is when they are scared, unsure. Most of the time their tail is up their head held high, ready for anything.
It got me to thinking about all of us. For many of us we didn't do anything wrong to create our SIBO so we have the "woe is me" feeling (someone can't remember who called this the Eeyore). We can't find a good doctor, we can't (or won't) stick with the diet, we don't know what supplements to take to make ourselves feel better. We can live in this victim mentality or we can take accountability for our actions, do our own research, get support via groups on FB or whatever social media outlet we choose, carve out time (even just 5 minutes a day) for mindfulness/belly breathing/whatever and make a plan for getting well. Great places for finding information?
http://www.siboinfo.com/
http://chriskresser.com/sibo-what-causes-it-and-why-its-so-hard-to-treat
https://www.facebook.com/DrRuscio (He's in the process of updating his website, I had not heard of him but his herbal protocol from the Digestive Sessions covers all bases - more about this later)
http://www.amazon.com/IBS-Irritable-Bowel-Syndrome-Antibiotics-ebook/dp/B00CBP2S1Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1423452835&sr=1-2&keywords=fast+track+digestion
http://www.amazon.com/New-IBS-Solution-Bacteria--Irritable-ebook/dp/B007Z5SVRC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1423452939&sr=1-1&keywords=new+ibs+solution
There are numerous podcasts that deal with SIBO. Not to mention it seems like every few months there is some sort of weeklong free online Summit related to health (this week it's Healthy Gut Summit). Check out Underground Wellness, Revolution Health Radio. There are also several podcasts, articles and videos on SIBOinfo.com under learning more.
The bottom line is no cares about your health as much as you do and sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. I have walked into the doctor's office several times and said, "what about this?", and given him information about labs or probiotics or herbal protocols or conventional treatments. I'm lucky that I have a provider who is open to this and willing to try anything. I also skype with Dr. Keller at the SIBO Center at NCNM to help clarify things I am unsure about.
And more important than anything (and trust me hindsight really sucks on this one for me) keep a food journal, better yet a food journal and an everyday journal so you can track what is working for you and what isn't. I've started measuring my belly just below my belly button too because I can't always tell by looking if I'm bloated at all. My high fat, low carb, low-mod protein diet is doing wonders for me (that doesn't mean it will work for you). But it took me a full year to figure it out because I wasn't willing to change my diet that much and hey, it was low FODMAP so I didn't think I had to. If you feel like things aren't working, change it.
If you don't have the money to do labs and supplements and don't have a good doctor, start with the SIBO specific diet or better yet, a low FODMAP AIP diet to help reduce some of the inflammation in your digestive tract. Tip - you can do this by printing out the SIBO specific diet and then crossing off anything not allowed on the AIP (great resources for this are Practical Paleo, The Paleo Approach or The Paleo Mom blog. Don't have money for books, check them out at the library (if they don't have them, you can request they order them or loan them from another library). Just give it 30 days to see if it makes a difference. And seriously if a food on the list makes you feel bad, stop consuming it! Start a practice of some kind to help you reduce stress. Research which of the supplements recommended to treat SIBO are the least expensive. There are several places to order them online and most do not charge tax or shipping. If you can scrape together $$ for one test, consider a good 3 day stool test which can show how well your body is digesting food, if there are parasites present and whether candida is a problem. The stool test will also show which botanicals and meds the nasty organisms are resistant to and which will kill them.
For a quick, inexpensive (no fun) fix you can also spend your food budget on amino acids, multivitamins, coconut oil and honey and do the elemental diet. Siboinfo.com says it has an 80-84% rate of erradicating SIBO.
I'll say it again, no one cares about your health as much as you, so keep your head up, do your research and take charge because in the end wouldn't you rather be a Tigger than an Eeyore???
My teachers talked a lot about alignment (of course) but also what that alignment does to your mental health and overall wellbeing. Slouch and you feel physically, emotionally, mentally like crap, not to mention what it does to your digestion, rounding in and compressing everything. When you raise your head, expand and raise your chest you are more likely to feel strong and empowered, you give your stomach, intestines, gall bladder, liver, etc. more room to do their thing. Think about the animals you see, the only time they slouch or tuck their tail is when they are scared, unsure. Most of the time their tail is up their head held high, ready for anything.
It got me to thinking about all of us. For many of us we didn't do anything wrong to create our SIBO so we have the "woe is me" feeling (someone can't remember who called this the Eeyore). We can't find a good doctor, we can't (or won't) stick with the diet, we don't know what supplements to take to make ourselves feel better. We can live in this victim mentality or we can take accountability for our actions, do our own research, get support via groups on FB or whatever social media outlet we choose, carve out time (even just 5 minutes a day) for mindfulness/belly breathing/whatever and make a plan for getting well. Great places for finding information?
http://www.siboinfo.com/
http://chriskresser.com/sibo-what-causes-it-and-why-its-so-hard-to-treat
https://www.facebook.com/DrRuscio (He's in the process of updating his website, I had not heard of him but his herbal protocol from the Digestive Sessions covers all bases - more about this later)
http://www.amazon.com/IBS-Irritable-Bowel-Syndrome-Antibiotics-ebook/dp/B00CBP2S1Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1423452835&sr=1-2&keywords=fast+track+digestion
http://www.amazon.com/New-IBS-Solution-Bacteria--Irritable-ebook/dp/B007Z5SVRC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1423452939&sr=1-1&keywords=new+ibs+solution
There are numerous podcasts that deal with SIBO. Not to mention it seems like every few months there is some sort of weeklong free online Summit related to health (this week it's Healthy Gut Summit). Check out Underground Wellness, Revolution Health Radio. There are also several podcasts, articles and videos on SIBOinfo.com under learning more.
The bottom line is no cares about your health as much as you do and sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. I have walked into the doctor's office several times and said, "what about this?", and given him information about labs or probiotics or herbal protocols or conventional treatments. I'm lucky that I have a provider who is open to this and willing to try anything. I also skype with Dr. Keller at the SIBO Center at NCNM to help clarify things I am unsure about.
And more important than anything (and trust me hindsight really sucks on this one for me) keep a food journal, better yet a food journal and an everyday journal so you can track what is working for you and what isn't. I've started measuring my belly just below my belly button too because I can't always tell by looking if I'm bloated at all. My high fat, low carb, low-mod protein diet is doing wonders for me (that doesn't mean it will work for you). But it took me a full year to figure it out because I wasn't willing to change my diet that much and hey, it was low FODMAP so I didn't think I had to. If you feel like things aren't working, change it.
If you don't have the money to do labs and supplements and don't have a good doctor, start with the SIBO specific diet or better yet, a low FODMAP AIP diet to help reduce some of the inflammation in your digestive tract. Tip - you can do this by printing out the SIBO specific diet and then crossing off anything not allowed on the AIP (great resources for this are Practical Paleo, The Paleo Approach or The Paleo Mom blog. Don't have money for books, check them out at the library (if they don't have them, you can request they order them or loan them from another library). Just give it 30 days to see if it makes a difference. And seriously if a food on the list makes you feel bad, stop consuming it! Start a practice of some kind to help you reduce stress. Research which of the supplements recommended to treat SIBO are the least expensive. There are several places to order them online and most do not charge tax or shipping. If you can scrape together $$ for one test, consider a good 3 day stool test which can show how well your body is digesting food, if there are parasites present and whether candida is a problem. The stool test will also show which botanicals and meds the nasty organisms are resistant to and which will kill them.
For a quick, inexpensive (no fun) fix you can also spend your food budget on amino acids, multivitamins, coconut oil and honey and do the elemental diet. Siboinfo.com says it has an 80-84% rate of erradicating SIBO.
I'll say it again, no one cares about your health as much as you, so keep your head up, do your research and take charge because in the end wouldn't you rather be a Tigger than an Eeyore???
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Hello Hashimoto's
You know how you go to one doctor and they give you an opinion and then you relay that opinion to another doctor and they don't openly disagree or contradict they just kind of politely nod. That did NOT happen today. When skype clicked on today Dr. Keller was ready to go. When I said that my other ND blew off the thyroid stuff and said it was nothing to worry about she threw her arms up and made a WTF face :) I love her. I loved the honesty. She has tiptoed around his recommendations in the past but this she could not leave alone. So she is setting me up with a thyroid medication that I need to taper up and then back down over the course of 60 days and then we'll test again to see how my thyroid responded. I also need to take my temperature several times a day. You'd think there would be a device I could wear that would do this for me, but apparently not.
I have not been sticking to the AIP protocol but in light of recent information I think I need to give it another try. She mentioned cross reactivity with millet, sorghum and rice so I guess those are out for the foreseeable future in addition to wheat. Nuts and eggs are just so hard for me to give up. And the spices :( I never thought I could miss cumin or chili powder so much.
She is also setting me up with a ASI kit so I can test my adrenals. I would love to do the carb challenge to see what happens with my insulin but I can't see any realistic way of eating 75 grams of carbs with lunch!
She also agrees that I should switch from LDE to LDN in light of my thyroid stuff. She doesn't think I'll have a problem with it since I sleep like a rock but she stills want me to taper up from 1.5mg to 3mg then to 4.5mg over the course of a week and a half.
On the bright side my Wellness Meats order showed up. Who knew a bison liver was so tiny. The beef livers I get are HUGE. The bison liver fits in the palm of my hand. It's got to be just a piece of the beef liver. Can't wait for the weekend when we'll crack open the beef bacon, slice it up and fry it. I don't eat pigs. I had a pet pig who slept with me. I just can't eat them. I am most excited about the liverwurst. It's full of offal which is supposed to be uber healthy and a really big part of healing your gut and nourishing your body. Someday I might get up enough courage to make these but for now, I'll stick with my liverwurst.
I have not been sticking to the AIP protocol but in light of recent information I think I need to give it another try. She mentioned cross reactivity with millet, sorghum and rice so I guess those are out for the foreseeable future in addition to wheat. Nuts and eggs are just so hard for me to give up. And the spices :( I never thought I could miss cumin or chili powder so much.
She is also setting me up with a ASI kit so I can test my adrenals. I would love to do the carb challenge to see what happens with my insulin but I can't see any realistic way of eating 75 grams of carbs with lunch!
She also agrees that I should switch from LDE to LDN in light of my thyroid stuff. She doesn't think I'll have a problem with it since I sleep like a rock but she stills want me to taper up from 1.5mg to 3mg then to 4.5mg over the course of a week and a half.
On the bright side my Wellness Meats order showed up. Who knew a bison liver was so tiny. The beef livers I get are HUGE. The bison liver fits in the palm of my hand. It's got to be just a piece of the beef liver. Can't wait for the weekend when we'll crack open the beef bacon, slice it up and fry it. I don't eat pigs. I had a pet pig who slept with me. I just can't eat them. I am most excited about the liverwurst. It's full of offal which is supposed to be uber healthy and a really big part of healing your gut and nourishing your body. Someday I might get up enough courage to make these but for now, I'll stick with my liverwurst.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
It's the seeds!
It's the seeds that keep messing me up. I made curried vegetables two days ago, left out the cumin and coriander but then grabbed the curry, not realizing it's a combination of cumin, coriander and turmeric. Dang it! And of course I'm not really sure if I have a problem with anything because it's January and my back loves to spasm in January. So is the cramping just the same old back injuries aggravated or is it actually something I'm ingesting??? I'm assuming it's the former since there seems to be no rhyme or reason. Although it did start up with that one meal where I added in a bunch of different things. But they were things I ate before I started this without issue.
I am eating nuts because fat keeps me sane and I made a coconut oil and nut butter mix to put into one of these. Tomorrow will be a busy day and I will pack soup but will need some additional fat to keep me full. And since I can't do any dairy, this is the easiest. Plus I like it. My husband buys the YumButter Organic Superfood Peanut Butter but since it's sweetened with coconut sugar, it's a no go for me :( It also has lucuma in it and it's unclear whether or not lucuma is a FODMAP or not. Needless to say at $6.99 a pop, I'm going to buy him his own Squeasy so I can just make it for him. That way I can add some healthier nuts as well instead of just peanut butter and sunflower seeds.
Tomorrow is ND appointment day. Fingers crossed I will get more answers and guidance instead of the same ole, "keep up the good work". I know he's probably going to be a bit annoyed that I took his elimination diet suggestion (and worksheets) and turned it into this whole AIP thing :) I drive him a little bonkers!
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Paleo AIP + low FODMAPs is hard....
Thursday night I wanted to make dinner, baked turkey thighs with curried vegetables on the side. I decided NOT to take out the cumin and coriander (both seeds and illegal on AIP). I decided to add in a couple of tablespoons of cooked and cooled white rice (a good resistant starch and beneficial in increasing bifidobacteria lungom in the large intestine). Of course I knew it would feed the SIBO. After dinner I had a tiny piece of dark chocolate. My midback started to spasm between my shoulder blades (something that is common this time of year but I haven't experienced in a while). Now I had done it, here was a possible reaction to something but I added in 3 new things with dinner. LOL! So back to square one. My neck is messed up too so my back could just be reaction to that or it could be because I ate the curried vegetables with illegal seeds yesterday and today. Tomorrow will be a new day! I'm still doing okay with the nuts and won't take those back out. But I'm going to back off adding in anything new until my muscles settle down.
And, I WANT pizza. I've been longing for pizza for at least the last several weeks. I haven't had real pizza in years since I do not tolerate dairy at all. We have a fun waterfront restaurant know for their pizza and beer. It sure would be fun to waste an afternoon with a big old pizza and pitcher of beer.
Oh, and the mindful eating. That's been the hardest part of my year of the gut. Gotta figure out a quick meditation to do at mealtimes instead of standing at the counter eating, so NOT mindful :)
And, I WANT pizza. I've been longing for pizza for at least the last several weeks. I haven't had real pizza in years since I do not tolerate dairy at all. We have a fun waterfront restaurant know for their pizza and beer. It sure would be fun to waste an afternoon with a big old pizza and pitcher of beer.
Oh, and the mindful eating. That's been the hardest part of my year of the gut. Gotta figure out a quick meditation to do at mealtimes instead of standing at the counter eating, so NOT mindful :)
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Paleo AIP Day 6 - pancakes
Okay, so these are not going to be sold in IHOP anytime soon but they were pancake-like enough to satisfy my hankering for something sorta baked that wasn't anything like a smoothie. For protein I added in a hamburger patty. My husband suggested eggs. I think he wants a divorce :) Seriously though, try at he might, it's impossible to keep up with what I am and am not eating now.
My intention for the morning was to get up and have a non-AIP nut butter energy bar (that I make) and head off to yoga. But I am going to a yoga workshop at 2pm and I'm not really sleeping all that well. Not sure if it's the adjustment back to the school schedule or if it's related to diet change. Sometimes diet can impact hormone levels and disrupt sleep.
I'm still mildly nauseous after I eat. I've been this way since that first cannabis massage. Wonder when my body will bounce back and my digestion will return to normal.
This AIP thing is tough to stick to when you are not having any real problems that are being fixed. I feel pretty much the same except a bit more stressed around meals at times as I try to figure what I can eat. I ended up eating the first 1 1/2 of 3 pancakes standing in the kitchen while cooking the last pancake and the beef patty. Not ideal.
My intention for the morning was to get up and have a non-AIP nut butter energy bar (that I make) and head off to yoga. But I am going to a yoga workshop at 2pm and I'm not really sleeping all that well. Not sure if it's the adjustment back to the school schedule or if it's related to diet change. Sometimes diet can impact hormone levels and disrupt sleep.
I'm still mildly nauseous after I eat. I've been this way since that first cannabis massage. Wonder when my body will bounce back and my digestion will return to normal.
This AIP thing is tough to stick to when you are not having any real problems that are being fixed. I feel pretty much the same except a bit more stressed around meals at times as I try to figure what I can eat. I ended up eating the first 1 1/2 of 3 pancakes standing in the kitchen while cooking the last pancake and the beef patty. Not ideal.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Paleo AIP - Day 3
Nothing like eating dinner while standing up at work while all hell is breaking loose. Not a mindful meal at all. Today is another day.
Breakfast smoothie - blueberries, pineapple, carrot, spinach, cucumber, MCT, rice & pea protein
Lunch - Leftover turkey meatballs, curried vegetables, mashed squash and sweet potato
Snack - 1/2 can olives :)
Dinner - Turkey vegetable soup with hidden pureed chicken livers.
Breakfast smoothie - blueberries, pineapple, carrot, spinach, cucumber, MCT, rice & pea protein
Lunch - Leftover turkey meatballs, curried vegetables, mashed squash and sweet potato
Snack - 1/2 can olives :)
Dinner - Turkey vegetable soup with hidden pureed chicken livers.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Paleo AIP - Days 1 & 2
I didn't want to resort to breakfast smoothies but I have. School's back in and we have to be out the door at 7:30. I am not a morning person. I can't cook breakfast for myself and my son, get his lunch ready and have time to sit down and eat mindfully. I just haven't been able to. I could heat soup but it's been a bit rushed. I've drank my smoothie slowly in the car and chewed before swallowing to let my stomach know it's time to eat. It's better than nothing.
Breakfast smoothie:
Large handful spinach, one carrot, blueberries (25g), pineapple (50g), 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 T MCT oil, 1 T pea protein, 1 T sprouted rice protein (technically illegal).
Yesterday was a huge rush so for lunch and dinner I had baked salmon, mashed squash and sweet potato, and a small cup of pureed turkey vegetable soup which I managed to hide a few chicken livers in.
Today was not much better but I had enough time to make curried vegetables at lunch to go with a tin of sardines (leaving out the garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper and nutmeg). At dinner I made turkey meatballs and had mashed squash and sweet potatoes on the side (again leaving out garlic because of FODMAPs). I allowed the maple syrup and just used a smaller amount. I also drank hot coconut milk with turmeric and ginger. I really miss drinking something other than water, but I've been reacting to all teas and everything else is pretty much out. Anyway, probably a bit too much coconut FODMAPwise at dinner. I didn't take the coconut in the meatballs into consideration when I made the drink. Oh well. Can't be perfect all the time :)
So far not feeling deprived but it's been a busy couple of days. Will be interesting to see what happened on a day when I have no where to be.
The good part is my itching is gone from my binge. The bad news is my yoga teacher "supported" me in plough pose yesterday and my neck is pissed today. Hard to suss out how I feel when the neck is acting up. Got it massaged today and will get it cracked tomorrow and be back to me old self by the afternoon.
Oh, and one of the screws in my jaw is loose so they will take that out tomorrow too. Once the bone heals, back in it goes. Pretty sure that was an oversight on my part. I got a mustard seed caught up in the rubber chain connected to the screw and didn't realize it because I can't really see it and didn't figure it out until it started hurting pretty bad, by that time I think the damage was done.
Oh, and one of the screws in my jaw is loose so they will take that out tomorrow too. Once the bone heals, back in it goes. Pretty sure that was an oversight on my part. I got a mustard seed caught up in the rubber chain connected to the screw and didn't realize it because I can't really see it and didn't figure it out until it started hurting pretty bad, by that time I think the damage was done.
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