Good appointment, horrible commute!

My ND may be super hard to get an appt with, but his prices are reasonable and he gets the job done.  I walked in and he asked, "what are we doing today?".  I explained that I was having lower abdominal pain and so he did visceral manipulation.  He was so great about describing what he was doing on a picture of the body - sort of pulling my uterus away from my rectum (sorry, TMI I know!) and making sure they was proper movement in the tissue down there.  It's not uncomfortable at all.  He also showed me a spot on the colon where the nerves from the small intestine branch in and he wants me to massage it to stimulate it daily.    He asked about how my SIBO was and I said would like a prescription for Resolor and a breath test.  He hadn't heard of Resolor, which isn't surprising because his focus is not SIBO but did not hesitate to give me a prescription after I explained what it does and the dosing that is on Dr. Siebecker's site.  After I explained what happened with Dr. Keller (increasing prices to $500/hr with a 1/2 hr skype appt required to receive breath test results) he happily logged on, set up an account and ordered me a breath test even checking the box so the results come directly to me.  So nice!  It takes at least 3 months to get just a follow up appointment with him so it's nice that he realizes he doesn't want the hassle of having to send out test results himself. He was pretty shocked that Dr. Keller raised her prices that high.

So on to the guar gum.  It is still gross but if you stir quickly and chug it goes down fine.  I've been eating FODMAPs too and honestly I'm suddenly feeling pretty darn good, not sure if it's because my bugs are fed and happy or if it's because they are dying.  Either way, I need to do a probiotic/resistant starch retention enema tonight to help the good guys in my colon out. 

I've also jacked up my prokinetics so that could be helping.  I was in Seattle for my appt yesterday so decided to splurge and eat something I normally wouldn't.  I was contemplating Thai even though last time I ate it I felt like crap for days.  Hunger led me to gluten free, vegan, aoili pizza at the Flying Apron.  I had to stop in to pick up a couple of donuts for my son and just couldn't resist.  Not what most people would consider a cheat! But seriously, how easy is it to find gf/df pizza without tomato sauce that's actually edible!?!

So I'm currently taking Rifaximin, Allicin, and Oregano with guar gum 3 times a day - breakfast, mid day and bedtime.  For prokinetics I'm doing Iberogast with meals, Motilpro mid morning, and Motilpro, LDN and Magnesium at bedtime.  Resolor is supposed to be the strongest prokinetic so I am eager to see if I can reduce some of the other stuff by adding it slowly in (I asked for a script for 0.5mg pills).  Once I'm done with the Rifaximin I'm going to add in Biocidin, Olivirex and Candibactin-BR and continuing with the Allicin and Oregano.  Not sure if I'm going to continue with the guar at that point or just eat FODMAPs.  After I'm done I'll test and see where we are at.  If I'm not clear at that point I may just give up :) Not really, but I'll definitely need to give my good colon bacteria a break.

After my appointment I raced down the freeway only to get completely stopped by the President of China.  They completely closed the two highways he was traveling, waited for them to clear and he drove down them, during rush hour. What a freaking mess! There were police on every single overpass. It would have been much cheaper, not to mention less disruptive and more efficient, to put him in a helicopter!  45 minutes to Seattle, 3 hours home.

Also got a call that our stolen vehicle has been recovered. It was in the process of being stripped but the sheriff's office put it back together and drove it out of the woods. The thief left behind their key, and their kid's booster seat and their tools. Who takes their toddler out with them boosting/stripping cars????

New Protocol - Month One (Part two)

Some of this is based on research and some is just a whim.  (Which means, do your own research and don't follow along on my crazy ideas!).  I'm more prone to trying things because I usually don't experience symptoms of unwellness with any of the supplements I take, most people are far more sensitive, so always start slow with any new supplement.  

As you may remember I saw those interviews with Dr. Ruscio and decided to try some of the products he was using with his patients.  I just ended with Oil of Oregano and GI  Microb-x.  Next up is supposed to be Orthoflora Yeast Support and Parabotonic Select.  I can't get ahold of Parabotonic Select without asking one of my NDs to order it for me and I don't want to. So I'm doing some essential oils that I've looked into a bit (again, not saying you should!).

So, here goes.  Again, I've deleted those things not related to SIBO or digestion.

AM
Bitters (1/2 tsp)
20 drops Iberogast

Breakfast

Cinnamon (1)/Thyme (2)
Allimed (1)
OrthoFlora (2)
Digestyzmes

Before Lunch
Bitters (1/2 tsp)
20 drops Iberogast

Lunch
Digestyzmes
Cinnamon (1)/Thyme (2)
Allimed

Before Dinner 
Bitters (1/2 tsp)
20 drops Iberogast

Dinner

Cinnamon (1)/Thyme (2)
Allimed (1)
OrthoFlora (2)
Digestyzmes

Bedtime
LDN
Magnesium Citrate (as needed)

Erythromycin 50mg (as needed)

After this I will do a lactulose breath test and see where I am at.  I am feeling really good these days and hope my numbers reflect it.

Dr. Keller recommended a probiotic enema, so I tried it last night with less than a full capsule of PrescriptAssist and water in a little 7.5ml Fleet enema.  So far, so good.  Haven't noticed anything different, although I did feel quite euphoric while laying in bed, which was really weird.  It didn't change my bowels, give me gas or make me bloat so that's good sign I hope.

Next up, white rice.  Maybe.  My ND wants me to try it.  I really don't want to.  Maybe I'll start with white potatoes since my husband just pulled a ton out of the garden.

MTHFR?

Skyped with Dr. Keller today.  Very funny, she popped up and said, "I feel totally unprepared, I don't have any lab results".  We are waiting for results on my ASI which should be in any day.  I knew they probably weren't going to be ready but wanted to talk anyway because I always have so many questions about what I should or shouldn't be doing.  The herbal protocols are somewhat easier to figure out and I feel like I can experiment with that on my own (to some extent) but there are other pieces I just can't wrap my head around.

Concerns I have: dysbiosis in my large intestine and my inability to support that given the fact that I cannot eat starch without getting C.  My last stool test showed my Butyrate was borderline low and my SCFA's were low.  Both of these things are necessary for a healthy large intestine.  She had concerns about this as well and said she thinks of me often because we have tried so many things without much result.  I find this oddly reassuring and disturbing.  I don't want to be the kind of case that a doctor has to ruminate about.  I want to be the easy fix, the success story, the happily ever after.  She's wondering about MTHFR and thinks we should test (you can do this specifically with a saliva test or through a more comprehensive 23andme.com and then have the results translated for you through a service such as Genetic Genie).  23andme is actually less expensive and you can a wealth of information (that I probably don't need! Who needs more to worry about?).  

She also wants me to consider a barium study to look for any anatomical abnormalities and/or adhesions from my c-section.  That sounds expensive!  My insurance will probably just apply it toward my astronomical deductible.  Which makes me wonder why I'm paying through the nose every month for coverage!

White rice and white potatoes are recommended to help introduce some starch but keep the fermentation potential low.  She thought I may need to add back in the LDE in addition to the LDN while my body gets used to the starch.  My digestion is feeling so good right now that I am a bit reluctant.

She asked about my Vit D levels because Dr. Weinstock has been researching LDN and found that it doesn't work optimally as a prokinetic unless you have enough Vitamin D on board.  Thankfully I just had mine tested and it's in the 50's so were were able to rule that out without more labs.

Another way to support my large intestine bacterial health would be probiotic enemas.  She recommended once every 3 days to see how it goes.  I have both PrescriptAssist and Lactoprime Plus on hand and she thought the PrescriptAssist would be best.  Sounds like fun!  I still think I should add a little resistant starch or some other prebiotic to feed them as well :)

I also had thyroid specific questions.  Why do I need to be on T3 when the issue I am having is not with lack of hormone but with my body's inability to convert from T4 to T3?  She says we need to get my temperatures regulated (they are all over the place) and then we can work to support conversion.  Okay, but ugh, I hate taking these little white pills.  She didn't have any concerns with occasional seaweed or iodine in my multi's which is a relief.  She also doesn't think I need to worry about TH1 and TH@ dominance.  If I react to one of the triggers then we'll figure it out. 

I asked about Glutamine powder and Liposomal Glutathione but she wants me to wait before adding anything else in.  She is also researching Glutathione to figure out which one she trusts the most.

Oh, and she said I could experiment with fermented foods again.  I've eaten them in past and didn't notice any issue so I'll try again.

30 minutes goes so quick but I always find it so helpful.