In a holding/healing pattern

Instead of being impulsive and diving right into the next killing spree since my small intestine is still overrun with methane, I'm trying a little patience.  Not my strong suit and if you've read any of my earlier posts you know I was more likely to go stronger, longer which has not been to my benefit.  I tried fasting, lasted two days, which makes sense since SIBO can have such a damaging effect on your ability to digest and assimilate.  So I was talking this through with my coach on Wednesday.  She's more of a business/lifestyle coach, not a health coach but she's so darned good at reading me and getting me to really think things through on my own that I broached the subject with her.  You tell me what to do and I'm likely to push back but lead me there and let me think it's my idea and I'm all in :) . Such is the way of my crazy brain!  

So, a year and a half ago after my last major "I'm going to rotate through ever last antimicrobial in the cupboard in a last ditch effort to get rid of every last archaea" episode, I gained 10 lbs, like BOOM!  This has annoyed the hell out of me for a multitude of reasons, one being I can't get my wedding band on, the other being I feel like a stuffed sausage in my clothes.  So while I say that I want to fast to let my digestion rest what I really want to do is lose these stubborn 10 lbs.  So this was the conversation with my coach, am I really fasting for the right reasons??  Maybe I just need to read The Complete Guide to Fasting again, I said.  She responded, stop reading, you are just giving yourself analysis paralysis, what does your body tell you?  I started to respond again from the head.  No, she said, take some time, lay on the floor, hand on heart and belly and really listen.  I don't have to.  My body is soooo hungry for nutrition, which means fasting will continue to be torture and I should really contemplate elemental if I do in fact want to give my digestion a rest.

I have a bag of the Integrative Therapeutics Physicians Elemental Diet but it's so sugary (dextrose and tapioca maltodextrin are the first two ingredients) that I am too chicken to try it.  I'm afraid it's just going to make me itch like crazy since I react so easily to sugars.  Not to mention that I would have to take antifungals as it can feed yeast overgrowth bigtime.  I'm sensitive to both potato and tapioca so there's that too.  I believe the dextrose is from potato since the formula is corn and wheat free. Those are the major sources of dextrose (potato, corn, wheat).  So back to contemplating the homemade elemental....  so nasty.  Still not sure that I want to go that route but really feel like my body could use the love.  In the meantime I'm stuffing my face with mexican food and contemplating beer :P.

Knock, knock?

Is anyone still out there??  

So, yes, it's been forever.  I felt pretty good for about a year, working on motility, gut healing and rebuilding my gut microbiome.  Then the election happened and I won't get political but I just tanked from all the stress.  First, my thyroid took a nose dive and I started pushing into Reverse T3.  Worked to get that sorted out, eventually just throwing in the towel and switching from NDT (natural dessicated thyroid) back to Cytomel.  The muscle cramping didn't go away and the itching came back, which are my body's major SIBO signs.  I'm on so many prokinetics that I have the digestion stuff down so it's the only way my body can cry wolf. On New Year's Day I broke down and did a breath test.  Hello Methane!  

Baseline was so much higher than it's ever been.  Super discouraging and I knew I had to know for sure.  Was my IBS due to the two bouts of food poisoning I had in 2010??  I printed out the lab requisition for the IBSChek and presented it to my ND.  Results came back positive on both measures meaning yes, I have had food poisoning and yes, this SIBO is autoimmune in nature.  Even though the events were nearly 7 years ago I still have antibodies well over the cutoff.  Drat!

We know that when SIBO is autoimmune there's not a heck of a lot you can do until the antibodies clear but I added Lion's Mane and Acetyl L-Carnitine back in to support nerve regeneration.

I opted to do Chris Kresser's SIBO protocol because I've tried many of the others.  90 days of GI-Synergy, biofilm disruptors (lauricidin and Interfase plus), probiotics (Megaspore, PrescriptAssist and Ideal Bowel Support) and hydrolyzed guar gum.

Retest last week...

A big ole...  let down.  Are things better?  Yes!  Have my symptoms reduced?  Yes!  Did I expect more from 90 days of protocol?  Hell YES!

So for now I'm trying Atrantil as I hear for some it can really help with methane.  I'm also playing around with fasting.  Not elemental diet, plain old broth only fasting a couple of days here and there.  I feel pretty darn good.  I have a bag of the ITI ED (Integrative Therapeutics Elemental Diet) sitting in my cupboard but I've heard so many stories of "now I have SIFO" or "now I have a horrible yeast problem and it's worse than SIBO", that I'm seriously scared of the stuff.  I do not tolerate carbs or sugars very well at all so there's that too.  Not sure I could stomach going the homemade elemental diet again and that seems to be the only way you can control the amount of carbs.

Oh and can I just say Biohealth rocks for breath testing - Quintron machine, 3 hr lactulose, I did my test on Monday and had the results by Thursday morning.  I NEVER have to go through NCNM/NUNM again.  Woot! Woot!

Free to watch until Wednesday

The Sacred Science

I like stuff like this, maybe you will too.  Made me think about the book The Loving Diet (nope don't have it yet but it's on the short list).  

That said, my weight is creeping back up about 1/2 lb a day without be enjoying those extra calories, and my belly is getting bigger, up almost an inch in the last 3-4 days.  Discouraging to say the least.  May need to start digging deeper.

Doing the 5 spot will provide a physical clue, maybe I need to start exploring the mental/emotional ones too!