Next steps for dealing with methane while not actively killing....

While I wait for my antibodies to clear so my nerves can heal and restore function to my migratory motor complex in the small intestine I need to do something to keep the methane at bay.  I tried a 90 day protocol and that clearly didn't do much at all.  So what to do??  I don't want to dive into more killing so I may go back to the (possible) methane inhibitors.

Methane inhibitors
Red Yeast Rice - we know that Dr. Pimental is testing a lovastatin type drug to see if it inhibits methane production.  See here for information, scroll to bottom.  Red Yeast Rice does contain a natural form of lovastatin. I've used it in the past and was able to keep my methane numbers mostly in the single digits.  Once I got them to a certain level they wouldn't go lower but with Primary SIBO (aka the food poisoning induced autoimmune variety), getting the numbers down and maintaining them seems better than having them go up and down. And, it made goats fart less so why not us :) 

"At the genus level, the predominant archaea in the rumen of goats was Methanobrevibacter, 

which was significantly inhibited with the supplementation of red yeast rice. 

In conclusion, red yeast rice is a potential feed ingredient for mitigation of 

enteric methane emissions of goats." 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27467559

The link above is to a brand I used in the past. I might try a different brand this go 'round.

Ideal Bowel Support - this is a probiotic containing only 

Lactobacillus Plantarum which according to Chris Kresser can degrade methane.  I quite literally have a shelf of this stuff in my refrigerator.  Can't hurt!

Atrantil - This seemed so gimmicky when it first came out.  And there were so many "worked like a charm" and "didn't do squat" type comments on message boards that I really was skeptical. But I listened to Dr. Brown on a few recent podcasts and given my current situation (anti-vinculin antibodies negatively impacting motility) I thought I should at least try it.  It made me feel better, lighter.  I don't know how else to explain it.  I should say that I did use it after fasting so I was already feeling lighter and I do have most my digestive symptoms under control but wouldn't it be nice to be able to expand my diet without the usual repercussions. I think yes!  So I'm going to add it in while I focus on boosting motility and supporting healing.

Prokinetics
Cause if things aren't moving you are just generally screwed.  In hindsight I would have started taking these the second I learned I had SIBO.  Keeping things moving through the GI tract is the easiest way to prevent more overgrowth (in my opinion).  And note, not all of these are actual prokinetics, some have a more laxative effect, I realize that.  Slowing anywhere in the GI is just not good, makes you feel toxic, sluggish and ornery.
  
LDN - Low dose Naltrexone, although it really doesn't seem to actually have a prokinetic effect much if at all.  For those with Primary SIBO, LDE (low dose Erythromycin 50mg at bedtime) or Resolor (Prucalopride) seem to be the prescription of choice.  I don't tolerate Resolor because it has a teeny tiny amount of lactose.  Maybe you are luckier than I and tolerate dairy. Resolor is available through Canadian pharmacies.  I may ask for a script for LDE the next time I'm in office but I just hate the idea of more antibiotics even though it is a minidose. So for now I continue on LDN since it's beneficial for autoimmune issues.

Motilpro - Taken at bedtime, helps stimulate the cleansing waves of the small intestine at night.  In the beginning of my treatment it was recommended to take between breakfast and lunch as well but I don't really eat before lunch so I just wait until bedtime. Sometimes I take Ginger capsules in between breakfast and lunch.  The stuff is mega ginger burntastic so make sure to swallow it down with a LOT of water about a 1/2 hour before you actually go to bed.  

Vagal Tone - This shows some promise.  It was recommended by my ND but sadly I am reactive to the chamomile and it gives me a headache within seconds of application. Ugh! Similar to Iberogast in that you use it with meals and at bedtime, only it's external, apply a tiny dab on your occiput.

Magnesium - Most people recommend Magnesium citrate because it's not absorbed well into the system so does the trick. But it's acidic and can burn on the way out. Yikes!  Oxide is also not absorbed well and is not acidic, but I like a blend, that way your body can use some of the more absorbable forms and the rest can do it's job of pulling water into the colon and flushing the system.  I take it at dinner and bedtime so it can go to work in the evening and overnight.

Triphala - My new love.  LOL!  I used to swear this stuff did nothing but made me super constipated (and frustrated).  Turns out you just need to keep increasing to find your optimal dose.  I take 4 capsules at bedtime unless I've indulged and then I take a couple extra. Carbs and nuts do nothing but stop me up but oh how I love the taste of them!

I used Iberogast for a while but it started to not sit well.  It was the chamomile. Now the company has been sold to Bayer and is either being reformulated or completely taken off the market.  Either way pretty sad since I know it's used by many. I also try to use bitters before meals but got out of the habit and now forget a lot of the time.  These things can have a positive impact on motility as well.

Most of us have heard of the physical things we can do to stimulate the vagus nerve.  The vagus nerve stimulates the migratory motor complex so it's important that it's strong and active.  According to Dr. Kharrazian there is (vigorous) gargling, gagging and singing.  I also know from yoga that breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, most notably deep belly breaths followed by restricting and extending the exhale. It's your exhale that stimulate the parasympathic response. It's easiest to do this lying down.

Gut and Liver Support
Zinc Carnosine and L-Glutamine.  That's really all I have found that isn't mucilaginous and doesn't feeds the darned bugs.  I capsule up my own Glutamine because it's cheaper and I can avoid the fillers.  A lot of people drink it in water and it supposedly helps with sugar cravings, I just never liked doing it that way.  I recently added in a small dose of copper when I take extra zinc, apparently you are supposed to keep them balanced and not take zinc longterm on it's own.  Don't ask me where I read this, I cannot recall.

I always taking some sort of liver support because your liver takes the brunt of filtering whatever leaks through the intestinal wall.  If we are permeable and/or killing, your liver could use some assistance cleaning all that garbage out of the blood stream.  I've taken everything from plain Milk Thistle to ayurvedic formulas to herbal combinations.  I rotate formulas. 

Soil based probiotics remain my protocol (I would call it "my stack" but that seems really weird for some reason!).  I still take both PrescriptAssist and MegaSpore. I've done so much killing since my initial diagnosis that I feel it's necessary to support the microbiome in whatever way I can.  

Nerve Support
For those with Primary (autoimmune) SIBO, taking supplements that benefit nerve healing may be helpful.  It may not, who really knows.  I add Lion's Mane and Sunflower Lecithin to my hot chocolate and take Acetyl L-Carnitine in the morning. They talked about using Lion's Mane and Acetyl L-Carnitine at the SIBO Symposium a couple of years ago. 

The other thing I take that may or may not be of any help at all is Fibrenza.  My ND feels it may help remove antibodies in some way.  I have no idea how that would work but the idea of having something that scavenges the body seems good to me.



Please note - I do not make anything off these links I just included them for ease and examples.  All the links are products that I have used and companies I have purchased from.  Make your own decisions with your healthcare provider and buy from someone you trust.  Personally I don't like to buy supplements off Amazon unless I know it's coming straight from the company itself.  There are many rumors of counterfeit supplements out there.

Contemplating Digestive Enzymes

And came across this article. Seems like a good basic description. For me I'm most interested in breaking down protein since I know I have difficulty there and with vegetable fibers since I have a hard time chewing them completely. Still on the hunt for what, I can't honestly say I've noticed a difference with any of them, except ox bile.  I'm currently using OrthoMolecular Products DigestzymeV. It's fairly comprehensive but expensive, especially if the whole family is taking it.

I heard Mike Mutzel say recently that you should avoid DPP-IV in your routine digestive enzyme because it doesn't something bad in your gut.  Of course I can't remember what he said exactly or whether it was on his podcast or in one of the online summits he's been involved in.  The only enzyme I've seen it in are those targeted to gluten/dairy specific digestion.

I've also recently heard that you shouldn't take a digestive enzyme with Cellulase in it because this is not an enzyme that humans actually have (ruminant animals like cows do). I have yet to come across a comprehensive enzyme that doesn't have it.

Two new podcasts I'm listening to:
Gut Guardians
Nourish Balance Thrive

Such a viscous cycle...

I've been exhausted and pretty miserable.  My thyroid tests came back and while my TPO antibodies have dropped to the low 100's, my hormones still remain on the low side of the lab's range of normal.  It's frustrating because I look at them from a Functional Medicine ideal standpoint and my ARNP looks at the lab norms.  I think if it were just my thyroid I wouldn't be in such rough shape but since it's the whole thyroid-adrenal-gut thing it's been tough.  Freezing (low body temp), hair falling out, exhausted, not feeling rested, water retention, weight gain, loads of freaking fun, just ask my husband.  Thankfully my motility seems to be staying out of the game although I am still doing Iberogast before each meal, ginger between breakfast and lunch and again at bedtime and Vit C and Magnesium with every meal.  Vit C is supportive to the adrenals and my body just doesn't seem to ever get enough magnesium.  I'm trying to do ConcenTrace Minerals in water when I can remember but they are gross :)  I am great at remembering pills because I can organize those in individual containers.  The tinctures not so much, even though they are right next to where I hang out the most.

Update:
My ARNP finally called in a prescription for T3 2.5mcg in the morning and at bedtime.  I wanted to try a T3/T4 combo since my T4 is borderline low but there just don't seem to be many good options out there and she wouldn't prescribe.  So I did what I always do and went rouge.  I went back through all my notes and found that you can get one product that may be beneficial without a doctor and that is Thyro-Gold.  The ND of my nutrition program had recommended it but didn't clue me in that it was not prescription.  I went ahead and ordered a bottle since I had instructions on how to take it and I wasn't sure 2.5mcg BID was going to cut it (I was on 15 mcg BID before I stopped meds and crashed).  I have to say I have felt a bit better this week (after starting meds on Monday), but not stellar and I am still really tired.  The Thyro-Gold just arrived so I think I may start it tonight in place of the nightly T3 and see how it goes.  I react poorly to Adrenal glandulars (they make me beyond exhausted) so I may have to contact the ARNP to increase the dose if I react to thyroid glandular as well.  It's a bit tricky given that sometimes the antibodies can get riled up when you add in more thyroid gland.  We'll see.

This week I've been reading:
The Prime - which I love and find really fascinating.  It's written by a neurologist who is also trained in Ayurveda so she uses lots of herbs for healing and health.
Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms and Root Cause - just gathering information on how to best support my body and what my options are.  It's good to be educated!
Thank goodness I have so many great libraries in such close proximity to my house.  I can't imagine the cost of buying all the books I want to flip through and then where the heck would I store them?!?!?

Waiting on results....

It's been a week since my last antimicrobials and will be a week tomorrow since my breath test.  Since then I've just been sticking to a strict low FODMAP, mostly AIP diet.  The AIP part is only because so many of those foods showed up on my Array 10.

My belly still seems pretty big.  Inflammation?  Bloat?  I don't know but it seems to be slowly getting smaller.  My weight is slowly coming down.  My BM's have been spot on which is amazing since I'm not taking Magnesium at bedtime.

So what am I doing these days?

• Glutamine 2-3 times a day
• Zinc L-Carnosine 2-3 times a day
• Iberogast before meals
• Ox Bile with meals
• OrthoBiotic with breakfast
• Primal Defense between breakfast and lunch
• MegaSpore Biotic with lunch
• LDN at bedtime (will be switching to Resolor in a few days)

While waiting for the DUTCH test to arrive I have slowly (purposely) run out of all the adrenal support I was taking.  The only thing I am taking is Gaia Adrenal Health, it doesn't have additional DHEA or pregnenolone or adrenal gland, it's just herbs and I actually feel better.  It's also just so nice to be taking less supplements.

Other news...... we got a new car and a rooster.  The car is a used Toyota Highlander Hybrid, great gas mileage and will be good for camping.  Car shopping sucks and it's nice to have it done with.  The rooster was offered up on our neighborhood buy nothing fb group.  I was planning on eating him (she knew that when she gave it to me), but he's so pretty and funny and isn't crowing, so he's sticking around. Roosters are not allowed in the city, as long as he keeps his beak shut he's good :)  

Diatomaceous Earth

Yes I did!  I bought some diatomaceous earth and drank 1/4 tsp in water today.  It made me feel kind of weird.  It's supposed to help your body detox, kills parasites (not that any could survive in my body after all the protocols I've done) and has minerals in it.  I won't be doing it daily but I'm going to try to do it a few times a week.  On other days I may drink bentonite clay.  Just playing around to see if I feel any different if I use some detoxing products.  They are supposed to be really great for die off symptoms (and have been recommended by my various ND's) but since I've never experienced die off I've never used them.  Will be interesting to see if they have an impact on how I feel, will help reduce my inflamed gut and get rid of the extra freaking 7 lbs I'm lugging around.

My Resolor arrived today.  I must admit, I'm a little scared.  It's supposed to be some pretty potent stuff.  I think I will wait until Monday to start it.  Perhaps swtich the Motilpro to mid-morning with my Primal Defense and do Resolor at night instead.  I think adding it in to everything I'm already doing would be recipe for disaster since I seem to be in a really good place right now.

My bad is almost 100%, my massage and chiro appt tomorrow should get me the rest of the way there.  I pulled out my Becoming a Supple Leopard book and my The Role Model book to work on stretching out my hip flexors and rolled my belly.  It helped so much.  Tomorrow should get me the rest of the way there!  Yay!

No more guar!

I've only got one or so more days of my kill supplements so I am stopping the guar gum and will just take the supplements with my meals.  Tomorrow will be my last day of Allicin, Oregano and Biocidin.  I ran out of Olivirex a day or two ago.  I have two more days of Berberine. Will do the follow up breath test on Friday or Saturday.  Then wait on pins and needles for who know how long for the results. That's always the worst part.  Although it will be easier this time because I am need a break from all the killing. Really the worst part is going back to being super strict with diet which means cutting back on avocados :( and no more sweet potatoes (the ferment potential is just too high) and NO MORE FRENCH FRIES or potatoes or leftover potato skins no matter how much I want them.

Have I told you how much I like Ox Bile.  Ha ha.  It makes things so smooth and easy.  Why didn't any of my NDs tell me about this little trick???  Since bile activates Rifaximin I wonder if it be beneficial to take it during treatment??  Dr. Pimental says that once Rifaximin goes into the large intestine there is no more bile so the Rifaximin crystalizes and passes right through without disturbing the large intestine flora.  Wonder if taking excess bile would keep the Rifaximin active throughout the colon??  That would be bad...  Hmmmm.  

I have yoga teacher training for the next 5 weekends and I just put my back out last weekend.  Thanks to my chiro it's healing quickly this time.  Her orders, no sitting. I've been doing way too much sitting (and reading in bed) and not enough yoga and walking which I used to do daily.  I call it taking a break, but I'm really just getting out of shape obviously since I can't bend over to pick up my hat without throwing my back out.  Standing is not comfortable and the first time I walked I thought I was going to have to call someone for a ride home but everything loosened up halfway through the walk and I'm been improving ever since.  My massage therapist had Monday and Tuesday off this week so I can't see him until Thursday.  Ah well, gives me a chance to resolve some of the resulting muscle spasms a bit before he digs into them.  And my husband loves me so much that he has sympathy muscle spasms in his back.  Good times!  LOL!  Seriously, I'm not complaining at all, we have a lovely easy life 99% of the time.  It's hiccups like this that remind you to get off your ass and take care of yourself.

Off to tackle laundry mountain!

Day 9 - Feeding and killing

I have been bloating something awful but that is to be expected when you drink guar gum twice a day.  I drink it with the morning and afternoon doses of kill supps (biocidin, Olivirex, allicin, oregano, Candibactin-BR).  After dinner I just can't stomach it so I make sure I eat carbs with dinner to feed the little buggers.   Feeling hopeful this morning as there was a dip in my weight even after eating a ton of french fries with dinner (which would usually put me up at the very least 1/2 lb).  Fingers crossed.  Once I run out of supps I will take a breath test which arrived in the mail yesterday.  But ya, feeling hopeful today, which is a nice thing. Could be the probiotic/resistant starch enema I did at bedtime too.  Who knows :)

Oh and for those of you who use NCNM for breath tests (or your providers use NCNM), this new resource may have a much quicker turnaround time and I believe they use Quintron.  It's $20 more than NCNM but if you need fast results it may be worth it to you.  I have not used them, just heard about them through one of my groups.  For Lactulose breath test provider has to request, of course, but I think it's as easy as making a call.  My ND was complaining to me at the last visit about how NCNM constantly changes their procedure and he had to just through hoops to get tests (make an account, print a form, then fax it in) when he used to simply pick up the phone and make a call.

Ox Bile

If you listen to the interview of Dr. Siebecker on Dr. Ruscio's podcast you may have missed the little tidbit of Dr. Ruscio saying he has patients with constipation add in Ox Bile (Dr. Siebecker thought it was a great idea).  It's not a prokinetic by any means but it will cause loose stools if you take more than your body needs and it's antimicrobial.  And, you know me, I'm all about experimenting.  I gotta tell you it's not expensive, I think I paid less than $10 for a bottle of 100 500mg caps at my local Super Supplements and it's made my bm's nicer, easier, especially while carbing and killing, both of which tend to bind me up. Not that you wanted to know that!

Listen to the Holistic Oral Health Summit this week and found the chart he presented sooooo interesting. The dentist (Gary Larsen) said that when he pulls root canaled teeth he has been surprised time and time again how patients come back and report resolution of other health conditions (autoimmune, heart arrythmias, psoriasis, etc).  He presented a chart similar to this one.  Pretty interesting stuff and I'm definitely going to compare my root canals to the chart.  Not saying I'm going to yank any teeth out but would be interesting to see if any symptoms correlate with the teeth I have canals in.  According to him, teeth are porous and live teeth constantly weep (sort of) to flush out microbes.  When you root canal the teeth they lose this ability and can become a festering mess that you can't really feel because the nerves to the tooth have been removed. I have had a lot of dental issues so hoping to learn some things this week about what I can do to support and resolve them.

Nausea

Switched to the herbals yesterday and by dinnertime I was nauseous.  Not like "oh crap I'm going to puke" just queasy.  I skipped the post dinner guar gum, took everything and went to bed.  This morning I got queasy again but before I had taken all the herbals and after I had take the L-Glutamine.  I switched from capsules to powder which is much, much stronger.  Clearly they use quite a bit of filler when they make capsules in factory as opposed to when you make them at home out of pure L-Glutamine.  Need to back off and ramp up a little more slowly.  At least I quickly figured out the culprit!

Lot's of chatter yesterday about Atrantil amongst my SIBO friends on fb.  Seems that that small study may have been done using employees of the company??, and that some practitioners are reporting bad reactions like dry heaving.  And for those it did help they rebounded bad once they ran out of samples.  No thank you, not that desperate yet.

So this whole timing thing with all the various supplements I am taking is making life difficult.  Thank goodness it's only temporary.  I've decided to take my kill supps between meals with guar gum.  So it's even more coordinating of spacing meals, spacing kill supplements from probiotics, taking my bitters and Iberogast 20 minutes before meals.  Not taking too much at once and getting nauseous.  Bedtime can be the worse.  One night I had 16 pills out, plus the guar.  Need to space the nightime stuff so it's not so much at once.  Maybe dinner before 6, kill supps and guar around 8 and then motility/gut healing supps at bedtime.  We'll see!

This is interesting

I've never tried Atrantil but this study while REALLY small looks intriguing.

I'm like, almost dead or something

As part of the nutrition certification program I am doing we had to run a Biohealth 205 (adrenal hormone test) on ourselves.  I'm feeling pretty okay most of the time these days but when I spit in my tubes for the 205 I was in a pretty good low, feeling really incredibly beat.  My assumption was it would impact the results.  I  received them via email this morning and it basically said I have barely enough cortisol to keep me upright.  I exaggerate of course but it was shockingly low (morning, noon and afternoon) and that's after months and months of supplementing and taking it easy.  WTF!  I have a 2 hour meeting with my mentor on Friday to go over a plan but she already emailed me a draft and it's everything I'm already doing and to be honest she knows nothing about SIBO so not sure how beneficial it will be.  One recommendation was BioMatrix Support Mucosa, no way in hell I'm taking anything that is going to increase mucus production until my bugs are long gone.  We ran the Biohealth 101 as well which looks at Urinary Indican and a couple of liver measures.  My Indican was positive, don't need a test to tell you that would be the case, since positive = gut dysfunction.  My Urinary Bile Acid sulfates were elevated.  Again, duh, gut dysfunction + 18 months of on and off (mostly on) various kill protocols.  Poor liver just can't keep up.  Recommend testing for intestinal permeability.  Ya, no thanks, I can tell you my gut is permeable without testing based on multiple food reactions and occasional itchiness still if I get into something I shouldn't.  She is also recommending another stool test and breath test.  Um, had 2 stool tests, last one clean so I'm not sure that's necessary and as for the breath test I'm trying to get my hands on one.  I think it may be pricier to do it through my nutrition program because I have to go through the medical director and I don't think they use Quintron which is what all my other tests have been through.

Oh, and my husband's vehicle was stolen from the front of our house Sunday night.  Interesting to wake up to a missing car on Monday morning.  What a way to start the week!  We had to laugh because really what else can you do, and it was just a falling apart 20 year old vehicle.  Everyone in the neighborhood have been really apologetic.  I'm thinking, jeez it's not like we were carjacked.  That would be terrible and scary.  But to sleep peacefully through a crime.  That's a blessing really.  Truly bad things happen to truly good people all the time, just tune into the world news.  This was nothing in comparison to what others are going through.

All this typing to avoid taking my guar and bedtime supps.  I increased again, so I'm now at 3/4 tsp in 8 oz of water.  It's really going to be hard to get down.  A straw makes it easier but damn it's thick.  I thought for the morning I would mix it in my hot chocolate but I think it would be pretty undrinkable at the thickness it would make it.  Still might give it a try.  Haven't noticed any bloating or other SIBO weirdness yet.

A handful of Betaine...

We arrived on Friday night after dark to our campsite so we had to set up in the dark.  When I finally climbed into the tent I took my nighttime (mostly prokinetic) supplements by dim headlight.  Imagine my surprise the next morning at breakfast when I discover that I took all the Betaine HCL I had packed and not my prokinetics.  That plus french fries was not a good combination on my poor sluggish digestion.  I can tell you for certain that I do need my prokinetics and Betaine doesn't function as a prokinetic at all :)  Ha!

Planning to start killing tomorrow.  A bit nervous...

This is what my Sundays look like..

Putting together my supplements for the week.

Sauteeing up my vegetables to go on the side with dinner.  Looking forward to the change in seasons and hoping I will tolerate winter squash since there is a ton of it in our yard!!  My husband will kill me if I can't eat it ;)

Weight and bloat SLOWLY resolving..

It would be so nice if all the weight and the bloat disappeared as quickly as it comes on.  2 lbs of water weight went away pretty quickly after my half bottle of wine but the big ole belly has been hanging around.  I BINGED on chocolate yesterday, like 5 mini homemade mini Reeses peanut butter cups AND a whole chocolate mint pie from Whole Foods.  This morning my belly is down to normal size and I've even come down another 1/2 lb.  Imagine if chocolate were the cure!  LOL!

So with this bloat my mind has been busy contemplating options.  I have 5 days of Rifaximin in my cabinet and a bunch of Allicin.  I know a few people who are trying the Guar Gum (up to 1 tsp) 20-30 minutes before you take your antimicrobials.  I'm intrigued to say the least. My numbers are low but my symptoms indicate the need for continued treatment.  I'm also contemplating Candibactin AR & BR.  I tested positive for thyme (on the Array 10) but I cut it out for several weeks and recently had it in a batch of soup and did not react so I may be good to go.  We obviously know the fish is still a no go.

In the meantime I am adding the OrthoBiotic back in with breakfast to see how it goes and have ordered Motilpro to add in at bedtime.  Serrapeptase will be added before meals, it may help break down biofilms and even if it doesn't it helps with protein digestion which I still need. I am continuing with the Endozin (Zinc-Carnosine and L-Glutamine) and the PrescriptAssist at lunchtime.  So rebuild, refeed and keep sweepin'.

Idaho camping recap

Let me just start out by saying HOLY SMOKES!  Forest fires everywhere.  I really didn't understand until I drove to the eastern part of our state and there is just a trough of smoke coming out of the Chelan/Methow area.  Wow!  I don't have cable tv and don't watch the news.  I browse the newspaper every day but there really hasn't been much printed.  We only had one day where you could smell the smoke strongly and woke up the next day with ash on the car.  The rest of the time it was sufficiently windy that we could see it but not really smell it.

So this is what I ate for breakfast just about every morning while camping.  Hamburger patty, grilled green beans, 1/2 avocado and hot chocolate. Oh, and a shot of probiotic tonic (sauerkraut juice).

This was my usual lunch (more like a snack) - Pemmican, kale chips and macadamia nuts. We were really bummed that our US Wellness meats order arrived the day we left so we couldn't pack beef sticks (same as pepperoni but without the spice).

I ended up needing to get rid of veggies in the refrigerator before we left so I ended up with a few days of the usual sauteed curry vegetables I eat at home, usually with grilled chicken. 

I ate salmon the first night we were there and broke out in a belly rash.  It was the first time I have tried it since it came up positive on my Array 10.  I pretty much remained rashed and just a bit itchy because I ate eggs too.  

Wine, oh wine.  I really don't miss it but we drank it 3 nights.  One night my husband and I split a whole bottle while sitting around the fire pit at the ranch we stayed at in Cle Elum.  It was so nice to have a fire and we celebrated.  My digestion transitioned to great and stayed there.  I tapered off of all my antimicrobials while camping as I ran out.  I switched from Kal Garlicare with Red Yeast Rice to Jarrow Formulas Red Yeast Rice + Nattokinase.  I should have kept track of the switch but didn't.  It happened sometime during the trip and could be responsible for some of the increase in motility.

And the potatoes....  gained yet another 2 lbs eating potatoes.  I know I shouldn't but I love the skin of baked potatoes and my son and husband do not.  I can't stand to see they get tossed so ended up eating them a couple of different nights.  And the potato chips, I consumed more than my fair share of those!

The last night I tossed thinly sliced carrots in ghee, sprinkled them with salt and roasted them.  I called them carrot fries so the kids would try them and they liked them. Yay!  My husband said they were better than sweet potato fries.  I beg to differ but then again I actually love sweet potatoes and he doesn't even like them :)

The plan for now is to try to add the OrthoBiotic back in and add some Motilpro.  Probiotics and Prokinetics.  I think the bloating I was experiencing before I left was due to the sauteed kale and not the OrthoBiotic.  I'm still not very good at chewing sauteed kale, I do better with dehydrated because it just breaks apart when you chew it.  I continued to bloat off and on during the trip but I also ate kale (and potatoes and wine and waaaaay too much chocolate) throughout the trip.  So we'll see how things settle out over the next week.

Off to buy school supplies.  Where did the summer go???

Almost there

Back to my diet, back to my walks, back to yoga, back to probiotics.  I'm almost back to normal. I keep forgetting to drink my probiotic tonic shots with breakfast and lunch but I put my pill form probiotics in with my meal supplements so I know I am getting those in.  I am taking Ortho Biotic with breakfast and PrescriptAssist with lunch.  I'll definitely be packing them on our trip next week (more camping, more mountain biking, a water park and a dude ranch).  When I get back I'll rotate them out and add Primal Defense back in.  I think it's good to switch things up.  I need to place another order for MegaSpore Biotic since that one seems to take the longest to get.  I'm also slowing tapering off my current kill protocol as I run out of supplements.  I'll keep just keep on with the biofilm and cell wall disrupters.

Oh, and I'm tapering off my thyroid medication and then I'll test my thyroid to see how it's holding up.  Hopefully my conversion from T4 to T3 has improved with the addition of Thyrosol (a Metagenics product specifically designed for supporting conversion).

Fits and Spurts

Sometimes I guess I just don't have much to say.  The suddenly I'll think of 10 things and write a bunch of posts.  Anyway!  I signed up for Wanderlust months ago.  Wanderlust is a big yoga festival that travels all over.  I am in the midst of it now.  In preparation I cut out lunch.  Seems odd, I know, but my Wanderlust schedule has me in classes from 8am to 3:30pm and so I wanted to acclimate my body to that before diving in.  I guess I didn't cut out lunch competely, I eat a packet of almond butter and have jasmine tea (not really what anyone in their right mind would consider a meal!).

And of course the festival doesn't come to my hometown so I had to pack up a CRAPTON of food to bring with me.  Today I didn't have leftovers in the refrigerator when I got back so I whipped up a smoothie.  I haven't tried one in a loooooong time.  I kept it low FODMAP (coconut milk, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, carrot and spinach).  It immediately made me feel sick, thank goodness my body throws up major warning signals to keep me from downing the whole thing and suffering for it..  My body just isn't ready to handle the raw stuff yet.  I recently ate a banana successfully so I don't think it's the fructose.  All I can say is thank goodness for hot dogs :)

My first class tomorrow is a meditation class so I'll be able to eat a HUGE breakfast to sustain me better and I have all the veggies ready to be sauteed up when I get home.  This morning all I could choke down was an offal muffin and a hot chocolate.

While I am here I do plan on eating out and drinking a glass of wine here or there so I am taking all my Biocidin, Olivirex, Red Yeast Rice with Garlic, SerraGold and Oreganol for 10 days.  I took a break just before I came but wanted to be a little more lax with my diet (french fries) while here so decided to do another round.

Other than that, life has been same old thing.  Sticking with the diet (for the most part) and treating off and on.  Trying to get my hands on a breath test to see if this latest protocol has made a difference at all.

Oh, and after all the yoga craziness is done I will be adding back lunch again.  With my adrenals as taxed as they are it's not good to deprive your body of meals (and drink caffeine instead).

Mixing It Up - Adding to the Current Protocol

I'm really kicking it up a notch with the probiotics.

After breakfast I added in 1/3 tsp of Primal Defense HSO Probiotic Formula, it's supposed to be taken on an empty stomach.  It is hard to get down, like drinking gritty, dirty water.  With lunch I am still taking the somewhat controversial MegaSpore Biotic and added in Lactoprime Plus. I've had the Lactoprime a while and I really don't think it's live anymore. I tried to make yogurt out of it and it did nothing so I figured might as well use it up.  I'm trying to drink my Probiotic Tonic from the Classic Kraut with breakfast and lunch, but I don't enjoy it nearly as much as the tonic from the Firefly Kimchi (yum!).  Alas, the Firefly Kimchi drink has spicy peppers in it and they came up positive on the Array 10 so I'm trying to be good and refrain (although the rice, beans and carne asada from the taco truck today was quite spicy ;).  Just drawing the bugs out so I can kill them.  I do this on occasion.  If I had it to do all over again I'm not sure I would have restricted my diet until the bugs were gone.  I can't be sure, but I wonder if the whole SIBO diet just slowed the killing.

It's fascinating because the M. Smithii archaea are a mechanism for retaining energy (calories).  Research has shown that the archaea is very common in starving populations like anorexics and in Sub-saharn Africa.  Makes me wonder if starving the buggers with diet and even the elemental diet does a bit of good.  They seem to be quite unstarvable!  Which leads to how to get through their biofilm and get them.

After listening to Dr. Ruscio's wrap up of the SIBO Symposium I decided to add in Red Rice 
Yeast. He said that statins appear to inhibit their cell wall formation. I picked up a blend from Solaray Garlicare with Red Rice Yeast.  This yeast is a natural statin. I'm going to try this blend while I do more research since it's inexpensive.  Hoping I don't react to the garlic but if anything it will draw the archaea and bacteria out while I pummel it with Biocidin, Olivirex, and the newly added Oreganol (which should arrive tomorrow).  My stomach has stopped bloating in the middle of the night so I figured it's time to stir things up. Ha!

So about 1/2 hour before meals I am now doing:

• Biocidin 20 drops
• Oliverix - 2 capsules
• Serrapeptase - 2 capsules (I won't be buying this again).
• Alli-C - 2 capsules (almost out)
• Garlicare - 1-2 capsules*
• Oreganol - 1-2 capsules*
• Iberogast - approx 40 drops
• Bitters - 1/2 -1 tsp (depending on how heavy my protein is going to be)

* I'll likely start with one capsule and work up to two.

If you haven't checked this cookbook out yet, do it!  I picked it up from the library today and it looks AMAZING.  It seems like a lot of the recipe's can easily be modified to be low FODMAP.

Oh, and my son's ND gave him some RepairVite-SE and I have been taking a bit of it but I think the luo han guo fruit extract may have made me bloaty yesterday.  I can't think of anything else it could have been.  RepairVite-SE is pretty much the same as Endozin except way more potent and with some digestive enzymes.

I've slept more this past week than I have in ages and I'm finally feeling rested (another reason to turn the heat up!).  I'm also doing better with hydration since I started squeezing in a lime and an orange into my quart of water.  That is probably helping with the feeling of exhaustion as well. 

Enough for now!  I'll let you know in a couple of days how things are going.  Could get exciting :)  Have a fun and safe 4th of July!  I don't know about where you live but it's dry as can be around here in Washington.  No real rain in months!

Triphala

In John Herron's book The Gut Health Protocol he sings the praises of Triphala.  I had used it way back when but it was no match for the methane.  I decided to give it another try.  I'd heard rumors that it hindered T4 to T3 conversion but I couldn't find any research of any kind to back it up.  Well, my temperatures TANKED.  Even with my medication I could barely keep it above 98.0.  And worse than that it made me constipated.  WTF!  It's supposed to have the OPPOSITE effect.  No such luck with me.  So, if anyone wants to try some Triphala, let me know.  It's in my supplement graveyard.

Time to change things up - New Protocol

So I'm sticking with the Biocidin for now.  I think I like it.  It has tea tree oil in it which helps get into those pesky biofilms.  After looking at Bio-botanical Health's Comprehensive Cleanse program I decided to add Olivirex to the mix .  As much as I hate to, I'm keeping in the Allimed.  Everyone says you need it for methane but I wonder if it works is all.  I've taken sooooo much of it and it's so expensive.  I'm trying the tincture this time for kicks.  For those of you who dearly miss garlic, the tincture is super yummy.  After looking at all the various biofilm busters I decided to give Serrapeptase a try.  I really, really want to try Lactoferrin but the milk.  Dairy brings my digestion to a complete and utter halt.  Not helpful even if it is kicking the biofilm's butt.

So this is everything I take 20-30 minutes before meals:

• Digestive Bitters
• Iberogast - 20 drops
• Vital-zymes (2)
• Biocidin (working up to 20 drops)
• Olivirex (2 capsules)
• Allimed (15 drops)
• Serrapeptase (1)

I've also added Triphala between meals to help with my motility.  I need to do more research on this as I saw on a fb group that it can hinder T4 to T3 conversion.  That is mostly the liver's job.... hmm.  I'm still taking tumeric and fermented cod liver oil to help with inflammation.  And I am taking Betaine HCL with meals to help my body break down protein since it struggles with this.  I'm also taking LiverCare to help support the liver.  Both Biocidin and Olivirex have Milk Thistle so there is support there as well.  SIBO and the treatment of SIBO can be rough on the liver and I want to make sure I am supporting it.

At night I'm taking:

• LDN
• Iberogast
• 5-HTP

I seriously would not recommend jumping into the protocol I've outlined above.  I never experience anything resembling die off but many, many people do, not to mention I made this protocol up myself.   AND my ND at the SIBO Center pretty much told me I was crazy, especially when I said I was taking MegaSpore Biotic and eating fermented foods.  They really like to stick to things that have been researched and mostly formulas that contain few ingredients so they know what is working.  

I've been doing this protocol for approximately a week and things seem to be going well.  Feeling a bit tired but I'm losing weight which to me is a good sign.  The methane producing M. Smithii love to make you hold onto calories and therefore weight.  The fact that I'm losing little bits makes me think I'm making some headway in killing them off.  Now to decide when to test again!