I feel like I should have written this post before Thanksgiving, but better late than never. The holidays can be such a stressful and isolating time when you are in the midst of treating your SIBO. I remember when my symptoms were at their worst, holidays were a real battle. Not only did I have to give up all my favorite holiday treats, I had to answer the never ending stream of comments and questions fired at me by family…
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Ever since my FMT post, I have received an endless stream of messages wanting to know how the heck I am doing! So, I apologize for not doing this sooner and leaving you all waiting with baited breath. It has been 10 months since my last FMT treatment! My gut symptoms have improved about 60-75%. I do get some bloating and abdominal pain occasionally , but not nearly as bad as I used to. I honestly think that my remaining…
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During my SIBO journey, managing my weight was a monumental task. I had a very rapid and scary weight loss of about 25 pounds in a 4-month period. And I was at a healthy weight before the loss so I looked and felt quite emaciated when I reached my lowest weight. What was even scarier than my severe weight loss was how others perceived my weight loss. There were 3 main reactions that were all detrimental to my healing journey.…
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There was nothing that made me want to pull my own hair out more than trying to decide on what diet to follow during SIBO treatment. It seemed like many of the popular SIBO diets contradicted each other. I latched on to the popular notion that the more I could starve the bacteria the faster I would beat the SIBO. So, I religiously followed a low carb SCD/FODMAP combo for 4 months. It seemed like my whole life revolved around avoiding…
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Any one with SIBO (or any other chronic health problem) knows that the healing journey can be a rollercoaster ride both physically and emotionally. There can be peaks like the joy and energy you feel after you receive that negative SIBO test. That sweet relief you feel when you can finally get back to the life you once had that wasn’t burdened by the painful belly bloat and dietary restrictions. But, then comes the relapse! You are completely devastated. The hopelessness and loss…
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Last week, I uploaded my root cause infographic and it seemed like you guys liked that format! So, I decided to do another infographic! Yay for artsy SIBO content! In this infographic, I wanted to give you a list of the most common symptoms for each root cause. I could not include all the symptoms. There are just too many to list on an infographic. But, I think I listed enough of the most common symptoms to give you an idea…
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If you have read my blog in the past, you know that I am constantly trying to persuade fellow SIBO sufferers to search for the root cause of their SIBO! Obviously that can be easier said than done, but true healing can not take place without treating your root cause(s). I have been playing around with how to present the various root causes of SIBO and I decided to push my creativity to its limits and make an infographic. Below…
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I remember feeling so overwhelmed when my functional medicine practitioner emailed me this infamous infographic of the SIBO specific diet. The dreaded columns of “yes” and “no” foods still haunt my dreams. But, I was desperate to feel better….to feel like myself again. My functional medicine practitioner was adamant that starving the bacteria of fermentable fibers was not an option, but a necessity. I felt as though if I didn’t stick to this list 100% I was going to fail.…
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As I discussed in my last post, so many SIBO sufferers and practitioners mistakenly view SIBO as solely a bacterial problem. By blindly focusing on the overgrowth, many SIBO sufferers relapse continuously, because they haven’t addressed the motility problem that is causing their SIBO. These motility problems can stem from a plethora of potential root causes such as hormonal dysfunction (especially thyroid diseases like Hashimotos and cortisol dysregulation), large intestinal bacterial imbalances, autoimmune diseases, liver inflammation, heavy metal toxicity and brain inflammation…
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This is a guest post written by Josh from sibosurvivor.com. I’m excited to share some of his experience with restrictive diets on my blog. Happy reading! Have you ever gotten so frustrated about eating because your digestive symptoms just won’t ease up? Yes, I’ve been there. I feel like everyone who lives with IBS-SIBO or any other digestive disease has low points where they are desperate enough to go to extreme measures. My name is Josh and I live with…
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