After the SIBO Symposium in Portland, and the return of my SIBO infection in June, my doctor and I spoke about the next options for treating my SIBO. I began a pro kinetic right away. First ginger, then Iburogast. It took about a month to figure out the dose but eventually I settled on 30 drops of Iburogast at night before bed. Within 10 days of taking the Iburogast at night my body began to respond. I thought it herb tincture would be most noticeable in my digestive symptoms, but found that I noticed the greatest difference in how I felt. The sluggishness my body drug through everyday began to clear up and my daily energy began to increase. At night, I noticed differences in my sleep, waking up to twitches inside my belly.
For my next treatment, my doctor and I settled on the elemental diet for 2 weeks, then low dose herbs and essential oils for 1 to 2 weeks beginning the second week of the elemental diet. Because my body hates maltodextrin, we opted for the homemade elemental diet instead of pharmaceutical grade. As I waited for the amino acid powder to arrive in the mail I prepared for the elemental diet with the cheesecake diet.
The cheesecake diet was a weight gain diet for me. For some reason, even though the cream cheese wasn’t SIBO Specific Diet approved, I tolerated homemade cheesecake, made with honey or maple syrup for sweetener, and almond, pecan nut crust. I ate cheesecake three times a day for a week… well… okay… two weeks. It was an incredible break, and I even took an “official break” from the SIBO Specific Diet and tried dinner out at my favorite Italian restaurant a couple of times for pizza and amazingly delicious bread and olive oil. I was able to gain three pounds and mentally prepare for the challenges of the elemental diet.
I began the elemental diet and tried a few new recipes with the amino acid powder. Most of what I tried was terrible and I found I would rather go hungry than eat the recipes I found. Three days in to the elemental diet, I removed the amino acids powder from my diet as it caused diarrhea within 45 minutes of consumption. And on day four I decided to try a version of homemade chai tea with macadamia nut oil and honey. I loved the tea, and mostly lived off of variations of it for the remainder of the two weeks.
The elemental diet was very, VERY challenging, but I had a plan and stuck to it religiously to ensure my success. My plan was for ME and was designed to rely on my strengths, and specifically work on some of my weaknesses.
I was encouraged that my plan worked so well. Mostly, I spent a lot of time in prayer which helped me to rely on God and I got to do some fun things to keep me going. And I was encouraged that the elemental diet worked as well as it did. I felt the infection go away again and was so very hopeful that I was one of those people who could find a solution. But within two days of ending the treatment, even while continuing the pro kinetic, I learned I was wrong.
And I felt the SIBO infection return, again.
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