A new pile of Biotics Research herbs to try
Three weeks ago I switched from my AlliMed/Neem/Berberine protocol to a new one using Metagenics CandiBactin-AR and -BR. This was some potent stuff and I definitely felt a change within 24 hours. First, it gave me diarrhea, something that I never or very rarely have dealt with through the course of SIBO since I have the constipation type. This lasted about 2-3 days and then shifted to where I had more solid stools but they were like ruins, they sort of fell apart on flushing. I called Dr. Keller and she said this seemed to be a normal transition people went through so I wasn’t too concerned. I finished up the 15 days of CandiBactin treatment and as the time went on noticed I could suddenly eat a bit more food and my symptoms were for the most part gone.
I stopped everything last Sunday and took a week off of all supplements except my nightly prokinetic herbs During this week I had a few bad days but also tried some foods that I hadn’t had in a while. Interestingly my worse days were in the early part of the week and by the end of the week I’ve been feeling pretty good overall and eating even more new foods. I’m now up to 25 vegetables and 12 fruits, quite an improvement from the 2 vegetables and 1 fruit I could eat at this time last year. I’m even eating a few non-SIBO diet but AIP friendly foods like sweet potatoes and chocolate/cocoa in moderation. I’ve even managed to handle small amounts of garlic over the last few weeks, something I couldn’t touch before. So, my diet overall is greatly improved and more balanced, most meals now I even eat more vegetables and fruit than meat finally.
Yet, I’ve been dropping weight since January, going from 157 down to 152.6 in three months. I’m assuming this is due to my increased activity levels over the last few months so I’m trying to figure out how to #1 – cram in WAY more calories and #2 – still exercise but not burn so many calories. This means cutting back on running and increasing weight work. I feel great though, not weak and worn out like I did last time I was this weight so that is a good sign. I’m eating more, having regular poops and almost no symptoms most days so overall I think I’m healing but I also think it is very hard to gain weight on Paleo, let alone AIP. These diets with little carbs burn up your excess weight quickly and it is really hard to trap body fat when you don’t have excess carbs to turn on the mechanism in the body to store. I’m still at 14.3% body fat and my BMI is still in the range of a hunter-gatherer, I just don’t want to get in the mode of a very hungry hunter-gatherer.
Tomorrow I start yet another new protocol to see if I can hit this thing with a final one-two punch and take it out completely. This protocol is also from Dr. Gerard Mullen at John Hopkins and has been shown to be 80% effective. I’ll continue this until mid-May when I retest on May 15th. All the herbs are from Biotics Research whose web-site is broken at the moment or I’d put links to each product.
- A.D.P. (Oregano Oil) – 3-5 tablets/3x a day before meals
- Berberine HCL – 1 capsule/3x a day with meals
- FC Cidal – 2 capsules/3x a day with meals – a mix of antibiotic herbs including more thyme.
- Dysbiocide – 2 capsules/3x a day with meals – a mix of anti-parasitic herbs.
I do this for 14 days then take 7 days off. During the off period I do:
- Saccharomyces Boulardii – 1 capsule/2x a day
Then back on the antibiotic regime for 14 more days. I’ll get in almost 3 full rounds which is the recommended amount. Given my SIBO numbers are way down at the moment this should do it, or at least I hope it will. This protocol also has a lot of anti-parasitic herbs in it and oregano oil has been shown to be effective against parasites so I’m kind of hoping to kill two birds with one stone here and take out the blasto at the same time as the rest of the SIBO.
If all goes well and I test clean in May then I retest for the blasto and see where that stands. I don’t even want to get my hopes too up these days since it seems like I just get disappointed but I do know that I have felt a lot better this last 3 months than I had in over a year and my SIBO is almost to the point where I could live with it if need be at this level but I know that I really need to get rid of the infection in order to really regain my health.