In my recent post I went over my actual treatment protocols that I used for SIBO and briefly mentioned the other things that probably helped my treatment. I decided to do another post on just these aspects of dealing with SIBO since I think they are almost as important as the actual anti-microbial treatment. In the classes I have done for Health Coach training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, IIN, these aspects are called Primary Foods in contrast to the actual foods that one puts in ones mouth. The Primary Foods are – Relationships, Spirituality, Exercise and Career. How do these apply to my SIBO healing? Read on.
Relationships
SIBO can be an isolating illness. You feel like shit, you don’t want to or have the energy to get out of the house, people do not understand the illness at all and eating as a social activity is pretty much impossible. Yet keeping relationships going and getting support is very important to healing. I was very lucky in that Catherine was supportive the entire time, she saw how much I was struggling and understood the severity of the condition. My kids were also great and helped out a lot, especially during our move when I didn’t have the energy to do all the work needed to pack up, get a new house ready and unpack. I definitely lost touch with some friends due to SIBO and had to figure out ways to stay as involved as I could with some groups. Many of my friends were trail runners and I was unable to run so instead I volunteered at events to sit and do registration or to take photos when I was feeling up to it, it kept me in the local community and not be so isolated. I also learned to make new friends within the SIBO community. The online SIBO Support Groups really helped connect me with others who were dealing with the same issues and I quickly made some long distance friends through these groups. I then decided to start a local support group for SIBO sufferers and that turned out to be a great decision, I got to actually meet people in person dealing with the same thing and we could help support each other and I’ve made some friends through this group. We meet on a regular basis, chat in between meetings and even occasionally try to eat food together which is always kind of entertaining given everyone’s food sensitivities.
Spirituality
SIBO can be pretty damn depressing and get your spirits down. There was a time when I was pretty sure it was going to kill me since I was in such bad shape and couldn’t seem to get any better. The uncertainty and fear led to anxiety which led to more fear, it was a vicious cycle that was hard to break. This is where spirituality comes in, it can help ease this anxiety, fear and uncertainty. For me I got back into meditation and chanting on a daily basis. This helped calm me and deal with some of the anxiety. I also believe that the act of chanting and the vibration in the chest/throat from doing it helped stimulate the vagus nerve which I think had a therapeutic effect. Pick whatever works for you – meditation, yoga, chanting, prayer, organized religion – but pick something because it will help ease the fear and anxiety of SIBO.
Exercise
At my worst I could barely get off the couch so exercise of any type was out of the question and I missed it. Before coming down with SIBO I was in the best shape of my life. I was running marathons and ultra marathons, hiking, lifting weights and feeling great. That ended quickly and I became fairly bed-ridden for many months and I really missed being outside running in the woods. Once I was able to do something other than lie around the house I very slowly began getting more activity. It started with slow short walks on the trail in back of our house. I remember once on the 4th of July we did a 1 mile walk on the trail close by and I had to just stop to sit down part way through, I couldn’t even make it that far. I kept at it though and finally was able to walk several miles on easy terrain. I then began doing some hiking instead of just walking, adding a bit of elevation and trails instead of pavement. Once I was able to hike 3-4 miles I started trotting for 1 minute and walking for 4-5 minutes. The trotting slowly increased until I could actually run again for 1-2 miles. At this point I began actually going to events again, walking 5ks instead of running them or doing a mix of run and walk. As my strength came back I began working with weights and increasing my mileage. After about 18 months I was back to really running trail races and, amazingly, doing well since my weight had dropped so much with SIBO. In the last six months I managed to set PRs in 5k, 5-mile, 10k and 10-mile distances and am preparing to run a half marathon again in a month and a few 25k runs this spring. Get activity, whatever you are capable of. It doesn’t need to be crazy hard but any activity will help with stress and get you out of sick mode.
Career
Work is hard with SIBO and many people end up on leave or having to quit their jobs because of it. Some hardy souls I know have managed to hold down a full-time job while sick and I have no idea how they do it. I was totally unable to work for many months, my gut was killing me, I had no energy and my brain was not functioning well at all. I tried taking a contract job about six months in and just could not focus at all. After a while my brain got back to functioning and I was doing well enough that I could work for a few hours here and there. This is the state I was in when I did the SIBO app with Dr. Siebecker, it gave me something to do finally that was of interest to me and got me out of my own sickness a bit focusing on coding problems instead of my health problems. Getting SIBO caused me to really look at what I wanted to do the rest of my life and it has led me off into a whole new direction. I won’t go back to work for corporate America unless forced to and instead went back to school to get certified as a Health Coach and am working now in a few areas in the SIBO world where I really feel like working. Bottom line, don’t make yourself sicker by working a soulless job unless you really have to. Work stress can make you sick and while sick you don’t need to become worse because of it. If you are stuck in a bad job at least try to find ways to make the best of it and use this time to really re-evaluate what you are doing and what you want to be doing. Having rewarding, meaningful work can make a huge difference in one’s life.
Now, you can’t heal yourself from SIBO by fixing your life but dealing with these aspects of your life can definitely help with the healing process and cut the undo stress and anxiety that may be adding to the severity of the illness. While SIBO/IBS is not caused by stress as used to be believed, stress can indeed impact digestion and even the microbiome and thus hinder any treatment you are doing to rid yourself of SIBO. Use SIBO as a time to reflect on your whole life and what you want to be doing with it when you get better. SIBO forced me to slow down and examine the full circle of my life and I’ve grown because of it which is why I can say that SIBO, while it sucked totally, was also a great gift.