I re-did my stool test a year later in hopes that I had wiped out the blastocystis hominis infection as well as fixed up my colon flora a bit and the results are in – no more blasto! This is huge, I am finally parasite free. That means my various treatments have killed off blasto and entamoeba histolytica (Montezuma’s Revenge) over the last 18 months. I’m pretty sure the Mullen protocol at the end did in the blasto, that was a huge mix of anti-microbials and anti-parasitics.
Monthly Archives: September 2015
No autoimmune SIBO for me
I decided to take the IBSChek test to see if I had the antibodies to vinculin so that I’d know if I was going to be prone to relapse for the next several years. I figured that with my history of travel and food poisoning that I had these antibodies and would be dealing with relapses in a few months until the antibodies cleared out after 6-7 more years. Results are in and the test was NEGATIVE! That was a huge relief.
I’m feeling really good these days even after a week long trip I took where I was dependent on someone else doing my cooking and several restaurants. I ate a lot of salad and raw veggies which I usually don’t do but had no issues with theml. I did carry along my cooler with some kraut, kombucha, Epic products, muffins and cookies to make sure I was going to be fine but really didn’t need it though ate it for extra calories. Zero gut issues and no recurring constipation on the entire trip so I really think the SIBO is completely gone at this point. I did drop 3 lbs but that was to be somewhat expected. I’m still awaiting the Comprehensive Stool Test to see if I still have the blasto and if I have balanced my colon flora out a bit. Should have that back in a few weeks and then I’ll meet with Dr. Bowen to discuss and decide whether or not to continue probiotics and to start tapering off the prokinetics.
Deschutes steelhead & Yakima trout
It had been a few years since I’d taken a fishing trip thanks to illness but in the spring I signed up for this trip figuring I’d be back to 100% be fall. Well, I wasn’t quite to 100% and had some doubts just weeks before the trip but decided to go for it figuring the worst that could happen is that I flared up and had to be boated back to the car early, at least there was an option for that with this trip. Jeff decided to come out to join me since we hadn’t fished together since Miami and the Keys back in February 2013.
The trip was a hosted Gink + Gasoline trip organized by Louis Cahill who I met at South Andros back in 2011, was it really that long ago? The guide service was Jeff Hickman’s Fish the Swing and they seemed ready to deal with my diet and the possibility of an early evacuation if needed. The plan was to use jet boats to head to camp up the lower Deschutes and then fish split days from a single camp instead of floating the river like we did back in 2008.
Weight up again, new podcast
My weight had been stalling a bit but this morning is back on the upward trend. I just weighed in at 158.6, this is the most I’ve weighed since January 2014 when the big downslide in weight began. This is huge, it has taken me nearly two years to climb back up to this point. My interim goal of 160 seems to be getting within reach. Let’s see how this trip goes and if I can maintain weight while on it.
Weight and sleep update, ready to hit the road
It has been three weeks since I started pigging out in my attempt to gain weight and two weeks since I started to work on my sleep. How’s all this working? Well, my weight was steadily climbing and I thought for sure I would be at 160 around now but instead I’ve dropped back a bit once again. Today I weighed in at 157 and seem to be stuck around 156-157. This is better than being stuck at 151 and at least my BMI is now 20.5 which is in the range where I can live with it. The weight training is working, in the few weeks since I got serious I’ve increased 3 lbs. and have found my quads and biceps both grow by 0.5″ already. I’m trying to get in weight workouts at least 3 days a week and have really noticed an increase in strength. I could initially only leg press 180 and just barely and now I can do a set of 200, I think I can actually get to 210 or 220 next time. Quad and hamstrings were at 80, now I can do 100 with them. It is kind of amazing how fast the strength comes back when you get serious about it and my workouts only last about 15-20 minutes since I’m just pushing the hardest weight I can get off the stack until my muscles just fail.
Sleep restriction one week in
I’ve been on my sleep restriction plan for a little over a week now. The first few nights I slept pretty well then I cratered but since then have worked my way back up to where last night I slept my whole allowed 6.5 hours. I’m hoping that this trend of high sleep efficiency continues and I can start adding in some extra sleep time at the end of next week. I was pretty drug out the first 4 days of this but now am used to sleeping less and actually feel pretty good most of the day but do get really tired around 7 p.m. Staying up after Catherine goes to bed is the tough part, I just want to go to bed then too but usually have another 90-120 minutes to stay up.