It has only been 18 days since I was lying in the ER at Evergreen Redmond thinking that I just was unable to eat anything at all without my gut turning against me and causing me nothing but grief.  Two days later after finding out the doctors at Puget Sound Gastro had given up on me I sat sobbing at the Bothell Natural Health clinic waiting to see Dr. Christine Bowen who had become sort of my last hope.   Dr. Bowen got me back on the Intro phase of the diet, minus dairy, I’d started back in January, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, SCD.  SCD was popularized but Elaine Gottschall’s book Breaking the Vicious Cycle which is appropriately named since I was indeed in a vicious cycle that needed breaking.  This time she wanted me to do it right with only eating ground meats, baby food vegetables, fruit sauces and lots of gelatin.   I was skeptical but Dr. Bowen wasn’t.  She said she’d seen SCD turn people back from the grave and that the diet definitely worked if followed precisely, something I didn’t do the last time I started it.   She said we could change the microbiom of the gut in a day and get me back into balance.  Her faith rubbed off a bit and I gave it a shot.

Since then I’ve had a somewhat amazing turn around and I hope I’ve broken my personal vicious cycle.  The precipitous weight loss path I was on stopped dropping and I’ve managed to remain pretty steady for two weeks now.  I’d love to see that tick upward but given I can only shove in about 2100 calories per day right now with the foods I can eat and burn about 2400 per day I’m happy just keeping a flat line going.   I’ve turned the corner on the constipation that had been dogging me since Christmas and have actually had a shit daily for the last two weeks!   My gut isn’t perfect and I had a flare up after a few days on Intro that lasted about 6 days but have now gone a 7 full days with little to no bad symptoms.  I’m sleeping an average of 9 hours per night (with a little help from MMJ) instead of the 4-6 I was getting while my gut was churning all night and keeping me up.    My SIBO is greatly reduced or gone depending on how you look at it which means the dysbiosis is getting a bit more balanced and without the need for a harsh intervention.

I’ve progressed a bit on the diet but am still somewhere between Phase 1 & 2 but with everything still in a very digestible state.   Here are my current allowed foods:

• Ground meats – I’ve been mixing it up with chicken, turkey, bison, grass fed beef and venison.  All have been less than 10% fat content previously though starting to go to 85/15 on the bison and beef this week.
• Eggs – I eat probably way too many of these right now but have been my main source of fat.
• Broth – Kitchen Basics stocks are SCD legal and an easy way to make soup without needing the crock pot all day.
• Veggies – cooked to death and pureed carrots, winter squash, summer squash and asparagus.  Adding green beans later this week.
• Fruits – cooked well and pureed apples and pears. Natural Directions Apple Sauce is organic and SCD legal, bonus.  Mashed bananas.  Adding peach sauce later this week.
• Gelatin – SCD jello made with organic grape juice.
• Juice – adding in a bit of Just Blueberry and Tomato juice this week.
• Fats – I was totally off extra fats until today.  Got to add 1/2 t. of coconut oil when making my eggs and can use small amounts of coconut oil, ghee or olive oil if I handle this well.

Aside from the diet there are no supplements I’m currently taking aside from a few B12 shots I’ve been getting.  Even with all this meat I’m eating I seem to have some issues either from low B12 or low fat, did some blood work last week and we’ll see soon which it is.  The B12 definitely gives me a bit of a boost and is cheap so worth it in my mind.   The only other thing I’m doing is vaping some high CBD MMJ and even that has been reduced a lot in the last 3-4 days since my gut is pretty calm at night and I’m able to fall asleep without some aid.

Mentally my meditation practice helps a LOT.  Also very helpful, and again very skeptical, at the start, are some basic affirmations that I read over and repeat each night before going to bed.  I scoffed at it a bit but it works and helps me relax into sleep.   Catherine and I also try to take a break many afternoons and do some sort of relaxation practice which is a good way to transition from packing/house stuff to a calmer evening.

Exercise is out for a while as I try to keep my caloric output down to a minimum.  Even that said, my take it easy mode seems to translate to me walking about 3-5 miles per day so I’m not totally sedentary but this is nothing compared to what I’m normally used to doing.

This is going to take a while and I’ve had my expectations set.  This isn’t something that will resolve itself in a few months but more like a few years total and will likely impact my diet for the rest of my life.  Some of the complications that have arisen from all this may or may not go away with time.  Will my gluten intolerance reverse?  Who knows.  Will I be able to handle dairy again one day?  Again, don’t know.   I can live without gluten and dairy, the Paleo diet cuts out both so I know it is possible and one day I may be able to be on a full Paleo diet without problems but that day is a long way out.   I have doubts I’ll ever be able to go back to a vegetarian or vegan diet but I can live with that.    Right now I’m just thankful that I’m no longer in constant despair and discomfort and that I’m making some, albeit slow, progress towards balance and full health.