I finally started coming out of my relapse last Saturday and have felt fairly decent since Monday morning.  My gut has remained pretty calm most of the time, even after dinner with just a small level of symptoms.  My feet are still numb and bothering me some but I’ll see the neurologist next Friday to start looking into that issue.  Also doing another vitamin cocktail push into my veins that day.   I have an endoscopy scheduled for Monday the 23rd though the bad pressure in my upper GI has let up a lot since my SIBO symptoms have been clearing out.

What’s new treatment wise?  First herbal antibiotics.  I started on some Berberine Complex during the relapse and talked to Dr. Bowen this week about doing the full herbal protocol recommended by Dr. Siebecker at the SIBO Center.   I added in 1 AlliMed per day on Wednesday and next week we’ll up that to 2 per day and then increase the Berberine from 2 caps 3x/day to 3 caps 3x/day.  I’ve got enough herbs to keep up that full regime for a few weeks and with the ramp-up time I’ll have been on these for about five weeks total.  Hopefully that will knock out these bacteria and then I can go about rebuilding my gut flora yet again.  The herbals seem to be working for people which is encouraging.

Sleep wise I was really bad during that last flare, sleeping only a few hours a night at best and herb stopped working for me.  This may be a good thing because I found out that marijuana actually reduces gut motility which is the worst thing for SIBO.  I need to increase my motility to help keep the bad bacteria flushed out of my system and may have found an herbal alternative to having to use a compounded pro-kinetic drug.  I had to find a way to sleep and began by listening to audio books which did help.  Checking the library site for other audiobooks to download I ran across a Get a Good Nights Sleep title by Lynda Hudson, a UK hypnotherapist.  I downloaded it on a whim and it worked!  Her voice just puts me out usually in about 5-10 minutes, I get very “comfortable and calm” and do go to sleep, it is like being put to sleep by Mary Poppins every evening.  It usually keeps me out about 1-3 hours then I have to turn it back on but I’ve been sleeping longer with less wake-ups since I started using it.   I also found she has a  Manage your IBS audio which is very good to help sooth when the gut is acting up.   Ended up buying both of these via Audible so I have them any time I need them.

Back to pretty much SCD Intro/Phase 1 but with a low FODMAP plan now.  This is pretty much the diet recommended by the SIBO Center in Portland.   I sort of blame cauliflower for my relapse and it is no off limits.  So I’m on a restricted version of an already very restricted diet but at least I’m not in pain from it and, believe it or not, I gained 3 lbs. in the last week.  I was only at 152.2 on Wednesday but that is the highest I’ve been since early March when this really kicked up again and my first goal of getting back to 155 seems in reach.  I’d really like to be back around 165-170 but that is going to take a while.