On Wednesday Catherine and I made the drive to Portland so that I could do a SIBO test at the NCNM Clinic on Thursday and not have to wait 2-4 weeks to get the results back. I went into it feeling that my numbers were going to be down but not quite all the way down since I was still having symptoms off and on over the last month. Not many though, I only reported symptoms on 8 days in 30 which is a record for me over the past year.
The test was later than I usually do it so I packed along a lunch knowing I’d be about 18 hours w/o food by the time I finished. I sat in the lab area for the test along with one other woman and got to chat with the lab techs and Dr. Keller who I got to meet in person for the first time. After my 3 hour test I chowed down lunch while the results were getting finalized and put into the report. Well, turns out I was right, numbers down significantly but I still have SIBO. The test was another technically “negative” test according to the machine output but Drs. Siebecker and Pimentel have changed the positive criteria to be any methane >=3ppm so I’m well above that. Still, I dropped from a high of 33 methane, 9 hydrogen and combined high of 42 to a high of 13 methane, 14 hydrogen with a combined high of 24. That is a good reduction in methane of 30 ppm and the increase in hydrogen is expected as the levels of methane go down. This is really the best result I’ve had in that there is only one real spike in the graph, it is lower down, and the hydrogen is starting to show up finally since I was usually a high of 2-3 on hydrogen.
I’m talking to Dr. Keller about this on Tuesday this week since we met while I was in the middle of the test and didn’t know the results. My plan is to continue with the AlliMed/Neem/Berberine protocol for another 30-45 days and then blast this with the Metagenics Candibactin-AR and -BR protocol for 2 weeks to see if I can finally eradicate it. I’m continuing the twice a day prokinetic regime and am also adding in some Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) supplements starting today to see if I can do anything about my numb feet. I have a bit of hope in that department since one person had numb feet for 8 years and ALA helped reverse it, mine have been numb for a year now.
The rest of the trip down to Portland was a lot of fun after I could eat again. We went out to dinner at The Imperial on Thursday night to celebrate the test. Chef Doug Adams, one of the top 3 in Top Chef Boston, is the chef there and the food was incredible. We had albacore tuna, quail and grilled winter vegetables. I even cheated a bit and had some grilled potato and turnip with no ill effects. Catherine had a great looking kale salad too. I can’t wait until I can eat salad again one day.
On Thursday we did a walk-about in Portland in the morning and then went to the Cultured Caveman for lunch to meet up with a SIBO friend of mine who lives in the area. The food at the Caveman was great, I had a Shepard’s Pie with lamb meat and organs topped with a cauliflower, carrot and parsnip mash and Catherine had Salmon Poke which looked really good but again was salad. Bone broth was toasted.
The Slog on the way home sucked as it often does but we ended up in a window in the rain squalls that were hitting the area so that part was good, we just had several bad traffic back-ups that slowed us down so we got home after dark.