Helllloo readers! Figured I would give an update on my progress over the past few months or so.

I think one of the most difficult things to research about SIBO/Leaky Gut is progression – how long does this take to heal? Will I ever be normal again? I find myself wondering if I will ever be able to enjoy a slice of pizza or a cheeseburger ever again – hey, when is that going to happen? Lord knows that is a long way away for me, and I borderline conclude that I will never eat anything that isn’t GF, DF, SF on the basis that I just never, ever want to go back to where I came from with all of this. My last visit to Jean at the end of November and I learned that I am a free woman until April AKA I AM OFFICIALLY IN MAINTENANCE.

HOMEOSTASIS.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel and its a place called homeostasis. It is possible! Since November, I have been relatively pain free. I potty EVERY day, and it is normal! WEIRD. I honestly can’t say that normal motility is even anything I have ever experienced in my whole life. So, daily, is nice :). And if I don’t, or it doesn’t quite seem right one day, I know how to fix it. I no longer feel constant bloating or pain, and the irritated feeling at the base of my tailbone has been gone for a good month now! I know what to take to fix something. If I start getting a little GERD, a shot of ACV clears that right up. Ate something that maybe isn’t right? Spanish Black Radishes. I have a whole medicine cabinet of maintenance supplements to keep my healing gut on the right track.

This is a big one: If a food or ingredient does not agree, I don’t find out until it has passed on into my lower intestinal tract. So no more high up, stomach pain! Fantastic. However, after it passes into the small intestine, this is where I will feel bubbles, cement, irritation, or all 3. So instead of upsetting my whole set up, now, I can pinpoint it to the lower section of my GI tract, the “Ileum”. Sometimes, the only irritation I get is a strange sensation on the right, lower side, which might indicate that my “ileocecal valve“, which separates the small and large intestines, is a little cranky. I will still sometimes experience mild constipation (I reallllly wish this would stop) but can cure it within a day by taking my Spanish Black Radishes. In worst cases, I pop a Colax and I am back to normal by the next day.

RECAP
So only a few short months ago, 1 bad move could completely stop up my function and take me over a week to recover. Now, I am down to a recovery of  1-2 days and my body doesn’t completely stop. The brain fog isn’t there, I have energy, and I can still *relatively* go to the bathroom  still during an episode.

But, Flare Up.
I discovered over the weekend that brown rice is a BIG NO NO and it’s really kicked my butt. This week starting Sunday night, I have been experiencing a full blown, leaky gut reaction – bloating, headache, lack of appetite, post-nasal drip, brain fog, cement in the lower gut, & constipation. I haven’t felt like this in a really long time and it sucks because all I wanted to do was sleep.And it really does mess up your brain. I could barely do my job yesterday, and I even messed up some data entry into an important spreadsheet that had to go to my executive team. Coming from a girl who is on top of most things – oops, sorry. You take the fault & fix it, but in reality its like, “Sorry my brain has a bunch of holes in it today, maybe tomorrow.”

I had to take 1 Colax on Tuesday and 2 Wednesday which is really bad and I hate doing that (I would rather try the SBR but those weren’t even working) just to get things right again, and although today my sinusitis is dissipating and my energy is back, my whole GI just feels irritated and pissed off. Even after eating my normal breakfast, my stomach feels grumbly and annoyed. So now I have to be SUPER careful and hope things heal up nice again soon.

My biggest fear is going back to where I came from. I am afraid that a flare up will catapult me back to where I was. I have come SO FAR. And being at the beginning of my prep, I am like oh hell no, don’t be all quiet in my short off-season and pull this crap now. I really fought my mind over matter the last few days. I didn’t look at myself in the mirror at my gut, I managed to get all of my macros met (God only knows how I managed), and I still completed my work outs & cardio 100%. The mirror thing is a killer. I mean one look at your once-visible obliques hidden in a watery, bloated mess and that can really do a number on your motivation. Not to mention the fatigue… I can’t let it get the best of me this time like it did last prep. It appears the worst of it is over, let’s see how tomorrow goes.

I will be back soon <3