Test Results, Food Experiments

There have been a number of interesting developments since my last update. I ate carbs for a month, did a second breath test (methane-positive again), finished a second round of antibiotics, and am starting to introduce food groups back into my diet.

As mentioned in my previous post, I decided to take the breath test again in order to verify that the SIBO infection was still present before commencing another round of more toxic antibiotics. The results were very similar to (and slightly worse than) the initial test, indicating high levels of methane and virtually no hydrogen. This gave me confidence that the potential side effects from taking Rifaximin + Neomycin were worth the risk, since I still had a clear SIBO diagnosis. I ordered the Rifaximin from a pharmacy in Canada to save about $800, which meant waiting an extra few weeks for it to arrive. All in all, I ate a normal diet for about a month before resuming the low carb regimen.

While taking the Rifaximin + Neomycin combination, I felt the same or worse than I had on a normal diet, consistently very bloated and uncomfortable. It wasn't until the very end (day 14 of 14) that I suddenly felt better. After finishing the medication, within about 4 days I felt consistently good almost all the time (still eating low-carb). I could hardly believe it, after how I felt on the antibiotics.

About a week later, I went back to see my doctor. From my description of how my body felt, he believed that the antibiotics had done their work. He then asked whether the low-carb diet was a hardship or whether I would be happy to continue it. I told him matter-of-factly, "I hate it". :)

After talking about which foods I missed the most, we settled on the following plan.

1. Keep eating-low carb for now.
2. After 1 week, start slowly introducing new foods. Watch for symptoms of intolerance.
3. After 2 weeks, start taking a probiotic for 30-60 days to help restore good bacteria after they were wiped out by the Rifaximin/Neomycin.

My motto recently has been "another day, another salad". Although it's not a diet that I hope to sustain in the long term, I've sort of gotten used to seeking out a salad and some kind of meat at lunch/dinner, and eating hard boiled eggs and bacon for breakfast. But I didn't quite make it a full week before the fresh strawberries became too tempting.

I started the food experiments with fruit, in particular the ingredients for fruit smoothies that I used to make every morning for breakfast: berries, bananas, and oranges. After about 5 days of eating fruit and feeling great, I moved on to the "bread/pasta" category this weekend.

That was a mistake. On Friday night I ate a huge plate of beef ravioli with marinara sauce and garlic bread. My belly felt swollen that evening, but the full force didn't hit until the next day when I felt very bloated with hard lumps throughout my gut, which just seemed to keep getting bigger. It probably didn't help that I also ate a croissant for breakfast and had some bread with lunch too.

At this point I'm suspending the bread experiments and trying to get back to a happy baseline before trying any other foods. I am currently very suspicious of wheat (perhaps gluten, perhaps not) and will put any further wheat-based experiments on the back burner until I get some other foods under my belt. This really changes the game. I was hoping to restore most of my normal diet by adding fruit and breads, but it looks like my body has other ideas.

On the bright side, at least it's nice to see that my body's reactions will not be subtle. Previously I had wondered whether I would even be able to tell if I had a food intolerance. Now I think it's not so hard. Of course, one example isn't enough to rule out the entire wheat category, but it certainly makes me want to wait a while before trying it again. Originally I was most suspicious of milk/lactose, so hopefully it doesn't end up being both!