Have you heard of the Nerva app? Maybe you’ve seen the ads popping up while scrolling Instagram? I did. And I clicked on it. And I read about it and thought about it and one day, after a frustrating week of tummy troubles, I took the free 2-week-trial plunge. Here is my Nerva Hypnotherapy for IBS and Gut Relief review.
The Nerva App is an app designed to use hypnotherapy as a healing tool for IBS symptoms. The types of symptoms Nerva can help with are bowel movements, reflux, abdominal pain, gas, and nausea, among others. Finding medications that will work for these types of symptoms that come and go sporadically, is nearly impossible. When you realize that the chances of any number of IBS medications working are very low while the chances of hypnotherapy working are in the 80% range, it seems like a no-brainer. Also, Nerva was designed by a Psychophysiologist who is also a Gut-Directed Hypnotherapist, Dr. Simone Peters. Also, on the medical board is Dr. Michael Yapko, a clinical psychologist and hypnotherapy expert.
Why I Tried Nerva
I think Nerva caught my eye because the ad said you may be able to stop eating a restricted diet after using their app. When I look at all the foods I’ve removed from my diet, it’s staggering. I have stopped eating black pepper, garlic, ginger, and so many more foods because I tested as sensitive to them on my MRT test. (Read more here.) I have been more than diligent at keeping these foods out of my diet and yet I haven’t seen the improvement I would like. I now know, thanks to further testing, that I also have Lyme Disease which can further disrupt digestive functioning. I am not at the treatment part for Lyme Disease, so I figured I could try Nerva for a couple of weeks and see if it would help improve regularity and consistency – my 2 biggest complaints.
I believe in hypnotherapy. I used HypnoBabies for my third birth and the nurse exclaimed that she’d never seen a more relaxed laboring mother, ever! (Birth story here.) I would listen to the recordings in bed at night, drifting off to the suggestions and words as they imprinted on my brain. I definitely stayed relaxed during birth, so much so that I really just wanted to go to sleep instead of actually work to get my baby out! So I was already a believer, clearly. Because of this, I decided to give Nerva a try.
I have tracked my digestion for the last seven months. When I looked back at my habit trackers, I was surprised how long I’ve been tracking. I must have started to see how eliminating foods was helping and then I just kept doing it, frustrated by the inconsistency. You may have different goals than mine, but the most important thing digestively, for me, is daily movement. Motility became a huge issue as I worked to heal from SIBO. Keeping my bowels moving regularly is key to preventing a recurrence of SIBO. This was going well, according to my charts, but a discouraging cycle began that reminded me of the days before I was diagnosed with SIBO. The cycle would be regular, less regular, then nonexistent followed by urgent, loose, and painful. I basically always knew that if I didn’t have a bowel movement one day, the next day was going to be painful. Add to this the typical emotional and psychological triggers: anxiety, stress, nerves and I was at a loss.
Nerva is an expert at understanding the gut-brain connection and using that knowledge to help people heal. I jumped into my 2-week free trial and committed to the sessions every day. Here’s what I experienced:
What to Expect from Nerva
Every day there is a reading assignment. It’s pretty short; about the length of a short article and very easy to read. I knew a lot already and basically skimmed.
After reading, there is a “short, 15-minute hypnotherapy session”. They’re actually 18-19 minutes long. I hate to be a stickler, but for someone who struggles with sitting still, there is a big difference between “15 minutes a day” and a reading assignment plus a 19-minute hypnotherapy session. That’s 20+ minutes! This bothered me for awhile. I try to carve out time for everything I find important: exercise, food prep, daily devotionals, reading, writing, etc., and when I add one more thing, I have to know it’s doable so that I don’t set myself up for failure.
Also, the woman with the British (?) accent who conducts the hypnotherapy is very soothing, but sometimes I wished I could choose different voices, just to shake it up a little. Sometimes, her voice would drop out at the end of words so “face” would sound like “fay” or “reflux” would sound like “refluh”. My brain kind of trips over things like this and focuses on them instead of the session.
Okay, enough of my nit-picking. My review of Nerva is that is completely worth trying because I definitely have seen results, so much so that I signed up for a year. I will say it’s annoying that there’s only a 1-year plan and not a 3-month plan or a 6-month plan. I hate paying so much money ($149) up front for something I may not need for an entire year, but that’s the model. (I happened to see a Black Friday 40% off ad for Nerva on Instagram, so I wrote the company and they honored that for me, refunding me 40% of what I paid. That is honorable and I appreciated the refund greatly!)
I had more “perfect” days in the one week than I had in the 7 months I tracked my digestion prior to using Nerva. That’s probably more than I’ve had in the almost 4 years since I have had to treat SIBO. Maybe even longer. Honestly, that alone is worth the money.
Should You Do It?
Should you do it? I suggest you look for the ads and try to find a deal like I did to save money, but also that you give the 2-week free trial a chance. It may not be for you and better to find out for free then to wonder, right? I will say, my “perfect” days didn’t actually start until the very end of the free trial, but it encouraged me to keep going. Every time I listen to a session, I know my brain is storing away these carefully crafted messages to reprogram the way my mind and gut communicate and operate.
If you’re going to try Nerva, make sure you commit to it daily. I did my sessions after lunch. Some people prefer mornings and evenings. I stopped laying down because I’d fall asleep – just FYI.
Also, and I’ve said this to clients over the years, it’s hard to know you’re making improvements if you aren’t truly clear on where you stand beforehand. It’s a good idea to make a chart for yourself. Open a Notes file on your phone or grab a notepad or a calendar page printed off. Create your own key for what your days could look like. Here are some ideas: F = Formed, S = Soft, P = Perfect, N = Nothing, D = Diarrhea, L = Loose, C = Cramps, U = Urgent. If you can see clearly what is currently happening with your digestion, you’ll be able to truly see if Nerva has been able to help you. If you struggle with reflux (R = Reflux) or painful gas (G = Gas), you can track those things too. When you take the assessment on the Nerva app or website, you’ll be able to pinpoint the digestion issues that are most important to you and these key words and ideas will be focused on during the hypnotherapy sessions. It’s kind of genius actually!
After about 3 months of consistent Nerva use, my digestion reached a steady state and I had more “P’s” on my tracker than ever in my life (?)! I eventually stopped using it and canceled the renewal when it arrived. I really appreciate what Nerva did for me. I don’t think you should have to pay for a whole year to have longer than 2 weeks. I wish, after paying that much money, I could have access to the recordings in case my brain needs a reminder… but no complaints will change the fact that Nerva pushed my health to the next level and I am so grateful for that.
Also, in doing some research for this blog, I see they have an app for mental health. I’m fan-girling over here a little bit. I’m all about food, health, digestion, and mental health. Maybe I’ll try that one next year! As for you and your gut health goals, I wish there was a referral code I could offer you, but they don’t have that yet… try it out, give it your all, and track those symptoms to get the most out of it.
So, here we go again I guess. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve typed anything or considered updating my blog. I actually thought about canceling it but I know people visit when searching information on Young Living Oils being gluten-free, or MTHFR protocols, candida, anxiety, and more, so I haven’t.
I’m writing because I’m entering a whole new chapter, with two new diagnoses that may actually account for some (all?) of the last 6 years of struggles I’ve had. Yesterday, my blood work came back with me having Lyme Disease and EBV (Epstein Barr Virus). At first I was unsurprised, then I was shocked; eventually I became nauseous and uncertain what this would mean.
If you happened to follow my H. Pylori journey, you know treatment was awful. There were times I didn’t want to be alive. I almost went to the hospital twice. It was a nightmare and I have no desire to relive it or repeat it.
Treating SIBO was long-lasting and in some ways continues to this day. My body (all bodies) is (are) so complex and confusing, just when I think I have things figured out, it changes. Sometimes I can eat things and other times I can’t. How unfair is that?
Last year, I was feeling bad again, burning stomach, nauseous, and struggling with digestion, so I pursued a holistic nutritionist that I knew could run the tests I wanted, tests I wasn’t trained to interpret. I hadn’t trained under Restorative Wellness Solutions yet and I wanted a practitioner who had so I searched in their Find a Practitioner section. Please do the same if you’re looking for someone to help you decipher the mysterious messages your gut is sending you, or if you just want to figure out once and for all what foods don’t work for your body and any supplements you may need to feel better. I settled on Kimberly Rovin who was a pleasure to work with (100% virtually) and I highly recommend her if you’re wanting to go down a similar path of exploration. We talked, ordered the tests (MRT and GI Map) and said we’d reconnect after the results were in.
Then my dad died.
Everything was on hold, forever in limbo. My brain couldn’t comprehend how to move forward and I couldn’t hold thoughts in my mind long enough to act on them. After New Year, I decided I needed to actually do the tests the nutritionist sent me and I geared up everything I had to follow through. Following through was not my strong point at this time, but I did it. Stool sample and blood test sent off and awaiting results.
I learned a lot from those test results. My gut was actually in pretty good shape, which surprised me considering the symptoms I was having. I had a small deficit that can be filled in with calcium-d-glucarate (something I never would have taken or know to take had I not done the GI Map). I got started on some enzymes that are perfect for me. I take one with each meal and I take gut healing herbs. All have worked beautifully. The MRT was consistent in that it showed me as highly allergic to gluten, which I knew, and to soy, which I suspected. It was the list of yellow foods that threw me.
The yellow foods are the ones that I needed to eliminate and then gradually add back in. The problem is every time I’ve tried to add them back in, I’ve gotten sick! it’s miserable! I figure, okay, I can live without corn and peanuts, they’re supposedly terrible for you anyway, but ginger? Garlic? Paprika? Tapioca – I mean the cornerstone of a paleo diet, and I can’t cook with cassava. Super disappointing. And sunflower. Sunflower lecithin is in everything from supplements to almond milk.
MRT Results
I embraced all the changes and disappointments. I’m pretty resourceful. I put straight canned coconut milk in my coffee now instead of almond milk or almond creamer. Corn was probably the hardest to give up, what with my love and reliance on popcorn… Those smaller, insignificant foods are irritating, though, and irritations can build. My frustration continued to rise when every time I tried to add a food back in, I became sick, usually for an entire day.
I had some other symptoms happening as well and decided I needed a full workup, see a regular doctor, get my annual blood draw, check my thyroid, you know, maintenance. Well, that doctor was not for me. I could say worse things, but it doesn’t seem fair. Maybe she’s the perfect doctor for someone else! Definitely not for me. Here’s an example:
“When I was running the other day, I had a stabbing pain in my throat area, like where my thyroid is and it’s been difficult to swallow. I used to have annual ultrasounds done on my thyroid to make sure it wasn’t growing and I figured I should resume that.” I shared with the new doctor.
“Those aren’t thyroid symptoms,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Okay, well I run 10 miles a week and do yoga every day and I’m still feeling sluggish. I’m not sure what that’s about,” I continued.
“Maybe that’s just how you feel and not actually a symptom of anything,” she replied, typing on her computer. “So, do you get any physical activity?”
Seriously. I must have mentioned running three times already. I know I did. I realized then that she wasn’t listening, couldn’t hear me and didn’t care, not about me, not about the things that mattered to me. I left sad, but with lab orders, which was my goal.
When I went to get blood drawn it was a nightmare, worse than any of my horrible blood draw stories from the past and probably a story for another time. (See what happens when I stop writing? There’s just too much to say.) They didn’t get the blood. I went home crying, my arms bruised and my fear-of-blood-draws reinforced and thriving. Another long-story-short, it turned out I had COVID at the time of that failed blood draw which makes your blood clot. So when the nurse was saying, “I can’t get any blood, your veins are blowing!” she was alerting me to this, except nobody said anything about COVID except one of my best friends who is a nurse. A week later my mom tested positive and I realized that was definitely the case. (My random symptoms were failed blood draw, vertigo, headaches and extreme fatigue, none of which I put together until my mom tested positive and even then I had to retrace my steps to realize it was true. I really should share that whole story another time….)
Eventually, I got my blood redrawn and it was effortless and easy. I felt accomplished and awaited my results which started pinging my inbox almost immediately. The standard emails from the physician said, “Everything is within normal ranges.” Sigh. Okay, thanks… for nothing….
I knew I needed to see someone who cared, who listened, who saw the body as a functioning whole, not just a symptom equals a prescription equals a symptom equals a prescription. I found someone and emailed with the office and went back and forth with my thoughts, motivation, ability, and financial concerns. (Grief seriously threatened to drown my ability to start or finish anything this year.) Finally, I made the appointment and I went.
I shared everything with her that I’ve just written and then some. We figured we should get some better thyroid numbers and check for Lyme Disease, which I’d suspected since that bug bite and EBV, which I’d had in high school. She said test results take about 2 weeks and I wouldn’t hear from her before our next appointment unless it was serious. So when I heard from her 5 days before our appointment, I felt a little panicky.
“the” bug bite circa 2014
“I’d like to talk tomorrow,” her message said. She attached my test results and I scanned them with some knowledge, some ignorance, and total heightened alert.
We spoke. We went over everything and I guess that’s why I’m here, to sort it all out and get it all out on “paper” so I can make sense of it. Maybe you can share your experiences as well, if you’ve dealt with Lyme and EBV.
IGG for Lyme and EBV shows something that happened in the past and there are normal ranges and abnormal ranges for these. For Lyme, I had an IGG that showed reactivated. That means I have had a Lyme infection in the past and it has since reactivated, at a pretty high level.
Lyme Disease Test Result
IGM for Lyme and EBV shows something that’s happening right now, a current infection. I had that for Lyme too. So I have a current infection and a past infection that’s been reactivated.
I also had IGG for EBV, which wasn’t a surprise since we know I tested positive in high school. The normal range for that was under 21. My number is 460. So, clearly I have reactivated my Epstein Barr Virus at a very high level. No wonder I’m so tired. I have been blaming it on grief for the last year. The years before that are a blur, but I’m a mom, that’s just to be expected, right?
These things can reactivate for a number of reasons, including stress, which of course doesn’t really narrow anything down. However, I remember when my cat of 17 years died. I was devastated and our dog went lame. He just couldn’t walk. It started with a limp and then none of his legs would work. Panicked that I would lose another pet so soon after losing my Willow, we took him to the vet and he had a reactivated Lyme infection, probably from grief-stress. I was shocked that her death hit him so hard, but there you have it.
It’s possible I’ve been dealing with Lyme disease for 7 years, since that infected bug bite followed my first panic attack in a dozen years, which I blamed on the antibiotic I was prescribed. I’ve never been 100% since. I’ve gotten close, better, then worse, sometimes awful and I’ve learned a lot about MTHFR, gut health, motility, SIBO, SCD diets and paleo diets. I’ve had a miscarriage and a baby since then, who’s now five (where does the time go?). I’ve wandered down many paths in search of feeling my best and I never really rediscovered that person again. I don’t know if she’s gone forever or if there’s a chance I’ll find her and be symptom-free once more.
So here’s the plan. I’m going to very slowly and gradually start taking cat’s claw and astragalus tinctures (once I get them from my doctor). These should rid my body of the infection (Lyme) and the virus (Epstein Barr). By going the slow and herbal route, we should negate severe treatment side effects. I know Lyme is associated with food intolerances and I’m hopeful some of these might go away. Lyme is also associated with digestive disturbances and maybe I’ll be able to finally heal my gut after all these years.
Do you want access to pharmaceutical quality supplements that you can’t buy on Amazon or most other places? Register here (it’s through me but I don’t get anything out of it that I can tell): https://atpeacewithhealth.ehealthpro.com/
Local and want to see an awesome doctor who really cares? She’s relocating in December to Waynesboro, Virginia (from Charlottesville) and I couldn’t be happier. Check out Dr. Mallory Fox, primary care provider at http://www.foxfamilydpc.com
Holistic dental health is very important to me. I don’t know if you’ve seen the commercials for the Waterpik Professional Sonic-Fusion flossing toothbrush this holiday season, but I did and I turned to my husband and said, “That is all I want for Christmas.”
https://youtu.be/ZdNJSldmOgo
Waterpik Ad for the Water-Flossing Toothbrush
If you’ve read my Reversing Gum Disease Naturally post, you know that water flossing is a key tool in the reversal of gum disease. I have great appreciation and gratitude for reversing my own gum disease, where at one point I was told I would need a graft on my gums! My teeth and gums are healthier than ever and I attribute that to water flossing. Keeping the gum line free from bacteria is really important. Regular brushing and flossing won’t do it. An electric or powered toothbrush will help, but the forceful pressure of the water getting underneath the gums is really what gets them clean and clean is what prevents bacteria from degrading the gums.
My routine was to brush with my electric toothbrush and then fill up my water flosser, preferably with hot water, which took some time, and then water floss. While I am a patient person, I don’t like routines that take too long and I found a lot of excuses to not water floss. The water was too cold. I didn’t have enough time. I was tired. I could do it tomorrow. My gums are in great shape, I can put it off. Then I would see a dentist appointment looming on the calendar and realize how long it had been since my last water flossing session. Guilt. Shame. Anxiety. Self-admonishment. All the bad things.
I just knew if I got the all-in-one, I would water floss regularly again and it would help my teeth and gums stay healthier! I opened it on Christmas morning and smiled. I had the flu and was not the most excited person this last holiday season, but I was happy to have this to look forward to. I set it aside, expressed my gratitude, and told myself I would use it when I wasn’t sick anymore.
A couple of weeks went by. I healed. I recovered my house and life from my illness (I mean nobody else was going to go through the mail, pick up the clutter, demand chores be done, etc). I followed the quick start instructions on the flossing toothbrush and set to work. There was a learning curve, but no biggie. I had a learning curve the first time I started water-fossing, so I knew it would just take time. I learned that I prefer to brush first for awhile before turning on the water, otherwise the water washed away my tooth powder before it had a chance to be brushed onto my teeth.
So here’s what I do. I turn on the hot water faucet and get the brush wet, setting the reservoir open and next to the sink. I dip my toothbrush into the tooth powder and put the brush in my mouth. Starting on the upper right side of my mouth, I brush each tooth. It feels like I’m at the dentist getting my teeth polished. Never have I felt my teeth get so thoroughly cleaned before! I continue with each tooth all the way around the front, top and bottom. Then I do the backs of all of my teeth. By now the water is warm, if not hot, which is how I prefer it, and I fill up the reservoir with my left hand while continuing to brush with my right. I turn off the sink, put the reservoir back on the base and push the second button that turns on the water-flosing portion of the toothbrush. Now I’m brushing and water flossing at the same time! It’s miraculous. I really do feel like I’m at the dentist, minus the uncomfortable chair, long waiting room anxiety, and awkward chitchat. The toothbrush is on an automatic timer so it turns off after 2 minutes. When it does, I continue water flossing, tilting the nozzle toward my gum line and making sure to get between every tooth, front and back. When the reservoir is empty, I push the bottom button to turn off the nozzle and I replace the rechargeable toothbrush onto the base.
I’ve used my flossing toothbrush for almost 7 months now and I am still in love! I do get that tiny urge to skip water flossing some nights, but it’s too easy to just do it. I’m already there, standing over the sink. Why not? I have had to replace the brush head, though. I put that off too, for awhile. At $25 for a pair of brush heads, I wasn’t in a huge hurry. So far I’ve been able to get a brush head to last about 4 months.
A couple of cool things to note: 1) This model comes with a travel toothbrush case. You can separate the toothbrush from the hose and machine and take it with you when you travel. That’s a pretty great feature! (I kept my electric toothbrush, so I’ll probably take that with me on the rare occasion I leave home, but it’s good to know). 2) Some water flossers do not handle the addition of oils or mouthwash or antibacterials. They easily clog or can’t handle it. I read in the manual that this reservoir CAN handle those additions. This is really important and exciting because using Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE), Thieves oil, Clove oil and others is a crucial component for killing off bacteria. I added Thieves once I knew it was safe, however, the oils definitely compromises the plastic reservoir! Young Living essential oils like those mentioned above are very strong and can corrode plastic. Instead of continuing to do that, I’ve started rubbing the oils onto my gums while brushing. If you do add anything to your flossing water, the only thing to remember is to clean the reservoir afterwards so it doesn’t become clogged by the oils or other liquids you’ve added.
Added note: This was ordered on Amazon as a Christmas gift, right? Well, it didn’t come in a box! It came as it is, in its own box, with a packing label stuck to it. Way to ruin the gift! It’s not like the box is so big they couldn’t stick into one of the billion Amazon boxes they use to ship things in every day, right?
Insider tip: Want to make your tooth powder last longer? When it’s about half empty, add a spoonful of baking soda!
Conclusion: Yes! The Waterpik Sonic Fusion Flossing Toothbrush is worth it! It’s perfect for the multi-tasker and anyone who’s interested in taking their dental health to the next level. Have you tried it? Do you think you will?
You may already be aware that you have MTHFR or perhaps you’ve never heard of it. Considering that in some ethnicities, roughly half the population has a form of MTHFR, I think it’s important that we all pay even more attention to the ingredient labels on our food! [It’s estimated in America that among Caucasians, 10-15% have MTHFR and among Latinos, 25% have MTHFR. These percentages increase depending on ethnicity and location.] As it is a gene mutation, it is handed down. Two of the three of my kids that we have tested have MTHFR mutations. I have one type and my husband has the other, so it’s just a matter of learning which versions the kids received and how we can support them.
Back to the purpose of this blog post: I was feeling pretty good about the organic, unsweetened almond milk I had been purchasing from Kroger for almost two years now. It was organic, which is challenging to find in almond milk, and it didn’t contain any sugar (also hard to find). That met my urgent criteria at the time during my treatment of SIBO . At the time, MTHFR was just a blip on my radar, something I had diagnosed, researched, subscribed to a treatment plan that worked for me, and then somewhat forgot about.
The almond milk in question…
One afternoon, while trying to distract my daughter from her panic attack, showing her tools that I personally use to occupy my brain, I grabbed an empty almond milk container from the recyclable pile and started reading the ingredients outloud to her, showing her where they were and what they meant. I feel fairly confident in the ingredients that we consume, so I stuttered a little as I read to her: “cyanocobalamin, which is vitamin B12”. True, it’s the last ingredient on the list. The nutrition label says it contains 0.6mcg, which isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things. And I don’t drink much, just a dash in my decaf coffee every day. But, the reality is, I shouldn’t be consuming it. Neither should my children or my husband who all have a variant of MTHFR.
Why shouldn’t we be consuming it? It’s a vitamin, isn’t it? Aren’t vitamins supposed to be good for us? Well, yes, vitamins are good for us, when they are naturally found in food sources. Unfortunately, the vitamins added to our food (“fortified” as the labels brag), are often synthetic (fake) versions of the real thing. Fake might work for some people (the small portion of the population that doesn’t have MTHFR, for instance), but it doesn’t work for those with MTHFR.
I’ve written about MTHFR before, so I won’t go too far into it, but it is a gene mutation. We all have genes and some of them are mutated. To put it simply, MTHFR causes methylation issues, or interrupts the natural breakdown of non-methylated vitamins. Specifically, MTHFR is the inability of the body to convert folic acid into folate. Folate is natural. Folic acid is synthetic. Folic acid is what you’ll see on many vitamin bottles and even fortified food labels, but it’s not in its natural form and if you have MTHFR, your body will not absorb it. Not only that, but because of the consumption of non-methylated vitamins via foods and supplements, the receptor sites for the vitamins get blocked and there are free-floating synthetic vitamin B’s floating around the body wreaking havoc. (I am oversimplifying here in order to paint a picture.)
Consuming non-methylated forms of B vitamins can cause a myriad of symptoms or none at all (in the short term). Be advised that with no ability to breakdown or convert the synthetic vitamin to a usable source, the body will eventually become overburdened by the presence of unusable synthetic vitamins resulting in symptoms eventually. Symptoms vary per person, so I can’t say what you, in particular, will feel. I can tell you that I had a craving for Chex mix a couple of years back, so I bought a few boxes of gluten-free Chex cereal and gluten-free pretzels and peanuts. I made a healthier version of Chex mix and ate some every day, thoroughly enjoying it. I didn’t draw a connection to the heart palpitations I’d started to experience or the increase in anxiety, but I was upset by it and started looking for the source. Very clearly, on the boxes of cereals I’d used, I saw the synthetic vitamins, (so many of them!) and it dawned on me: I was flooding my body with synthetic vitamins that I couldn’t breakdown. A few months later, when I was consuming Luna Bars because they were on sale and delicious, it only took one day of high-vibration anxiety and jitters for me to check the ingredients and realize, yet again, I’d been consuming synthetic B vitamins.
So that’s my experience and not one I want to have again. I have a list in my head of foods that are safe and that is what I purchase. I’m so careful about it, which is why I was shocked that I’d had this synthetic B12 in my almond milk for who knows how long. All I can think is that I was so focused on removing all sugar from my diet while treating my SIBO, that I wasn’t thinking about MTHFR anymore.
I did write to Kroger, because they need to be educated on MTHFR and the danger of using synthetic vitamin fortification of their foods. Of course I received a standard reply thanking me for bringing it to their attention and how much they value their customers’ input. They also said: “Your comments have been shared with our store’s management team for review. We have also shared your concerns to our Quality Assurance Department for review.” I’m not holding my breath.
In addition to anxiety, some MTHFR symptoms include depression, nerve pain, digestive issues, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, chronic fatigue, migraines, chronic pain, vaccine injuries, miscarriages, tongue ties & lip ties, and the list goes on. If removing synthetic vitamins and foods that contain them, while supplementing with methylated B vitamins can keep those symptoms at bay or reverse them, isn’t it worth considering?
Take away: All vitamins are not created equal.
Here’s what I take and highly recommend: Seeking Health B12 5000 Lozenges. I take a half on an empty stomach first thing every morning. I started with a quarter, and couldn’t handle 3/4. Every body is different. Check out my protocol here.
I read and follow Dr. Ben Lynch of Seeking Health who has done extensive research on MTHFR as well as other gene mutations and he doesn’t recommend constant methylfolate intake, so I’ve taken a break from folate for awhile with no side effects. But when I did take it, this is the brand I used.
Read more about your genes in Dr. Lynch’s book DIRTY GENES!
Want to know if you have MTHFR? I think it’s valuable information but I don’t recommend going to your doctor for it. This one test cost me almost $400 (insurance didn’t cover it). Also, many medical institutions only test for MTHFR C677, not 1298 (which is more likely to cause the horrible symptoms listed above). A 23andme test is $200 and will tell you ALL the gene mutations you have. I can even help you access that information from the test results once you’ve received them.
As they said in the afterschool specials: The more you know! (Please tell me you just said that in your head and saw the star swooshing across the screen!)
This is the milk I’m using now, Califia. It has no sugar, no synthetic vitamins, no carageenan. You can buy it here!
This is the milk I’m using now – no fortified synthetic vitamins, no sugar, no carageenan….
Picture it: I’m 22 years old, working my first real grown-up job after a fairly tumultuous entrance into adulthood. (I have insurance and everything!) So I go to the dentist, which is a grown-up thing to do that I hate doing, and she says I have to go see a specialist. I go to said specialist and he’s poking and prodding and it hurts so bad! Then he starts talking to me about surgery, skin grafts, how they’ll cut tissue from the roof of my mouth and then put it above my teeth, where the gum disease was causing my gums to recede… I left and never went back.
It was always in the back of my mind, this gum disease that was going to make my teeth fall out. I continued to watch my gums as years went by. They were always sensitive. They bled. I gave up flossing. I changed dentists. Eventually, I stopped going at all.
It’s been almost 20 years since that scary appointment and I want to tell you that every time I go to the dentist (every 6 months, thank you very much), my dentist tells me everything looks great. “Looks Great!” And I’m going to tell you how.
First, I sought out a holistic dentist. Don’t stop reading if you can’t find one! There is still hope! That’s what I did, though, and they were amazing. If you’re in the Virginia area, I can’t recommend Dr. Zunka enough. Gentle, kind, caring and non-invasive. A solid 90 minute drive each way, with 2 very small children, and I still went. You can’t put a price on your health!
Before they even cleaned teeth or talked too much about dental plans for the future, they focused on gum health. I knew my gums were in bad shape. After more than 10 years of ignoring the problem and 2 kids later (kids change your teeth!), I was prepared for the worst and my gums were the worst. They had a plan though. They didn’t make me feel like a terrible person for neglecting my oral health. And they never mentioned surgery!
The plan started with 2 necessary purchases (affiliate links included below); an oral mouth irrigator / water flosser and an electric toothbrush.
I have used these 2 companies and can recommend them as affordable options. You can find much more expensive options. Shop around, based on your needs. But do start with these purchases.
To the water flosser I added GSE (grapefruit seed extract):
I placed 2 drops of GSE in the container before filling it about half-way with warm water. It kills bacteria. And it did. Each time I returned to the dentist, they would take a sample of my bacteria under my gums and show me under a microscope. Watching it disappear was huge for my confidence in the program. I knew that what I was doing was working.
I returned to the dentist four times. Each time they did a quadrant of my mouth, for a total of four. Cleaning under the gums gently with a high-powered water-flosser like I had at home helped to clear everything out. This is the reason I think you could maybe take care of things on your own at home using these products! If you’re diligent and point that flosser with the narrowest attachment and at the highest power, underneath your gums with GSE, you may be able to destroy the bacteria that is causing your gum disease!!!!
I also brush(ed) twice daily with the electric toothbrush. The electric toothbrush stimulates the gums in a way that a manual, hand-held toothbrush never could.
I have since taken an extra step since this treatment and switched from toothpaste, which has ingredients you can’t even pronounce, let alone understand, to tooth powder!
Before you balk at it, think about it. Tooth powder lasts so much longer than toothpaste and has a handful of ingredients you not only can pronounce but can understand! You simply dip your wet toothbrush into the container of dry powder and brush. You still get a fresh-breath feeling and you can be assured that the ingredients in the tooth powder are not setting you back in any way.
If you’re struggling with gum disease, you need to be aware of everything from your toothpaste/powder ingredients to your diet because we all know by now that bacteria feeds on sugar. Keep it pure. Keep it clean. You’ll see results!
After a couple of months on GSE, I switched between clove, copaiba and thieves oils. I still switch between these three oils. I use only Young Living because they are the oils we have decided are most pure, based on extensive research. You can sign up with Young Living to obtain these oil using my Subscriber and Enroller ID 1414775. Contact me if you have ANY questions!
Trust me, I know it’s not exactly the most comfortable conversation to be having, but if you struggle or have struggled with constipation, it’s worth talking about it! What if you’re not constipated?
So, if you wake up in the morning and after a few hours, you don’t have a bowel movement, do you think you’re constipated? Do you tell people that you struggle with constipation? Do you subscribe to the IBS diagnosis that’s virtually meaningless?
Don’t beat yourself up and don’t make any assumptions. You might not suffer from constipation. It is possible, as I’ve learned in my gut healingprocess, that what you’re experiencing is a motility issue.
While constipation is defined as difficulty emptying the bowels, it is associated with hardened feces. Hard little balls. That’s the image we think of when recognizing constipation. Is that you? Or do you just have trouble having a bowel movement?
Gut motility may be the bigger issue, as opposed to constipation. Gut motility is the movement of the digestive system. Movement is the key word. When you’re down to the bottom of the toothpaste tube, you squeeze the tube. If you’re really frugal, you start at the bottom of the tube and push while rolling the tube up. (My dad put paperclips on the edge to hold the fold… I keep meaning to do that for the kids!) Our colon has to do this too. It’s called peristalsis: the gentle waves that occur in the colon to move waste through and out. Sometimes, when you can’t have a bowel movement, you aren’t dealing with constipation, you’re dealing with gut motility issues.
The reason this is important is because of how you deal with a situation based on the definition or diagnosis you attach to it. If you’re constipated, you may reach for a laxative or one of these over the counter products geared toward constipation. Take it from someone who knows, if it’s not constipation, then constipation remedies will not change anything. Drinking warm water, staying hydrated, consuming fiber, exercising, and probiotics won’t help. If it is constipation, then those things should help.
Since motility has to do with movement of the GI tract and not the state of the waste in the colon, you have to look at it differently. In the SIBO world, we call these prokinetics. Prokinetics help increase the waves of the colon without disrupting the rhythm. The difference between a prokinetic and a laxative is that a laxative will force waste from your body, disrupting your body’s natural rhythm. Abuse of laxatives can permanently damage your body’s ability to expel waste. Prokinetics work with your body’s natural rhythm so you can naturally move your bowels. Below are the affiliate links to the products I’ve used, researched, and believe in.
The first prokinetic I tried was Iberogast. Oh my goodness it worked like a charm. I had a week of normal, healthy and regular bowel movements. Unfortunately, I also had a reaction to Iberogast that included a sore and itchy throat. I know better than to mess with those symptoms so I pushed it aside and continued my search. It might be perfect for you, though! 20 drops with each meal is the aggressive start. You can then taper down until you only need a few drops in the evening. It’s worth a try. It’s truly a life-changing product.
Another prokinetic is triphala. Triphala is an Ayuvedic herbal formula. I bought the powder and used a scoop a day. I still use this, however it is not the only product that keeps things moving for me. I know it’s incredibly healthy for you and serves many purposes including being a gentle bowel tonic and helping support gastrointestinal health. This is the exact product I used (below) and will continue to take daily.
My favorite supplement, though, for digestive health, is Atrantil. Atrantil uses peppermint, quebracho and horse chestnut to prohibit the growth of methane and hydrogen in the gut, which greatly contribute to SIBO and other digestive disturbances. It has been miraculous for me. I started off taking 2 capsules with every meal and eventually tapered to just 2 capsules at dinner. This wasn’t enough for me and I added in 2 more capsules at lunch, for a total of four. For our budget and my desired health, I wasn’t happy taking 4 caps a day. After talking with some people in my SIBO support group on Facebook, I’ve been taking one capsule with each meal with great success. I was nervous to try another supplement. I always am, but I am so glad I found this. You can take it for acute issues, like a meal that didn’t settle well, or you can take it regularly for GI motility. I definitely recommend keeping this on hand.
All of this in mind, you have a LOT of options for keeping your gut healthy and your bowels moving. That is key for preventing the recurrence of SIBO especially. Still, sometimes stuff happens, or it doesn’t rather, and you may find yourself desperate to use the bathroom. I’ve been there. For me, I’ve discovered it’s vitamin D!!!! Of all the things. This happened in May last year too. I was doing great, I had cured my SIBO and was using a prokinetic and everything was going smoothly (literally) until it stopped (literally). It happened after I took a dose of vitamin D, trying to get back into my vitamin routine. Everything stopped. For days. It was torture. Since then, I’ve switched up my fish oils and have started taking one that already contains vitamin D without any trouble. That is, until my doctor prescribed me vitamin D, for my low vitamin D test results. I was prescribed the kind you take once a week for 6 weeks. Every darn time I took that I would get locked up. It was like a nightmare. I tested it by skipping a dose and I was perfectly fine. As soon as I resumed taking it, I was not fine. I was advised to take it every other week to give my body a chance to recover, but I started searching for emergency bowel moving tips and now I’m going to offer them to you!
Prunes. Yeah, the old lady fruit. They’re actually really tasty. And usually 3-5 will do the trick. I think they work best on an empty stomach as opposed to taking them with breakfast or another meal. And I found some organic prunes on Amazon to keep on hand for those emergencies. This deal comes in a package of 3 bags so they stay sealed and fresh.
How does a holistic nutrition coach handle being diagnosed with H. Pylori? Well, I’ll tell you…. if you feel like joining me on this journey.
If you don’t know by now, I firmly believe that gut health has EVERYTHING to do with psychological health since MOST of our neurotransmitters are in our GUT. They call the stomach “the first brain”. So in order to heal the “brain” (wherever you believe it is) you must start with the gut.
I can’t believe I didn’t have stool tests done at all over the last 4 years. I’ve been on this scary journey that started with antibiotics and panicattacks, eventually leading to candida diets and MTHFR protocols. (Please click on the links to these blog posts to see where I’ve already been….) I’ve learned so much! I’ve tried to share pieces of that with all of you. I don’t want my experiences to be in vain. Please, please learn from me!
Here is my journey:
So, here I am, early 2018, embarking on digestive issues that resemble the trash can diagnosis of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Since I don’t really believe in IBS, I had to wonder what was happening. Alongside these lovely experiences, my anxiety was increasing in severity and frequency again. I kept looking for reasons, trying probiotics, drinking clay, changing my diet to a more Paleo, low-carb diet, increasing exercise, decreasing wine, and on and on and on. (I am nothing if not persistent and dedicated to my health!)
After a long month of ridiculous amounts of stress, I arrived alone, at my kitchen counter, in a puddle of tears. I shared my concerns and fears with a few close friends and my husband. I was positive I had internal bleeding. My stools were not what they should be (black, tarry, sticky, very frequent) and Dr. Google let me know it could be colon cancer. Everyone encouraged me to get checked out, though with digestive and panic issues, how exactly was I going to get through an appointment? It didn’t really matter how because my husband made sure I had an appointment first thing the next morning.
I survived that appointment. I still don’t really know how, but the mind is a powerful thing. I drove home with bags of containers and a bucket. Do you need those gory details? Let’s just say I was desperate to have a bowel movement large enough to fill all the containers. And with some really good coffee and conversation, I was able to meet my requirements on a Thursday which meant my stool samples could get in the FedEx box for the distance lab and to the local lab before the weekend. I was so thrilled to have that behind me. (haha, behind me…..)
During the appointment, we talked about SIBO Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth and how that is responsible for most IBS diagnoses. (If you have been diagnosed with IBS or suspect you have it, please get tested!) Treatment is directly related to the bacteria that is overgrown and once treated, health resumes. That was an exciting possibility for me!
As early as Friday afternoon I got my first negative test result. Ok, ok, I can handle that – I don’t want EVERYTHING, just SOMETHING. With a diagnosis, I can find a treatment. With a treatment, I can find a cure. With a cure, I can work on re-wiring my brain to not choose anxiety first! So, I went through a whole weekend wondering when the results would pour in. I had burning stomach sensations, anxiety, discomfort, nausea…. Whenever I would feel good, I would think it was over, maybe it was just a bug. But it would inevitably return.
On Monday morning, taking my big girls to school, my husband called and I said, “You’re on speaker in the car with the kids!” And he said, “Oh, you haven’t dropped them off yet? Call me back when you do.”
Ohhhhh-kayyyy, my oldest daughter was super nervous about why he had called. I assured her everything was fine, but I wondered too, why he had called and why he couldn’t say what he needed to say over the phone in front of the kids. Dr. Google’s diagnosis taunted me from somewhere in the recesses of my brain, but I pushed it aside, dropped off my girls and called him back on my way home.
He handed me off to my Nurse Practitioner, who I adore, but who I didn’t know I’d be speaking with right then! I tried to pay as close attention as possible while my toddler babbled about stop signs in the backseat. She told me one of my tests came back as positive for H. Pylori.
Oh.
I know that one. That’s the type of bacteria they take the time to teach you about in grad school because it’s so aggressive, it’s so challenging to treat and it requires antibiotics. ANTIBIOTICS. I’ve been avoiding them since 2014. How was I going to do this? And before you mention that you can treat H. Pylori without them, I know. I’ve read Dr. Axe’s website, too. But when you’re suffering the way I’ve suffered, potentially off and on for years? You want a cure. Not a bunch of possibilities. So, I committed myself to doing everything she told me to do.
Ever so thorough, she checked my allergies, my previous prescriptions, my reactions, my sensitivities, and my concerns. And then she unfolded the protocol, which I began that morning. I had to make a chart to figure out how to squeeze it all into one day.
Can you see my dilemma here? Empty stomach. Before eating. With food. No dairy. No alcohol. It’s all over the place! The first thing I did was get permission to take the Tetracycline with food. (I don’t do ANYTHING on an empty stomach except my MTHFR vitamin B protocol in the morning.) So that meant for 3 of these medications I could do them at breakfast, lunch, afternoon, and dinner. The twice daily one, I decided on breakfast and dinner. I’d worked out a plan and wrote up a chart. I could squeeze my daily kefir in mid-morning so the calcium wouldn’t interact with the Tetracycline. I also took my NP’s advice and ordered the probiotic she recommended: MegaFlora – see below for affiliate link.
I didn’t have to think about taking the probiotic yet because I ordered it on Amazon. Thank God. Probiotics had not gone well for me over the last few months. But I assured my NP that I would try again. I would do anything to make this better!
So if you review the protocol, you’ll see that’s 14 pills a day. That’s a LOT of pills! Especially for someone who doesn’t take pills ever…. Plus I take 2 vitamin B’s in the morning. 2 fish oils, a phosphetidylcholine and vitamin D3 drops with lunch… so now we’re up to 19 pills and D drops! I thought maybe I’d take a break from the vitamins, except the B’s while I did this 14 day protocol.
Day 1: Monday was overwhelming. I made my chart. I took my pills. As much as I tried not to think about it, it was all I could think about. I felt so gross. I was scared of side effects or reactions. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought I was going to throw up at any given time of day, but I begged myself not to because then I’d have to start over! I was messaging my husband so many questions, including could I take clay or charcoal or aloe if I needed to? The answer was no to the clay and charcoal, but yes to the aloe, so there was that. I felt like there wasn’t much I could do if I started feeling bad. My go-to’s were gone.
Day 2: On Tuesday, I felt gross. Still. Again. Nausea made eating a challenge but eating was required to continue the protocol. Late morning, I noticed I was scratching my head and neck. A lot. I texted my husband who immediately called me. Hives? No. Rash? No. Red? Only from scratching. But what if? I could feel panic rising up in me. I’d had an allergic reaction to antibiotics in the past and it was so scary and here I was sitting by the fire, working, while my 2 year old ran around. What would I do if I had a reaction now? The day dragged on with all this fear. He consulted with my NP and they added milk thistle twice daily, lemon water, and cooked garlic to my regimen to aid with detoxification. Plus, she wanted me to make sure I was still taking my fish oils. Ugh.
If you’re keeping track, that comes to 14 prescription meds, 2 fish oils, 2 vitamin B’s, 2 milk thistle caps, and guess what? The probiotic arrived that afternoon. I decided to take that before bed so it wouldn’t interfere with anything else. That’s 21…. TWENTY-ONE pills a day. For 14…. FOURTEEN days.
Don’t get me wrong. It could be worse. It could be Dr. Google’s diagnosis. It could be untreatable. It could be undiagnosed issues. Here I am with a diagnosis, a treatment plan, and hopefully a cure at the end of 2 weeks. I don’t mean to complain. I am aware that things could be so much worse. Still, when you’re in it, you’re in it.
I spent the day edgy about the itching, praying against any allergic reactions, trying not to worry, and playing the Bachelor in the background for distraction (Did anyone else think that was a horrible season?). I was nauseous and exhausted. Dizziness and fatigue would hit me after every round I took, but I wasn’t giving up unless I had an allergic reaction, because starting over sounded too scary.
Can I share a silver lining here? Rest. Resting on the couch because I was too nauseous to do anything else at times, I had so much time with my family. My toddler would snuggle and play next to me (when he wasn’t destroying the house and pulling board games and DVD’s off the shelf). My girls sat with me, snuggled and chatted with me in the evening. After bed time routines were completed, my husband and I just snuggled and talked on the couch. That quality time felt precious. It felt important. I welcomed that gift in the middle of the cursed diagnosis-treatment cycle.
That night I encountered insomnia, a terrible taste in my mouth (probiotic? side effect of meds?), and nausea. I started crying when the alarm went off.
“I’ll talk to her,” my husband said.
“No! Don’t!” I said. “I don’t want her to think I’m a crybaby. If it’s not urgent, don’t tell her. I’m just tired. So tired.”
And so began Wednesday. Day 3.
Surprisingly, for me, the day got better! I was tired from the night before, but I didn’t feel super itchy or super anxious. I was in the bathroom a LOT more but I told myself those evil bacteria were leaving my system. I even got up the courage to go the library with my toddler. I felt brave and capable. I started cooking dinner before noon because I didn’t want to waste the good feelings.
Day 4: This day was pretty mellow and predictable as well. I could tell when the queasy feelings were coming and I rolled with them. That night though, I could not sleep well. I felt restless and uncomfortable.
Day 5: I think I went to the bathroom 14 times. Before noon. Seriously, you’re reading a post about H. Pylori. You can’t be surprised there’s bathroom talk, right? It was crazy. I didn’t feel sick. I just kept going. I had this feeling like I was just going to make it and it was going to be ok. I felt itchy feelings still, but they weren’t terrible. The roof of my mouth itched and my throat felt prickly, but I hoped that was just the winter cold germs that my kids abound with.
Day 6: We had a lot to do on this day; a Saturday with a family of 5 is never boring! One child had a friend over the night before for a sleepover. We had a mid-morning event to go to. Another child needed a haircut. And our friends, a family of 6, were coming to stay with us that night. I also had the worst headache of my entire life. I’m not kidding you. I’m not a “I have a headache” type of person. It rarely happens. But on this busy, family-oriented day, I was consumed by this pressure and pain. Again, I kept going, taking these pills every few hours, drinking water, eating as healthily as I could. Eventually, I just had to take a nap. The pressure was like a wide headband was on my head and something else, on the bridge of my nose. Pressure. Deep constant pressure. I wondered if that’s what a migraine felt like? Everything made it worse. I spent most of the afternoon in bed just feeling the discomfort. More detox? I may never know. That evening I noticed bumps on my back. Some looked like bug bites (my husband thought maybe a bug was in my sweater) and some looked like pimples. By the end of the night I had a lower back covered in what looked like pimples. My back had been clear that morning. I pushed down the panic rising up and googled symptoms of H. Pylori treatments. Acne is one of them. I told myself, “It’s acne”, and I went to bed.
Day 7: We spent the day with our friends and I felt really good for the most part. Grocery shopping, visiting, eating meals… it all seemed pretty easy. But again, in the evening, I felt the itchiness return. I showered and when I got out, I had puffy red spot all over my back, some on my stomach, and a few on my neck. It was hard not to panic.
I sat on the couch that evening feeling foggy-headed. I felt pretty panicky and it seemed like I couldn’t get enough oxygen into my head. I still had some pressure in my head and a gross feeling in my throat. I was hoping I wasn’t getting the cold that my daughters both had and I rubbed Eucalyptus oil on me to help with breathing, but I couldn’t find relief.
It has been years since I’ve felt that helpless. Or hopeless. I laid in bed that night crying to my husband that I just wanted to be unconscious. This is not living. It’s suffering. I slept hard that night.
Day 8: I had made it through a WHOLE WEEK! Yes, the night before was brutal, but I was okay, wasn’t I? I made it through the night. The red bumps went down to the pimple-looking things again and it was snowing. Okay, snow has very little to do with how I was feeling, but it sure was pretty to watch. And the kids stayed home, which was so wonderful. I held myself together that morning, waiting to hear from my NP. When one of her nurses called, I braced myself for what they would say. My anxiety was through the roof, which I believe firmly was physiologically induced but mentally triggered. She suggested I try Benadryl when my husband was home, in the evening when the itching was most noticeable and we would see what happened.
That night, I sat on the couch assessing myself. I was calm, crocheting, a little depressed and beaten down by this whole thing and feeling helpless still. I could feel a little itchiness in different spot all over my body and a tingling at the base of my skull, like that pressure-oxygen-thing was building back up. My husband thought it was a good time to take the Benadryl to see if it would help. I continued sitting and crocheting for an hour but I never felt a change. Normally, I would be knocked out by Benadryl, but I didn’t even feel tired. The queasiness in my stomach had abated, which was a relief, but the itches remained. I had a stuffy feeling in my head, but not a crazy, panicky, I-can’t-breathe-feeling. My throat stopped hurting, thankfully! I went to bed, more confused than ever. If this was a histamine reaction, wouldn’t the Benadryl have stopped it? Why didn’t the Benadryl knock me out? Why was I still itchy? All I could do was wait til the morning.
Day 9: I started the day as I normally would: breakfast, medicine, packing lunches. I felt pretty nauseous and also like I had a head cold, scratchy throat, stuffy nose, etc. When the nurse called, I felt the panic rise up in me. My stomach turned. I told her the results of our experiment and she said she thought my NP would start backing me off of the antibiotics. I hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom (thank you very much anxiety). I felt like I’d never be able to go to an appointment again, to sit in a room and deal with anything again. I felt defeated, like a shell of myself. How could I function normally, if anything out of the ordinary made me panic?
As I waited to hear from them, I took one child to school, (another was home sick), went to the library for books for the kids, and came home for lunch and meds. I felt defeated. What if, by cutting back on the antibiotics, this whole process was drawn out even longer? What if I didn’t get better after all? What if all of this was for nothing and I was worse off than before?
I spoke to another nurse right before lunch and she said to stop the Tetracycline immediately. Since the Benadryl did not reduce the itching, they wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t have anaphylaxis. I guess there’s really no way to know if that’s what I was heading toward or not. I asked if this would prevent or slow down my recovery and she said maybe a little, but hopefully not.
I tried to boost myself back up. I had completed 8 days. Some do triple therapy for 7 days with a 79% success rate. I did quadruple therapy for 8 days. That has to count for something. There had to be a light at the end of this tunnel. I left the Tetracycline out when I prepared my lunch medications. I made a note on my chart and hoped this would be a turning point.
When I went to bed that night I had a full blown head cold (remember that kid who stayed home sick?). I put a cold wet cloth on my head to help my sinus inflammation and I went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, our other daughter got up throwing up. By 5 a.m., I had her GI bug too. I couldn’t make this nightmare up if I tried. I spent Day 10 in the bathroom, trying to eat 4 times during the day in order to take my meds, knowing it wasn’t going to stay in my system long. It was an awful sickness and I was in tears, rocking in bed with nausea, missing time with my friend who was in town for a visit, and unable to care for myself or my family.
When I woke up on Day 11, I felt the GI bug was gone. I could sense that my body was stronger and less nauseous. I took a relieved breath and got up to start the day. Being very weak and fatigued from the illness, I asked my husband for help with the kids and I spent half of the day in bed. By midday, I was feeling better and moved to the couch. I showered and knew that tomorrow was going to be even better.
I was a little surprised to experience nausea on Day 12. I thought I’d be over it by then, but it wasn’t a GI bug nausea, it was different. I also felt my anxiety was on overdrive. I was shaking and crying to my husband that I couldn’t keep living this way. I spent the day on the couch eating when I needed to take medication and crocheting while my 2 year old son destroyed the house around me. By the afternoon, my back hurt really bad, right in the center, between my shoulder blades and a little farther down. Nothing I did could relieve it. So, I ate a banana and felt a bit of relief. I figured it was acid for some reason and I put a call in to the nurse to see if taking antacids was allowable. Of course it was a Friday and my NP was out and we were headed into a weekend…. I mean what could go wrong?
Antacids were approved. I tried to make it through dinner but the back pain, heartburn feelings and nausea were steadily creeping up on me. I begged my husband to go get me some Tums so maybe I could find relief. He did and then asked if I needed to go to the emergency room.
“I don’t trust them!” I cried. “They won’t understand the protocol I’ve been on or what could be happening! Last time you went, you probably had an ulcer and they gave you a prescription for Cipro (only the deadliest antibiotic out there) and told you to take an anti-diarrheal. They would kill me!”
I begged him to cross a professional line and contact my NP. Begged. He did. She said she thought I was having a gastric flare up, which can happen with the antibiotic Metronidazole. At this point, I wasn’t convinced that I wouldn’t die. The pain, burning and nausea was intermingled with racing heart, icy chest, sweating and chills. I was in the most horrific panic cycle I’d ever experienced and I didn’t see a way out. She advised that I stop the Metronidazole (which I’d already taken my last dose of the day for) and said I could take a Tums every 15 minutes, but not to exceed 6. She said to take another Omeprazole (a PPI) and continue to take 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening instead of 1. My husband made me a warm cup of water with ACV (apple cider vinegar) and honey in it.
I did everything I was told. I even added Benadryl to the mix in the hopes it would help me sleep at least. Eventually, I found a restless sleep that got me through the night, but when I awoke, I was back in my nightmare. Shaking. Sweating. Nausea. Racing heart. Burning stomach. Icy chest. Chills. I wondered again if I would die. Hello, Day 13.
One of my best friends had texted. She was leaving after being in town for a week. She was coming by to return our Pack-N-Play and I wasn’t in a position to see her. I was heartbroken. I cried.
My husband took over for me that day while I wrestled with panic demons and death fears. I begged him yet again to contact my NP. I felt like I was going to die. I told him I would go to the ER if she thought I should. She didn’t (thank God). She actually advised that I start drinking bone broth and she called in a prescription for anti-nausea medication.
I would do anything to avoid the hospital, and death. I drank cup after cup of broth. I found moments where I didn’t feel anything. I had forgotten what that felt like. I began to feel like I would live. I couldn’t eat. I was incredibly weak. But I knew I was going to live. It was the scariest 24 hours of my life. It was worse than childbirth. The unknown taunted me and the thought that it wouldn’t end was absolute torture.
I cried so many tears that day. My husband, frantically doing both of our jobs, juggling our children, the household needs, meals, dishes, and my bone broth needs was frantic. I wanted to hug him, to help him, to get up and join him, but I couldn’t. I was too busy trying not to succumb to yet another panic attack. My children made me notes and cards, they came to visit and talk, but I was too tired, too weak, too nauseous and too anxious to participate in anything with them and it broke my heart. I hugged them when I could. Smiled when I couldn’t.
I didn’t end up taking the anti-nausea med (Zofran). I couldn’t risk any other complications, side effects or challenges. I did drink quarts of bone broth. Lucky for us, we had just cooked up a batch (we cook it for 3 days) and it was ready to be consumed.
The nausea and anxiety cycle was like being out in an ocean where I couldn’t see land. I could see impending waves and when they would begin to rise up it took every ounce of concentration to stay on top of them. I could not risk letting them wash over me, sending me underwater, unable to breathe, tossed about and disoriented. I would feel the icy chill in my chest and my heart begin to race and I would close my eyes. Surviving each attack meant staying on top of the wave with my breathing, with my visualization, with focusing on all 5 senses to make sure I stayed grounded and did not get lost.
So, when I started Day 14 of a 14 day protocol, I did so knowing I was off of all antibiotics (so, was I still on a protocol?). I took double amounts of Omeprazole and continued with the Pink Bismuth. I ate a little food and continued consuming bone broth. I moved myself to the living room where I could be near my family again and I hoped. I hoped for healing. I hoped for recovery. I hoped for complete deliverance of the pain and nausea.
That’s my 14-day journey. It didn’t actually have a happy ending, did it? It didn’t really have an ending at all!
Here’s what I know: When I communicated with my NP, we had received my other stool sample results and I have SIBO. I also didn’t finish the H. Pylori protocol so that could be affecting me too. My decision was to start treatment for SIBO which includes herbal antibiotics and a strict diet called SCD (specific carbohydrate diet). The supplement formula I decided to go with is Metagenics (affiliate link below). According to the SIBO website, I will take 2 caps of each formula twice a day.
? Stool Tests… Why Don’t We Test Poop?
This question has haunted me throughout this experience. Why didn’t anyone test my poop over the last 4 years? I obviously had an experience where I took an antibiotic and began having panic attacks. I self-diagnosed myself with Candida and tried to treat it myself. It didn’t go well and I went to a Naturopath and did a huge blood work up, but no poop test. I spent 2015 and 2016 trying to maintain the health I had achieved with the Naturopath but I still wasn’t 100%. I got pregnant and had a baby. I pursued MTHFR treatment and found a greater degree of peace, but still not 100%. Throughout all of this, no one did a stool test. I actually wish I’d asked. I think I’ve been so tired of not feeling well, that I just kept hoping the right doctor would figure it all out and fix it. It took me getting this sick (internal-bleeding-kind-of-sick) before stool tests were on the table.
This is the test that was sent out via FedEx. It’s so comprehensive. Very impressive. Just read about it and tell me you’re going to insist on testing yourself through your practitioner. Or tell me to become a practitioner and I’ll order tests for you. Because this is IMPORTANT stuff! Genova Diagnostics.
Lesson? Ask for stool tests. If you have digestive OR psychological challenges, get a comprehensive panel of your stool. Find out if there’s an imbalance of any kind of bacteria that you can address to achieve optimal health! Check for SIBO, H. Pylori and parasites. You’re worth it.
Have you been diagnosed with IBS? Do you think that’s just a diagnosis like the common cold or celiac disease and you just have to deal with it? Do you think treating your symptoms is the best option, or would you rather find the root cause and eliminate it?
Your answers to these questions might be different than mine. I’ve always struggled with digestive challenges and relatedly, anxiety and depression. You might be surprised to find that anxiety and depression are related to digestive troubles (as are the immune system and hormones). Since they all live in the same place: the GUT, they tend to affect each other.
One of the first questions I’m asked lately is, “How did you know you had SIBO?” Short answer: I didn’t. I thought I had internal bleeding, cancer, or an ulcer. Or all of the above. I shook as I explained my symptoms to my friends, my husband and eventually my NP. I was flooded with relief when I heard that, most likely, I had a gut issue that could be resolved.
I’ve never been diagnosed with IBS. I know many people have. If I went to a GI doctor and described my digestion, I probably WOULD have been diagnosed! I just know what’s not normal. While I am familiar with sluggish bowels and anxiety-induced diarrhea or traveler’s constipation, I know that it’s normal to have a bowel movement every day. And I know that bowel movements should be formed, not liquid or hard as a rock. Thankfully, Dr. Oz has normalized the conversation about bowel movements, right? You wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t ready to think about it and talk about it. Your toilet can tell you a lot if you pay attention.
So, I knew something was wrong. My anxiety was so high and I was either regular, constipated, or having diarrhea. I never knew from one day to the next what I was going to be dealing with in the bathroom. At some point, that transitioned into horrible bowel movements that resembled what the Internet told me was internal bleeding. This is what led me to my Nurse Practitioner (NP) at an Integrative Health Practice.
My Nurse Practitioner told me I might have SIBO and that it’s relatively easy to remedy, which brought me great relief. My comprehensive stool analysis results took several weeks to return and in that time I was treating the H. Pylori I’d also discovered I had (read that story here).
Once we confirmed I had SIBO, I launched into action.
Treating SIBO is best accomplished as a two-fold process: diet and supplementation. You may choose different treatment plans, but I’m sharing what I’ve chosen. My first, and most valuable resource, is: SIBO INFO. This is the website my NP recommended to me as having valuable and up-to-date information as well as
successful outcomes.From looking at this website, you’ll see they offer various treatment options. From the Herbal Antibiotics options, I chose Metagenics. My choice was based on reviews on Amazon when I compared the two options. Being so uncomfortable, I was looking for relief and not more side effects. The Amazon reviews offered me hope that the Metagenics supplements could offer me that.
I purchased a bottle of Metagenics Candibactin AR and Metagenics Candibacting BR. See affiliate links below:
Yes, I flinched at the cost. Yes, I cringed at the 2 of each twice a day regimen, but I was desperate.
The other part of the treatment involves dietary changes. You’ll see under SIBO INFO’s Diet dropdown menu that there are many diets to choose from. My NP recommended the SCD diet and since it allowed for red wine, I was all in!
The diet is restrictive. Very restrictive. The only sugar allowed is honey. No maple syrup or coconut sugar. No flours or grains or starches. No sweet potatoes, or mayonnaise (unless it’s homemade), no soy, no corn, etc, etc. I’ve heard many people say, “I could never take on a diet like that.” I’ve also been told that I have such great willpower. But it wasn’t a choice.
There comes a point where you will do anything to not be in pain, or anxiety, or dis-ease. When you reach that point, it doesn’t matter anymore what you want to eat, what matters is what will help you regain your health.
If you’ve followed along this far, then you may be interested in the intricacies of the SCD diet. The best website for information is: Breaking the Vicious Cycle. This website is based on the book that was written to outline and define the SCD diet. As I progressed with research, I’ve met many people who’ve had the SCD diet change their lives. Instagram moms, Facebook group participants, and bloggers all write about the benefits of this diet.
In the beginning of the treatment, I was still struggling in the mornings with multiple bouts of diarrhea and anxiety. There were days I struggled to make the 10 minute drive to drop the girls off at school. Usually, I would be fine by late morning. I figured I could just live with this, if it was to be the worst of it. As luck would have it though, I went on a 3 day trip with some friends and our kids, to the beach, and I forgot my probiotic. I was so nervous about traveling and I was basically a “maybe” up until the day we left. While we were there, I didn’t have any distress. I used the bathroom once in the morning and felt FINE. It was the probiotic. You see, SIBO is Small Intestinal BACTERIA Overgrowth. So my body did not want any more bacteria. Period. After confirming with my NP, I never took it again!
The treatment plan I chose was for approximately 4 weeks. At the 4 week mark, I was so nervous. I actually did feel better, with some ups and downs here and there. The road was rough at times with painful bloating, bathroom emergencies, and overall anxiety when I didn’t feel well. I had bone broth or chamomile tea with me most of the time. There was also the adjustment to the SCD diet, which I hadn’t thought would be too difficult after being fairly low-carb, Paleo-esque for months already. But when Easter and Passover came around and everyone was enjoying the food associated with these holidays, I struggled with sadness. The emotional attachment to the enjoyment of food is not to be taken lightly!
Still, after 4 weeks, I could tell that on a scale of 1-10 I was an 8 or a 9 some days. I wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack. I wasn’t in the bathroom multiple times a morning. I had become regular, like clockwork, and felt stronger than I had in months. The few symptoms I did have and my fear of not doing everything right, prompted me to do a SIBO Breath Test from Genova Diagnositcs.
My results were negative. I was SIBO free! After I exhaled and did a happy dance and sent messages to all my loved ones, I asked what now? Do I just stop everything? I knew from my research that I needed a prokinetic (a supplement to keep my intestines mobile, so that nothing gets stuck and grows there). The recurrence rate for SIBO is 70-80% and I did NOT want it to reoccur.
Again, between my NP and my Amazon reviews research, I settled on a prokinetic. Also, it was agreed that I would only add in one new food a week and then wait a week before changing anything else, to see if I had any reactions to foods. It was like I was side-stepping my way out of a jail cell, hoping not to get caught. The scent of freedom was there, but I couldn’t quite taste it.
The prokenetic I chose was Iberogast (see affiliate link below):
As soon as I started Iberogast, I noticed 2 things:
1) My throat hurt a little. Some kind of reaction was happening and I decided that 20 drops at every meal just wasn’t for me. I did 10 instead.
2) My stools were NORMAL, healthy, regular, and there were NO symptoms. I’d struck gold! Iberogast would always be in my life!
During my first week of potential freedom, I relished in the good feelings and planned on eating tortilla chips at dinner Friday night. How I missed the crunch of something. Nothing in SCD diet-land is particularly crunchy, to satisfy that urge. You’d think my first food would’ve been chocolate, but I guess this just showed how far I had come. The chips weren’t even that good, but I enjoyed the crunch immensely. That weekend, I noticed no discomfort or issues. As the days went on, I continued feeling wonderful.
I decided I should start adding my supplements back in because I want to be my healthiest self. I started with Vitamin D3 and that afternoon I felt a little crampy and bloated, but hoped it was nothing. Four days went by without a bowel movement. I was panicking. I was convinced that SIBO was coming for me with the keys to lock my jail cell again. I felt backed up (pun intended) against a wall and I frantically e-mailed my NP. Repeatedly.
None of the usual things worked. This wasn’t constipation, this was my body reacting severely to something in the Vitamin D3. I was devastated. I knew that magnesium and Vitamin D3 were very connected so I decided to try the magnesium recommended for SIBO: Magnesium Glycinate (see affiliate link:)
Eventually, the blockage ended, but I was so scared of experiencing that again. I started the Magnesium Glycinate, which is supposed to be good for SIBO (and it might be right for YOU!), but it wasn’t for me. Unfortunately, I have this issue with magnesium. When I take it, I get a sore throat and this time was no different, except it was accompanied by nausea, headaches and anxiety. Fabulous. I stopped that on Day 3.
I also needed to address this prokinetic issue since Iberogast wasn’t ideal for me and I never got back to that wonderful week of normal and healthy bowel movements. I decided to try Triphala. I learned about it from this awesome podcast I listened to (The Science of Success). It’s basically an interview with a neurologist who had migraines and couldn’t cure herself. She ended up at an Ayurvedic Practitioner that educated her (a neurologist!) on how important the gut is for the rest of the body’s health. She discussed Triphala and how valuable it can be for the gut health and a quick Google search showed me that it is often used successfully as a SIBO prokinetic.
Thankfully, this powder has been working well. No sore throat. No nausea. No headaches. And slowly, but surely, leaning towards normal again.
This is a saga. At some point I just have to publish this blog and update you later as I learn more information. Because, the truth is, health is a journey. And SIBO is a very complicated journey. It’s not as simple as “take 3 of these and call me in the morning.” Just because I got a negative breath test, doesn’t mean that everything returned to normal. Kefir didn’t work for me. Magnesium was a no-go. Iberogast was intermittently helpful. Probiotics failed me as well, even the one that’s considered good for SIBO (affiliate link below).
My Nurse Practitioner said that I may never be able to handle a probiotic again. The delicate balance in our guts is very complex and there is no “one size fits all” approach to our health! When I see commercials pushing certain supplements, I scoff and say, “Not if you have SIBO!” All bets are off now.
Here I am, 4 months into this process and I’m still on the SCD diet. I’ve added tiny amounts of homemade chocolate, tortilla chips, and popcorn. It’s nice to have those indulgences sometimes. I also still have mornings where things just aren’t right and I worry, worry that I’ll never have the perfect gut health I used to. It is definitely possible that this will be a lifelong challenge for me. Sometimes that exhausts me. Other times, I think how much I’ve learned because of it.
I named this website At Peace With Health because I understand that the journey is complicated and no matter how challenging it is, my goal is to be at peace with it. This is the only life I get to live and I want to enjoy it and thrive in it. May God give me the grace for myself that I need in order to be at peace with where I am!
I’ve meant to update about MTHFR and my health for so long! I’ve promised it to many and I’m finally sitting down to write it out. I think I arrived at such a better place after it that I forgot to post at all. I guess that’s a pretty good testament to this protocol!
If you want to know what MTHFR is (and you should, since nearly half of all Americans have it), check out this blog specifically about MTHFR. If you want to follow the journey of discovery and where I came from, see this post about antibiotics & anxiety and this one about Candida and this one about over-methylation.
My discovery of MTHFR began with a bug bite and a prescription that immediately caused panic attacks. It took me months to bounce back from that. I truly believe my discovery of MTHFR helped me to have a successful last pregnancy and a healthy last baby. But I still wasn’t feeling great.
When I had survived pregnancy, postpartum, baby’s tongue- and lip-ties, and was beginning to feel like a human again, I started to get serious about my symptoms. My most concerning symptom was this undercurrent of jitters. It wasn’t quite like anxiety, but more like a high, fast vibration that I couldn’t subdue. Oh sure, I could self-medicate with wine and I reduced sugar so as not to encourage it, but it was always there. I continued my regimen, but it wasn’t working.
I met with my NP, who is an expert with MTHFR. She presented me with a protocol that I was nervously excited to begin. She pointed out that my current regimen (which included a Thorne vitamin) was inconsistent for my needs. It was causing my jitters! All throughout my pregnancy and postpartum challenges, my vitamin was actually making things worse. Insert huge sigh here.
So here is what I did, including affiliate links below. (Purchasing via these links will not affect your price at all, but will contribute a tiny bit to the creation and maintenance of this blog.)
The First Step:
I purchased Seeking Health Active B12 5000. Sometimes this isn’t available on Amazon, but I’ve had no problem getting it directly from Seeking Health itself.
I cut a tab in fourths. For one week, I took a quarter of a tab every morning on an empty stomach. I kept careful watch over myself and my jitters. I didn’t feel terrible, but I didn’t feel better either.
After a week (or maybe 2, because I was scared to increase the dosage), I switched to a half of a tablet. This also seemed to settle pretty well. When you’re hypersensitive to every feeling in your body, thanks to years of anxiety, jitters, and uncertainty, it’s hard to know what’s causing what, but I convinced myself to trust the process.
The goal is to increase until a dose is uncomfortable and then step back to the previous dose that felt good. I tried off and on for weeks to get to 3/4 of a tablet. I had jitters. I had discomfort. I thought maybe it was a stomach bug one week. Another time I tried, I thought it was PMS messing with me. Or I didn’t get much sleep this week, so that could be it. So many possibilities, but I ended up back at half a tablet every time.
When I spoke to my NP about it she said it was clear to her that I was a half-er. And that’s ok! I wasn’t necessarily trying to get up to a point of tolerating a whole tablet of B12. I was trying to get up to my perfect dose and for many people a half is just good enough.
The Next Step:
Once I was on the dose that worked for me, the next step was to add in Folate. But not just any folate and definitely not folic acid. Methylfolate is the supplement needed since MTHFR prevents my body from being able to break down and absorb folate. I purchased Bluebonnet Earth Sweet Cellular Active Methylfolate 1000 mcg.
My mornings began with a half of a B12 tablet and a whole methylfolate tablet. And then I waited. Would I feel bad? Would it cause jitters? Would it make things better or worse?
Let me say that I felt better than I had in years. I felt energized and jitter-free and just so free in my body. I wish I could say that amazing feeling lasted, but I think my body got used to it and the euphoria settled into normalcy. I’m not complaining! I’ll take normal any day.
I cannot issue medical advice, but I am happy to share my journey and my resources with you. I think this protocol is worth trying if you have or suspect you have MTHFR. MTHFR is SO common and can cause so many issues, including but not limited to:
How does a holistic nutrition coach handle being diagnosed with H. Pylori? Well, I’ll tell you…. if you feel like joining me on this journey.
If you don’t know by now, I firmly believe that gut health has EVERYTHING to do with psychological health since MOST of our neurotransmitters are in our GUT. They call the stomach “the first brain”. So in order to heal the “brain” (wherever you believe it is) you must start with the gut.
I can’t believe I didn’t have stool tests done at all over the last 4 years. I’ve been on this scary journey that started with antibiotics and panic attacks, eventually leading to candida diets and MTHFR protocols. (Please click on the links to these blog posts to see where I’ve already been….) I’ve learned so much! I’ve tried to share pieces of that with all of you. I don’t want my experiences to be in vain. Please, please learn from me!
Here is my journey:
So, here I am, early 2018, embarking on digestive issues that resemble the trash can diagnosis of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Since I don’t really believe in IBS, I had to wonder what was happening. Alongside these lovely experiences, my anxiety was increasing in severity and frequency again. I kept looking for reasons, trying probiotics, drinking clay, changing my diet to a more Paleo, low-carb diet, increasing exercise, decreasing wine, and on and on and on. (I am nothing if not persistent and dedicated to my health!)
After a long month of ridiculous amounts of stress, I arrived alone, at my kitchen counter, in a puddle of tears. I shared my concerns and fears with a few close friends and my husband. I was positive I had internal bleeding. My stools were not what they should be (black, tarry, sticky, very frequent) and Dr. Google let me know it could be colon cancer. Everyone encouraged me to get checked out, though with digestive and panic issues, how exactly was I going to get through an appointment? It didn’t really matter how because my husband made sure I had an appointment first thing the next morning.
I survived that appointment. I still don’t really know how, but the mind is a powerful thing. I drove home with bags of containers and a bucket. Do you need those gory details? Let’s just say I was desperate to have a bowel movement large enough to fill all the containers. And with some really good coffee and conversation, I was able to meet my requirements on a Thursday which meant my stool samples could get in the FedEx box for the distance lab and to the local lab before the weekend. I was so thrilled to have that behind me. (haha, behind me…..)
During the appointment, we talked about SIBO Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth and how that is responsible for most IBS diagnoses. (If you have been diagnosed with IBS or suspect you have it, please get tested!) Treatment is directly related to the bacteria that is overgrown and once treated, health resumes. That was an exciting possibility for me!
As early as Friday afternoon I got my first negative test result. Ok, ok, I can handle that – I don’t want EVERYTHING, just SOMETHING. With a diagnosis, I can find a treatment. With a treatment, I can find a cure. With a cure, I can work on re-wiring my brain to not choose anxiety first! So, I went through a whole weekend wondering when the results would pour in. I had burning stomach sensations, anxiety, discomfort, nausea…. Whenever I would feel good, I would think it was over, maybe it was just a bug. But it would inevitably return.
On Monday morning, taking my big girls to school, my husband called and I said, “You’re on speaker in the car with the kids!” And he said, “Oh, you haven’t dropped them off yet? Call me back when you do.”
Ohhhhh-kayyyy, my oldest daughter was super nervous about why he had called. I assured her everything was fine, but I wondered too, why he had called and why he couldn’t say what he needed to say over the phone in front of the kids. Dr. Google’s diagnosis taunted me from somewhere in the recesses of my brain, but I pushed it aside, dropped off my girls and called him back on my way home.
He handed me off to my Nurse Practitioner, who I adore, but who I didn’t know I’d be speaking with right then! I tried to pay as close attention as possible while my toddler babbled about stop signs in the backseat. She told me one of my tests came back as positive for H. Pylori.
Oh.
I know that one. That’s the type of bacteria they take the time to teach you about in grad school because it’s so aggressive, it’s so challenging to treat and it requires antibiotics. ANTIBIOTICS. I’ve been avoiding them since 2014. How was I going to do this? And before you mention that you can treat H. Pylori without them, I know. I’ve read Dr. Axe’s website, too. But when you’re suffering the way I’ve suffered, potentially off and on for years? You want a cure. Not a bunch of possibilities. So, I committed myself to doing everything she told me to do.
Ever so thorough, she checked my allergies, my previous prescriptions, my reactions, my sensitivities, and my concerns. And then she unfolded the protocol, which I began that morning. I had to make a chart to figure out how to squeeze it all into one day.
Pink Bismuth (for ulcer) 4 times a day
Metronidazole (antibiotic) 4 times a day with food, no alcohol (bye, bye wine)
Tetracycline (anitibiotic) 4 times a day with no food, no dairy (what about kefir? and when will my stomach be empty?)
Omeprazole (PPI for acid) 2 times a day with plenty of water, before eating
Can you see my dilemma here? Empty stomach. Before eating. With food. No dairy. No alcohol. It’s all over the place! The first thing I did was get permission to take the Tetracycline with food. (I don’t do ANYTHING on an empty stomach except my MTHFR vitamin B protocol in the morning.) So that meant for 3 of these medications I could do them at breakfast, lunch, afternoon, and dinner. The twice daily one, I decided on breakfast and dinner. I’d worked out a plan and wrote up a chart. I could squeeze my daily kefir in mid-morning so the calcium wouldn’t interact with the Tetracycline. I also took my NP’s advice and ordered the probiotic she recommended: MegaFlora – see below for affiliate link.
I didn’t have to think about taking the probiotic yet because I ordered it on Amazon. Thank God. Probiotics had not gone well for me over the last few months. But I assured my NP that I would try again. I would do anything to make this better!
So if you review the protocol, you’ll see that’s 14 pills a day. That’s a LOT of pills! Especially for someone who doesn’t take pills ever…. Plus I take 2 vitamin B’s in the morning. 2 fish oils, a phosphetidylcholine and vitamin D3 drops with lunch… so now we’re up to 19 pills and D drops! I thought maybe I’d take a break from the vitamins, except the B’s while I did this 14 day protocol.
Day 1: Monday was overwhelming. I made my chart. I took my pills. As much as I tried not to think about it, it was all I could think about. I felt so gross. I was scared of side effects or reactions. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought I was going to throw up at any given time of day, but I begged myself not to because then I’d have to start over! I was messaging my husband so many questions, including could I take clay or charcoal or aloe if I needed to? The answer was no to the clay and charcoal, but yes to the aloe, so there was that. I felt like there wasn’t much I could do if I started feeling bad. My go-to’s were gone.
Day 2: On Tuesday, I felt gross. Still. Again. Nausea made eating a challenge but eating was required to continue the protocol. Late morning, I noticed I was scratching my head and neck. A lot. I texted my husband who immediately called me. Hives? No. Rash? No. Red? Only from scratching. But what if? I could feel panic rising up in me. I’d had an allergic reaction to antibiotics in the past and it was so scary and here I was sitting by the fire, working, while my 2 year old ran around. What would I do if I had a reaction now? The day dragged on with all this fear. He consulted with my NP and they added milk thistle twice daily, lemon water, and cooked garlic to my regimen to aid with detoxification. Plus, she wanted me to make sure I was still taking my fish oils. Ugh.
If you’re keeping track, that comes to 14 prescription meds, 2 fish oils, 2 vitamin B’s, 2 milk thistle caps, and guess what? The probiotic arrived that afternoon. I decided to take that before bed so it wouldn’t interfere with anything else. That’s 21…. TWENTY-ONE pills a day. For 14…. FOURTEEN days.
Don’t get me wrong. It could be worse. It could be Dr. Google’s diagnosis. It could be untreatable. It could be undiagnosed issues. Here I am with a diagnosis, a treatment plan, and hopefully a cure at the end of 2 weeks. I don’t mean to complain. I am aware that things could be so much worse. Still, when you’re in it, you’re in it.
I spent the day edgy about the itching, praying against any allergic reactions, trying not to worry, and playing the Bachelor in the background for distraction (Did anyone else think that was a horrible season?). I was nauseous and exhausted. Dizziness and fatigue would hit me after every round I took, but I wasn’t giving up unless I had an allergic reaction, because starting over sounded too scary.
Can I share a silver lining here? Rest. Resting on the couch because I was too nauseous to do anything else at times, I had so much time with my family. My toddler would snuggle and play next to me (when he wasn’t destroying the house and pulling board games and DVD’s off the shelf). My girls sat with me, snuggled and chatted with me in the evening. After bed time routines were completed, my husband and I just snuggled and talked on the couch. That quality time felt precious. It felt important. I welcomed that gift in the middle of the cursed diagnosis-treatment cycle.
That night I encountered insomnia, a terrible taste in my mouth (probiotic? side effect of meds?), and nausea. I started crying when the alarm went off.
“I’ll talk to her,” my husband said.
“No! Don’t!” I said. “I don’t want her to think I’m a crybaby. If it’s not urgent, don’t tell her. I’m just tired. So tired.”
And so began Wednesday. Day 3.
Surprisingly, for me, the day got better! I was tired from the night before, but I didn’t feel super itchy or super anxious. I was in the bathroom a LOT more but I told myself those evil bacteria were leaving my system. I even got up the courage to go the library with my toddler. I felt brave and capable. I started cooking dinner before noon because I didn’t want to waste the good feelings.
Day 4: This day was pretty mellow and predictable as well. I could tell when the queasy feelings were coming and I rolled with them. That night though, I could not sleep well. I felt restless and uncomfortable.
Day 5: I think I went to the bathroom 14 times. Before noon. Seriously, you’re reading a post about H. Pylori. You can’t be surprised there’s bathroom talk, right? It was crazy. I didn’t feel sick. I just kept going. I had this feeling like I was just going to make it and it was going to be ok. I felt itchy feelings still, but they weren’t terrible. The roof of my mouth itched and my throat felt prickly, but I hoped that was just the winter cold germs that my kids abound with.
Day 6: We had a lot to do on this day; a Saturday with a family of 5 is never boring! One child had a friend over the night before for a sleepover. We had a mid-morning event to go to. Another child needed a haircut. And our friends, a family of 6, were coming to stay with us that night. I also had the worst headache of my entire life. I’m not kidding you. I’m not a “I have a headache” type of person. It rarely happens. But on this busy, family-oriented day, I was consumed by this pressure and pain. Again, I kept going, taking these pills every few hours, drinking water, eating as healthily as I could. Eventually, I just had to take a nap. The pressure was like a wide headband was on my head and something else, on the bridge of my nose. Pressure. Deep constant pressure. I wondered if that’s what a migraine felt like? Everything made it worse. I spent most of the afternoon in bed just feeling the discomfort. More detox? I may never know. That evening I noticed bumps on my back. Some looked like bug bites (my husband thought maybe a bug was in my sweater) and some looked like pimples. By the end of the night I had a lower back covered in what looked like pimples. My back had been clear that morning. I pushed down the panic rising up and googled symptoms of H. Pylori treatments. Acne is one of them. I told myself, “It’s acne”, and I went to bed.
Day 7: We spent the day with our friends and I felt really good for the most part. Grocery shopping, visiting, eating meals… it all seemed pretty easy. But again, in the evening, I felt the itchiness return. I showered and when I got out, I had puffy red spot all over my back, some on my stomach, and a few on my neck. It was hard not to panic.
I sat on the couch that evening feeling foggy-headed. I felt pretty panicky and it seemed like I couldn’t get enough oxygen into my head. I still had some pressure in my head and a gross feeling in my throat. I was hoping I wasn’t getting the cold that my daughters both had and I rubbed Eucalyptus oil on me to help with breathing, but I couldn’t find relief.
It has been years since I’ve felt that helpless. Or hopeless. I laid in bed that night crying to my husband that I just wanted to be unconscious. This is not living. It’s suffering. I slept hard that night.
Day 8: I had made it through a WHOLE WEEK! Yes, the night before was brutal, but I was okay, wasn’t I? I made it through the night. The red bumps went down to the pimple-looking things again and it was snowing. Okay, snow has very little to do with how I was feeling, but it sure was pretty to watch. And the kids stayed home, which was so wonderful. I held myself together that morning, waiting to hear from my NP. When one of her nurses called, I braced myself for what they would say. My anxiety was through the roof, which I believe firmly was physiologically induced but mentally triggered. She suggested I try Benadryl when my husband was home, in the evening when the itching was most noticeable and we would see what happened.
That night, I sat on the couch assessing myself. I was calm, crocheting, a little depressed and beaten down by this whole thing and feeling helpless still. I could feel a little itchiness in different spot all over my body and a tingling at the base of my skull, like that pressure-oxygen-thing was building back up. My husband thought it was a good time to take the Benadryl to see if it would help. I continued sitting and crocheting for an hour but I never felt a change. Normally, I would be knocked out by Benadryl, but I didn’t even feel tired. The queasiness in my stomach had abated, which was a relief, but the itches remained. I had a stuffy feeling in my head, but not a crazy, panicky, I-can’t-breathe-feeling. My throat stopped hurting, thankfully! I went to bed, more confused than ever. If this was a histamine reaction, wouldn’t the Benadryl have stopped it? Why didn’t the Benadryl knock me out? Why was I still itchy? All I could do was wait til the morning.
Day 9: I started the day as I normally would: breakfast, medicine, packing lunches. I felt pretty nauseous and also like I had a head cold, scratchy throat, stuffy nose, etc. When the nurse called, I felt the panic rise up in me. My stomach turned. I told her the results of our experiment and she said she thought my NP would start backing me off of the antibiotics. I hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom (thank you very much anxiety). I felt like I’d never be able to go to an appointment again, to sit in a room and deal with anything again. I felt defeated, like a shell of myself. How could I function normally, if anything out of the ordinary made me panic?
As I waited to hear from them, I took one child to school, (another was home sick), went to the library for books for the kids, and came home for lunch and meds. I felt defeated. What if, by cutting back on the antibiotics, this whole process was drawn out even longer? What if I didn’t get better after all? What if all of this was for nothing and I was worse off than before?
I spoke to another nurse right before lunch and she said to stop the Tetracycline immediately. Since the Benadryl did not reduce the itching, they wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t have anaphylaxis. I guess there’s really no way to know if that’s what I was heading toward or not. I asked if this would prevent or slow down my recovery and she said maybe a little, but hopefully not.
I tried to boost myself back up. I had completed 8 days. Some do triple therapy for 7 days with a 79% success rate. I did quadruple therapy for 8 days. That has to count for something. There had to be a light at the end of this tunnel. I left the Tetracycline out when I prepared my lunch medications. I made a note on my chart and hoped this would be a turning point.
When I went to bed that night I had a full blown head cold (remember that kid who stayed home sick?). I put a cold wet cloth on my head to help my sinus inflammation and I went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, our other daughter got up throwing up. By 5 a.m., I had her GI bug too. I couldn’t make this nightmare up if I tried. I spent Day 10 in the bathroom, trying to eat 4 times during the day in order to take my meds, knowing it wasn’t going to stay in my system long. It was an awful sickness and I was in tears, rocking in bed with nausea, missing time with my friend who was in town for a visit, and unable to care for myself or my family.
When I woke up on Day 11, I felt the GI bug was gone. I could sense that my body was stronger and less nauseous. I took a relieved breath and got up to start the day. Being very weak and fatigued from the illness, I asked my husband for help with the kids and I spent half of the day in bed. By midday, I was feeling better and moved to the couch. I showered and knew that tomorrow was going to be even better.
I was a little surprised to experience nausea on Day 12. I thought I’d be over it by then, but it wasn’t a GI bug nausea, it was different. I also felt my anxiety was on overdrive. I was shaking and crying to my husband that I couldn’t keep living this way. I spent the day on the couch eating when I needed to take medication and crocheting while my 2 year old son destroyed the house around me. By the afternoon, my back hurt really bad, right in the center, between my shoulder blades and a little farther down. Nothing I did could relieve it. So, I ate a banana and felt a bit of relief. I figured it was acid for some reason and I put a call in to the nurse to see if taking antacids was allowable. Of course it was a Friday and my NP was out and we were headed into a weekend…. I mean what could go wrong?
Antacids were approved. I tried to make it through dinner but the back pain, heartburn feelings and nausea were steadily creeping up on me. I begged my husband to go get me some Tums so maybe I could find relief. He did and then asked if I needed to go to the emergency room.
“I don’t trust them!” I cried. “They won’t understand the protocol I’ve been on or what could be happening! Last time you went, you probably had an ulcer and they gave you a prescription for Cipro (only the deadliest antibiotic out there) and told you to take an anti-diarrheal. They would kill me!”
I begged him to cross a professional line and contact my NP. Begged. He did. She said she thought I was having a gastric flare up, which can happen with the antibiotic Metronidazole. At this point, I wasn’t convinced that I wouldn’t die. The pain, burning and nausea was intermingled with racing heart, icy chest, sweating and chills. I was in the most horrific panic cycle I’d ever experienced and I didn’t see a way out. She advised that I stop the Metronidazole (which I’d already taken my last dose of the day for) and said I could take a Tums every 15 minutes, but not to exceed 6. She said to take another Omeprazole (a PPI) and continue to take 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening instead of 1. My husband made me a warm cup of water with ACV (apple cider vinegar) and honey in it.
I did everything I was told. I even added Benadryl to the mix in the hopes it would help me sleep at least. Eventually, I found a restless sleep that got me through the night, but when I awoke, I was back in my nightmare. Shaking. Sweating. Nausea. Racing heart. Burning stomach. Icy chest. Chills. I wondered again if I would die. Hello, Day 13.
One of my best friends had texted. She was leaving after being in town for a week. She was coming by to return our Pack-N-Play and I wasn’t in a position to see her. I was heartbroken. I cried.
My husband took over for me that day while I wrestled with panic demons and death fears. I begged him yet again to contact my NP. I felt like I was going to die. I told him I would go to the ER if she thought I should. She didn’t (thank God). She actually advised that I start drinking bone broth and she called in a prescription for anti-nausea medication.
I would do anything to avoid the hospital, and death. I drank cup after cup of broth. I found moments where I didn’t feel anything. I had forgotten what that felt like. I began to feel like I would live. I couldn’t eat. I was incredibly weak. But I knew I was going to live. It was the scariest 24 hours of my life. It was worse than childbirth. The unknown taunted me and the thought that it wouldn’t end was absolute torture.
I cried so many tears that day. My husband, frantically doing both of our jobs, juggling our children, the household needs, meals, dishes, and my bone broth needs was frantic. I wanted to hug him, to help him, to get up and join him, but I couldn’t. I was too busy trying not to succumb to yet another panic attack. My children made me notes and cards, they came to visit and talk, but I was too tired, too weak, too nauseous and too anxious to participate in anything with them and it broke my heart. I hugged them when I could. Smiled when I couldn’t.
I didn’t end up taking the anti-nausea med (Zofran). I couldn’t risk any other complications, side effects or challenges. I did drink quarts of bone broth. Lucky for us, we had just cooked up a batch (we cook it for 3 days) and it was ready to be consumed.
The nausea and anxiety cycle was like being out in an ocean where I couldn’t see land. I could see impending waves and when they would begin to rise up it took every ounce of concentration to stay on top of them. I could not risk letting them wash over me, sending me underwater, unable to breathe, tossed about and disoriented. I would feel the icy chill in my chest and my heart begin to race and I would close my eyes. Surviving each attack meant staying on top of the wave with my breathing, with my visualization, with focusing on all 5 senses to make sure I stayed grounded and did not get lost.
So, when I started Day 14 of a 14 day protocol, I did so knowing I was off of all antibiotics (so, was I still on a protocol?). I took double amounts of Omeprazole and continued with the Pink Bismuth. I ate a little food and continued consuming bone broth. I moved myself to the living room where I could be near my family again and I hoped. I hoped for healing. I hoped for recovery. I hoped for complete deliverance of the pain and nausea.
That’s my 14-day journey. It didn’t actually have a happy ending, did it? It didn’t really have an ending at all!
Here’s what I know: When I communicated with my NP, we had received my other stool sample results and I have SIBO. I also didn’t finish the H. Pylori protocol so that could be affecting me too. My decision was to start treatment for SIBO which includes herbal antibiotics and a strict diet called SCD (specific carbohydrate diet). The supplement formula I decided to go with is Metagenics (affiliate link below). According to the SIBO website, I will take 2 caps of each formula twice a day.
? Stool Tests… Why Don’t We Test Poop?
This question has haunted me throughout this experience. Why didn’t anyone test my poop over the last 4 years? I obviously had an experience where I took an antibiotic and began having panic attacks. I self-diagnosed myself with Candida and tried to treat it myself. It didn’t go well and I went to a Naturopath and did a huge blood work up, but no poop test. I spent 2015 and 2016 trying to maintain the health I had achieved with the Naturopath but I still wasn’t 100%. I got pregnant and had a baby. I pursued MTHFR treatment and found a greater degree of peace, but still not 100%. Throughout all of this, no one did a stool test. I actually wish I’d asked. I think I’ve been so tired of not feeling well, that I just kept hoping the right doctor would figure it all out and fix it. It took me getting this sick (internal-bleeding-kind-of-sick) before stool tests were on the table.
This is the test that was sent out via FedEx. It’s so comprehensive. Very impressive. Just read about it and tell me you’re going to insist on testing yourself through your practitioner. Or tell me to become a practitioner and I’ll order tests for you. Because this is IMPORTANT stuff! Genova Diagnostics.
Lesson? Ask for stool tests. If you have digestive OR psychological challenges, get a comprehensive panel of your stool. Find out if there’s an imbalance of any kind of bacteria that you can address to achieve optimal health! Check for SIBO, H. Pylori and parasites. You’re worth it.
