I appreciate the help, and apologize if I sound defensive at all. I get frustrated because I can barely look after myself anymore, but have effectively been left to deal with this all on my own; it's just like sinking into a deeper and deeper hole everyday where the food reactions get more and more disabling, making it almost impossible to seek out help, and then when I do try to seek out help (at a great physical cost) it just isn't there. I'm baffled that modern medicine can effectively leave you to starve to death. On top of that, my parents give almost no sympathy or financial aid and basically just blame me for the state I'm in -- my mom will tell me I have CFS because "my diet is terrible" and then when I bring up the food intolerance, she says they're probably psychological anyway and if I just had some carbs I'd probably feel better
It just makes me feel helpless because I *wish* I could follow up on the suggestions/advice people give, but often my entire energy envelope is exhausted just trying to make it through the day.
I'm feeling despondent today because I finished the Bactrim course last week and have seen no improvements. I spoke to the receptionist at the GI's office yesterday and expressed my concerns, and she said he would likely follow up with a different abx, but she left a message today saying she spoke to him and he thinks I should see a dietician. How will that help, though, if I can't tolerate any foods? As you said, if I have a methane overgrowth, Bactrim wouldn't have helped anyway, so I don't see how he can consider his work done. I will likely end up trying the Doxycycline I have saved, as it seems to be a more common SIBO treatment, but I am wondering what the minimum amount of time I should probably wait between courses is? 5 days for the Bactrim seems short anyway, as I've seen most SIBO courses going for 10-14 days. Alternatively, there is a probiotic (Symbioflor 2) that helped in the past as well, which I have a bottle of, though I am a lot more ill now than when I first tried it 2 years ago.
- Does this include fish? If not, you might be lacking in omega 3, even if 100% grass fed.
No, I don't really find fish filling enough so tended to avoid it.
Intolerant
Intolerant
- How about olive or olive oil?
Intolerant
- Ground beef: unless you know that your butcher is on the spot taking a nice cut of grass fed organic beef and mincing it for you, it can be some of the worst meat you could get. Look into proper, whole cuts instead.
Yes, it's all minced to order for me, and the only way I can afford this diet unfortunately; buying whole cuts would be too expensive.
- Liver: you have to be extremely careful of the quality here as well, since it is the toxin filter of an animal. This means you are having to process all the stored toxins from the animal liver.
- So would it be correct that your total carb intake for the day is 30 grams max? That is extremely low.
Yes, but not sure what I can do otherwise as carbs provoke the worst of my symptoms.
- Are you getting enough high quality, trace mineral rich, salt?
Yes, I liberally use sea/himalayan salt on all my food.
- I may have asked this before (sorry). How is your water quality? Electrolyte balance?
I drink fresh mineral water whenever I can. Otherwise it's tap water, though the quality of Australian tap water is supposedly pretty good.
- Are you losing muscle and bone weight, or fat weight? Weight loss should never be bone or muscle, and it is important to measure this, even if it is just roughly using a home scale.
How would I know if I'm losing bone or muscle weight?
- Are you at a healthy fat percentage, or are you losing weight to get to a healthy fat percentage?
I'm not sure.
- Have you measured how many calories you take in versus how much you would need as your metabolic rate? Your gastro should be able to help you with this as well.
Yes, I am roughly meeting my calorie intake needs for the day.
- I may have mentioned this before, but did your gastro do a comprehensive stool test which would include things like fecal fat level and distribution (checks if you have issues with different types of fat intake and digestion), pancreatic elastase (for EPI, pancreas enzyme marker)and chymotrypsin (for EPI, pancreas enzyme marker), parasites, pathogenes. You may also ask him for a fasted trypsin blood test (to see if you produce enough enzyme for protein breakdown).
No he didn't. Maybe I can ask my GP about it.
- Have you tried taking enzymes with your meal to help with absorption? Your gastro again may be able to give you a prescription to something like Creon to see if it helps your symptoms.
No, I guess I was skeptical they would do much for intolerances?