I’m a Sherlockian with a Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO.)  A better Sherlockian than I would no doubt go a litter farther with that but as I’ll explain, this blog is mostly about the SIBO, and only occasionally with the Sherlockian thing come up. The earlier posts that form this blog were written a few months before I self-diagnosed, then tested for and was officially diagnosed with SIBO, and if you need information on how to really run an elimination diet, well, you’ll sort of get that from those…but you’ll mostly see how totally common it is for someone on an elimination diet to whine and moan and hate their lives.  Which is useful information only if you’re in the throes of misery because of your elimination diet. In which case, good luck! You can do it!

Anyway, now I know that I have SIBO and this blog reflects the experience of living with a condition that threatens your quality of life on a daily basis, and of constantly building up an arsenal of tools with which to rail against the threat and live as healthily as possible. Because I am only human, and because I am a social scientist, not a microbiologist or a nutritionist, I am constantly learning and its my simple mission to translate what I learn to easily digestible information in blog form. Obviously I get things wrong sometimes; I misread a scientific study or I get led astray on a wild goose chase. I’m not going to go back later and delete the blog, or the parts of it where I was wrong. Life is about living and learning. Of course my goal one day is to play a role in forming consensus among people with SIBO, about the best way to eat, the best way to medicate, the best way to heal. I hope this blog will play a small role in leading us all there.

An earlier incarnation of the “about me page” is below….

Welcome to my Diet Detection Blog. If you’ve come here via a search on bloating and abdominal distention, you’re in the right place. I’m using this forum as well as The Daily Plate (see link on my sidebar) and good old reliable paper and pen to track my progress through a series of dietary trials to figure out the cause of my gastrointestinal distress these last two years. I used to be one of those people who could really eat just about anything. Except for never being a thin person, no food ever seemed to cause me stress. Not since I became vegan, anyway, which I was for about six years; albeit my diet often consisted of its fair share of both whole foods and overly processed high-carb sweets & meat substitutes. Then one day four years into my cruelty-free dietary bliss, it seemed I just couldn’t eat anything I wanted anymore. And then it seemed like I couldn’t eat anything. In the course of two years, I have seen over 25 doctors and nutritionists, had three surgical procedures, and received in total over $75,000 worth of medical treatment. Finally, through the dietary trials which are detailed in this blog, (fueled by nothing but a few observations from the preceding years, emotional support from my husband and my nutritionist, and the kind of frustration that comes before at that moment right before you throw in the towel,) I discovered a few triggers for my symptoms and a surprising connection between the macronutrient carbohydrate and my digestive woes. At present, I have begun eating meat, as I’ve found that I can control my symptoms greatly with a ketogenic/low carb diet. The reason why this is the case is yet unknown. I have a difficult time justifying/rationalizing the eating of animal flesh, but the one thing I have an even harder time justifying is keeping myself sick. This is the reason that I continue to eat meat – I feel 90 – 95% better doing it. It gets a little easier all the time.

I hope this blog will help me through the process of healing, and I really hope that it will also serve a second purpose; the rather unselfish purpose of proving to others that it is never worthwhile to take their doctor’s advice when their doctor’s advice is “You need a really good psychiatrist to work through whatever is causing you all these problems.” I really hope that this blog will show other people, especially women, especially overweight women, that this kind of disrespect is not only inappropriate, but absolutely unhealthy, and therefore not worth accepting. Can you imagine the worst problem in your life? One that considerably impinges on everything you care about – your appearance, your education, your career, your fitness routine, your friendships and your marriage? Now can you imagine being told over and over again by various healthcare professionals that it is somehow your fault that you have this problem? That if you would just relax it would go away? Can you imagine how it feels when you spend countless dollars and hours at ashrams and yoga classes and hot baths and gyms trying to relax? And you actually feel relaxed? And you still can’t rid yourself of this horrible problem? Not to mention that you believe that stress in and of itself is part of the wonder of being alive? And that good stress like competition and risk-taking is not something to be dispatched of at all costs? Well that’s how I feel after two years. And I really want this blog to serve as living proof that neither I nor anyone else should ever have to feel that way. I will try my very best, but I believe we’re in it for a long haul….

Symptoms:

Daily - Bloating & abdominal distention. This varies between bloating as a “feeling” of being bigger, pants being tighter, etc. and an actual increase in abdominal girth. Usually occurs after eating or with vigorous physical activity, although can occur in the morning on an empty stomach. Often I’ve left the gym in the middle of a workout because I just can’t take the belly and chest pains only to find that the skirt I wore there won’t zip up anymore.

Not daily - Abdominal pain, varying in location. Usually a burning in the mid-abdomen or a cramping in the lower abdomen, although sometimes cramping in the mid-abdomen. Alternating bathroom extremes.

Other – Weight loss is nearly impossible for me. Don’t believe me? Please see my Daily Plate (link is located in sidebar) and view over six months of daily food intake. I had my RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) tested by Denise Williams at A Much Kneaded Massage and Martial Arts by a Bodygem – 1980. Even with an average daily caloric intake of 1500 – 1600 calories, I only lost 7 lbs in five months.

Other (not gastrointestinal) – So I have a wishlist of symptoms that I would love to see cleared up by this diet, which excludes all processed foods, preservatives, wheat, gluten, dairy, yeast, and sugar. Do I really think these things are diet-related? I have no idea. What I do have is a healthy, open mind and no expectations.

Depression – Sugar-free diet has partially alleviated
Anxiety – ditto
Leg pain – Amazingly enough, this is gone now too
Irritability -see above
Difficulty concentrating – still working on this one
Urinary hesitation – symptoms are no better
Doctor-hate (this one’s sort of tongue-in-cheek, and I really never care if it goes away.)