Pay Attention
My stomach has been a mess off and on since probably 2022. All symptoms were just here and there: nausea, gas pain, constipation, etc. No consistency in any of it. Symptoms were easily fixed with a quick change in diet so I didn't pay much attention to it. I had also just changed my diet from plant based to eating animal protein because of my low iron and ferritin levels, so I kind of accepted there might be some "getting used to " phase. Then last summer I got full body hives. For apparently no reason. They lasted for almost the whole summer but with the help of an acupuncturist I was able to "fix" that too. I knew that they weren't just a skin condition though. Your skin is a reflection of what's going on in you gut. But, it disappeared, so.... Moving into fall and into winter my anxiety spiked! Because my anxiety is so high functioning, I have many tools to work through my anxiety with. I mean, the end of summer was stressful! Heck the whole summer was stressful with the hives and air quality which prevented me from being outside a decent chunk of the summer. Then, my mother in law got sick at the end of August and sadly passed away in September. With that, beyond the obvious, came a lot of settling things. All in record time. I know my story of stress isn't unusual. We all have stress but I could feel my body not dealing with it in ways I could in the past. My mind was always racing but I was still "holding it together". Then we moved into holiday season.... For many an uptick in stress, so when my stomach because worse it didn't surprise me. However, a few new symptoms arose which made me pay closer attention.
The first was bloating. I am not talking about I ate a big meal bloat or its that time of the month bloat. I am talking eating barely anything and looking 6 months pregnant bloat! Like, all the time! Not only was it extremely uncomfortable but it hurts my ribs and pushed my diaphragm up so it was also painful to breathe. The second thing was a crazy uptick in perimenopausal symptoms: heart palpitations, hot flashes, and the inability to control emotions. Like out of nowhere. I remember a year and a half earlier my ND Dr. Axtell suggesting I take a SIBO test. This was at a time when my stomach was giving me problems. However, I took coconut water out of my diet and all seemed well. I couldn't email her fast enough to send me the breath test to take. Diagnosis of SIBO came back a week later. I finally knew what was going on!!
What is SIBO? SIBO stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Basically your small intestines is not supposed to have a lot of bacteria in it. For reasons though, bacteria gets backed up in the small intestines and the bacteria eat all your food, which means you absorb minimal nutrients, and then the food ferments and off gasses. Causing the bloating. Bloating is the most noticeable sign of SIBO. All the things I was struggling with: stomach issues, increase in anxiety, low iron levels, uptick in perimenopause symptoms and that rotten body hives were all because of the SIBO! My body was whispering to me but I wasn't listening. SIBO can be caused by many things such as antibiotic overuse, stress, genetics mutations (I will deep dive that in another post), a gut that moves too slowly, and food poisoning. SIBO is becoming a more understood diagnosis so you can google for more info on it's causes if that interests you.
My healing journey looks like this: Low FODMAP diet for a month. Herbal antibiotics of neem and garlic for a month. Then onto a bitters formulation that will help my gut motility. My numbers were low, so its a mild infection. I am hoping to be free of it by summer. However, how many people, especially women, just ignore all the symptoms I mentioned. Did you know that up to 70% of people who have IBS, test positive for SIBO? They get ignored or get put on anti-anxiety meds or are told to just deal with it. The gut is the body's second brain. If it's not functioning the way it's supposed to there weill be a trickle down effect. The anxiety, the hives...they are symptoms of stomach disfunction as well.
The blessing I see in all of this is that I don't need to accept that my anxiety will always be bad or that I am just meant to feel awful. There is power in that. I am also hoping to help others see the symptoms of SIBO in themselves. I have a plethora of lowFODMAP snacks and foods that I'd also like to share with people who are on that journey as well. Women are diagnosed more than men. Women also many times, like I did, put themselves last for the sake of everyone else. What I am realizing most is that self care isn't selfish!
If you see yourself in any of this story, let's talk about it:)
