Life with SIBO, Gluten Intorelance and Hashimoto's

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Great Success

Wow, it has been way too long since I have written.  I have no excuses - just enjoying the summer!

I have been 100% gluten free for 6 months now and feeling sooo much better.  No reoccurance of the SIBO, no more miralax, no bloating.  What have I discovered - everything is related and you are what you eat.  I used to read blogs and groups about SIBO and autoimmune issues and got so frustrated with the fact that people tried all these funky treatments and cures - never addressing the basic issue of what they are eating.

My journey began in March, at my wits end, I found a doctor to deal with my Hashimotos.  Hashimotos is an auto-immune issue where my body attacks my thyroid, nice, I thought I was supposed to be my own best friend.  Guess not.  Anyways, the doctor told me that my SIBO, thyroid, joint pain, etc was all related  - related to my environment, to what I was eating, causing massive inflammation in my body as it wage war on what I ate.  This is true with most of the population, but most people are not willing to give up their favorite foods but look for radical approaches or a pill.  As things I ate created inflamation in my body, everything slowed down. The slow down in my intestines caused the SIBO.  Caused me to get sick easily.  No period, irregular at best among a laundry list of problems.  Turned out that what I learned would change my life forever.

Gluten was the prime bad guy - it is for most people, some extreme others mild.  This goes beyond Celiac disease - this is those who have gluten intolerance, those who are feeling bad and don't know why.  It causes inflamation in the body - all through the body.  Now my GI doctor said, you don't have celiac you can eat as much gluten as you want.  Wrong. Come to find out that gluten in my system looks exactly like the thyroid, so my body attacks it with vengence.  So not only does my entire digestive track feel horrible but I get muscle aches, exhaustion, flu like symptons as my body wages war.   Wheat was never a part of humans orginal diet - it was introduced to feed a mass population and was known that certain parts of the population would have problems.

My new doctor he said no more gluten, not 90% removed but 100%.  No cheating - this is a life change, no more, ever.  Sure enough within a few days I was beginning to feel so much better - my SIBO symptoms went away.  A month later I was tested for allergies to casien (protein in Dairy), soy and eggs.  Turned out I was also allergic to casien and soy protein.  A month later I am feeling even better. I would highly recommend getting tested for food allergies.  I plan to have a indepth test done to see if there is anything else.  Now onto sugar and artifical sweetners.  All gone.  I only use Truvia, Stevia and other natural sweetners and I love it. Did you know that sugar causes inflammation in the body and swelling.   

Now I feel even better and food tastes better.  I eat great- I am actually loving being GF.  I will post some great recipes and sites for you to explore.  I have found some yummy GF foods, bread and beers too!  You will be amazed at what you can eat!  I went on multiple vacations and ate GF the entire time -  I ate better than my family!  It just takes some pre-planning.  Eating out is possible!

My doctor started me with an elimation diet for 21 days. That made it easier - cold turkey.  I will post this as well.  If you are constantly eating cakes, bread, cookies, sweets the first 3 days will be hard.  By day 5 you will be feeling great!  After 21 days you add in one item at a time.  Pick one thing, eat it all week and see how you feel.  Still feeling ok, put it on your ok to eat list.  Continue this process.  Note you will never add gluten back into your life.

Now it is almost 6 months later I have not had one bout of SIBO that required me to get on drugs.  I am off the probotics.  I am healthier than I have been in years.  My period came back and is slowly getting regular.  The weight is holding steady and slowly starting to drop.  No more hot flashes, dizziness, brain fog, forgetfulness, crankiness, exhaustion.  I could go on and on.

I challenge you to go gluten free for 2 months and see how you feel.  No cheating!

If you would like to chat directly feel free to contact me via email keepsakegd@gmail.com.

Becky