CPTSD, SIBO & the Vagus Nerve - Wowee

[dollyvee]

Yes, I was taking a soil based probiotic saccharomyces boulardii but overall they're a bit tricky with gut dysbiosis because they can cause it to become more unbalanced. Prebiotics and motility agents are good. Motil Pro was amazing for me. I think most wait until they're treatment is over until starting probiotics, or at least most on r/SIBO seem to have negative results if starting too early.

[Armee]

I had a lot of luck with the diet part especially helping with the physical pain. I did two rounds of rifaximin but as soon as I would try to eat real food the pain and symptoms came back. Plus all the bloating gave me prolapse and incontinence. Ugh. It all mostly resolved after a couple years of therapy interestingly and I could go back to a normal diet. I recall having all the herbal antibiotics and probiotics but my recollection is that therapy helped before I took many of those.

I'm definitely not saying it was all in my head, or that it is all in your head, just that my mental distress announces itself through physical ailments instead of emotions.

[dollyvee]

Hi Armee,

That's interesting - when you say resolved itself I'm curious if you've had a breath test after your treatment? For me, I think of it like a circle where we have many factors influencing us at one time - genetic predisposition, stress, and overall gut health. When one factor is out, it can disrupt the overall harmony. Sometimes things can fester in the background for a while before they're apparent.

That makes a lot of sense that it shows up in the body. Everyone carries stress in different ways.

dolly

[Armee]

I did not get retested after the second round of abx.

[dollyvee]

Hi Armee,

Thanks for sharing that. I'm just curious as I'e been gluten free for about eight years now and at the very start of my protocol I was accidentally glutened on vacation, but there was no reaction. Before I would've break out into extreme joint pain and I was a bit stunned. I also ate pasta a couple weeks later and it was similar - something felt a little meh but no outright pain as there would have been eight years ago. However, a week after I had the bread on vacation, I broke out in the full body rash from the peptobismal I was taking so something toxic was still definitely in my system.

As I understand, the bacteria in the intestine are very good at adapting to the conditions and build biofilms to protect themselves. So, maybe the bacteria which caused the initial inflammation (food intolerances) are still there and then gets disturbed when the conditions are right (high stress, medications etc). Maybe those intolerances go away as we eliminate the foods because we don't have the reactive antibodies anymore...? Just thinking out loud.

I've been with a productive T for about 6 years now. After taking the first part of this SIBO protocol, I feel like I have a body calm which I didn't have before. I still get anxieties but I also feel less reactive to them and don't think I stay stressed for as long.

I'm glad you've found something that works for you.

dolly