My SIBO Journey With Dr. Melanie Keller is a multi-part series. If you haven’t read my first posts, please take a look at my introduction and week 1 to get caught up.

Welcome back to My SIBO Journey with Dr. Melanie Keller from SIBO Solution! In this post I’m going to take you through what it has been like to drastically change up the way I’ve been treating my illnesses, how I have reintroduced foods into my diet, the details of my second appointment and blood work results. As always, you will get great expertise from Dr. Keller as well.

Personal Disclaimer: My SIBO Journey is just that, my very own journey. I cannot stress enough that everyone treating SIBO should have an individualized plan towards healing since it is so specific. I am a unicorn among unicorns. I have multi-layered diseases that can make my journey not look like the typical one. Please keep that in mind as you travel down this road with me.

Coming off of week one, I was taking Orapred for my adrenals and ox bile for my digestion. We were tweaking the correct dosage of both since my body is extremely sensitive. I was crazy tired. I was not getting much sleep and my brain was fried. At this time, I had my second appointment with Dr. Keller.

Appointment Numero Dos

I was entering my second week and hoping that these 21 days without my supplements would come swiftly and without a lot of issues. I had felt prepared for all of this, but living it was another story. I wanted relief but I wanted deep healing more. Dr. Keller was good about listening to my woes and being able to speak into them telling me that everything I was going through she had seen before and nothing was surprising her. I took comfort in that since I felt so all over the place.

We discussed my blood work. My CRP levels have been though the roof for almost 2 years and no one totally knows why so I was expecting that, but the thyroid antibody threw me. So, I have Hashimoto’s now too? Ugh! Also my FSH, LH and DHEA were out of whack as well as my  BUN/Creatine ratio. She said that we will start treating these things once I’ve been off my supplements for about 21 days…I was so ready for day 21 to hit!

Here Are My Results In All Their Glory

What I Could Do Right Now

These were her recommendations on what I could do right now for some relief and to help overall:

1. Continue to take my Orapred and increase my dosage (marginally).
2. Continue taking Ox bile with my meals.
3. Guys, this is a big one….she advised me to try potato chips?!?!?!?! Glory, glory, Hallelujah! I had not eaten potato in years. When I started the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, I followed those guidelines strictly with little re-introductions for a little over 2 years because AIP was a huge source of healing. I had feared reintroducing certain items because I was enjoying such a new level of health that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. As my health started to deteriorate again, I then pulled in the reigns even stricter per the advice of my holistic health practitioner and also hoping to obtain the past health results I had seen. Unfortunately, I had no luck this time. Dr. Keller even recommended that I go into the grocery store and look around and to let myself be drawn to certain foods. She encouraged me to stay within the Paleo parameters but to open my eyes to food once again and try to eat intuitively.
4. She also suggested that I start ingesting water with baking soda 5-10 minutes into my meals.
5. Her last suggestion to me was due to my hiatal hernia. I have been told to wait 2 hours to lay down after I have had food or drink as to not trigger my hiatal hernia from popping out. She told me that if I was tired to try and sleep and a good way to keep my hiatal hernia in check was to lay down on my left side only if I had recently eaten.
6. She encouraged me to get the Heidelburg Test done as soon as I could. Side note: The person that would conduct this test is about an hour away from where I live and the test can last for several hours, so with my husband away, it was not possible for me to get the test done this week.

How The Week Looked

Not one to ever turn a potato down, I dove in to her potato suggestion! She suggested if I eat potato chips to purchase ones that are cooked in avocado oil. I didn’t have those on hand but I did have 1/4 of a baked potato with olive oil and salt and it was glorious! I had more energy after I ate it too. Besides the wonderfulness of potatoes back in my life, this week was really tough.

Once again my husband was traveling and I was on single parent duty for 4 days. I started coming down with flu like symptoms, was shaky all the time, I felt like I was going to collapse or pass out very often and I had the most horrific diarrhea of my life (keepin’ it real in the hood!)The searing pain was just about unbearable. I have seen some crazy ole things in the poop department but nothing rivaled this. It was scary, painful and miserable. I was hoping all of this was die off related symptoms. It was dreadful.

I tried incorporating the baking soda and water and it either helped stop the diarrhea or it gave me such terrible abdominal pain that I was doubled over. Anyone else experience the trapped gas in their chest and body feeling? Miserable.

I contacted Dr. Keller and we decided to nix the baking soda and ox bile to see if that could give me a chance to recover. That did help. I ended up having diarrhea less frequently and then was constipated here and there, which I prefer, it is tons more convenient to living life.

On the sleep front, it was hit or miss. Some days I could sleep about 6 hours, others 3, some days 7. It was pretty sporadic but I did get more then I did the first week. I was slowly increasing my Orapred dose and for the most part it made me feel the wired but tired feeling.

Dr. Keller’s Expertise & Point Of View

Many patients I see first come to me eating only a handful of foods, and when I say handful I mean about 5 foods give or take. This can be for many reasons: implementing multiple SIBO Diets at the same time (the more is better mentality), performing an elimination diet and not adding foods back in, adding on additional diets to their already scarce food list (histamine diet, anti-inflammatory diet, raw diet…), or just plain scared that they will experience symptoms by eating certain foods that have aggravated them in the past or have never aggravated them but they have read they should steer clear of. This behavior can lead to what is called Orthorexia. Orthorexia is the term for a condition that includes symptoms of obsessive behavior in pursuit of a healthy diet. I recently spoke with Kate Scarlata, RDN concerning this subject as I am seeing more and more of this in my practice. If you have the time, please read her recent blog post on how “Eating Should Not Make You Feel Guilty”.

There is such anxiety surrounding food with my patients that I wanted to do something to help alleviate some of that anxiety while also getting their weight back up, improving their brain function, and giving them some joy back in their meal making. There are three ways in particular that I go about this: (1) giving in to a craving, (2) adding in some carbs/starches, and (3) Meal delivery service.

Think about a time when you have craved something: a cupcake, pasta, potato chips, etc… Did it consume your thoughts? Your sleep? Did you find yourself thinking of this food in the middle of the day or middle of the night? Did the mere thought of this food make you salivate? We have all been there. But instead of fighting it, I say give in. Now, of course in moderation. I am not saying to go buy a dozen donuts and have at it. What I am saying is go ahead and have that cupcake. Have a cup of pasta. Eat a handful of potato chips. More than likely you will not need much to release that sense of craving and it will soon no longer be looming over you, and that sense of anxiousness should dissipate.

Many times I am met with resistance when I recommend that a patient consume 1/2 cup of white rice or white potato per day. Most patients are very well read and they have seen somewhere (internet, cook book, diet plan, podcast…) that SIBO = NO CARBS/STARCHES. This is not entirely true for every patient. Of course if you have a food sensitivity or allergy to white rice or white potato, do not consume them. And, with everything that I say, you will need to speak with your physician further as to what they recommend for your case as all SIBO cases and individuals are different. With that, I like to re-introduce small amounts of white rice and white potato which aid in repopulating the large intestine bacteria especially when someone has been restricting carbohydrates for an extended period.

Finally, I like to recommend food delivery services. My favorite is SunBasket and I use this myself. As many of my patients know, I like to try out the diets, therapies, supplements, etc… before recommending them so that I can help speak to the experience. Their products are Organic and Non-GMO with Gluten-Free and Vegan options. I think it really helps my patients get that sense of joy back in the kitchen. It allows them to cook without having the anxiety of the grocery store or choosing the “right” product, and it allows for them to experiment with certain foods and cooking styles that they may have otherwise overlooked.

As I have said before, when you experience your body functioning properly, you discover a new found love and appreciation for yourself and your health. I want patients to be living at their best and a part of this is food. Food can be a very social piece in our lives and I want my patients to feel as though they can still partake in certain food items, still live their lives, even while be treated for SIBO.  -Dr. Melanie Keller

The Days Ahead…

As I started finishing up week 2, I was hoping that when I hit week 3 and my 21 day mark, we could start rebuilding and get back in business. In the meantime, I will share with you what this week looked like on and emotional and spiritual level.

UPDATE: To continue reading my SIBO Journey, take a look at the next article in the series.

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When you have adopted a new way of doing things to bring healing, how did it look at the beginning?

Disclaimer

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.

Please consult your health care provider, or contact Dr. Melanie Keller at SIBO Solution! for an appointment, before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. Dr. Melanie Keller of SIBO Solution! and Kacy Anacan of Sisters Undercover expressly disclaim responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site. Dr. Melanie Keller of SIBO Solution! and Kacy Anacan of Sisters Undercover does not endorse specifically any test, treatment, or procedure mentioned on the site.

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