What are your sibo symptoms?

Awesome group idea! I have a severe form of divirticulitis that effects my entire large intestine. Most people get infections in lower left sigmoid colon, I get them in transverse and descending and ascending colon..I am considering surgery, and have had to make major diet changes to avoid flares..Right now I am dairy free, soy free, yeast free, mostly sugar free, nightshade free, and gluten free..So my diet is limited. I'm doing ok with it..I try to add a new food a week and do a lot of journaling..I've lost 20 lbs since Dec, but have only been on MFP since March. It's a big help in tracking nutrients for me..Happy to share my diary to anyone who is interested or to answer questions about divirticulitis.

Salad is deadly for both my conditions gastroparesis and crohn's. I'm always bloated and gassy but who knows if it is from the gastroparesis or crohn's or maybe sibo? @Jennymarie57 like happykat I have also had my colon removed (and rectum.. I have a barbie butt) but have a permanent ileostomy because of rectovaginal fistulas that couldn't be repaired which were caused by Crohn's as well as Crohn's inflammation. My gastroparesis is idiopathic but it did start a few months after surgery. I had a dramatic change in my output which was my first symptom even before the pain, nausea and vomiting.

HappyKat5 wrote: »

@singingflutelady and @Jennymarie57
I hate that all the foods that I really want to eat are not good for us! Illness can make everything change...in an instance. Just like that.
Damn

Oh i totally agree. I was super into fitness and weightlifting when I was diagnosed. I admit I ignored symptoms for a long time but I went from deadlifting 2x my bodyweight to being in hospital on tpn straight from my colonoscopy 2 weeks later. And bam the fistulas erupted a month later. Most people who get them have Crohn's for at least 10 years before getting fistulas so I probably had a mild/moderate version for many years (that was called ibs/lacrose intolerance etc) until it became very angry and severe. My GI mentioned surgery at diagnosis but I.was scared and overwhelmed but if I knew them what I know now I would have done it at that time as I was made to wait 2 years to see if meds would close the fistulas and it was 2 years of hell. Finally had surgery and thought I'd get my life back but as soon as I started feeling better bam gastroparesis happened. I'm 3 years and 3 months since my crohn's diagnosis, 11 months post op and 5 months post gastroparesis diagnosis. GI diseases are horrible and so misunderstood by the general public.

I hear you, people tend to not want to hear about digestion issues to more so than others I think...like it's TMI or something. That bothers me. If I can't accurately explain my illness, they couldn't possibly understand it. I'm nervous about my first surgery..Which would be to remove the sigmoid, but also exploratory and I've been told they may remove more if necessary. It's weird to think you'll wake up not knowing the outcome until someone tells you. I have been resisting surgery for year's, have gone on a very restricted diet and some lran hamburger meat a couple weeks ago threw me into a flare. With this flare I will also getting pain when urinating, which I know is not a good sign..So I'm reluctantly agreeing to the surgery my dr. thinks I desperately need..I still feel on the fence, but my risk for a sudden onset fistula like another poster mentioned from a long festering period of symptoms is pretty high .. Anyways nice to meet all of you and thanks for listening. I find your cases fascinating, so please tell whatever more your comfortable with!

That sounds rough..thanks for sharing because I need to hear stuff like this from others in similar boat. I have fissures and skin ulcers as of now in my nether regions, I can't imagine what you went through. I have to get that surgery, but your experience makes me feel better about it..When you can't see inside yourself to see the extent of the damage and the tests and scans can't see everything..it's just scary..you never know what dangers your playing with.

Hi there. From your list I have had carpal and cubital tunnel (surgically repaired. From overpracticing flute and ignoring pain). I don't have a fibro or neuropathy diagnosis but pain management has me on pregabalin which helps my body pains (but not my stomach). Gastroparesis is usually due to damage to the vagus nerve (happykat and I are both idiopathic so they habe no clue why it happened). On top of GI and PCP I also see a therapist (bipolar type 2, anxiety and mostly recovered anorexic) and pain management dr for chronic pain (officially for my abdominal pain but autoimmune disease are systemic so everything hurts). Luckily I have never been septic but have had several colon abscesses and am immunosuppressed. That's my biggest fear.

About five years ago, I went in to a digestive urgent care after experiencing pain when trying to eat. This had become progressively worse over a couple of months and I ignored it, but eventually I got to a point where I would take one bite of food and it felt like a fist in my stomach. I was very bloated (new for me as I'd always had a very flat stomach) and in a lot of pain and couldn't eat anything. At the digestive urgent care, I saw a nurse practitioner who was concerned about my family history - my maternal grandmother had stomach cancer. She scheduled me for an upper GI endoscopy to check for cancer, ulcers, h-pylori and gastritis. On the day of the procedure, I met the doctor who was a recent graduate from medical school - I was reluctant to let him touch me because I wanted someone well experienced, but as it turned out, he had a great deal of new knowledge that other doctors in my area don't. As I described my symptoms and he asked me questions, he said he was going to test me for SIBO while checking for other issues. When I woke from the procedure, I immediately asked if I had cancer. No, thank God, I didn't. He diagnosed me with SIBO. I had never heard of it before that day. He started me on the horrible antibiotic treatments and I became very sick from them. I was quite upset at having to take them anyway since I do not normally take antibiotics. They ended up having to give me anti-nausea medication as well. The Ciprofloxacin is what made me so sick and I will never take it again.

Note: Normally SIBO is diagnosed with breath tests, but those were not available in my area at the time and I had already been scheduled for the upper GI to check for other gastro issues.

My diet had to change with this new condition. I found a book that was highly recommended for various digestive and bowel problems called Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall. I borrowed it through an Interlibrary Loan and that's where I learned about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I am a BIG believer in eating for your health, so I knew I should try this diet.

I very strictly follow the SCD diet and I do not cheat. Any cheating would result in extreme pain as I had before and I will not risk it. I am also a vegetarian which I will not give up for any reason whatsoever, even though an animal bone broth is supposed to be the most healing thing for your gut. I am gluten free, grain free, corn free, processed and refined sugar-free (the only sweetener I am allowed is honey and it's become so sweet for me I very rarely ever use it) and with SCD there are some vegetables that are off limits, the only allowed carbohydrates are monosaccharides. There are many other restrictions to this diet as well. Needless to say, this new way of eating wasn't easy to begin, but it has become my life.

The one positive out of this diagnosis is that it forced me to start cooking everything. I had been eating a primarily raw diet before, so I had a lot to learn. I frequent Farmer's Markets and stay on the outside perimeter of a grocery store. I love cooking now and have enjoyed purchasing new kitchen gadgets and making lovely presentations for my meals. I watch a lot of Food Network and the Cooking Channel. I've become very good at alternating recipes and even creating my own recipes!

Downsides: There is only one restaurant in my city that I can eat at and it's only one thing they serve, so there is no variety. I simply don't eat out. Yes it makes it hard for social things and if I have to attend, I just sip on water. Note that this makes everyone else very uncomfortable, but I'm okay with it. I'd much rather eat safely and happily at home with food I love.

I am still having bloating issues which are horribly uncomfortable and unsightly. But most days I do okay. I joined MFP to lose some extra weight gained by all the yummy food I make and am hoping that may make a difference in the amount of bloating. Logging everything helps me to cut down on the portions of food I eat and also to be aware of meals which might have a trigger ingredient that I hadn't noticed before.

Sorry this is such a long post!

@Aingealicia strangely there is a lot of overlap between RA and Crohn's/UC drugs. I'm currently on Humira and used to be on Remicade (both are tnf inhibitor biologics) and both are also used to treat the autoimmune arthritis diseases and psoriasis. There are a few others used in both as well so IBD and RA must be closely related.

In 6th grade I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, as well as IBS-D. I am 51 now.

HappyKat5 wrote: »

What is so weird about this group is that we all seem to be random cases, but I think, patterns will soon emerge. I looked at my baby records and saw the words "gastric issues" on my baby chat, which was back in like 1973-ish. The doctor's writing was so bad, but I can clearly see that he indeed wrote that! I then got sick a few years later. They thought it was Lupus or Still'' disease. My doctor's now know think, I might have been been harboring my disease, but, its been dominant. Something, must have triggered me. SO, DONT rule anything out!

I was always constipated as a child, always until "ibs" (probably crohn's) hit me and i periids of massive diarrhea but was constipated in between. I'm so curious if that was mild gastroparesis and how long I actually had it and how long I actually have had Crohn's. I had an endoscopy a week before my first GES because I had an MRE (mr enterography) that showed inflammation and a gastric outlet obstruction which the radiologist thought was consistent with Crohn's. The obstruction was gone (probably undigested food from gp) but my stomach had characteristic patchy inflammation that looked like cobblestones (that's what crohn's looks like generally). Gatroduodenal crohn's is very rare (1% of people with Crohn's get it in that location) but crohn's likes to move post op. My GI is 99% certain that it is crohn's but the pahologist wasn't sure because of the rarity. (This was november). I had had an upper endoscopy 7 months earlier as a pre op check as a ct scan i had at first diagnosis had thickening (thickening usually indicates inflammation or scar tissue in crohn's) the duodenal but it was never checked out. In that scope the inflammation was gone except a little gastritis. I wonder if the bad inflammation kicked my Gastroparesis into overdrive? I'm thinking the inflammation must be better as I am on a biologic Humira and a steroid but who knows.

HappyKat5 wrote: »

What is so weird about this group is that we all seem to be random cases, but I think, patterns will soon emerge. I looked at my baby records and saw the words "gastric issues" on my baby chat, which was back in like 1973-ish. The doctor's writing was so bad, but I can clearly see that he indeed wrote that! I then got sick a few years later. They thought it was Lupus or Still'' disease. My doctor's now know think, I might have been been harboring my disease, but, its been dominant. Something, must have triggered me. SO, DONT rule anything out!

I'm so glad you mentioned this @HappyKat5! I've been trying to figure out if eggs are bothering me now. My mother told me I had food allergies as a baby. I threw up a lot of typical baby foods and didn't gain weight fast enough. I was extremely picky about foods. My parents found out I was allergic to wheat and barley, but they were told I'd probably grow out of it. (Barley and wheat not an issue for me now as with SCD diet, no grains are allowed.) I used to be vegan, but went back to eating eggs (cage free and organic) because my doctor said I wasn't getting enough protein. I seem to do okay if I include them in a recipe, but eating an egg sandwich or an omelet precedes bloating and some discomfort. I texted my mother tonight to ask if there were other foods and she mentioned egg yolks in my cereal. Back then, they didn't have food allergy tests, they just did elimination diets. So your post has me wondering if I've always had a problem with eggs or just egg yolks. Obviously I've struggled with food allergies and digestive issues from an early age.

Interesting reading things and having lots of little "AHA!" moments like gee, oh, this could be linked and all of this is making more and more sense (sadly)!

I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis (type 1 diabetic) on Monday of this week via EGD. I still have to have the GES done but they're 99% sure as my entire (fasting) stomach was completely filled with bilious fluid, which, apparently, isn't normal.

My symptoms have been around for so long that had you asked me, I would say "mild" but honestly, looking back (I just turned 40 this past weekend) I've probably had some problems with digestion since around 12 or 13 years old.

I've been overweight most of my adult life, with severe acid reflux, and intermittent bouts of IBS with diarrhea and constipation, nausea, vomiting. The vomiting almost always seemed worse during an asthma flare, so I blamed the coughing on asthma and the coughing for the middle of the night wake up vomiting.

I was diagnosed with Lupus 2 years ago, potentially as part of Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) along with it's buddy, Fibro. I also was moved to "severe" asthma and am borderline for aspergillus bronchospasm so we're monitoring that. I basically have a lot of inflammation all over my body from everything!

I keep trying to eat healthy and gain weight, so finding out that all this healthy stuff I'm eating is making me blow up like a balloon is super ironic, dontcha think?

So now I've not seen the nutritionist yet but I'm sure they'll just confirm more of what I'm reading online, yay. I'm curious how this diet is going to work with being diabetic. Obviously I haven't been all that compliant or else maybe I wouldn't be here in the first place. I'm just hopeful that something is reversible, or at least, lessened, by strict compliance.

Nice to "meet" you all

- Julie

@HappyKat5 don't know if you are still around but now I'm severely underweight. I'm going on TPN soon to increase my weight while waiting to see a surgeon about a J tube. I hate gastroparesis.