Many people struggle to alleviate the symptoms of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). When antimicrobial protocols, the elemental diet or antibiotics fail, people are left with few options and even less hope.
We are told that we have to eradicate SIBO (according to our breath test) to feel better.
But what we actually want is a body that lets us live life, eat a variety of foods and feel comfortable in our own skin.
We may not think that healing is possible when our protocols have failed, but learning from other people’s stories can shift what we think is possible.
Leena’s story is an example of what’s important to heal your gut or easing the gut symptoms of SIBO. And she tells her story in her own words in the video below.
SIBO protocols, though widely accepted as the gold standard of SIBO treatment leave out who you are as a person and what your body needs. It often skips over why SIBO is there in the first place.
Leena is a fellow health coach, who came to me with digestive issues. She thought she had good self care habits and relationship with food.
But something was not working for her because she suffered with constipation and ended every day bloated. She also didn’t have the energy she should for someone in her 20s.
How Leena recovered
Leena purchased my 4 month testing and coaching package and it transformed her gut health. And revealed some important blindspots in her diet and lifestyle.
She took the SIBO breath test (small intestine), the GI Map stool test (large intestine) and the hair tissue mineral analysis test to give us a sense of the resiliency in her system: measuring her blood sugar, hormones balance, stress level and nervous system regulation.
The SIBO test showed an overgrowth of hydrogen bacterial. The hair mineral test show her blood sugar was out of whack and her adrenals were depleted. There were signs of emotional or physical stress.
The was a chance for Leena to get objective feedback about how her lifestyle and diet were working for her. She reevaluated the stressors in her life.
Indulging in sugary treats with family 2 to 5 times per week. Working too hard and not resting enough. Spending too much time on her phone.
While her diet was very healthy, the sugar was a stressor. And there were other life stressors that she began to recognize and address.
Stress was lowering her stomach acid and disrupting motility, which caused SIBO and the sugar was feeding SIBO and depleting her adrenals.
Leena was able to eradicate her symptoms by replacing her depleted minerals, taking immune support, changing her diet (giving up gluten and sugar) and reducing her stress.
As she did this her depleted immune system began to recover and fight SIBO on its own.
She got better at food boundaries, work boundaries, saying no to people and resting more.
She also focused on supporting her nervous system with meditation, walks, red light therapy and the boundaries listed above.
Leena’s big realization was that her refusal to change her diet for the sake of staying balance and avoiding restriction, kept her from ever getting better.
In Leena’s own words:
“I asked myself how do I want to feel? Are my goals aligning with my actions?”
How Leena feels now
She’s no longer bloated or constipated. Her immune system is stronger. She fights off colds instead of getting sick all the time. She wakes up in the morning with more energy. The fog and heaviness is now just a bad memory.
While everyone’s case/body is different and antimicrobials may be an important part of someone else’s plan, it is not the only thing to focus on.
Leena’s story shows the importance of lifestyle, dietary and habit change. And getting real time feedback about how your lifestyle is affecting your body.
“It was empowering to look at the body as a system, how my stress played into how I felt. I figured out what was stressing my body the most and addressed that.” says Leena.
How is your stress and lifestyle affecting your body?
Many of my clients are perfectionists and tend to do “all the things” to heal, but overlook the impact of health anxiety, food anxiety, overworking, slowing down, and micromanaging the healing process.
This causes impatience and lack of commitment due to despair.
Data that tells you how your body is functioning as a whole, reveals why you may be vulnerable to gut infections/overgrowths in the first place.
Getting back to health is about solving your own personal health puzzle and the hair tissue mineral analysis test helps people do that.
When we stop looking for quick fixes and start looking with compassion and curiosity at the way we think, feel, believe, eat, work and connect, it is much easier to remove blocks to healing.
You need much fewer supplements to heal.
My SIBO healing story was similar to Leena’s
I also healed a severe case of hydrogen dominant SIBO with 1/3 of the recommended supplements and in one quarter of the time.
I focused on my nervous system, stress and lifestyle. I wrote about my experience here.
In my personal experience and experience with clients, these are the things that move the needle the most. And are also the hardest to do. That is why support is crucial.
Leena was shares her experience below to change your ideas about what’s possible.
Angela Privin is proof that IBS is NOT an incurable disease, but a cry for help from a gut out of balance. When the body AND mind are complaining, it’s an opportunity to examine what’s not working and change it. After solving her own IBS mystery almost two decades ago, Angela became as a health coach to help others. Angela uses root cause medicine protocols personalized to the individual to solve each IBS mystery. Her tools are lab testing, dietary changes, supplementation, subconscious mind work and nervous system rebalancing . Learn more here.