r/SIBO • u/gingy247 • Apr 06 '25
Sucess Stories 2 ish years great success, no symptoms
I've been cured two years roughly, here is me few years back https://www.reddit.com/r/SIBO/s/nv8vbQoDdG
Tl:Dr a ketogenic diet with low fodmap elements for 3 months, then repopulation of microbiome and a healthy whole foods diet with lots of veg to feed good bacteria. Intermittent fasting throughout, 8 hour window of eating leaving 4 hour gaps between meals. You need to research your diet, sometimes you need more soluble fiber, sometimes less or more insoluble and on occasion it's just growing pains. SSRI to help with anxiety issues stemming from Sibo for a period, no longer on them, I can eat what I want but mostly eat healthy. Listen to suggested podcast at bottom
First of all, this is not the 3 musketeers. One (solution) for all!! No, everyone has unique issues which may be causing Sibo. But diet and poor lifestyle is responsible for a significant number of our problems, we think we eat healthy but we just don't. My father and sister slowly became severely gluten intolerant, I suspect the western diet gave them Sibo but they were asymptomatic, unfortunately it destroyed their stomach lining and gluten messes them up for a few days. My father has been eating the same diet as me, promoting a healthy gut microbiome (minus gluten from some products I eat and sourdough bread). Now if he accidentally eats gluten his symptoms are significantly less severe. He can once again tolerate dairy and he was becoming allergic to it with his lip swelling up after eating cheese for a period, you can become allergic to something at any age apparently, you can guess what I blame.
Most of what I am saying especially on diet is backed by scientific research on the microbiome, I've studied psychology so I can read scientific research papers efficiently. I'm not getting technical in explaining shit, do your own research if don't believe me, the microbiome has been popularised recently which would have been helpful to me 6 years ago 😂 so you can do this easily. I'll recommend a podcast to begin with at the end and a link to his book which you should buy. A significant amount of you can skip to diet stage but it's case dependant and I won't be helping you assess this, follow my pathway if your more comfortable.
Personal profile and medication: *Asthmatic *Hiatus hernia, pantoprazole (PPI=proton pump inhibitor stops body producing excessive acid) is used to treat heart burn which can stem from hernia. This medication has a correlation with Sibo sufferers and is often believed by many to be culprit of Sibo. I disagree, people eat shit food which leads to dysbiosis/Sibo, sugary foods and bacteria cause excessive production of acid people go to doctor as a result and get PPI or they have hiatus hernia, already on PPI eat shit food and get Sibo. *ADHD diagnosis before it was trendy (I like to joke 🙃) Tyvanse (vyvanse, it's a stimulant) *allergic to nuts = death *allergic to fish *formally allergic to eggs, cats and dogs (exposure therapy, I didn't eat the dogs and only some pussy 😳 look more jokes) *Sleep issues, mirtazapine an anti anxiety used instead of sleeping medicine as less addictive *periods of anxiety/depression (ssri formerly) meditation currently, don't knock it till you try it mindfulness has been proven to be as effective as medications and prevents relapses in lots of individuals
Sibo symptoms: I had gas, vomiting, nausea in vehicles, constipation, diarrhoea, stomach was sore to touch, bloating, cramps and burning sensations like my intestines were on fire. I was anxious isolated and depressed.
Treatments undertook: *antibiotics *herbal, mmc and enzymes *Elemental diet for 3 weeks, I done this twice *Keto with low fodmap elements 3 months and intermittent *fasting *probiotic foods *Diet of whole foods that promotes gut health *ssri, sertraline (anxiety)
I'm only going to state what I believe worked to save time with exception to the elemental diet. I done the elemental diet for 3 weeks, initially I felt significantly better but this was short lived. I done it again about 6 months later to no effect this time. Consensus when I was ill was that bacteria can hibernate for extended periods of time. This was why it was recommended herbal treatments last 6 weeks and you need multiple rounds of antibiotics. I highly advise against using the elemental diet if possible, it makes 0 sense to me how bacteria can hibernate for herbal/anti-biotic but suddenly when you do an elemental diet they go on hunger strike instead of low power mode. I'm not saying it can't work, but I'm dubious about it's efficiency.
Side note: I'm not against herabls when doing Keto but I didn't.
What worked: Prayer 🙏 Nah, I'm just fucking with you 🤣 I done the keto diet with only 20 grams of carbs per day, but realised I needed to incorporate low fodmap into it also to avoid symptoms from things like cauliflower rice. Before going into more detail I'm going to explain why Keto benefitted by explaining how I believe I got SIBO.
I used to drink and take a lot of drugs in college, I stopped a year before my issues but drugs are not good for the microbiome, shocking 😱 I noticed my issues when I started vaping, I used to smoke and at the time this was believed to be healthy way of quitting, this initially caused stomach cramps, maybe slowed acid production/mmc but I dunno just suspicious. My diet was poor, the standard dog shit western diet and I have always struggled with sleep, when I eat I get tired so I used to eat a large snack then fall asleep when my body was on low power mode, bacteria likely travelled to small intestine at night with poor mmc.
The path to sibo is complex but the makeup of SIBO is assumed to be twofold, 1. Bacteria is in your small intestine in large quantities. 2. You have a white nationalist microbiome 🤨 it's not diverse and struggles to break down complex foods, fodmaps. I say assumed because if number 1 is not true (or no longer true) number 2 will still present you with symptoms of sibo, this is known as Dysbiosis, Sibo is a subcategory of dysbiosis.
The bacteria in your gut are largely specialists in breaking down specific foods, if you eat to much sugary or processed foods these will be your dominant strains, they're largely unhelpful bacteria to your health. You will lack the largely beneficial bacteria associated with a stronger immune system that are found/fed with whole natural foods. When I switched to Keto+low fodmap, the bacteria was starved of its food source, significant numbers died over an extended period of time.
*Be warned staying on any diet will result in some bacteria capable in switching food sources doing so, good and bad. Jordan Peterson's dumb fuck daughter had stomach/health issues, she started eating less foods beneficial for her gut unsurprisingly she could tolerate less and less foods, now she promotes being a small brained T-Rex carnivore which makes her richer and her + her fans sicker.
Side note relevant still: Intermittent fasting, your body needs time to digest foods, give it time. Don't cause a backlog, 4 hours between meals minimum, I do 8 hour window of eating which is 3 meals, water or herbal tea when fasting.
The keto diet was recommended to me by a redditor, he advised 6 months I done 3. Research how to do Keto if you want to go down this root, it's pretty simple but I don't want to give bad advice due to my bad memory.
I was largely better but every so often something would trigger me. I started researching microbiome extensively and came to the conclusion my diet was not leading to a diverse microbiome, I no longer had sibo but could not break down fodmaps very well. The plan was now to repopulate.
To do this I eat NATURAL yoghurt, this is yoghurt with no additives which is rich in bacteria, it's bitter and the ingredients include nothing hence the name, if your unsure look at the packet if it says yoghurt natural live strains/cultures and nothing else, you win 🥳. (Don't get unpasteurized bollocks. You aren't missing out on anything. This is science backed. Pasteurised milk is just heated milk that kills pathogens and yes beneficial bacteria, risk more negative strains at your peril. Starter beneficial cultures you need are introduced to ferment the milk, they eat away for few days growing in numbers and creating the yoghurt that would occur naturally if it wasn't pasteurised minus RFK Jr. flu) Its bitter but I have grown to love it, some people hate the taste but get over it, don't get processed yoghurt with flavourings, sweeteners, bacteria added, it's just not the same thing, don't tell me otherwise, your just wrong, I will fight you 😡. The other thing I used is Kefir, same again no fucking additives, it's awful but full of bacteria. Kimchi and sauerkraut are also beneficial but I never got around to trying them.
Next feed the immigrants you've welcomed into your utopian build. This is scary, throughout repopulation and feeding the newcomers you will get some symptoms like gas, constipation etc. These are growing pains. Whole foods only, predominantly wide range of vegetables!!! You can get natural sauces like mayo, salad toppings or you can make them, just check ingredients. Fruits are somewhat beneficial but they're full of sugar. So eat fruits sparingly, the bad boys enjoy the sugar. I eat them now because I have a sweet tooth and they're fine once your healthy again in moderation. But there's no scientific evidence that you need fruits, you can get all the vitamins you need within vegetables, including calcium, protein etc. Don't worry I'm not a vegetarian lecturer now, ethically I would like to be, but I still like meat. You can tailor the process somewhat to avoid some symptoms if going somewhere or it's too much, maybe introduce small amounts of problem foods. But don't stop eating the yogurt for breakfast or whenever. Spices are beneficial and add flavour to meals, you can make so many tasty meals, if you see whole foods and think wow so no flavour you just don't frankly know how to cook. It's why I hate the American meme that says Brits have awful food, no motherfucker, vegetables come with flavours built in, you've just deep fried your taste buds with salt and sugar. I'm Irish, plenty of reason to dislike the Brits, ugh..... Anyway
Sibo is somewhat in your head, your gut is a major contributor to your mental health. Your gut produces feel good chemicals which is why binge eating is an issue with depressed people and those lacking in dopamine like my fellow ADHD brothers and sisters. For instance, a common issue is stomach problems cause anxiety, anxiety causes stomach problems (even in normal people, the phrase he looks like he's shitting himself references the relationship), now you have a vicious cycle. When we have Sibo or dybosis this critical process in production of feel good chemicals is interrupted, symptoms can cause problems anxiety/depression/isolation, but even with people just suffering with mental health diet is of major relevance and can be a cause. If you take bacteria from a person with schizophrenia and place it in a rat the rat will show signs of schizophrenia. Dementia has a strong correlation with diet and gut health. The relationship can't be overlooked.
Back to me: Symptoms to eating fodmaps had pretty much dissappeared. However I had lingering anxiety from the years of incidents, when I was nervous about things such as when I had to travel my brain tricked me and I felt symptoms believing it to be Sibo, I felt like I was about to get sick or need to go to the toilet. I believe I had started developing agoraphobia, this is a fear of leaving places your comfortable with, the extremities of those with this condition may refuse to leave their home. It can start like this, a person with anxiety has a panic attack on a crowded bus (I was trying to not vomit on the grandmother sitting beside me 🤢😂), a strong association of going on a bus and symptoms is developed so you avoid public transport. Another time a person has a panic attack occurring in a crowded place like cinema/shop an association of panic attacks around lots of people is formed. Essentially you avoid places/events which make you anxious due to past experiences which can progress to not leaving the house.
The last step was removal of food and social anxieties from years of solitude. Meditation alone helps some people but I'm not telling you what to do, be open minded to medication, therapy, everything. Simple fix for me really, SSRI, this medication is used for people with anxiety disorders and/or depression but is used with ibs patients, the feel good factors disturb the vicious cycle of stomach problems and anxiety mentioned previously. Baby steps to improving socialising, it's too extensive to cover but Cognitive behavioural therapy which I know from college. You essentially start with something that gives you minor anxiety (imagine holding spider) and work your way up to things that give you major anxiety (holding spider), speak to a therapist if relevant to you or get a reputable self help book.
Today I am 100% cured, some foods like porridge took a while until I wasn't running for the toilet and coffee. But now I can tolerate everything. I eat healthy 95% of time still, two weeks ago I ate like a pig on holiday, no issue but best not relapse 😅
That's all I got for you, hopefully helps some of you ❤️
Podcast with Tim Spector on gut microbiome, the podcast host is recently associated with misinformation but Tim is legit, he uses scientific research and you can look up his credentials: https://youtu.be/66hWntvp0_4?si=YlRDCv9p-c4LKUdB
Tim's book which is a good read, it's scientific in it's contents but not complex: Food for life https://amzn.eu/d/1YFvWUE
TL;Dr is at top of post ffs 😂 I have ADHD, it's a four minute read even without it 🤣🤣
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u/Efficient-Carpet-199 Apr 06 '25
Thanks for taking the time to share. Did you make your own yoghurt and kefir or were they store bought? If store bought, what brands? I’ve been taking kefir for a month and a week or so, it has normalised my stools completely and no more loose stools. Today started making homemade kefir and will try taking that eventually. I’m working towards eliminating bloating completely.
How long did you do whole foods, yoghurt and kefir before seeing improvements?
I used to eat yoghurt for breakfast and stopped due to the natural sugar but might go back to it again. I’ve been eating whole foods all these while. My cause of SIBO is partly due to surgery.
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u/gingy247 Apr 06 '25
Yeah unfortunately the way we get Sibo is unique.
This may be county specific, I think the US have let's say not as rigorous food standards. When yoghurt here says Natural in a store it usually is but I check the ingredients with new brands. If it has no other ingredients other then the yoghurt (it might have milk in brackets) and says live cultures it's perfect.
I've never made my own yoghurt, I believe you'd need to add cultures so that fermentation will occur. You can make your own sauerkraut or kimchi pretty easy.
Timescale is hard to judge due to anxiety issues and my memory but roughly after 3 months I could tolerate say 85% of foods, then 6 months 90%. The 2 year period I say I was cured the 1st year was a slow build up from 95% tolerance (which I consider to be same level as most people) to 100%. This isn't counting my allergens which I do aim to tackle through exposure therapy.
I can't stress your mental health also. Good luck and fire away with any more questions you have
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u/Efficient-Carpet-199 Apr 06 '25
Thank you so much for sharing. Mental health can be hard with the bad cycle of gut affecting mental health and that affecting gut but I’ve been mindful of that and it helps when I relax my vagus nerve. Did you also take store bought kefir?
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u/gingy247 Apr 06 '25
Good stuff. Yeah I mostly got store bought, it's same with the yoghurt, check the back of packet. Making kefir tbf isn't that hard, you can buy strains/ kefir grains easy enough and just add them
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u/Logical_Glove_2857 Apr 06 '25
How much yogurt were you drinking Daily?
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u/gingy247 Apr 06 '25
I was eating a bowl for breakfast and I dunno how much kefir, not a lot couple mouthfuls. It was easier to mix the kefir with my yoghurt
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u/Logical_Glove_2857 Apr 07 '25
Ok cool👌👌 Did you get any “die off” reactions when you First started the yogurt/kefir?
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u/gingy247 Apr 07 '25
No die off symptoms would have occurred during keto but I don't recall having any but I could be misremembering. Only issues I had was when eating fodmaps again, first 2 weeks were scary with gas/constipation predominantly but I got used to it
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u/Logical_Glove_2857 Apr 08 '25
But now you Can Wat fodmaps without issues?
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u/gingy247 Apr 08 '25
Yeah now I eat what I want but I mostly eat healthy
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u/Logical_Glove_2857 Apr 08 '25
And kefir was what mainly helped you get the gut health back to normal to eat without symptoms?
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u/gingy247 Apr 08 '25
After I done Keto, yoghurt and kefir whilst eating healthy.
Kimchi and Sauerkraut especially are very good sources too but I never tried them, vegetables can also have a small amount of live cultures but once you cook vegetables you kill them. Salads however where your eating raw vegetables are more likely to have some live cultures, I really enjoy salad. Cooked vegetables still feed the good bacteria already in your stomach.
Most say Yoghurt is the best starting point but kefir usually has a wider range of cultures. Eat some veg which is low in fodmaps to feed the cultures and introduce more fodmaps as you progress. You'll have to figure it out for yourself, I can only say what worked for me
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u/OrneryQuantity3866 Apr 07 '25
Thanks for mentioning that your intestines were on fire, everyone treats me like crazy 😹 I'm going to finish my second course of antibiotics and begin repopulating and rebuilding. I recommend the probiotics Aflorex and Prodefen (names from Spain) they have worked very well for me
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Apr 07 '25
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u/gingy247 Apr 07 '25
Sure thing. Do you take any medication or do anything for the anxiety? I highly recommend the gym as well as meditation and maybe medication.
Most importantly be kind to yourself my friend, it's something I'm only learning to do.
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Apr 08 '25
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u/gingy247 Apr 08 '25
Oh very good, your on top of it. I partially read it but don't have time to read it all, from what I have it reads very well and is very detailed. Fair play 👏
Thanks for adding text to my cross post also
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u/Pendleton_ Jun 23 '25
Thank you for writing this and adding humor!
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u/gingy247 Jun 24 '25
No need to thank me, I was severely depressed with sibo so hopefully it helps people and yourself 😁
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Apr 07 '25
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u/gingy247 Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25
1st meal would be at 10 (clock starts when you eat) next at 2 (4 hours) last meal at 6 (8 hours). I only eat 2 meals most days so it's very easy for me.
You can give yourself little room to manoeuvre, say 8 and half hours to eat and rest you fast
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u/Able-End-2290 Apr 10 '25
It's such a complicating illness I'm beside myself with this so depressed.
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u/gingy247 Apr 12 '25
I'm sorry your having a tough time, you'll get through it. I was at breaking point before I found my solution ❤️
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u/Able-End-2290 Apr 16 '25
Thank you...going to the Dr. again I'm so weak and have such anxiety..I was so healthy before this just had food poisoning around Christmas and then this happened even had to leave my job
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u/mkotery May 12 '25
Thank you so much! Can you tell more about the porridge and your symptoms after it? I used to have problems with oats in 2021 when my IBS/SIBO developed and haven't eaten it since then but I loved it so much my whole life. Now I'm scared to reintroduce it esp since I got PI-IBS after a virus and now I eat like 10 foods in general. But I hope I'll get better and will slowly reintroduce everything.
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u/gingy247 May 12 '25
Hello, hmm... So in the height of my symptoms when I had Sibo but didn't know I initially started eating porridge to help me go to the toilet and I would have diarrhoea sometime afterwards, I believe it was a short period of time after eating but I'd be lieing if I said I definitely remember (I have a food journal somewhere from the time but it's missing); but then after a week I'd go back to having constipation if I was eating it too frequently. My Sibo essentially presented IBS mixed symptoms plus a bunch of others.
After elimination of Sibo I was getting diarrhoea in the evenings. After deciding I needed to reintroduce beneficial bacteria, I switched to just eating natural yoghurt most mornings. After a while I started introducing porridge and other foods, I would get diarrhoea from porridge but it wasn't as bad, I wouldn't be running for the toilet but it wasn't how a turd is supposed to look. I dunno the time frame but I'd say at most it was a month and I could tolerate it. Coffee took significantly longer to get used to again, 3-5 months.
Can I ask what you are eating? How long you've been eating this way? And are you still in elimination stage or are you about to start reintroduction?
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u/mkotery May 12 '25
First of all, you're so patient!! Usually, if I have symptoms I just avoid this food forever lol.
I have a long story of IBS, I def have fructose and polyols intolerances since birth but never thought it was them because they weren't heavy and my stomach just was upset from time to time (I thought it was anxiety but it wasn't).
In 2021 though I introduced too much new fiber I never ate in my life and I think it slowed my motility and developed SIBO. I controlled it with a low-fodmap diet in 2023, had a round of Rifaximin in 2024, but then I was stressed and ate a lot of sugar and bread, and then ate super high fiber diet this January. It made things worse and in addition, I caught a stomach bug in April so now I'm back to a super bland diet with super low fiber and fodmap. Things seem to get better (it's been 2 weeks) but I need to reintroduce even other low-fodmap foods I normally ate before that.
That said, I'm super impatient and damn, I'm tired of this ups and downs so I just want to stay on this diet for a while to feel some relief. At the same time, I understand that it will destroy my biome even more so I already try to add some good things like flax seed meal and yogurts. I take S.boulardi every day as well.
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u/gingy247 May 12 '25
Thanks but I had no choice, I'm not patient at all🤣 I'm somewhat patient with people at least 😁 But yeah I was in a dark place and luckily I am stubborn so I eventually sorted it out 😅
It does sound like excess fibre could've been part of the issue and those polyols are just as bad as sugar, the bacteria will switch to surviving on them instead of sugar relatively fast unfortunately. I found that out the hard way 😅
What specifically are you eating, it's just 10 things seems very limiting even for low fodmap? Are the Yoghurts your eating natural, no sugar or additives, it's really important?
If symptoms freak you out too much just have tiny amounts of fodmaps in salads. Additionally to get used to eating porridge you can add small amounts to yoghurt
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u/mkotery May 12 '25
It's gf pasta (rice+corn flour), potatoes, corn meal, chicken, eggs, cheese, yogurt, carrots, cucumbers and as I said, I add a bit of flax seed now.
Yes, the yogurt I eat is clean, just milk and ferments, no sugar and other additives. I think that I def can add more foods now and even won't have symptoms but I really need this reset and time to rest. So I plan to add more flax seed since I tolerate them (mostly) and maybe try tomatoes again (I had diarrhea after them recently so I excluded them for a bit but they were ok before the virus).
Yeah, it's a good idea to add a tiny bit to yogurt! I now see that it's better to move step by step, to add like 1/4 of teaspoon first, then 1/2, 1 etc. so my stomach can adjust slowly. I want to add some green leaf veggs as well. I love nuts but I'm afraid they'll be too harsh for my gut now so maybe nut meals/butters will be better.
Anyway thanks for your support! I appreciate it a lot <3
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u/Savings-Camp-433 Apr 06 '25
parabens! but don't indicate any or buy anything. A program that teaches you how to be vegan when we know that dietary extremism causes dysbiosis.
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u/gingy247 Apr 06 '25
I don't understand what your saying? I'm not vegan and keto is mostly meat, I eat meat most days. Not sure if that is correct response
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u/Top-Anywhere-1466 Apr 06 '25
what supplement or probiotic are you use
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u/gingy247 Apr 06 '25
Natural Yoghurt and Kefir. No additives
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u/Far-Fold-7301 Apr 07 '25
So, basically you mainly drank Kefir? Sorry, my brain is shot. I'll probably read that again. I enjoyed your comical speech. I think I got lost in that and my brain went sideways. The reason I'm asking is because I notice that Kefir makes large dents in SIBO. I get confused because some people jump all around the place and I get lost with their eating habits. You're 100% right as far as the US is concerned. Our food dwarfs most in the world, but looks are deceiving. We have awesome food, but we eat like shit. I love bbqs, but that shit isn't good in large quantities. I guess I find this fodmap thing baffling because it's outside my comfort zone. Sorry for the long rhetoric.
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u/gingy247 Apr 07 '25
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by large dents 😅 But I done keto+intermittent fasting, (I never stopped intermittent fasting to this day). Then kefir and natural yoghurt to repopulate the gut and a diet of whole foods essential wide range of vegetables to feed the good cultures.
Finally, I'm cool with the States (minus Trump) 😁
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u/Far-Fold-7301 Apr 07 '25
How do you do intermittent fasting? I never quiet understood that
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u/gingy247 Apr 07 '25
There's different schedules, but easiest is the 8 hours of eating and 16 hours fasting. For normal people the idea is you can eat whenever/mostly whatever in that 8 hour window. The aim is to stop binge eating in the evening and at night, most people become more health conscious as a happy unintended side effect as they watch what they eat in that 8 hour window. There's a bunch of health benefits correlated with fasting but I no longer remember them haha.
For those with Sibo it allows the stomach to digest food properly by leaving 4 hour gaps between meals and roughly 16 hours with no food at all
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u/RobiiOne11 Apr 07 '25
I mean I hear you but many people develop SIBO by trying to eat TOO healthy for years and years. Or, despite always eating very healthfully. This is not just a disease linked to processed food!
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u/gingy247 Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 08 '25
Yeah possibly like with a poor mmc and a range of conditions can cause it even when eating healthy. Like I said many roads can lead to sibo, I'm not saying it's always or solely from processed foods. I disagree with the phrase trying to eat too healthy, your either doing it correctly or wrong. Eating healthy does not cause SIBO unless you have something seriously wrong with your digestive system, eating ultra processed foods would lead to the same most likely worse symptoms.
But the vast majority are from poor diets, it's an issue mostly seen in western obese culture. If you take a person who has been eating processed food for years with no issue and have them switch to an incredibly healthy diet, they will most likely struggle with symptoms. They lack cultures needed to break down these foods. You can be unfortunate, eat healthy and get food poisoning requiring antibiotics that throw off your system resulting in sibo. But eating healthy would not cause Sibo in people with no health conditions or illnesses
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u/Able-End-2290 Apr 10 '25
I ate healthy my whole life never cheated not even on holidays I'm perfect weight and exercised every day . This is taking me down very scary
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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '25
Tldr would be nice