May is National Celiac Disease Awareness Month (bet you didn’t know that) and because I am getting my routine colonoscopy done this week, the gastrointestinal tract is on my mind.
It’s also on my mind because I’ve run into several people lately having issues with gas and bloating. It is not related to celiac disease, but for those who might be interested, I wanted to share my own gastrointestinal story.
I was having issues with gas and bloating and decided I needed to find out if I had SIBO (Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth). We have a balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut and the balance can turn bad with a bad diet. The good bacteria help make nutrients we need and help feed our colon cells. The bad bacteria take the bad food we eat (especially sugar) and ferment it causing excess gas. Actually, even healthy foods with natural sugars, like those to be avoided on the FODMAP diet, can be fermented.
I went to a gastroenterologist to see if I had SIBO and was tested by a breath test (hydrogen) that was supposed to show if I had bacteria that were fermenting and creating hydrogen. Here is where it gets controversial. They took the baseline right after I had eaten a meal of foods that were probably being fermented. With that questionable baseline, the results of my test showed no problem and I was sent home to suffer I guess.
Fortunately, I had access to testing that took a baseline after a low fermenting diet and looked for both hydrogen and methane gases. The results showed that I had an excessive level and the doctor I was working with said that was the first she had seen a level that high. I started using a series of supplements by Biocidin for 6 months. I had used those supplements in the past but not long enough obviously. I was determined to beat this problem and give my body and brain a break (there is a gut-brain connection – inflammation in the gut = inflammation in the brain). I now have no problems, but do still need to be careful with certain foods.
I share this story as a caution because the people I have run into recently need to know to keep searching for options and perhaps even a different medical opinion. If you want to know more about the Biocidin protocol, you can read on EmersonEcologics.com or look at wellevate.me/abby-wilson-kurth.