Hello! My name is Elisa & I am currently on a journey of healing from SIBO, histamine intolerance, food sensitivities, skin issues & everything else caused by these gut issues.
My biggest aim with this blog is to make it easier for anyone else having these gut health issues to find help from someone going through it. I want to help with ideas for food, how to make lifestyle changes, resources to assist you & general advice from my own experiences. Tummy troubles don’t have to be your life and I hope I can help you while your going through it!
The journey begins…
Intolerance
I’ve has issues with eating things like dairy and lactose for a long time now, then certain wines became an issue for me, different meat was making me sick and then gluten began causing a lot of discomfort as well. Everything ended up being problematic for me and I found myself having to think about what I was doing the next day to see what I could risk eating. Food became insanely stressful (which probably made it all worse) and when the biggest issues started happening I developed a fear of eating and lived of gluten free oats made into porridge with almond milk, yummy but not nutritious at all!
Hormones
I chose to go off the pill after about 10 years of being on it purely for my health as I wanted to start getting rid of unnecessary toxins in my body. I used the help of natural remedies and products to try balance things out and get my cycle back to normal (whatever that was) and what a rollercoaster that was. It was fine one minute and horrible the next, super heavy, painful and exhausting. After a while I went to the drs to have bloods done as I was so insanely exhausted but everything was apparently fine. After seeing a nutritionist who did some bio energetic testing on me she found quite an array of things that could be to blame. My thyroid was having issues along with toxins being present in my body that was creating a very out of whack cycle and a lot of exhaustion.
Parasite & Gut illnesses
I remember having giardia as a kid after a school camp, there was a lot of fun while mucking around in mud that didn’t end well for me. I had gastro quite a bit between the years of 19-28. When I was around 21 I went on a trip around the US having a stop off in Mexico, which was amazing but that last meal as we left decided to give me a parasite and I spend 3 days in bed in Las Vegas unable to eat or consume anything really after being violently ill all night one night to the point my now husband had to carry me off the bathroom floor and back to bed. Ever since then I started having more and more issues that slowly got worse.
Histamine
Now this is a weird one! After seeing a nutritionist as I already was having gut and health issues, the nasty thing that is a histamine intolerance decided to really give me hell. Through having bioenergetic testing done through my nutritionist we began clearing bad things out of my system including a parasite as mentioned above. After that I started getting some very uncomfortable pain after eating. About 1-1.5hrs after a meal I would start getting what I described as “the feeling of a metal pole being rammed through my middle abdomen” which I later found out was my pancreas. Along with that I was having hot sweats, headaches, the small amount of dermatitis on my face got worse, hives, itches, moments of light headedness, vertigo, tingly body parts and overall just felt like absolute shit to be honest. I missed a lot of work because I stopped eating much out of fear and what I was eating had next to no nutritional value for me as it bland. I went to the drs and to be honest they weren’t much help. Tested me for parasites, helicobactor (h-pylori), checked my pancreas and gallbladder function through blood tests and had an abdomen ultrasound. All supposedly coming back totally normal and “baseline”. I was told to eat bland food till I felt better and then go back to normal. My nutritionist was the only person willing to help me through this as I stayed in touch with her the whole time and she assured me we would figure it out. The bioenergetic testing saved me and histamine came up again and again getting stronger each time. Because my symptoms where becoming debilitating I began seeing the naturopath at the same clinic as the nutritionist and together they helped me get to where I am now.
SIBO
After many tests, Drs thinking I was nuts, pain, discomfort and a lot of weight loss and lack of eating we finally figured it out. I have SIBO. I have never been so happy to get positive test results back before because I finally had an answer and I no longer felt insane and like it was all in my head! So all the bloating, pain, diarrhoea, skin issues, fatigue, the list goes on and is all being caused by this thing called SIBO. For me I started with quite high levels of hydrogen and methane SIBO so it explained so much and seems to be the root cause of all of my other issues.
MTHFR
Throughout having Bioenergetic testing done and then seeing a naturopath within the same clinic so they could work together, they both agreed that I should have MTHFR testing done as they were both very sure I had at least one of the gene mutations. Well they were correct, and I have 2 MTHFR gene mutations. Know what does that mean? Great question, I will expand on that in another post as I will with all of the other issues mentioned above.
Currently…
Well I’m doing a hell of a lot better now I can tell you that much! I’m still 10ish kgs down from the start of this but I’m starting to feel like myself again. I’m not out of the woods yet, I still have a long way to go to be fully healed from all of these things. I’m working on it all with the guidance of 2 amazing women, a naturopath and a nutritionist who together have assisted me to be eating a symptom reducing diet, supplementing me with the correct things I am in need of and the right things to clear out the SIBO and histamine issues while trying to live a normal life. They have also helped me to know I’m not alone as they have other clients who are having similar issues with all the above that I’ve mentioned. I am trying to practice lots of self care and look after myself in and out as its so important to have everything working I together.
My goal with this blog is for people like me to find information and resources. I want to help you to realise you aren’t weird or imagining these things and that these aren’t issues that a lot of GP’s test for or are maybe aware of. I’ve chosen to go down the lines of a natural approach but there are ways to do this with a GP as well. Your treatment is up to you and if you don’t feel right then you need to pursue it and trust how you feel, don’t let someone tell you your fine when you know your not.
I am NOT a health care professional in any way so I will not recommend or talk about the supplements I use or have used as they where all prescribed to me by professionals and I think anyone going through these issues should do so with the help of a professional. I will list as many resources I can find and will always update them because one size does not fit all. I will recommend practitioners and online courses but never medication, as I’ve said I am not a healthcare professional.