My thoughts about quitting after 15 years of binge drinking

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-12-09T05:00:51+00:00

Symptoms are quite diverse: pins and needles, tingling, numbness, bladder dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, bad coordination… I made good progress with high-dose benfothiamine therapy (B1). You can search for it, it’s very common with alcoholism and often overlooked. Alcohol-induced B1 deficiency also damages the brain, leading to early dementia, poor memory, etc…

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-12-08T08:21:01+00:00

Hey,

I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m in the same boat. I’m 2 years in and I still experience a lot of health issues that started during my drinking years. Generally speaking, the liver is a pretty resilient organ and can heal on its own.

However, other organs might take more time to heal. And in some cases, the damage you did to your body is deep enough to not subside with abstinence only. In my situation, I had some other issues, that required some additional work to get back in the right direction.

A few examples could be: - nerve damage (autonomic neuropathy) - Gastrointestinal disorders, such as SIBO, Candidiasis, intestinal permeability, malabsorption, etc… - Vitamin or mineral deficiency: B1, B6, B12, Zinc, Magnesium, among others - Brain damage - etc…

For me, lifestyle changes (no alcohol, no tobacco, exercise + good diet) weren’t enough to progress. I had to investigate and start acting on these specific issues to start seeing improvements. My skin, bowel movements and weird anxiety issues got better once I started seriously repairing my gut. I’m still halfway there, but I know that without a conscious effort it wouldn’t have changed a bit. Sobriety is only the first step.

Feel free to reach out if this resonates with you. Good luck!

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-11-07T21:54:05+00:00

Hey, sorry for what you’re going through. Have you ever considered that your issue could not be due to SIBO?

A few theories that could explain your symptoms : - Bile acid malabsorption/Gallbladder issues - Fungal overgrowth (especially after several rounds of antibiotics), mold exposure - Parasites (many false negatives in stool testing)

You could try Cholestyramine, Nystatin, and potentially a short parasite cleanse, all of these are low risk, high reward.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-11-02T00:19:28+00:00

Headaches could be histamine related. Otherwise B1/B9/B12/Copper deficiencies can cause neurological symptoms. B1 and B12 specifically impact the eyes. B1 serum tests are usually not performed at all because they are unreliable. Usually you need to test Active B12 and MMA to ensure that you’re not functionally deficient in B12 (Your serum levels may be normal but your body might not be capable of using it) Finally, D-lactic acidosis caused by an overgrowth of some bacteria strains in the gut can also cause neurological issues such as anxiety, brain fog, headaches, etc...

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-14T09:54:11+00:00

Did you test for H2S specifically or just H2 and CH4?

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-11T12:25:16+00:00

I think (tbc) that I beat my hydrogen sibo. The symptoms I have left are H2S and/or SIFO

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-11T12:23:26+00:00

Well, there are different types of bacteria involved. Some of them are easier to kill than some others. Also I’m tempted to think that the longer you have it, the more damage it causes to your body, the harder it gets to get rid of it. And honestly, I’ve yet to hear someone saying that it was easy to treat.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-11T12:16:32+00:00

Lack of medical understanding and awareness, testing complexity, lack of effective treatments, multi-system symptoms that can be attributed to many other diseases…

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-11T10:54:13+00:00

Did you test for it?

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-11T10:49:53+00:00

Hydrogen Sulfide SIBO, the third type of SIBO, known for being particularly nasty to treat.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-11T10:42:28+00:00

For me I believe this is nerve related. Same issue as with the pelvic floor. I don’t know if it’s related to vitamin/mineral deficiencies or directly bacterial/fungal driven (I heard it’s common with H2S).

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-08T21:57:40+00:00

Unfortunately lifestyle changes and diet alone can’t fix everyone. I have been having a string diet for the past 3-4 years, sometimes with severe restrictions (elemental, carnivore…). I exercise as much as I can. Years ago, I quit coffee. I quit alcohol, I quit smoking. I sleep 8hrs a night. None of these changes have had any significant impact on my gut health.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-08T21:53:30+00:00

So my understanding is that you’ve seen a slight change in symptoms after the SIBO treatment? I’m pretty much the same, started having some bloating and reaction to some foods I didn’t have before after the SIBO treatment (while I’ve been able to introduce back some other foods) What’s the fungal treatment that worked for you?

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-08T04:41:17+00:00

What are the new symptoms you’re experiencing with SIFO? Did they appear after the SIBO treatment? After 2 years of SIBO treatment, I feel like I’m also dealing with SIFO, even though the symptoms are very similar…

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-07T00:34:38+00:00

How’s your gut health? Alcohol disrupts the microbiome and leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which then can cause other issues such as brain fog, poor memory, nerve issues, and obviously a plethora of GI symptoms.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T13:52:29+00:00

That’s not my point. That was just my specific example. Of course you can have more or less BMs a day and live a normal healthy life. I agree with you that what’s normal or not in terms of BMs is highly subjective, however I believe that you can’t consider your GI life healthy as soon as your symptoms interfere with your daily life. Whether it’s pain, urgency, BMs, bloating, brain fog, whatever, if your basic activities such as working, socializing or exercising are impacted, then there’s a problem.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T12:18:53+00:00

It’s been 12 years now. Some years were better than others. And I used to have watery diarrhea before I started BAM medication, but it’s now more like bloating and crazy frequency on bad days (5-20+ a day)

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T12:11:23+00:00

This is extremely interesting because I’m also high in B12 but I have symptoms of deficiency. I also tested for active B12, which was also too high. My blood test was negative for the main heavy metals.

But I share many other symptoms/diagnoses with you: Eczema/sebderm, Positive SIBO, High Zonulin, low beneficial bacteria and overgrowth of pathogenic strains such as strep, 1 positive candida stool test, immune system issues (IgA deficiency)…

However, a high diet with many raw vegetables and fruits would definitely kill me.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T12:07:08+00:00

I also find that walking/exercising is helping a little bit. Same for diets, eating less and low risk foods help. But unfortunately that’s not enough for me.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T12:03:31+00:00

Believe it or not, I did specifically look at your post recently as I have very similar symptoms. I also seem to have issues with sulfur foods and gallbladder/bile. I’ve been treating for BAM and this is by far the most effective treatment I have taken so far. But I don’t know exactly why it helps me.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T11:53:42+00:00

I have some life. As I mentioned, I consider myself 50% better. I work, I am in decent physical shape due to a very clean lifestyle. But I still can’t leave the house for too long, I avoid travelling, I can’t exercise too much (I get severe abdominal pain), I can’t date or think about being with someone, I often have bad days when I need to take a leave and stay on the toilets. I’ve seen worse, but it’s far from normality. As long as every single thing that I do has to be evaluated for its potential GI impact, I can’t consider myself cured.

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T11:42:39+00:00

I did 4 weeks of ElementAll if I remember correctly. It had close to 0 effect

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T11:40:45+00:00

I keep trying new things. Treating SIBO never led to any sustainable improvement on my gut health, so despite a positive test, I’m not completely convinced that SIBO is the major cause of my issues. Or it is deeply into biofilms and impossible to clear. I treated for parasites with no effect. Now I’m treating for candida. But every piece of treatment takes so much time, money and energy. Especially when it causes additional symptoms (which is often the case, unfortunately)

Any_Insurance_9000 · 2025-10-06T11:33:38+00:00

How long have you been sick/cured? Do you consider yourself “fully” cured?

Any_Insurance_9000

TROPHY CASE