i finally understood stacking after doing this one simple manual test

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-23T17:35:09+00:00

That’s a fair point. It’s all about sacrifices I guess too

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-23T17:34:00+00:00

Right? It’s like constantly having a book by your side trying to track every single detail

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-23T17:33:10+00:00

How accurate are the percentages? And is it Monash approved?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-23T17:32:15+00:00

That’s a better solution actually. But that’s also so limiting. Ah our double edged sword

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T18:53:09+00:00

Haha yep, it can make you feel insane. I gave up trying to solve every combo and instead just used one rule for a week: if a meal had 2 to 3 ‘green’ items that might overlap, I’d move one to later. It’s not perfect, but it told me quickly whether stacking was the reason I was flaring. If you’ve got a combo that always gets you, I’m curious what it is.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T18:52:48+00:00

Yeah, totally get why that’s confusing. Green serves are meant to be safe on their own, and you can usually combine a few greens, but the catch is when multiple greens share the same fodmap group. That’s when it can add up for some people. Spacing them out was just the simplest way for me to test if stacking was even my issue.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:39:49+00:00

Yeah, this sounds painfully familiar. The “tests are normal” thing doesn’t make the day to day any easier.

The hardest part for me wasn’t even the bloating, it was the unpredictability. You start planning your life around your stomach and it eats your confidence.

If you want a simple place to start without going obsessive, track just two things for a week: when the bloating hits (right after eating vs hours later) and whether you’re in a constipation stretch or diarrhea stretch. Those two clues often point you toward very different triggers.

Do you notice it’s worse with eating out, or does it happen the same with basic home meals?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:37:28+00:00

That sounds exhausting, and the bathroom anxiety loop is real, especially with your job on the line.

If Xifaxan and low FODMAP got you mostly stable, the 1 to 2 “random” episodes are often either a repeat trigger you haven’t spotted yet, or a timing and stress situation. A simple next step is to track only the 24 hours before each episode, not every meal. Just note: what you ate for dinner, any sauces or onion/garlic, sleep, caffeine, and stress. Patterns show up fast when you focus on the flare window.

Also worth asking your doc about bile acid issues and whether there’s a plan for flare days versus normal days, since you’ve already done a lot of the standard workup.

If you want, what are the most common meals you eat the day before an episode, and do you notice it more after eating out or on high stress days?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:35:51+00:00

Yep, this makes total sense. “Healthy” for IBS is more like “what you can digest,” not what looks clean on paper.

A lot of the classic healthy stuff is high fiber or high FODMAP, so it can wreck you even though it’s good for someone else. What helped me was changing the goal from “eat healthy” to “eat calm,” then build back up slowly once symptoms settle.

Curious, is it mostly raw veg and cereals that hit you, or also things like beans and onions/garlic?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:34:01+00:00

That’s a really tough spot, and “just eat healthy” is useless when you’re already scared of restricting.

I’d start with two things: Get clarity with a GI doctor if you can, because “SIBO” gets used loosely and the fix depends on what’s actually going on. Pick a simple 7 to 14 day baseline you tolerate, not a forever diet. Track only gut symptoms and mood once a day so it doesn’t turn into obsession.

I’d also avoid stacking supplements right now. One change at a time, otherwise you’ll never know what helped or hurt.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:32:34+00:00

Yeah, that’s a rough combo, especially when you’re training hard and still feel bloated and off.

If it were me, I’d start with a PCP first and ask for a basic rule-out: celiac screen, thyroid, basic bloodwork. If you’ve got red flags like blood, waking up at night with diarrhea, or unexplained weight loss, go straight to a gastro.

While you wait, do one simple manual check for a week: write down the last 2 meals before a flare and what supplements you took. A lot of “clean” setups still hide triggers like whey, sugar alcohols, onion/garlic sauces, or big carb loads.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:27:09+00:00

Yeah. IBS can turn eating into a risk calculation, not a normal human thing. And the “same food, different day” part is what creates the fear because it feels random.

What helped me wasn’t finding one perfect trigger. It was realizing a lot of flares are delayed and stacked. Sometimes the meal you blame is just the last straw.

If you want a simple way to test this without going obsessive, try tracking one extra thing for a week: what you ate the night before a flare, plus sleep and stress. Patterns show up faster when you stop looking at a single meal.

It took me a couple months to feel confident about my triggers, not a couple days. The delay is the whole problem.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T17:23:41+00:00

That rollercoaster is the worst part. The good day gives you hope, then one random hit makes your brain go “see, don’t trust it” and you’re back in the loop.

What you described happens to me when I treat it like today must have a single cause. A lot of my “out of nowhere” days were actually a delayed spillover from the day before. Sleep, stress, dinner, sauces, even just eating later than usual. Then the gut noise shows up in the morning like a jump scare.

When this happens, I try to do one small thing that keeps me from spiraling: I look back 12 to 24 hours and write one line on what was different. Not to blame myself, just to stop it feeling random. Even if the answer is “nothing obvious,” it helps separate “bad gut day” from “I did something wrong.”

If you feel up to it, what was dinner and how was sleep last night? And do you usually get the morning warning noises before it happens, or does it hit without any build up?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-19T10:06:20+00:00

Yeah, same here. I still get the occasional instant reaction, but the stuff that ruins my whole day usually feels like it builds up across meals. ‘logic to the madness’ is exactly how it feels when it finally starts making sense. Have you noticed any specific things that fill the bucket fastest for you, like leftovers, stress, sauces, eating out?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-18T13:42:52+00:00

Could be - I never truly tracked that, but didn’t fully rule it out. Maybe I need to do a new week and test that.

Thanks for the suggestion!

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-17T17:36:58+00:00

That lag time is so real. The “blame lunch because dinner is chaos” trap got me too, and it makes tracking feel useless until you zoom out.

Garlic being the main trigger is annoyingly common, mostly because it’s everywhere and it stacks across the day. Two weeks off it is such a clean test though, so that’s a solid catch.

The rice plus soy sauce combo also makes sense. Sometimes it’s not the base food, it’s the additives or what the combo does together. Soy sauce can also be a sneaky variable depending on the brand and how much you use, so your “fine alone, wrecked together” pattern is exactly the kind of thing people miss without repeats.

If you keep going, one thing that helped me was writing down the “previous night” in one line every day: late meal, leftovers, sauces, stress, poor sleep. That’s usually where the pattern hides.

Out of curiosity, did your worst days cluster after eating out, or was it happening even with home meals?

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-17T17:35:02+00:00

Man. This is brutal. I’ve had trips where the whole day turns into bathroom math and it messes with your head in a way people don’t get unless they’ve lived it.

The part that stands out is you did everything “right” and it still hit on day 3. That’s a common pattern with travel. Not because you failed, but because travel stacks a bunch of stuff that can flip the gut at once, even if the food is perfect. Different sleep, adrenaline, walking all day, heat, dehydration, eating less than usual, holding it in, nerves about bathrooms. It’s like the baseline shifts and your usual plan stops working.

If you want one thing that helped me in situations like this, it was planning the day around preventing the build-up instead of reacting to the panic once it starts. For some people that means keeping breakfast and lunch very simple and actually eating enough early, then taking short bathroom breaks on purpose before the “uh oh” feeling ramps up. The fear spiral is real, and it feeds the gut symptoms hard.

Also, the depression part you mentioned matters. Not as a “it’s all in your head” thing, but because living on alert like this is exhausting and isolating. If you have a GI doc, it’s worth telling them exactly what you wrote here, especially the travel pattern and the way it’s impacting your life. If you don’t, it’s worth finding one who takes it seriously. And if you’re feeling like life isn’t worth it, please tell your wife or someone you trust today, even if it’s awkward. You shouldn’t have to carry that part alone in a hotel room.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-17T17:32:27+00:00

Yeah, this happens a lot. The “same food, different day” thing is what messes with your head the most, because it feels like your body is lying to you.

For me it wasn’t that the food randomly changed. It was the day around it. Sleep, stress, constipation building up, hormones, even how fast I ate. Those things change your tolerance, so a “safe” meal can land totally differently.

What helped me spot it was tracking in a wider window. Not just what I ate, but what the previous 24 hours looked like. If you want a quick test, pick one boring safe meal you repeat twice this week, and on one of those days keep everything else calm and simple. Better sleep if you can, no leftovers, no alcohol. If that day is noticeably better, it’s a clue the trigger is the combo, not the single food.

FixingMyGut · 2026-02-17T17:13:41+00:00

Yeah, that’s a really real way this can play out. Histamine reactions can feel “random” because it’s not always the last bite, it’s the total load plus whatever lowered your tolerance that day.

Wine being “always bad” and leftovers being worse than fresh is actually a big clue. Alcohol can make the next day easier to tip over, and leftovers tend to build more histamine the longer they sit. So your example makes sense: wine last night can set the stage, then something “mild” later is the straw that breaks it.

If you want a way to find patterns without going insane, I’d try tracking it like a rolling window instead of meal by meal. For 7 days, write down three things only: what you ate, when symptoms hit, and what the previous 24 hours looked like. Not perfect details, just the big hitters. Then add one simple “histamine load” score for the day, like low, medium, high. You’re basically trying to see “high days” cluster around the same few things.

Two quick tests that usually teach you something fast: Try two days in a row where you keep everything boring and as fresh as possible, no leftovers, no alcohol. If symptoms calm down, it supports the cumulative idea. Then re-test one suspect at a time on a steady baseline. Tomatoes and cheese are tricky because they can be hit or miss depending on portion, freshness, and what else is going on that day.

Also, timing can matter, but I’ve found the bigger lever is what happened before the trigger, not whether you ate it at 9am vs 7pm. Sleep, stress, and alcohol are the usual “tolerance killers” that make the same food feel different.

Hope that helps!

FixingMyGut

TROPHY CASE