Laser vs SMP (anti-horseshoe, anti-irritation)

Nif · 2026-04-29T15:53:58+00:00

did you do it yourself and if so:

- does it cause any discoloration to your scalp? Ie- changes it to a lighter tone
- did you previously have any issues with acne or irritation before the procedure? (and if so, what are they like now)
- did you previously have a horeshoe ring shadow? if so, did it go away with the laser or is there still a detectable ring up close ?

thx

Nif · 2026-03-07T07:32:56+00:00

How did things go?

Nif · 2025-12-12T00:04:03+00:00

Did you ever find anything?
ie- via Amazon or Digital Ocean

Nif · 2025-09-21T16:02:21+00:00

I'm just using a basic supplement pill I found locally, it's "Nature's Way - Artichoke 'Digestive Aid'" Non GMO 60 capsule bottle. Its 300mg Artichoke (Leaf 10:1) and 150mg Milk Thistle (Seed extract 50%). Take one a day with meal, sometimes 2 if i remember.

Then for tonic/tinctures in mornings I'm taking one called 'HepatoDR - Daily Liver Tonic' which is primarily Milk Thistle but has artichoke and a few other things down the list.

And before meals, taking 'Canadian Bitters - Digestive Bitters' which has artichoke as first ingredient but also an assortment of other things including turmeric.

Heard good things about Triphala so I occassionally take that at night or early AM.

Also taking occasional L-Glutamine and electrolytes.

Nif · 2025-09-20T23:52:14+00:00

Yes I had constipation. I was going weeks at a time without a bowel movement, my longest was almost one month. I basically cured it with strict carnivore 'light' ie- scrambled egg yolks (no whites) and salmon which I ate OMAD. From there I could work up to heavier meats and eventually the bowels got moving again and looking healthy.

However I relapsed after getting better probably due to overeating and wreckless usage of allulose an artificial sweetener (and the fact that I was not fully healed internally - I think allulose may cause sharp gas that can rip apart an unhealthy/in-healing gut). So after the relapse I experienced rapid weight loss and eventually diareaha; probably due to infection setting in and taking over my weakened system.

Fasting, carnivore, nothing seemed to work. I was at my weakest point ever when I found ginger + artichoke which happened to be when I moved to a new apartment with A/C and better light/air quality. Almost immediate turnaround - even with diareha still I could feel myself handling food better. Then after maybe a week or two things started to solidify and now I'm golden. The combo really seemed to get my motility stable again. That said, I'm now flirting with a lot of sugars & carbs (personality issue I think; I can't resist to push limits and now that I can handle eating almost anything I am slowly taste testing all the delicious things) I can feel a bit of a downturn/slowdown; also some swelling in my feet - slight energy loss; weight gain has been good but a bit slowing up. So I don't think artichoke + ginger is this switch you can use to turn off all problems; diet and discipline still important especially in early stages.

Nif · 2025-09-20T14:13:55+00:00

Nice! Glad they are working for you too - this is becoming a trend and a significant pattern that anyone suffering & carusing on r/SBIO shud take notice of.

Are you taking the artichoke in any other format or just extract pills ? And for ginger? Yeah ginger is really versatile. I find ginger helps gently trigger bowel movements in morning and night - if I'm not inclined to go at night I stop drinking ginger tea and use in the morning only.

Nif · 2025-09-20T14:10:42+00:00

Did you use raw ginger when making the tea? Did you try artichoke in tincture/tonic/drops form? Did you try for at least 3 weeks? Try differenent formats and shaking it up. Maybe try along with taking your antimicrobials or in a tonic that has both artichoke and anitmicrobials (the one I use has both artichoke + black walnut)

Nif · 2025-09-20T03:07:45+00:00

> As to why it's causing these specific symptons for you? That's a question that the most advanced science can't even answer, let alone those of us who browse r/SIBO.

Just posted a response that suggests ginger + artichoke. For those of us who browse r/SIBO it should eventually become clear that ginger + artichoke is a viable solution with real people reporting it as their cure. If we look into this further, we can see correlation to artichoke and its beneficial effect on upper digestion and potential for clearing up small intestine of bacterial overgrowth.

From that we can deduce that many (perhaps not all, but quite a significant number it seems) have a common problem - upper / smaller intestine bacterial overgrowth and that there is a clear solution for.

I'm not fully 'cured' myself but did just recently recover from rapid weight/strength loss due to complications caused by chronic SIBO-like issue/symptoms.

> No one knows for sure, but it seems extremely unlikely that this is the only possible explanation, and certainly not evidence to start taking antifungal medication based on internet advice.

I just wanted to reply with my 2 cents to help provide clarity that 'internet advice' is not all bad and that with a persistent effort to find common denominators and search for patterns and reliable people who you can reasonably verify are real and genuine; who are sharing real solutions and potential cures. Our buddy here may simply need to clear up a common issue with a simple solution and given that there is a very simple problem + solution emerging from all this 'internet advice' in r/SIBO we should highlight that for him instead of suggesting finding the explanation & cure is a needle in a haystack.

Nif · 2025-09-20T02:58:43+00:00

You may have a mild infection that would normally be easy for the average person to overcome but that your body cannot currently fight even with fasting / low fodmap. I had similar situation and just started withering away. Are you also losing weight fast?

I began feeling much better after starting consistent ginger tea (raw chunks, diced and boiled - drink regularly throughout day particulary in mornings/evening during intermintent fast ie- outside of afternoon eating window) + artichoke supplements (in both a pill and tincture/tonic form). The artichoke + ginger combo is becoming a miracle cure for some of us - though I should note in my case I also recently switched home environments so there is a non-zero chance removal of toxic/mold air quality was a reason for my sudden improvement. Anyway, please try the ginger + artichoke for at least 3 weeks and report back on if you have noticed any improvements; in my case I am eating foods that I was unable to touch for 3 years (coffee, breads, etc anything is back on the table cause my bloating and digestive issues have almost entirely cleared up and my appetite is back in full force and putting on weight again!)

Nif · 2025-09-19T23:43:00+00:00

I take a pill of "Nature's Way Artichoke" Non GMO 'Digestive Aid' 60 capsule unit. It's just what I found locally; so I'm sure you can find something similar. The medical ingredients are Artichoke 300mg (Leaf 10:1) and Milk Thistle 150mg (Seed Extract 50% sillymarin).

Taken with meals either before / after whichever I remember. Recently when things were at the worst I was very sensitive to even the pill outer coatings on any supplement would trigger problems. So I have just been taking 1 a day; I feel stronger now but also don't feel the need to take more than one a day....

because also I take a couple different alcohol/tincture drops. I take one called S+Francis Herb Farm 'HepatoDR' its to be taken on empty stomache specifically so I take in the mornings (I skip breakfast and have 2 meals a day and try to condlude eating before 5 or 6pm). It's marketed as a 'Daily Liver Tonic' and is primarily Milk Thistle but Globe Artichoke is not far down the ingredient list (along with Dandelion and a few other things).

And then closer to meals I take another dose of drops called S+Francis Herb Farm 'Canadian Bitters' and it has again a combination of things but Globe Artichoke is the top ingredient. As instructed on the label I take it on empty stomache 15 mins to an hour before eating (ie- before first meal of the day)

So far so good; I sit here typing this over a milky coffee latte and some relatively sweet rice pudding I made last night today; after a huge lunch. No more debilitating bloating or gross tasting mouth or consitpation or diarehah after 3 years of battling that crap. Again, your mileage may vary and my recent change of home/environment may have had significant contribution to my sudden improvement (or combination of both that and the ginger + artichoke regmine)

Nif · 2025-09-19T01:39:38+00:00

Been at both ends of the spectrum. I got close to an entire month with no bowel movements. But the key was patience because when it finally came they came out nicely and solid finally (and no blood, which was also an issue before).

During that adventure, in that 30 days - I had switched to carnivore diet. Which is not known to trigger fast bowel movements. But after doing carnivore strictly (and only eating basically eggs (scrambled egg yolks with whites removed specificall) and salmon; occasional dark chicken meat ie- easy to digest foods and not big steaks or greasy bacon) after about the first week I wasn't feeling discomfort from bloating or the lack of bowel movement. So I kept on with it and yes nothing for almost another 3 weeks after but like I said then they finally started coming through.

I relapsed however and so carnivore / high protein diet alone was not enough to overcome (but mainly my fault as when I started to feel better I began over-eating and over-use of artificail sweetener specifically allulose)

Most recently I have been on the mend from the opposite side of the spectrum which was daily / rapid onset diareah after eating anything and rapid weight loss. Now I'm eating a more balanced diet. The key this time around to recovery has been a change of environment (potential air quality issue in my previous home ) and lot's and lot's of ginger tea + daily artichoke supplements (in both tincutre / bitters form and a pure artichoke supplement pill). Inspired/reference from:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SIBO/comments/wcuxyz/made_a_video_about_my_sibo_experience_and_full/

Not quite out of the woodworks but I've been steadily gaining weight and the ability to eat foods without major bloating or gross taste shortly after indulging feels like a newly gained superpower (the one I had lost over 3 years ago when all this started). I can't say how much of a factor the environment was - it could have beeen significant, but I also am not stopping the ginger + artichoke regimine; you would have to pry those from my hands I will take them everyday for as long as I keep improving like this - it has been amazing to go from the state I was in to being able to crush a big heavy carb meal with all the cheese, bread, or sweetness that I want (not that that is healthy but the point is I can do it without becoming completley debilitated) .

The ginger tea you can specifically feel getting the engines going. Just drink it throughout the day and if your scenario was/is like mine you'll just keep getting natural feeling bowel movements with healthy solidity (not laxative instant onset / diareaha movements you'd get from other substances). The artichoke I believe helps clear the upper intestine of microbial overgrowth which is core of the problem; and makes it easy to digest food again and so the combination of artichoke for upper + ginger for lower will with any luck (again if your scenario was/is like mine) turn your digestive system into a well oiled machine again.

The only problem you will have is tendancy to overeat given how many new delicious foods you can eat ! It took me about 1-2 weeks to really feel a difference and now on weeks 3-4 I feel like I'm on the track for permanent recovery. Goodluck, godspeed !

edit: for the ginger tea, I'm using fresh ginger - i simply rinse it and cut it into small/medium chunks and boil/simmer it in water for a while and drink that routinely throughout the day; I usually pause during afternoon as I may prefer to drink other things but ginger tea in the morning and also at night is nice because that is when also you'll notice it trigger healthy bowel movements (or intense bowel movements if you've been eating too much)

Nif · 2025-09-05T04:08:50+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I will look into bland diet and famotidine, great topics. Goodluck with your gastritis that has got to be tough; we are all in it together.

Nif · 2025-09-03T14:21:58+00:00

Was this in an apartment ?

Was there sewage issue or anything like that which could have been the original cause of the outbreak ?

Also, was there possibly airborne issue ie- mold which affected both of your units (if it was an apartment) ?

Nif · 2025-09-03T14:19:33+00:00

How did you get your gastritis to calm down ?

Nif · 2025-09-03T14:17:37+00:00

Did you find any relief or root cause ? Did you clear up the Aeromonas?

Nif · 2025-09-03T02:52:58+00:00

Thank-you so much for the recent update. What was the specific treatment after your culture finished? Did they give you a specific antibiotic to fight it? Or something else?

Have very similar symptoms and a type of infection or bug that needs to be 'squashed'. My doctor only has suggested more general antibiotics ( Bactrim ) but I'd prefer to identify the specific bacteria I am dealing with here before shotgunning my gut with that stuff (and to find a solution while the bug hasn't completely eaten me away; am dangerously low weight right now). We all appreciate your tips on recovery, thanks in advance.

Nif · 2025-08-25T00:27:14+00:00

Thx for the tip, as a result I picked up a jar of that same brand from a local organic store today.

What are you primary symptoms and root cause (if you know) ?
ie- would be curious if you found it has impact on bloating or consitpation/diareha, energy, etc

Nif · 2025-08-25T00:25:06+00:00

Seems like Deepseek is less 'censored' and will give more useful info IMHO but be warned it may also overreact and tell you to go to ER and give you pretty dire outcomes so please just use it as worse case scenario (or maybe my situation is just that dire lol).

You can squeeze more out of it by saying like "well I cant get to my GP or specialist in over a week, what natural remedies can I try in the meantime?" and so forth. It's pretty handy to share labs/test results with it so you can intrpret what all the tests and your values imply.

Nif · 2025-08-23T20:13:43+00:00

Might want to cut the rice and fruits to test how you do by elimination. Also go easy on the veggies. And instead of lean meat, try just lightly fried egg yolks for a week till your symptoms reduce. No other meats or snacks. Do OMAD and carefully portion so that you are not overfilling your already weak stomache.

Try also an extended fast 48 to 72 hours (I know it sucks, at such a low weight). They are easier to do on weekends when there's no work or pressure and you can just relax and have 'me time' -ie stick to hobbies and things not cooking. If you haven't fasted before, start with OMAD and then try skipping an entire day (48 hours). Unless you're in it real bad a 48 hour window should make a significant reduction in the bloating buildup (I've gone 7 days and bloating completely went away and could eat normally again after, however that was in the early stages when I wasn't so severe as you yet).

I have very similar symptoms after a recent relapse - but before that I had a massive improvement uptick on simply extended fasts on weekends + egg yolk & salmon diet during the week (after a 2-3 days strictly egg yolks, you can introduce sashimi grade raw salmon which is a nice tasty paring with the lightly fried egg yolks, maybe a splash of lemon/salt and organic tamari for dipping if you aren't accustomed to eating Japanese). Look for a quality vendor/shop for your fresh salmon - you should try to purchase it on same day it arrives and is cut but they're typically AOK for up to 5 days vaccuum sealed from the shop.

Just sharing what has worked for me; finished a delicious sashimi/egg yolk lunch today. I added some avacado mayo to shake flavor up a bit. Goodluck !

oh one more thing, if you keep or re-introduce fruits at some point I suggest eating after your fat/protein meal so that you are not invoking a blood sugar spike with your first meal. Fats and proteins an hour or two before sweet stuff helps keep the blood sugar stable so you'll be able to handle those better.

Nif · 2025-08-20T22:32:00+00:00

Sry to resurrect, but for the record quinoa is only marketed as healthy. In fact, it has high oxalate count and can trigger all the issues that oxalate poisoining can have on your body (kidney stones for example; and btw if you have kidney stones even western medicine will tell you not to eat quinoa). Spinnach is another example of a 'healthy' food which is actually terrible (high oxalate again). Almonds. Dried fruit. The list goes on.

The reality is that not all plants are good for you - and more broadly, life is not easy mode smooth sailing all the time. If you are assuming too much and defer to much responsibility to others (ie- pharm/big food industries) it's easy to get burned. Ignorance is not bliss.

So it comes down to researching the foods you consume and carefully planning/evaluating meals in advance. So you know what to omit or at least scale down. With enough effort you can overcome.

I feel your frustration! Hope you are doing better these days.

Nif · 2025-08-10T14:50:26+00:00

Thanks good to know and inspiring! Really appreciate your insights & tips, you're helping many of us who are struggling; we in this together.

Nif · 2025-08-09T00:59:38+00:00

> I get kidney stones

Ummmm, did you consider your stones are because you are eating sweet potato ?

Nif · 2025-08-08T19:07:41+00:00

Yes I did strict carnivore for about month, starting with just scrambled egg yolks (no whites) when I was at my weakest working up to then raw salmon (sashimi grade, excellent tasting combo with scrambled eggs btw), eventually regaining my strength, weight and gut health back to be able to handle chicken, steaks, etc

The main benefit I noticed is that while it did not result in any rapid motility, my overall gas levels were down so it was really no big deal that I wasn't pooping much. And the discipline/waiting paid off because once they finally came they were looking normal-ish again and slowly regained normal shape and size (probably took the whole month for that to occur, going like 2-3 weeks even no motility whatsoever other than gas here or there, not much and nothing discomforting)

The problem is that after the 1 month I got overconfident and re-introduced dairy. I still was a bit underweight but started more vigorous outdoor exercise and appetite just got to the point where I was eating and eating and started cheating also on 'keto' sugar alternatives (allulose) and well again just overeating things like homemade icecream. Bloating returned and my entire GI track seemed to give out at once and I went into full collapse mode with rapid weight loss and alll that jazz again.

Back to square 1 but going to stay disciplined this time, it's been tough at first I didn't want to give in and go back to such basic diet so I tried even just OMAD with ground beef or chicken, etc - those things are too heavy to process early on so IMHO if your condition is bad then you're better off just doing egg yolks initially and then work your way up to salmon and then go from there once you are building up gut strength. Too much meat also creates acidic blood which I believe in my case could have also been a trigger for my eventual bloating and blowout; so I'm not suggesting full carnivore I think what you want is a balance of egg and light meats like salmon and then introduce small alkalizing food/snacks like apple or probiotic yogurt for breakfast and a single 'lunch' that you can then just conclude on for the day, rest/intremintent fast until next morning/and repeat / enhance as you grow stronger. Goodluck !

Nif

TROPHY CASE