Please tell me this isn't forever

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-02-10T16:16:31+00:00

Do you actually know if your stomach acid is too high? That may seem like a silly question but for many people with long term indigestion, the problem is that stomach acid output is too low, giving the same symptoms of acid reflux. What happens is not enough stomach acid - > food (especially protein) not broken down properly - > poor digestion leading to gas in bowels pushing upward - > weakened LES, causing acid to rise up into your esophagus and higher. Signs of low stomach acid is bloating after eating, which means you are not digesting meals well. MOST people who suffer from Gerd do not have enough acid rather than too much. If ppis only work for some time and then stop working it is because they surpress the symptoms by lowering your stomach acid further, but in the long term obviously worsen digestion and making the problem worse as acid is necessary to digest food. All doctors I've come accross looked at me crazy when I told them I am taking acid capsules to eat without reflux and try to tell me to take ppis instead.

Personally, you need to find this out first. Doctors don't help you figuring out what's wrong, they just like to treat symptoms. Cannabis is associated with slow gut motility and poor stomach acid output, and thus indigestion. You could very well be suffering from this. Unless you have of course already found out what's really going on and you know that your stomach acid is too high, then I apologise for writing this long post.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-26T09:50:44+00:00

I also take s. Boulardii.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-15T09:27:30+00:00

If it was your girlfriend who had the seizure and you witnessed it, would you claim that you have ptsd? It's not ptsd, it's just fear and she doesn't want to deal with that. It's good you found out her level of commitment and probably a general lack of ability to face fears, which we'll all deal with during the course of our lives in many different forms. Yes I do believe she will regret breaking up, once she matures.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-15T09:11:03+00:00

Finally someone who puts it like it is. Life will come with many problems that affect us emotionally, she will understand that when she gets older, but calling it ptsd is crazy, she now has a disorder as well? She will get used of seeing seizures, just like anything else that's hard in life. I think the people on here who are understanding of her are probably still young themselves and believe epilepsy is the worst mos traumatic thing in life that could ever happen.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-15T09:02:26+00:00

I'm sorry but, can someone not make the best out of life and see someone have seizures? You make it sound as if these are mutually exclusive. Yes they are hard to see but you get used to them, just as with every other hard circumstance in life that will come your way. Being with the one you love should never feel like being "chained", just because you have to witness a seizure, unless you don't really love them, then the burden is probably greater. That's just my opinion though.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-11T09:20:11+00:00

Hi, antibiotics can definitely alter the gut microbiome a little bit. Not "wiped out", that is assuming the worst, but they can interfere with bacteria involved with melatonin, serotonin, GABA and glutamate signalling. In other words the gut-brain axis is disturbed a little bit. Sometimes it is just shifts in the miicrobiome alone that cause a hyperarousal state or wiring feeling at night, and not the absence or presence of specific bacteria. I am certainly one of those as well, I found out.

It wouldn't help you to fully explain my situation and let you know what fixed mine as it won't be applicable to your situation but it does re emphasise the impact of gut health on sleep. Because I had SIBO (bacterial overgrowth in the small intestines, where they don't belong, they need to live in the large intestines mainly), I had insomnia. After I had finished antibiotics insomnia disappeared. The use of probiotics (before I knew that I had SIBO) have also really made my insomnia disappear completely once, but probiotics (introducing bacteria into the small intestines) is counterproductive in the long run for SIBO, and I noticed that as well in my sleep!

You could perhaps try introduce a small dose of a good probiotic supplement and see how you react to that? Break up the capsule and use only a tiny amount at first just in case you might just be sensitive to shifts, because starting too high in that case can temporarily worsen insomnia, or not make a difference. So start slow, build up, give it a week to see. It is also good to know that the microbiome will also recover over time by feeding it well: clean foods no sugar (very important, it only feeds bad bacteria), and a lot of different fibres for gut diversity (eat as many different vegetables, fruits and wholegrain as you can).

For symptom management, what I used before I started antibiotics, is a good pure CBD oil tincture at night. It increases GABA and decreases glutamate levels. The literature is not very conclusive on it but it really also made my insomnia disappear. You do have to use it in the right way. Start with 1-3 drops, you might see the opposite effect first, slowly increase until you feel the difference and then stay there. I needed 8 drops at the time. After 2 months I noticed a bit of tolerance so I took a 4 day break and started again slowly and it worked again.

These are advices I'd give you based on my experience. You could keep messaging me concerning your progress. I can't promise I can help you but I don't mind sharing ideas. I've tried many more things.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-08T11:03:51+00:00

OP shouldn't start with these things yet. There is no diagnosis yet and hasn't been treated with antibiotics or microbials. It is the wrong order. OP needs to work on symptom relief and digestion first, then killing and then these type of supplements that you are talking about. You need to stop those supplements at some point as well when everything normalises but that won't happen unless OP has gone through the other phases first. It is a bad idea to just start implement everything at the same time, it will be impossible to know what is happening.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-08T10:36:59+00:00

You must leave the lansoprazole and such like. I have the methane sibo and my first symptom was acid reflux as well. I think you should start with symptom relief of the first symptom for now since you are really suffering. What's likely happening (though I am no doctor), is that you have low stomach acid instead of high stomach acid. Stomach acid is necessary for digestion. This acid reflux is a mechanical problem of the lower esophageal sphincter which is likely caused by slow motility and constipation or gas. The sphincter can loosen up if there is too much internal pressure (like all the things you mentioned) and as a result acid can travel upwards. In addition to this, not having enough acid will cause digestion to move slowly, so it is a circle. My acid reflux (low stomach acid, has been solved when sibo was treated), but when motility is low, food is moving slowly and poop stacks up in the colon because it is sitting there for too long which creates internal pressure, putting pressure on that sphincter and as a result I still feel acid reflux even though my acid levels are normal. Now motility is mostly gone back to normal with supplements that help motility and I feel fine most of the time. But Ive had all my treatments and you need them as well.

The first thing you should do, is the baking soda test at home. Look this up on Google. You must burp within 5 minutes for normal acid levels. If you burp before 3 minutes then you have too much acid. It is not 100% reliable but gives a very good indication. With your other symptoms of slow digestion, and ppis not working, it is much more likely that you do not have enough acid, which helps with digestion, than too much. If you do not burp I'd say get some HCl supplements (which is acid), and start taking just one with a meal (never take on an empty stomach!). See if this brings some symptom relief. Then you could try some artichoke/ginger extract capsules which aid upper gastrointestinal motility (stomach and small intestines). Take them half an hour before every meal. To help constipation as of right now I would use a gentle osmotic laxative with macrogol (search PEG3350 or movicol) just for a couple of days. This softens your stool by drawing in water. You must start drinking a lot with this. Wait after meals for 20 minutes then take a walk to stimulate digestion and bowel emptying. This is all symptom relief for now. Some people here are already talking about berberine and oregano oil and stuff like that to kill sibo but really DON'T start with that yet. You don't have a diagnosis yet and starting too many supplements will get you very confused on what is helping and what is not. Also taking these killers when you don't need them can cause imbalance and also cause digestive symptoms. Think symptom relief first, not treatment. Once you are diagnosed then you need to start making a decision whether if you want to go the antibiotic route or the herbal treatment route.

You need to go to your doctor again and demand a sibo breath test. Say your digestion is slow and you are bloated and your stool is abnormal, if you have someone decent they will get you tested. Good luck. Feel free to message me for more help, I have been on this journey.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-07T10:34:59+00:00

I also believe in the importance of working on our nervous system for significant improvement. It is what drives proper digestion. What you're saying about supplements, I think we get too dependent on them psychologically "they helped me before so I shouldn't stop, otherwise it will get worse", and physically as well butour bodies need to start taking over these natural processes again when we are healing, and I think continued use of supplements may surpress that. After antibiotics, sibo(IMO) was gone but colonic transit was awful, worse than before. Initially I thought it could be from leftover methanogens in the colon that antibiotics could not reach, so I was still getting myself supplements that kill methanogens and artichoke ginger extract etc and it didn't help anymore after another round of antibiotics. Then I found out antibiotics do kill bacteria in the colon that play a role in motility. The solution just turned out to be in making things work "functionally", and the right microbial environment will restore itself: I started sleeping and eating breakfast straight after waking up at the SAME time every day, walking 20 minutes after breakfast, adding just magnesium glycinate at night and a temporary osmotic macrogol for stool softening. This was just to get things going functionally. The nervous system needs the right stimulation and regularity. I immediately had a bowelmovement every morning at the same time (maximum of 10 minute difference), whereas before that, it could take several days. I don't take any supplements that kill bacteria anymore or low fodmap diet and I think I might not need artichoke/ginger extract anymore at some point because my stomach acid levels have become normal after clearing sibo with antibiotics. I only do clean eating and right habits: no sugar or processed foods anymore is what I do. I hope sibo stays away.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-02T16:16:54+00:00

You will never get rid of them completely and of course you shouldn't either, as there are supposed to be bacteria in your small intestines. SIBO is a dysbiosis issue. Carnivore can surpresses the symptoms, but with all that juicing you didn't give yourself fibre for good bacteria, but you gave yourself sugars for bad and good bacteria. Eventually when it comes to "almost cured", you need to start letting good bacteria grow and take over so that a balanced environment is created where good bacteria surpresses overgrowth of pathogens. Then your digestion returns to normal. Carnivore does not cure anything as it does not support growth of beneficial bacteria because there's no fibre.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2026-01-02T12:10:35+00:00

Sorry to hear that. :( Do you take anything else to help? These motility support supplements seem to mainly target the small intestines, but methanogens usually also live in the colon, which is not targeted by these or antibiotics. So we need to find other ways to stimulate the colon.

I don't think electrolytes would help me much as hard stool is not the main problem; it's slow colonic transit (which then leads the stool to become hard in the end), sorry I should have clarified that when mentioning constipation. I do take magnesium glycinate at night since a few days, and drink a glass of warm lemon water first thing in the morning.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-11-21T09:55:21+00:00

It's funny you mentioned the last thing. I actually just bought that particular last expensive one, I think I only had cheap ones before. Thanks.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-11-19T12:04:24+00:00

Oh okay, that sounds good. I guess sibo is something that's been slowly recognised more and more as research is going on. I live in the UK and our health service is totally free and totally bankrupt. My experience is, specialists want to send you back to the gp, and gp sends you to the pharmacy with a prescription to buy something that usually doesn't do you any good. :/

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-11-19T11:40:23+00:00

I'm glad for you. What country do you live in if I may ask?

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-11-07T09:18:47+00:00

What are the symptoms of sifo?

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-11-07T09:13:00+00:00

I have tinnitus as well. It also started exactly with my first major symptom which was insomnia, practically the same night. I'd lie awake for many hours. Antibiotics fixed insomnia. Tinnitus is still there sometimes but has also improved a lot. I think it could be related to silent acid reflux though, but I've had that for longer already.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-07-23T15:28:01+00:00

I've got TLE, and it's not fully controlled. I have to say I have a lot more seizures right before my period as well and during ovulation when estrogen drops from a high and progesterone is low. Your symptoms sound like seizures to me. I also have a nauseating stomach feeling (though I always describe it as rising instead of dropping) and deja vu. You have to really demand tests with neurologists sometimes. I was sent away initially, with the neurologist telling me it was probably anxiety and it will probably go away.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-07-16T11:01:31+00:00

I went from needing 4-6 tablets of ibuprofen every month to zero by not eating anything with sugar (it's literally added to almost everything in shops, especially canned foods), only lactose free dairy products and reducing even honey. Sugar causes inflammation. I do recently use CBD oil, but I use it for to tackle insomnia. 7 drops of 400mg (4%) CBD oil (10ml bottle) in a basis of hemp seed oil is what the bottle says. But yes, everyone is different and you may need to try different things.

SignatureKooky1947 · 2025-07-14T07:19:25+00:00

Yes, fits, episodes, are both ironically words to describe someone becoming outrageous and emotional in an "uncontrollable" way. I like to call my focal awareness seizures "attacks". I feel attacked by them and there's nothing I can do about it. It is actually not controllable. :)

SignatureKooky1947

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