A personal story about stress, gut health and finding my way back to feeling like myself
I honestly thought I’d put this behind me.
I’d worked so hard to get my gut health back on track. I’d done the testing, put the work in and got to a place where I felt good again. For a few years now, things had been going really well.
And then, a couple of months ago, I started getting that familiar feeling again.
The bloating. The distension. The pain after eating.
And I remember thinking, “Oh my God, it can’t be back. Surely not.”
But it was.
When life gets on top of you
I’d been going through a really stressful period. Between my job, building my business and everything else that was going on, I had a lot on my plate.
And if I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t looking after myself the way I normally would.
I wasn’t managing my stress very well, my diet had slipped, and yes, there were plenty of sweet treats making an appearance. Because when you’re having a hard time, sometimes you feel like you deserve a wee reward. And sure, why not?
Except I was starting to feel the consequences.
The bloating became extreme. My stomach would get so distended that it was actually painful. Certain meals left me in absolute agony, sometimes to the point where I was physically sick with the pain and had to spend time in bed.
I’d feel relatively good in the morning, then as the day went on, things would get progressively worse.
I was tired, my brain was foggy, and I was struggling to find words sometimes. You know that feeling when you can’t quite get your thoughts together, and even simple things seem to take more effort than they should?
And then there was the food fear.
I started thinking twice about going out to eat. I was worrying about what was in my food and whether I’d end up paying for it afterwards.
People might think you’re being fussy when you’re asking about ingredients in a restaurant, but when you’ve experienced that level of pain, you’re not doing it to be difficult. You’re trying to avoid feeling absolutely awful.
And honestly, it’s miserable when something as simple as eating becomes something you have to think about so much.
But I help people with their health. How could this be happening to me?
I’ll be honest. There was a part of me that felt a bit like, “Seriously? After everything I’ve done?”
I work as a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner. I help people look at their health, understand their symptoms and work towards feeling better.
I’ve done the testing myself. I’ve put the work in. I know how important it is to look after yourself.
But here’s the thing.
Knowing what to do doesn’t mean you always manage to do it. And working in health doesn’t make you immune to struggling with your own.
I’m just as human as anybody else.
I can go through stressful periods. I can let things slip. I can reach for the sweet treats when life feels hard, and I can put everybody and everything else before myself.
And sometimes, even when you know better, you still find yourself in a situation where you need to stop and take a proper look at what’s going on.
That’s exactly what I had to do.
Getting to the bottom of it
I decided to test again, and the results showed that I had methane-positive SIBO.
SIBO is something I’ve experienced before, so having those symptoms return was incredibly frustrating. But I was also grateful that I could test and get a clearer picture of what was happening.
There are different types of SIBO and related overgrowth, and knowing which type you’re dealing with matters when deciding how to approach it.
Rather than guessing or just trying random things, I could use that information to help guide my next steps.
And it was a bit of a wake-up call, too.
I had to acknowledge that I’d been under a lot of stress and that I hadn’t been dealing with it particularly well.
It’s so easy to get caught up in everything you have to do. You keep going, you get on with things, and you tell yourself you’ll have time to look after yourself later.
Until your body starts telling you that something needs to change.
For me, that meant going back to the basics.
Getting myself back on track
The first thing I needed to address was constipation, because methane SIBO is commonly associated with it. I needed to get my bowels moving regularly again.
I worked on that using magnesium, ginger as a prokinetic, alongside the rest of my approach.
I also followed my supplement protocol, which included antimicrobials such as allicin, berberine, oregano and neem, as well as L-glutamine for gut support.
I won’t turn this into a list of things everyone should take, because what you need depends on your own circumstances. What worked as part of my approach isn’t necessarily what somebody else needs.
But alongside all of that, I knew I had to pay attention to something else.
My stress.
I’ve been doing more vagus nerve work and making a conscious effort to help my body relax. It’s something I talk about with my own clients, because our gut and nervous system are connected, and stress can play a part in how we feel.
But knowing that and actually putting it into practice when you’re in the middle of a stressful period are two different things.
I can’t always control what’s happening around me. Life is still life, and I’m still building my business and managing everything else.
What I can do is pay more attention to how I’m coping, make time for myself and stop treating my own health as something I’ll get around to when everything else is done.
Because let’s be honest, when does everything ever get done?
I miss my garlic!
I’m still working through my protocol, and I’m following a low FODMAP diet at the moment to help manage my symptoms.
And I really do miss my food.
Especially garlic!!
Eating out takes a bit more planning, and I have to be careful about what I’m eating. I know it might seem like a lot of fuss to somebody else, but right now, I know what aggravates my symptoms, and I need to be sensible about it.
The good news is that this isn’t intended to be forever. The plan is to work through this stage and gradually reintroduce foods as appropriate, rather than stay restricted indefinitely.
It’s not always easy, particularly when you fancy something you know you need to leave alone for now.
But I’m reminding myself that this is a phase, not my life forever.
And I’m determined to be feeling well enough to enjoy some Christmas treats!
So, where am I now?
Thankfully, things are moving in the right direction.
My bloating has reduced significantly, my bowels are moving every day again, and the brain fog and tiredness have improved.
I’m feeling like myself again.
I’m still working through my protocol, and I’m not pretending there’s a quick fix. But I’m feeling so much better, and that in itself is a huge relief.
The whole experience has reminded me of something important.
You can know a lot about health. You can understand your body better than you did before. You can have all the knowledge in the world.
But you’re still human.
Life will throw things at you. Stressful periods will happen. Sometimes your routines will slip, and sometimes you’ll need to go back and revisit things you thought you’d already sorted.
That doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
It means you need to listen to your body, be honest with yourself about what’s happening and work out what you need to do next.
And sometimes, you need a reminder to give yourself the same attention and care that you give everybody else.
Why I’m sharing this
I wanted to share this because I think it’s important to be honest about the fact that health isn’t always a straight line.
I work with people who are trying to understand why they don’t feel like themselves, who are frustrated with their symptoms and who want to get to the bottom of what’s going on.
And although my experience is my own, I understand how exhausting it can be when your health starts affecting your everyday life.
It’s why I believe in looking beyond the symptoms and taking the time to understand the bigger picture.
You don’t need to have all the answers before you start. You don’t need to have everything figured out.
Sometimes, you just need to know where to begin.
And that’s the work I do with my clients.
Because feeling better isn’t about being perfect. It’s about understanding your body, finding an approach that works for you and learning how to look after yourself, even when life gets busy.
And if there’s one thing this experience has taught me, it’s that I need to practise what I preach, too.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to dream about garlic bread.