I always intended for this to be a very honest space for me so I will admit that this summer has not been an easy one. For starters, it was unbearably hot most of the time and not something us fair ladies do well with. More than that though, I have been dealing with some health stuff I have been ignoring for the past five years or so. Things finally became so dismal that I decided I really needed to make a change even if it meant making some sacrifices in order to get my life back.

After many tests and rounds of blood work I was finally diagnosed with SIBO, something that is not very well known and notoriously hard to get rid of. It stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and basically means the good bacteria that lives in your stomach migrates to your small intestine for whatever reason and is not supposed to be there, causing a long list of unpleasant maladies. I won’t go into too many details but I have had a long history of GI symptoms and had recently been having some new ones such as nausea and bloating no matter what I ate. The most difficult though has been fatigue, unexplained joint pain and a depression I just couldn’t shake. I know that some fatigue is bound to come with rearing a toddler but this was much more than simply being tired. I just felt like my body simply couldn’t do the most simple tasks and every day just felt so overwhelming. Apparently SIBO is linked to leaky gut which causes an autoimmune response and your body begins to attack itself, which would explain why I was feeling so sick and exhausted all the time.

Under the guidance of my doctor I am now on a treatment plan which includes a long list of supplements and herbal antibiotics. I cut out all grains and sugar at the beginning of the month and will transition to a diet designed to treat SIBO at the end of the week in hopes of healing my poor insides. I am already feeling so much better, it’s pretty amazing.

Looking forward to feeling happy and healthy again, whatever it takes.