Finally I have some answers. It wasn't just will power after all...

Okay, so 6 years later I've discovered I've got more than just a lack of willpower making me fat and tired all the time. Thank God. I've given up all sugar and 90% gluten, with only wine my last indulgence, and I can't get ahead. I am committed to sorting this out once and for all. And yes, that means giving up wine - at least for a bit. (Boo hoo!)

I've been tested for everything you can imagine. Anemia (B12, Vitamin D and iron), Sjögren's syndrome, AIDs... you name it. I've had Thrush (candida) almost continuously for two years (treatment after treatment it persisted), interspersed with Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) and am continually low in B12 and Vitamin D. And I have a long history of other weird things, listed below, which have been dismissed by mainstream medical practitioners under general, mystical, clinical diagnosis. Most recently it was going to be "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" - until I decided to go to someone who would take a holistic approach to helping me work out what was going wrong.

But my main issue is continue, relentless fatigue. I've had Glandular Fever and I've been anemic, so I know what it's like to be unusually tired all the time. When I wake up after 9 hours sleep I felt almost nauseous with fatigue. And it's been going on for years - I know this because I remember an incident 10 years ago when I fell asleep walking back to work after lunch and bumped into a wall. It feels like I am anemic all the time, but I'm not.

Constant fatigue makes it difficult to introduce exercise into your life. You end up constantly stressed because of the extra brain power you need to operate in the highly active manner required in my industry (digital production). All of this creates the flight or fight syndrome, depletes your adrenalin and overloads you with cortisol. And when normal life events get added to the mix there's no pool
And combine stress, fatigue and long term vitamin deficiencies and you get depression. The world has become increasingly grey over the years. <

Recently I was made redundant from a job I hated. I decided to take some time off to replenish and to go see a specialist about my fatigue issues. My doctor (GP) has exhausted all of her mainstream, government funded avenues. My house deposit has been paying for me to finally get things sorted.

I went to see an alternative GP who specialises in a holistic approach to healing. He looks at your whole body rather than just the affected organ. I had basically gotten down to two final things I wanted checked out:

1. MTHFR - a genetic mutation that stops you from being able to use the Vitamin B group. Your body is unable to methylate Vitamin Bs as it should. Vitamin Bs are essential for fighting inflammation, coronary disease and chelating heavy metals. It has been linked with Alzheimer's. My dad died of coronary artery disease and my mother has Alzheimer's.
   
   
2. Candida overgrowth - I had a weird sore throat for about 6 months. Right down low in my throat. And have pigmentation on my neck (known as Acanthosis nigricans), which a naturopath told me could be fungal, have been in hospital for gut infections, am constantly fatigued and have had continual Thrush, so this seemed like a reasonable final path of investigation.

We've sent my DNA off to be deciphered, but we already have some results back from a gut analysis done by Bioscreen in Australia. I expected my gut flora might be unbalanced, but I've been taking expensive probiotics for years so I didn't think they'd be that bad.

Turns out I have massive Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (IBO) (diagnosed via a stool sample), From my research and from talking to Bioscreen, although Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is usually detected using breath analysis, this kind of overgrowth pretty much guarantees I've got SIBO of a similar type also.

Everyone has a different mix of bacteria in their gut, and sometimes candida (fungus).

Here's the report I received from Bioscreen

Bad Stuff

• Enterococcus distribution 60% - should be less than 5% OVERGROWTH
• Eubacterium distribution 19% - should be less than 15%  OVERGROWTH
• Clostridium distribution 43% - should be less than 1-10% OVERGROWTH
• Yeast - below normal (yay! so I don't have candida overgrowth at least) 

Good Stuff

• E.colidistribution 40% - should be 70-90% LOW
• Lactobacillus distribution 0% - should be 0.5-1.5% LOW
• Bifidobacterium distribution 0% - should be 5-11% LOW
• Bacteroides distribution 38% - should be 90-95% LOW

You can see I have very little of the good stuff, and overgrowth of the bad stuff plus a special visitor that is Streptococcus. A bacteria that should not even be able to get past your stomach acid! 

How did it even get there? I have some theories

1) Low stomach acid

br />When I was living at home with my parents as a teenager, I would get severe stomach cramps after eating red meat. Looking back on it I realise how serious they were! Probably 7-8 on the pain scale. But at the time I was told it was indigestion. I was so happy when I went flatting with vegetarians and stopped getting them. I'm wondering now if this was low stomach acidity. 

This might partially explain why the Strep didn't get killed off in my tummy like most people. Did you know that most of the symptoms of low stomach acid (Hypochlorhydria) are mistaken for too much acid? You end up being put on antacids, which compounds the problem.
Low stomach acid also prevents you from absorbing B12... so that could be another reason why I am always low in B12.

br />Symptoms I've had over the years that could have been due to low stomach acid:

• fatigue
• food sensitivities
• feeling of fullness
• stomach pain after eating red meat
• gas
• bloating
• nausea after eating
• B12 anemia
• bacterial/fungal overgrowth
• bad breath
• bloating
• diarrhea and constipation
• indigestion
• malabsorption problems
• nutritional deficiency
• stomach pain and distress
• weakened hair, nails, and skin
• yeast infections

Other symptoms you might have that I haven't noticed / experienced

• belching
• distension
• headaches
• heartburn
• increased incidence of parasitic infections
• nausea
• rectal itching
• unexplained hunger
• vomiting
• burping

2) Left a Strep Throat Too Long

I caught a Strep throat in my 20s (I'm now in my 40s) and I tried to soldier through. After about a week it came out through my skin - it looked like measles. The doctor at the time gave me antibiotics but told me it may have gotten into my internal organs and the antibiotics would probably not treat that. I wonder if I have had this Strep overgrowth since then.

3) Antibiotics

I have been on masses of antibiotics over my life. I get urinary tract infections regularly and the earliest I remember is when I was around 7 years old, and have had several long treatments of broad spectrum antibiotics (Augmentin). 

Other Symptoms I've Had Over Many Years Which Can Be Attributed to Bacterial Overgrowth

• Interstitial cystitis / bladder pain (two Urologists have advised me I needed to have the interior of my bladder cauterised to solve this - the idea is that because there's no evidence of bacteria, it must be hidden in the skin of the bladder)
• A skin pigmentation issue on my neck that looks like dirt in the folds of my skin (acanthosis nigricans)
• Nervousness, anxiety
• Neck and shoulder pain
• Memory loss, forgetfulness, confusion
• Mind blanks
• Rosacea
• Thrush (candida)
• Bacterial vaginosis (gardnerella)

Other Symptoms That I've Got No Idea About!

I've also got a couple of things going on that no one have been able to attribute to anything specific. So I'll be interested if they clear up once I've wrestled my gut into shape.

• Slightly cloudy vision
• Dry skin inside my ears (almost no wax)
• Acne at the back of my hairline and on my chin
• Slow growing hair
• Dry skin

So now to get on to killing all the bad stuff, restoring the good and healing my poor gut!