Week 4 of my Long Covid, Histamine & SIBO journey I discover that the combined low histamine and fodmap diet can cause new symptoms – and that one of them might be good news!
New Symptoms on low Histamine & Fodmaps Diet
My restrictive low fodmap (sibo) and histamine diet definitely helped improve the uncomfortable bloating, gas and stretched feeling in my upper stomach.
Although there is still a fullness and slight swelling in that area – I guess housing all those bacteria requires extra room?
And I know from experience that my histamine reactions would be far worse and more frequent if I didn’t avoid the high histamine foods.
So I am definitely confident the diet is supporting my histamine and sibo symptoms while I work on healing the root causes.
However I did start to notice two new symptoms which I think were caused by the diet.
Please note this is my personal journey, not medical advice
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You can start from the beginning HERE or Week 3 HERE
Starving Intestinal ‘bad’ Bacteria through Diet
The diet is designed to starve the bacteria of the foods they love to feast on – carbohydrates and yeasts. ** There is no scientific proof of bacteria starving but it feels real when you go through it!
Bacterial signalling is when the bacteria signals your brain that it needs and craves sugar – it can make you feel desperate and emotional – but is really just the bacteria controlling you..
Anyone who has struggled with candida overgrowth will recognise this situation.
Between weeks 3 and 4, I really started to notice cravings. Random images of my favourite past treats – chocolate – kept popping into my head with the emotion of ‘its not fair’ being triggered.
To be fair my diet had been low sugar for quite a while as any refined sugar – even natural stevia, maple syrup, honey, xylitol, and coconut sugars caused horrible skin rashes and boils over my face.
Luckily I am just vain enough to be horrified and quickly remove as much sugar as possible.
** Strangely enough Agave syrup did not cause a histamine reaction – but am sure it is high fodmap and feeds those pesky bacteria.
Instead of succumbing to chocolate (remember the boils!) The cravings sent by the bacteria strengthened my resolve.
I was glad the bacteria were starving, getting weaker.
Because bacteria robbing me of all my nutrients meant I was also getting weaker.
This can slow your Gut Motility (Sluggish Bowel)
The combined low fodmap (sibo) and histamine diet includes resistant starches such as potato, rice, quinoa and oats.
Resistant Starches are considered beneficial for people with Sibo and IBS as they bypass the small intestines and feed the good bacteria that you need in the large intestines. They are also said to improve the gut barrier and reduce gut permeability.
This is all great.
Just be aware that resistant starches can slow your gut motility – slow your bowel transit time or even cause constipation.
I had enjoyed eating sweet potatoes but the 75g portion size (cooked) had felt challenging to stick to and if you go above this amount sweet potato becomes high fodmap and feeds the bacteria.
Same with oats, I love them, but have noticed that my portion size can creep up.
My typical low fodmap (sibo) & histamine meal plan included one resistant starch and a protein with some of the limited vegetable choices at each meal
This combination of starch and protein caused my normal transit time to slow right down.
Now for some people a slower bowel transit time would be no problem at all!
But I needed a good transit time because of a crucial new remedy I was keen to begin using. This remedy was known to slow the bowel transit time and yet to work effectively needed to not hang around in the colon for too long.
**More on this new remedy in week 5!
This week was spent exploring how to ease constipation and sluggish bowel naturally – especially when you can’t tolerate or take the usual OTC medications and remedies. It proved so helpful that I turned it into a simple challenge you can try yourself – see HERE.
I almost missed this Obvious Tactic!
In between encouraging my bowel to work better and dealing with bacteria signalling I almost missed an obvious tactic.
DAO – Diamine oxidase – is an enzyme that breaks down histamine in the stomach. About 9 months ago I started taking one capsule each morning and it acted like a miracle in reducing the intensity and frequency of my reactions.
As I mentioned before, there is only one brand that suits my body, and honestly it is quite expensive.
As I was searching for more solutions and answers I suddenly realised that maybe I needed to take a 2nd DAO capsule before my evening meal?
Sometimes we almost miss the obvious!
Why More is not always Good
Reducing my intense histamine reactions was a big relief – because the constant reactions impacted my energy levels, cognitive ability, general weakness not to mention potential damage to my eye-sight and vagus nerve.
However the fact that I needed more DAO was not great news
One negative was that I would need to order double the amount of expensive tablets!
The other negative was that needing a 2nd DAO Enzyme indicated that my digestion was getting weaker.
This made sense as my diary shows that I was having histamine reactions 4 – 5 days a week and those reactions were to foods/scents etc that previously I had been able to tolerate.
On the days that I remembered to take this 2nd capsule my reactions were milder. I kept forgetting to take them before my evening meal and they don’t work after you’ve eaten.
My daughter got fed up with her forgetful mum and took action
So now if you meet me late afternoon and hear angry barking – it is just my mobile phone reminding me to take the blasted 2nd DAO!
Summary of week 4
- Bacterial Signalling – shows up as cravings – and is a positive sign that your diet is starving the bacteria.
- The restrictive low histamine & Sibo diet can mean that your meals include a larger % of resistant starches with protein which in some people can cause a sluggish bowel
- Needing to take more DAO Enzyme is a sign that my digestion is getting weaker
- In order to prepare for a new remedy I need to ensure my bowel has every support I can provide (and tolerate)
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