Hi all,
Over the past three or four weeks I have seen DRAMATIC improvements in my condition having initially taken anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial medication (albendazol and secnidazol) which enormously improved my IBS symptoms that have been part of my PFS.
Around a week later, I did a three day water fast, having not done one for a few months and having got into the habit of doing them monthly. I then embarked on a Low Fodmap diet, which is commonly recommended to people with IBS and/or small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
I can say that the results have been dramatic. My focus and concentration has improved drastically, I am sleeping like a normal person again, actually able to get to sleep and stay asleep for at least 6 hours, and fall back to sleep if I wake up and still feel tired. If I wake up in the night to piss, I can get straight back to sleep. I am actually sleeping better now than I did pre-PFS, having had a problem with insomnia since my teenage years.
What has become very apparent is that I am incredibly sensitive to many foods. I won’t go in depth about the Low Fodmap diet, there is plenty information out there and the Monash University site is the key resource as they developed the diet and they also announce tweaks to it based on further clinical tests. What I would say is that while I have cut out all of the Fodmaps, I have found that even some of the things that are allowed have a negative effect and renew my symptoms. So for example, I used a small amount of soy sauce on a plate of fried rice, which Monash says is allowed, but my focus and concentration worsened noticeably, so I know not to touch it again. For anyone who wants to try it, it will require paying a lot of attention to foods you eat, portion sizes, and cutting out things that you react badly too. It is not a catch-all programme like keto or paleo, it requires you to observe how your body reacts.
Right now I am actually able to research and write my masters thesis where PFS had previously wrecked and prolongued my studies. I am able to sleep. My bowel movements are normal. I am not utterly exhausted from the moment I wake up. And they say that it takes a month until you see the full benefits of the diet.
On the negative side, my sexual function is not fully back, but it is improved, I seem to have a bit more libido and stronger erections, though there is still a bend in my cock, so I this is not (yet) a recovery. If I could make a full recovery and only be left with that, I would happily take it, having thought I would never be normal again even as recently as two weeks ago.
Before trying this diet I had been playing with GABA and Tryptophan, but I have not touched them since the water fast. I am still taking melatonin before bed sometimes, but not waking up full of anxiety after 4 hours. I also use passionflower extract (passiflora), which I have found to be exceptionally good at dampening anxiety. To be clear, having gone through serious anxiety related to PFS, I came to understand that I had previously been living with more mild anxiety, I just didn’t ever have that label for it, I just considered that part of me.
If you have the will power, and it needs quite a lot – though I personally find it much easier than keto, because it allows certain carbs and more fruits – I would highly recommend trying low fodmap. What do you have to lose?