Another day, another challenging breakfast.
I tried changing the recipe again today… who would have thought that a drink with 3 ingredients (plus water) could have so many variations? I put the honey back in the drink, but only in a half dose. I’ll eat the other half off the spoon to chase the drink with. I hoped it might be better, but in reality it’s no different. Sigh.
I could take half the dose at breakfast and half later in the morning, or at lunchtime, but it honestly just seems like prolonging the agony to me. I do dread it though, every morning. I make the drink and then procrastinate on drinking it while I clean up the kitchen, do this, do that… and before I know it I’m running late for work and have to get it down at the last minute.
Today, I have resorted to holding my nose while I drink. It’s a new level of… I don’t know what.
I have to take a couple of large, smelly, unpleasant multivitamin and mineral tablets with each meal. So, 6 a day. It’s a lot of vitamins and minerals! But I’m getting next to none in the diet, so it’s important. When I say smelly, you know how there is that smell to B vitamins? If you open a bottle of B vitamins, or a multivitamin, that smell is really strong. These are becoming harder and harder to get down each day too… the smell alone is enough to make me gag. I feel like I’m whinging so much… but this is hard.
Technically, by the end of today, I’m half way through. I say technically, because the elemental diet has been shown in the research studies to work in 14 days. In practice, some people need an extra few days to a week to get their breath test levels down to zero. My plan is to complete the full 14 days, do my breath test on the morning of the 15th day, get it express posted back to the lab, and get my results asap. The lab is going to analyse my test on an urgent basis, so they’ll test it the day they receive it, and I’ll have my results that day.
I don’t want to come off the elemental diet until I get the test results, just in case I’m one of those people who need the extra few days. I’m imagining going back onto ‘real food’ on day 15 after the test, getting my results on day 17, and it’s not clear, then having to start again. I figure it’s better to stick it out 2 or 3 extra days, (gah… 2 or 3 extra breakfasts), and know for sure.
Which leaves me at ‘technically’ the end of today is the half way mark. I guess the end of tomorrow is the ‘real’ half way mark. Not that I’m counting or anything. 🙂
I really have no noticeable symptoms at this point. No bloating, very few belly ‘noises’, as in that loud grumbling and growling that goes on after you eat. The only time I’m getting that is just a few very tiny noises after dinner, when I’ve eaten actual meat.
An interesting thing I’ve noticed: for years, I’ve had this almost constant need to clear my throat, which is much worse after eating. It’s like immediately after eating, this mucus kind of forms in my throat that I have to clear (sorry for TMI!). And it’s there in between meals as well, just not so bad. Sometimes it affects my voice, making it thready or weak. That seems to be gone. I was hoping it would, and I had become quite sure that it was related to the SIBO, so I’m assuming that was correct. This is a big plus.
No lunch again… not remotely hungry until dinner. Had some plain salted chicken breast, my coconut oil and honey, and another day is done!