4 ms·

They're a reaction to food. Limiting my diet eliminates them completely. My doctors agree that it's related to food intolerance. What they cannot figure out is

They're a reaction to food. Limiting my diet eliminates them completely. My doctors agree that it's related to food intolerance. What they cannot figure out is a firm diagnosis and treatment. The problem is that a very diverse set of foods can cause these reactions for me. It isn't as simple as, say, eliminating dairy. My diet is now very limited, to the point of affecting my general state of health. I'm subsisting on plain chicken, rice, spoonfuls of coconut milk, and a "healthy" fat supplement (containing monounsaturated fat), in addition to 2 restaurant dishes which I can tolerate (I've tried dozens). If I make a dietary mistake, I basically end up with intestinal symptoms accompanied by neurological symptoms (including externally visible twitches among other things) , not to mention typical allergy-like symptoms i.e. throat constriction, sinus inflammation etc, although I'm told it's not a true allergy, but an intolerance. The doctors I've seen have been stumped. But there's no question it all comes down to the gut. I've heard "abdominal epilepsy" being thrown around (after having done numerous tests) but things have not advanced from there. Other ideas were histamine intolerance, celiac sprue, or crohn's disease but the latter two proved back negative after a small intestine biopsy. Probiotics do improve my symptoms a bit. Somewhat paradoxically (but not really when you think about it), certain antibiotics also clear up my symptoms temporarily. The neurological symptoms are inseparable from the abdominal ones; they always happen at the same time, and it's always primarily an intestinal issue in terms of how it begins (stomach upset after eating something I'm intolerant to). To top things off, I'm underweight due to what I'm told is malabsorption. I've tried to make this post concise but there's a lot going on (and yet a lot I did not mention). I hope this explains why I'm considering FMT.

DougWebb 10y ago
My friend could have written everything you said. He had narrowed down to a very limited diet and lost a lot of weight because almost everything he ate either came back up or rushed right through him. He hadn't mentioned neurological issues, but he did switch to working at home full time to isolate himself, so that might have been a factor as well. I'd strongly recommend trying FMT. Whatever downsides and risks there are, can't be any worse than what you're going through.
- theprotocol 10y ago
  Frankly, I'm not sure I have the guts to do it, no pun intended. It's a combination of a mental block due to the nature of the whole thing, and fear of permanently changing some of my characteristics (such as being slim my entire life).

DougWebb 10y ago

My friend could have written everything you said. He had narrowed down to a very limited diet and lost a lot of weight because almost everything he ate either came back up or rushed right through him. He hadn't mentioned neurological issues, but he did switch to working at home full time to isolate himself, so that might have been a factor as well. I'd strongly recommend trying FMT. Whatever downsides and risks there are, can't be any worse than what you're going through.

theprotocol 10y ago
Frankly, I'm not sure I have the guts to do it, no pun intended. It's a combination of a mental block due to the nature of the whole thing, and fear of permanently changing some of my characteristics (such as being slim my entire life).