healing my gut

Sunday I had a super overwhelming day. In January I was basically forced into taking Clindamycin an evil antibiotic that I was trying to avoid at all costs. I had an abcess in my gums for months and when I finally went to the dentist it was a tooth infection in an old root canal. They wanted me to start antibiotics and get the tooth fixed. I rejected the antibiotics and said I can do this without them. I wanted avoid it at all costs.

I spent almost two years going to acupuncture and taking chinese herbs to heal my gut from other gut issuses I was having. I was finally starting to feel healthy again. I got the root canal fixed and it was pure hell. Every single minute of it. My jaw was propped open for over an hour and by the end I had tears rolling down my face because of the pain in my jaw. The procedure itself was tolerable and I did it without novicaine. I avoid medication at all costs. I don't trust modern medicine.

I felt fine the entire night. No pain. No swelling. Same time next day my face was starting to swell. I went to see a chinese herbalist. He felt my pulse and mixed some herbs specific to my needs. Something to fight infection. I had to take 7 scoops of these herbs three times a day. I did it every day and by the third day things were much worse. Looking back I wish I would have tried to push through it but I was afraid of it getting worse and reading horror stories online about people dying from an abcess tooth had me freaking out. That's how it goes though. We are often scared into taking these prescription drugs. After four phone calls to my frustrated dentist, she kept asking if I was taking the antibiotics, I started them. I didn't know what else to do. I was miserable. I stayed home every day for days and days because my face was so swollen. It was effecting my eye and my sinus. After one day of taking them I could tell they were working.

I began probiotics instantly. Taking them in between doses two hours after my medication as to not destroy the probiotic. I chose Floristor because it is antibiotic resistant and fights the common diarhea that comes with antibiotics. I didn't get many stomach issues other than feeling stomach upset off and on but nothing I couldn't tolerate.

I am a thin person. I eat very healthy. I do yoga, weight train and live a very healthy lifestyle. I was feeling very puffy and bloated and thought, I need to continue probiotics and heal my gut. Days and days passed and the bloat wasn't going away. My clothes were fitting tighter for the first time in four years or more. I know your gut is literally the brain of your body so I thought maybe these drugs caused me to gain weight.  I Googled it and sure enough, tons of testimonies from people gaining weight on this exact antibiotic. People like me stating they changed nothing about their diet or lifestyle and began to gain weight. Frustration set in. I went to Whole Foods and bought cultured yogurt and more probiotics. I hadn't eaten dairy for years and years at this point. Up until this point I had lived a paelo lifestyle. I started to eat yogurt daily as well as the probiotics and felt even worse. Nauseous and puffier than before. Just total garbage. So coming up on the past weekend I threw all of the yogurt away and stopped the probiotics. I thought, ok, these things are making me even more bloated than before. I was feeling so frustrated because all of this healthy living meant nothing if I couldn't even keep my body under control which it was clearly not.

Liveing more intuitively I decided my mental health was failing feeling stressed all the time trying to eat Paleo. I have been gluten free for almost 7 years and paleo for maybe 4 or 5. I lost count. But during that time I was strict paleo and lately losing my damn mind. I am so sick of thinking about food and what I eat and food that paleo deems unhealthy which is completely healthy food like quinoa and peas and random shit "the cavemen wouldn't have eaten" which I enjoy. I am exhausted of it all.

So after chatting with a friend of mine she encouraged me to keep with the probiotics saying sometimes things have to get worse before they get better and that is totally true. So I am sticking out the probiotics and keeping with that and going on with my healthy lifestyle. I am focusing on yoga and strength training for now.  I am trying to limit my stress. Here is a list of things that I am doing to get back my sanity and get rid of this damn bloat. I am determined to heal my gut.

Yoga
Weight training/HIIT
Cutting out coffee/replacing with tea
cutting out carbonated waters and kombucha
taking probiotics
bone broth
collagen peptides
CBD oil
essential oils
relaxing more
chilling on the weekends
easier meals
less grocery trips
reading and reflecting

All of these things are leading back to my mental health. Being present and living in the now.