u/Saeyon

I want to share this because I spent over a decade trying everything and wish someone had pointed me in this direction sooner.

My digestive issues started in my mid 20s. Constant extreme bloating, food sitting like a rock after every meal, crushing fatigue, brain fog. I looked visibly distended most of the day and my pants would never fit right because of it. I saw multiple doctors and got no real answers. I tried every diet, carnivore, vegan, raw food, low fodmap, elimination diets. I spent thousands on practitioners. Nothing resolved it.

The piece nobody ever mentioned was stomach acid. When your stomach is not producing enough acid, food sits and ferments instead of digesting properly. That fermentation produces the gas and distension that builds through the day. It also means your body is not absorbing nutrients no matter how well you eat, which explains the fatigue and brain fog.

Betaine HCL supplementation was what finally started moving the needle for me after 13 years. The bloating started reducing noticeably within a few weeks. The fatigue after eating started lifting. I also added ox bile recently which has helped significantly with digesting foods that contain more fat.

I am not fully healed but I finally feel like I found the root cause rather than just chasing symptoms.

Has anyone else found low stomach acid or bile to be the missing piece with SIBO?

I grew up in Alabama as an athletic kid who loved lifting weights, playing basketball, and being outside. Exercise was not something I had to force myself to do. It was my favorite thing in the world. I felt strong, capable, and free in my body.

I had no idea how much I would miss that feeling. Or how long it would take to find my way back to it.

Everything fell apart when I started graduate school for my master's degree in mathematics. I fell down the nutrition rabbit hole and convinced myself that one meal a day plus high intensity training in the morning was the answer. I thought I had cracked the code. Eat once, train hard, stay lean, save time.

Instead I destroyed myself.

Working out hard on an empty stomach every morning wrecked my body in ways I did not fully understand until years later. My temperature regulation broke down. I stopped sleeping. I was wired at night and depleted during the day. My digestion fell apart completely. But the theory made sense to me and I believed in the concepts so I kept pushing through.

What followed was 13 years of trying to fix what fasting had broken. Raw meat and raw milk. Metabolic typing. A nutritional balancing program based on hair mineral analysis that had me eating mountains of cooked vegetables and heavy supplements. That one nearly killed me. I lost down to 100 pounds at 5'10". I could not open a door without shoulder pain. Walking upstairs left me winded. My brain stopped working.

One day at work I just broke. The thoughts came all at once. I just cannot do this. My body does not work anymore. My life is over. I broke down crying and had to leave. Shortly after I ended up in the emergency room with elevated liver enzymes. I remember lying there and feeling something strange. Relief. Like I could finally stop fighting. Like someone was going to take care of me for once.

There was a nurse I recognized from high school. I felt a twinge of embarrassment. But there was no way she recognized me. I was unrecognizable.

My parents took me home and took care of me. I was a grown adult with a master's degree and I could not take care of myself.

For the next two years I barely left the house. Video games were the only thing that silenced the swirl of thoughts. I did not want to go to bed at night because I knew my mind would haunt me. Every morning I got on the computer as fast as I could so I did not have to face my reality or look my family in the eyes. I had fully given up. Not even concerned with surviving. Just trying to get through each day.

Eventually I tried again. GAPS diet. Ray Peat. Intuitive eating. Carnivore. High carb vegan. I even went through a phase where all my food had to be raw. Raw chicken, raw bacon, raw ground beef. I used to ferment liver and chunks of meat in jars for weeks until they went moldy and then eat it. That is what desperation looks like after years of trying everything and still feeling terrible.

The turning point came when I moved to Las Vegas and started walking everywhere in the sun because I had no car. Within a couple of weeks something shifted. I had energy for the first time in years. Real energy. I felt strong. I felt like I could run.

I also discovered that plain water had been quietly making me feel terrible for years. Adding sea salt, potassium chloride, and magnesium bisglycinate to my water was a complete game changer for my energy and how I felt outside in the heat.

When I finally stopped restricting and started eating consistently, meat with starches at meals and fruit in the evening, my sleep stabilized, my drive came back, and the chronic exhaustion that had followed me for 13 years started to lift.

I am about 40 to 50 percent recovered right now. My goal is to rebuild my aerobic capacity and get back to running. For the first time since graduate school I genuinely believe I am heading there.

If you are suffering through fasting and feeling worse over time, your body might be telling you something real. Mine was. I just did not listen for long enough.

Happy to answer questions about any part of this.

I grew up in Alabama as an athletic kid who loved lifting weights, playing basketball, and being outside. Exercise was not something I had to force myself to do. It was my favorite thing in the world. I felt strong, capable, and free in my body.

I had no idea how much I would miss that feeling. Or how long it would take to find my way back to it.

Everything fell apart when I started graduate school for my master's degree in mathematics. I fell down the nutrition rabbit hole and convinced myself that one meal a day plus high intensity training in the morning was the answer. Instead I destroyed myself. My temperature regulation broke down. I stopped sleeping. My digestion fell apart. But the theory made sense to me so I kept going.

What followed was 13 years of experimenting with nearly every diet and protocol out there. Raw meat and raw milk. Metabolic typing. A nutritional balancing program based on hair mineral analysis that had me eating mountains of cooked vegetables and heavy supplements. That one nearly killed me. I lost down to 100 pounds at 5'10". I could not open a door without shoulder pain. Walking upstairs left me winded. My brain stopped working.

One day at work I just broke. The thoughts came all at once. I just cannot do this. My body does not work anymore. My life is over. I broke down crying and had to leave. Shortly after I ended up in the emergency room with elevated liver enzymes. I remember lying there thinking my life was over. And then something strange happened. I felt oddly safe for the first time in years. Like I could finally stop fighting. Like someone was going to take care of me for once.

There was a nurse I recognized from high school. I felt a twinge of embarrassment. But there was no way she recognized me. I was unrecognizable.

My parents took me home and took care of me. I was a grown adult with a master's degree and I could not take care of myself. I felt like a genuine loser.

For the next two years I barely left the house. Video games were the only thing I could do that silenced the swirl of thoughts. I did not want to go to bed at night because I knew my mind would haunt me the moment I stopped moving. It did, every night, until I finally fell asleep. And every morning I got on the computer as fast as I could so I did not have to face my reality or look my family in the eyes. I had fully given up. Not even concerned with surviving. Just trying to get through each day.

Eventually I tried again. GAPS diet. Ray Peat. Intuitive eating, which took me up to 265 pounds. A mind body reprogramming program. High carb vegan, which gave me tooth sensitivity and hair loss. I even went through a phase where all my food had to be raw. Raw chicken, raw bacon, raw ground beef. I used to ferment liver and chunks of meat in jars for weeks until they went moldy and then eat it because I had read that traditional cultures did this. That is what desperation looks like after years of trying everything and still feeling terrible.

Then I found carnivore.

For the first time in years my bloating completely disappeared. My digestion calmed down in a way it never had on any other diet. That was real and significant and I do not want to take anything away from it.

But over time other things were not right. My energy was flat. My drive was gone. My body kept asking for carbohydrates and I kept trying to ignore it. Eventually I moved from Alabama to Las Vegas, partly to escape a moldy living environment. I arrived in July with no car, so I was walking everywhere in the sun constantly.

Within a couple of weeks I noticed something I had not felt in a very long time. I had energy. Real energy. I felt strong. I felt like I could run if I wanted to. I had forgotten what that felt like.

I also discovered that plain water had been quietly making me feel terrible for years. Headaches, cramping, feeling cold even in the heat. When I started adding sea salt, potassium chloride, and magnesium bisglycinate to my water the difference was immediate.

When I reintroduced starches and fruit alongside meat the bloating did return, which is a tradeoff I am still working through. But my energy stabilized. My drive came back. I started sleeping through the night for the first time in years.

I am about 40 to 50 percent of the way back right now. My goal is to rebuild my aerobic capacity and eventually get back to running. Not because running is just exercise. But because being physically fit and capable gives me a feeling of freedom and confidence that nothing else does. It is a deep part of who I am that went dormant for 13 years.

For the first time since graduate school, I genuinely believe I am heading back there.

Happy to answer questions about any part of this journey. The carnivore chapter was real and valuable. It just was not the whole story for me.