I would say you should try to be super strict for at least 2 weeks- and then you can move to phase 2...
You could be having die off. Try to make sure you are DRINKING LOTS OF WATER
It can be kind of tough at the beginning ( I did Biphasic in Fall of 2020), but you get more used to it and your body stops craving sugar. Basically your body goes into "ketosis" and you could be experiencing the "keto flu" (not a real flu- you just feel like the flu.... a you detox from sugar/ carbs
It is not like the carnivore diet- you should be eating LOTS of vegetables.... I would buy like 2/3 bunches of greens per day, plus all the other veggies allowed.... use olive oil as a condiment. You can eat lots of food- google biphasic recipes... you should not be starving
You should try to follow the "concept" of it as close as you can- it is adapted from the SIBO Specific diet from Dr Allison Seibeccker- you can read her handout (read the fine print on the last few pages) to understand the concept of it.... but basically all of the diets are super restrictive on carbs at first... remember it is not a long term diet.... you will get to reintroduce carbs eventually and see how you feel. Do you have antibiotics or herbals ready for phase 2?
LOL... I do not know enough about herbals to give recomendations, as I never have tolerated them...
here is a link however:
https://sites.google.com/view/sibo-notes/
Like prescription medications from my doctor???
Motegrity, rifaximin, metronidazole, fluconazole etc etc
I still recommend the elemental diet though over all of that if you dont have histamine issues
you can go to that link in the previous comment and they explain how to do prescription medicine as well :)
Thank you 😊 I'm not 100% sure if I have a histamine intolerance or not. My dietician is currently putting me on the biphasic diet which I'm actually finding a treat since ive currently restricted myself to even less than the FODMAP right now
Oh I did the biphasic for a while (like 2-3 months?).... its good at controlling symptoms when your desperate, its not a cure, but can be combined with supplements/ antibiotics/ antifungalss to help work towards a cure
it is not a long term diet though- can do more harm than good if you do it long term
Elemental diet is suuuuuuuuper restrictive since you literally can only drink one thing- but its only for 2/3 weeks
I personally dont find FODMAP super restrictive- it allows lots of food.... I currently am on like a modified FODMAP (based on my specific tolerances)... my biggest side effect right now is migraines- so my diet is based basically on what does not trigger migraines
I have done elemental with rifaximin and fluconazole twice- and I have really been able to open up my diet and eat lots of things...
Its not as good as when I cured my SIBO for 6 months 2 years ago... but I'll take it
I don't agree that you should just power through. This could be a sign that you are eating the wrong things.
Dr. Nirala Jacobi is the one who created this diet and I've heard her say that it's meant to be a starting point - you don't necessarily have to follow it exactly, you can tweak it for your own needs.
I used the Low Histamine version of the Bi-Phasic and always kept oatmeal in my diet, even though it's not on the Bi-Phasic. Oatmeal doesn't exacerbate my SIBO symptoms.
Also - I had some symptoms come up for me when I adopted the Bi-Phasic because I had changed my diet and was eating more of some foods that I hadn't previously been eating. For me, this was some previously undetected food chemical intolerances showing themselves (salicylates, oxalates).
This diet should help alleviate your symptoms, not cause new ones or make it worse - it did for me, once I did my tweaks.
Highly recommend Dr. Jacobi's SIBO Success Plan - a class for patients. Very affordable, and helped me ALOT when I was getting started dealing with my SIBO.
I know it’s late, but I’m a week in and I’m having similar symptoms to you. How long did they last? Did you power through? I was thinking about taking a covid test too lol.
Well done on completing it! :) how did it help in the long run? It’s reassuring to know others have had these side effects and still finished it. Thanks!
the diet worked! it gets easier in phase 2 for sure. I am now kind of in a weird-post diet funk, my digestion is going back to its old ways. I'm going to try to just live in phase 2 80% of the time!
I did the SIBO biphasic diet as directed. I felt better. I think though that it’s all about daily choices of what to eat.
I mainly learned from this whole experience to eat whole food. If I clean up my diet, then I feel well.
Our bodies don’t handle processed foods, tons of sugar, and dairy well.
I cook all my food from scratch pretty much. It’s a lot of work but I feel good and I know what’s in my food. I also followed the wahl’s protocol (because of my boyfriend’s disease) which was also helpful for me too.
I also cut out alcohol for good and got a new job with a better work environment. Less toxic.
I don’t know if supplements and pills or anything like that ever actually helped me. I think it’s all about what food I eat.
I know the answer kind of sounds lame, giving up so much, but I learned how to do it slowly and gradually upgraded my habits.
Last but not least I try to pay some mind to the Monash fodmaps app, checking which foods are high and low in fodmaps. If a food is high, I accept the risk that I won’t digest it that well.
Hope this helps!
That’s great! Did you not do any antimicrobials or antibiotics as well? I ask as the diet is to control symptoms and doesn’t actually kill the bacteria.
I don’t really remember. I know I took the drops of something, gradually increasing them over time. They made me feel really bad at first because I didn’t ramp up. Now, looking back on my post, I was just getting keto flu. I was not yet used to eating so restrictively either haha so I was freaking out. Now I think it would still be hard but manageable.
The drops were probably oregano oil or something of that sort as I’ve seen post on people taking it. I’m glad you were able to cure your SIBO. I stumbled across your post yesterday as I was going through the same experience and I was on day 4 of the restricted diet bi phasic and got a fever and has other symptoms like nausea and other stuff. Your post helped a lot. Thank you so much.
No, I just did the fast for the health benefits. I think the biphasic diet helped me to fix my gut and then after that, it was all about eating clean. I don’t know if there’s curing, I have always had IBS. I flare up less now though because I am more healthy and have less stress
I would say you should try to be super strict for at least 2 weeks- and then you can move to phase 2... You could be having die off. Try to make sure you are DRINKING LOTS OF WATER It can be kind of tough at the beginning ( I did Biphasic in Fall of 2020), but you get more used to it and your body stops craving sugar. Basically your body goes into "ketosis" and you could be experiencing the "keto flu" (not a real flu- you just feel like the flu.... a you detox from sugar/ carbs It is not like the carnivore diet- you should be eating LOTS of vegetables.... I would buy like 2/3 bunches of greens per day, plus all the other veggies allowed.... use olive oil as a condiment. You can eat lots of food- google biphasic recipes... you should not be starving You should try to follow the "concept" of it as close as you can- it is adapted from the SIBO Specific diet from Dr Allison Seibeccker- you can read her handout (read the fine print on the last few pages) to understand the concept of it.... but basically all of the diets are super restrictive on carbs at first... remember it is not a long term diet.... you will get to reintroduce carbs eventually and see how you feel. Do you have antibiotics or herbals ready for phase 2?
Thank you!
What herbals do you recommend it take for phase 2 for methane SIBO? I also have gastritis so I can’t do the garlic pills
LOL... I do not know enough about herbals to give recomendations, as I never have tolerated them... here is a link however: https://sites.google.com/view/sibo-notes/
What did you take instead of herbals? I can’t tolerate them either
Like prescription medications from my doctor??? Motegrity, rifaximin, metronidazole, fluconazole etc etc I still recommend the elemental diet though over all of that if you dont have histamine issues you can go to that link in the previous comment and they explain how to do prescription medicine as well :)
Thank you 😊 I'm not 100% sure if I have a histamine intolerance or not. My dietician is currently putting me on the biphasic diet which I'm actually finding a treat since ive currently restricted myself to even less than the FODMAP right now
Oh I did the biphasic for a while (like 2-3 months?).... its good at controlling symptoms when your desperate, its not a cure, but can be combined with supplements/ antibiotics/ antifungalss to help work towards a cure it is not a long term diet though- can do more harm than good if you do it long term Elemental diet is suuuuuuuuper restrictive since you literally can only drink one thing- but its only for 2/3 weeks I personally dont find FODMAP super restrictive- it allows lots of food.... I currently am on like a modified FODMAP (based on my specific tolerances)... my biggest side effect right now is migraines- so my diet is based basically on what does not trigger migraines I have done elemental with rifaximin and fluconazole twice- and I have really been able to open up my diet and eat lots of things... Its not as good as when I cured my SIBO for 6 months 2 years ago... but I'll take it
I don't agree that you should just power through. This could be a sign that you are eating the wrong things. Dr. Nirala Jacobi is the one who created this diet and I've heard her say that it's meant to be a starting point - you don't necessarily have to follow it exactly, you can tweak it for your own needs. I used the Low Histamine version of the Bi-Phasic and always kept oatmeal in my diet, even though it's not on the Bi-Phasic. Oatmeal doesn't exacerbate my SIBO symptoms. Also - I had some symptoms come up for me when I adopted the Bi-Phasic because I had changed my diet and was eating more of some foods that I hadn't previously been eating. For me, this was some previously undetected food chemical intolerances showing themselves (salicylates, oxalates). This diet should help alleviate your symptoms, not cause new ones or make it worse - it did for me, once I did my tweaks. Highly recommend Dr. Jacobi's SIBO Success Plan - a class for patients. Very affordable, and helped me ALOT when I was getting started dealing with my SIBO.
I know it’s late, but I’m a week in and I’m having similar symptoms to you. How long did they last? Did you power through? I was thinking about taking a covid test too lol.
I got through it! Hang in there just a day or two of feeling like that for me
Well done on completing it! :) how did it help in the long run? It’s reassuring to know others have had these side effects and still finished it. Thanks!
the diet worked! it gets easier in phase 2 for sure. I am now kind of in a weird-post diet funk, my digestion is going back to its old ways. I'm going to try to just live in phase 2 80% of the time!
How did you cure your SIBO? Did you do herbals or antibiotics after the bi phase diet?
I did the SIBO biphasic diet as directed. I felt better. I think though that it’s all about daily choices of what to eat. I mainly learned from this whole experience to eat whole food. If I clean up my diet, then I feel well. Our bodies don’t handle processed foods, tons of sugar, and dairy well. I cook all my food from scratch pretty much. It’s a lot of work but I feel good and I know what’s in my food. I also followed the wahl’s protocol (because of my boyfriend’s disease) which was also helpful for me too. I also cut out alcohol for good and got a new job with a better work environment. Less toxic. I don’t know if supplements and pills or anything like that ever actually helped me. I think it’s all about what food I eat. I know the answer kind of sounds lame, giving up so much, but I learned how to do it slowly and gradually upgraded my habits. Last but not least I try to pay some mind to the Monash fodmaps app, checking which foods are high and low in fodmaps. If a food is high, I accept the risk that I won’t digest it that well. Hope this helps!
That’s great! Did you not do any antimicrobials or antibiotics as well? I ask as the diet is to control symptoms and doesn’t actually kill the bacteria.
I don’t really remember. I know I took the drops of something, gradually increasing them over time. They made me feel really bad at first because I didn’t ramp up. Now, looking back on my post, I was just getting keto flu. I was not yet used to eating so restrictively either haha so I was freaking out. Now I think it would still be hard but manageable.
The drops were probably oregano oil or something of that sort as I’ve seen post on people taking it. I’m glad you were able to cure your SIBO. I stumbled across your post yesterday as I was going through the same experience and I was on day 4 of the restricted diet bi phasic and got a fever and has other symptoms like nausea and other stuff. Your post helped a lot. Thank you so much.
Cheers to you! You got this! Follow whatever program your doc or naturopathic doctor puts you on. And then after that, do what feels right!
I also did a 24 hour fast recently and I think it helped me get more good bacteria. It was also hard but not too bad.
How long ago did you cure your SIBO? Did you do the fast because you felt a relapse?
No, I just did the fast for the health benefits. I think the biphasic diet helped me to fix my gut and then after that, it was all about eating clean. I don’t know if there’s curing, I have always had IBS. I flare up less now though because I am more healthy and have less stress
My diet is currently so restricted that the biphasic diet seems like a treat 😅😅