This is my story ;-)

Hi there :-)

I'm Tom, 31 years old and a teacher from Germany.

When I was 25 (and still a student) I ate at a restaurant which may or may not have been the cause of all my agony. The next morning I had extreme diarrhea which I tried to calm over the next days with easy-to-digest food (like in my childhood). Long story short: It didn't help and my body was never the same.

IBS and dermatitis

I had a problem with (mainly) diarrhea sometimes and my gastroenterologists were all - to put it mildly - NOT helpful. I had my intestines/stomach checked and none came even close to giving me any useful advice.

Over the next few years I developed seborrheic dermatitis (probably from my IBS-D problems) and had some good/bad phases from both (my stomach and my SEB) because I found out that a certain probiotic product and a mild FODMAP diet actually helped a lot.

Afraid it could be SIBO

That was until last winter when I started to get belching/farting and mild stomach pains in my lower intestines after every meal. I had recently dropped my probiotics (heard that you shouldn't take them forever and that's why I used them on/off over the years with breaks in between). I don't know exactly what helped but just as I was scared that I had developed SIBO, the symptoms subsided and I was doing fine again with my FODMAP diet (and no probiotics) for months - which was good because I had my final teachers examen coming up.

Forward to last week (Monday) and the problems from last winter are back. I can normally have my lunch just fine (a small bowel of cooked oats - had to drop the blueberries tho) but after lunch (rice/some vegetables with low FODMAPs and chicken or some salmon) it's normally over .... it takes half an hour/an hour until the rumbling in my lower intestines starts and I have to go to the toilet.

I'm again afraid it could be SIBO ... or not ... I don't know anymore :-D

Sadly there are no good gastroenterologists where I live and nothing seems to help anymore.

Luckily I managed to get a more positive outlook on life after I passed my examen and became a teacher but I'm a little scared that my patience with my body will run out soon enough.

That was the short story :-) Thanks for reading!