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So I've made a video on every herbal tea (th-cam.com/video/C-ytGeYRuJA/w-d-xo.html) that I used to treat my constipation and SIBO along with every supplement I have taken (th-cam.com/video/gOJ0f9lWI_M/w-d-xo.html) I have found that some of them really help Linzess work and help to maintain everything after I've stopped taking Linzess.

I still use Prose most of the time. It's definitely more worth it when you have a problem with your hair than when you've used it for a while.

@@linneanelsonvlogs I just got it and got the shampoo conditioner and curl cream and am loving it so was hoping you were liking it long term!

Glad you enjoyed it! By the end of the trip, we definitely would not recommend going in the summer. Robert grew up in Florida, and I grew up in North Carolina, but the heat we experienced was unlike anything in the hot, humid American south. It's a bit off the beaten path, but we made some videos in Nagano Prefecture in Nagano City and the Shibu Onsen area, and it's definitely worth getting out of Tokyo to see some of the country side.

Yeah, ever since I made this video a couple of years ago, I have not bought from Truly ever again.

I would never have guessed that. It was honestly a ton of effort to get all the way out there, and I can't imagine doing it before google maps and google translate.

Yes. I was diagnosed recently. I’ve wanted to make a video about it, but I haven’t had the energy. I’m sorry you have to go through these symptoms as well.

Yes it was!

I was just thinking about you!!! I hope you are doing well and look forward to this video ❤

Awww! Thank you. I hope you are doing well too. I've been dealing with a lot of fatigue this year, so posting has been tough. I do want to post a big update/chat video once we get the rest of the Japan videos up.

@@linneanelsonvlogs look forward to it.

I've been thinking about you and would love to get another video

Yeah, this is definitely a purchase I regret making. However, I have 3 younger sisters who all happily accepted it from me.

Hey I'm sorry to hear that, and I did live on Kate Farm's shakes for quite a while until I couldn't stand them any more (after at least 3 months) at which point I turned to super nutrient dense smoothies. In the end, it turned out that a lot of my nausea symptoms that initially seemed to be gastric motility issues could be attributed to SIBO (which I have cured) and dysautonomia (which I have learned to manage), so thankfully I don't need them anymore. But I'm glad they work for you!

I'm not a doctor and this isn't medical advice. So honestly, I don't really do that much for my skin care. I typically just use regular lotions like gold bond. However, if you're having both GI problems (typically nausea and diarrhea) and also having regular skin rashes and a feeling of inflammation, you might have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. It might be worth talking to your primary care about this and seeing if you can see an allergist.

So over the years, I found out that a lot of my problems where the combination of SIBO, dysautonomia exacerbated by electrolyte imbalances, and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Over time, I figured out how to manage all of these. I did have SIBO and after 6 months of the combination of taking Rifaximin (2 weeks), eating a lower FODMAP diet to try to starve it out, and drinking extremely strong herbal teas partially based on this (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030608/) I beat it which helped the nausea quite a bit. I also found out that chronic low blood pressure runs in my family due to dysautonomia due to electrolyte imbalances so drinking saltwater (using packets from companies like LMNT) helped to deal with the light headedness and surprisingly the constipation. I also found out that my sister and I have severe anemia, so we've been getting iron infusions to help with the fatigue from that. Last, I do eat way more protein and fats while also just consuming highly calorie dense food even if its processed rather than trying to consume a huge quantity of vegetables like I used to when I was vegan.

Yeah, I totally get that. Thankfully over the years, I finally found a good primary care provider, a great cardiologist (not interventional), a good allergist, and nice rheumatology and endocrinology doctors. While rheumatology and endocrinology ruled everything out, they were way nicer and more respectful about it than GI. I think a lot of it comes down to how the American medical system works especially in procedure heavy fields like GI. In fields like GI, insurance companies reimburse specifically for procedures done when you show some kind of indication for them and only when you show that test result, and GI doctors make the most money from those procedures. Second, GI is a very fast moving field where they have to do a ton of procedures on people who may be actively dying from a GI bleed, perforated colon, liver failure, etc..., so I think a lot of the time that they view functional disorders like functional dyspepsia, IBS, and gastroparesis as less significant than the ones that are immediately life threatening that they can fix with a procedure. It's really frustrating that people just can't practice medicine the way they want to.

I'm really sorry to hear that. After a few years of working on this, I finally ended up figuring out things that worked for me. First, I found out that this class of diseases known as dysautonomia runs in my family and that I'm really sensitive to my electrolyte balance, so drinking a ton of salts from things such as LMNT significantly helps my motility and low blood pressure/lightheadedness. However, the process was exhausting, so I completely get it.

Overall, things are a lot better these days. I haven't been able to edit much for a few months now because of work stress, but I have a lot of exciting health updates to share. I finally got some answers and figured out how to manage a lot of the symptoms.

We left some time between 6:00 and 8:00 am. It's roughly a 2 - 3 hr train ride, so we probably arrived somewhere between 9:00 and 11:00 am. However, doing it all over again, we probably would have skipped Arashiyama in Kyoto and just spent 1.5 - 2 days with a dedicated half day/day to the Peace Park/city and a whole day for Miyajima Island since we barely scratched the surface of everything to do there. There's also some really nice ryokans and onsens on the island that would have been fun to stay at.

Thanks for subscribing. It's definitely been a long journey, and I've definitely lost some friends along the way who were definitely suffering from some problems even worse than me. I'm always glad that people like you find my videos relatable and get comfort or ideas on how to handle your own struggles from them.

Thanks! Traveling was definitely hard mentally and physically, but I'm glad we did it. My husband really pushed me to travel, to figure out my health issues, and to overcome my fears when we first got married since I hadn't gone anywhere significant in about 10 years before I met him. Anyways, we're finally going to wrap up the Japan series in the next month, there will be some health updates about all of the answers that I got to my unexplained health issues, and my husband may even post a "Linnea's Husband Vlogs" mini-series about visiting Spain and Morocco a few months from now.

So we decided to invest in a Berkey water filtration system (even though it's more expensive up front, berkeyhome.com/) because it deionizes and dechlorinates/defluorinates the water improving the taste, holds over 1.5 gallons of water compared to a tiny Brita system, and only needs the filters to be replaced every few years (the site advertises up to 10 years). It's watertight, so if you need to purify nonpotable water, you can just add a little bleach, wait 30 minutes, and then run it through the filter which will remove the bleach, so it's good for camping, hurricanes, etc... And it's true, the quality of the water does affect the flavor of the tea as much as the quality of the tea itself.

If you're referring to a pre-shampoo mask, they recommend leaving it in your wet hair for up to 30 minutes, washing it out, and then cleaning your hair with shampoo. If you're referring to the conditioner that comes with the shampoo, they recommend washing your hair with shampoo, then applying conditioner for 3 - 5 minutes, and then washing the conditioner out.

Sorry to hear that. I've gone through cycles where I can manage it by drinking saltwater (which I wouldn't recommend for anyone who doesn't have low blood pressure like I do), Linzess when things get bad, and then using MiraLax or GoLytely as if I were doing a colonoscopy prep to get everything back to square one if things have gotten really bad. Maybe also consider anything that might have changed in your diet or if you have had any stressors (mental or physical). I hope it gets better.

Thanks! Things have gotten a lot better since then. I've had a lot of jobs since this video, and I've really moved up in the world and have new coworkers that I love. Everything eventually worked out.

@@linneanelsonvlogs good girl

@@tsitracommunications2884 vomiting in my mouth bc of this reply

Thanks for asking! My husband and I have both been crazy busy with work, but we're finally free enough to wrap up this video series in the next month and to post some health updates. Linzess definitely helped me, but at this point, it's too powerful for me, so I only use it when I really need it. I hope that it works for you!

This is not medical advice. In obese patients (mostly women with average body weight of 238 lbs), patients lost around 5 pounds. However, I would assume that for people with normal body weight would lose at most 1-2 lbs. journals.lww.com/ajg/fulltext/2012/10001/rifaximin_for_the_treatment_of_weight_loss__1478.1478.aspx

@@linneanelsonvlogs yeah I read this on Google already..but I'm asking about your own experience...did you lose weight?

This is not medical advice, but obese people can lose up to 5 lbs of body weight on rifaximin (journals.lww.com/ajg/fulltext/2012/10001/rifaximin_for_the_treatment_of_weight_loss__1478.1478.aspx). The effects are probably negligible for people with normal body weight.

I'm not a doctor and this isn't medical advice. The stomach emptying scan is pretty much the current standard for this. I will say though that the leading neurogastroenterologists have raised concerns about both the false positive and false negative rate of the scan. Roughly 40% of people with "functional dyspepsia" (unexplained nausea, vomiting, and pain) will be rediagnosed with gastroparesis a year later when they re-test and 40% of patients with gastroparesis will not have a positive gastric emptying exam a year later when they re-test (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8547190/). In summary, there's a lot of day to day variability for a lot of people and better metrics would involve a stomach biopsy to look at interstitial cells of cajal and certain macrophage populations in the gastric wall, but that isn't current standard of care unless you're getting some kind of stomach surgery. If you are still having symptoms, consider asking about SIBO, E. Coli/ulcers, food intolerances such as celiac disorder, IBS/IBD, colon cancer, Mast cell activation syndrome, or dysautonomia. And maybe see if you can be retested if symptoms worsen.

@@linneanelsonvlogs thank you so much 😇😊

Not a doctor and this isn't medical advice. That could be for a lot of reasons. In some cases, people can have issues with gastric emptying, gastric accommodation, or intestinal motility. In others, people can have SIBO which tends to cause a lot of nausea and bloating if you eat too much of a class of sugars known as FODMAPs (which are present in various fruits and vegetables). Last, in very rare cases, some people have mast cell activation syndrome or histamine intolerances that can be triggered by antigens in or histamine in various fruits and vegetables causing people to have allergic reaction like symptoms (but it's super rare).

@@linneanelsonvlogs thank you so much for your response and for all the knowledge. 😇

Hi, (not a doctor and this isn't medical advice) I've used a variety of things. I was taking a ton of MiraLAX until I couldn't stand the taste of it anymore. After that I got on Linzess which worked very well for quite a while. However, I also found out that my body has a hard time regulating its electrolytes and blood pressure. I then realized that drinking saltwater helped with keeping my blood pressure up, my light headedness down, and also improved my intestinal motility.

@@linneanelsonvlogs thank you for a very helpful reply and I hope you will continue sharing your thoughts and experiences. 🙏😇

Yeah, Dr. K from @HealthyGamerGG has a video on dysautonomia/POTS/functional health issues (th-cam.com/video/oHoFqwF2OAU/w-d-xo.html) being connected in some way to OCD/trauma/autism, other mental health issues, and connective tissue issues like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I know that when my mental health has declined (e.g. with the stress of adjusting to married life or getting a new job) that my symptoms have gotten worse and then better over time as I start to adjust.

@@linneanelsonvlogs do u think u may have ehlersdanlos?

Also I was wondering if u have any pelvic issues like pain/ injury/ imbalance. People with cic often have this as the root cause

I admittedly was scared to try to hunt down Japanese laxatives because the labels are obviously in Japanese, and I'm always hesitant to try new laxatives especially when we're moving around so much. In a few weeks, we'll be posting the rest of our videos. In one of them, I spent the entire day in the hotel in Kyoto recovering and talking about how the trip was affecting my chronic illnesses/health and how they had changed in general (interspersed with clips of Robert wandering through Kyoto).

Actually I've been playing with miralax lately, it honestly doesn't seem to work unless it comes in the colonoscopy prep which has a shit ton of salt in it. So maybe it's the salt ... But I think it's not good to rely on salt because it's hard on the kidneys and the body adapts to sodium in the diet so it won't work as a laxative ona continual basis. I think u said that ur experience too that salt stops working, it's cuz the kidneys adapt, and anyways salt is really hard on the body. Anyways I have a protocol now that I think is stellar and I want to share. First thing in the morning eat 1 giant heaping tablespoon of triphala dry powder followed by 500ml water, then Wait 20 minutes and then take pills. 4mg prucalopride 24mcg lubiprostone 2x/day 100-150mg sertraline. If u don't know about triphala it's really the best natural laxative because it's not a stimulant Laxative, it is more osmotic and gentle and balancing for the whole body and is very safe to take everyday and it's CHEAP. Lol Also checkout a good quality castor oil u can take as need it works pretty quickly too Never be constipated again! Eat food and enjoy it. Ps. I'm thinking about adding mirtazipine to stimulate my appetite because I'm so happy be able to eat food again. ❤