I’ve now been following the SCD diet for two months, and happy to report it’s (now) going well. In Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Elaine warns about the two- to three-month flare, meaning that your symptoms can come back with a vengeance for now specific reason during that time. Mine came along at five or so weeks (and lasted two weeks), and I’m finally out the other side. It was pretty horrible, and made me doubt the whole diet. It was a weird phase. Even though you know it’s ‘normal’, it’s hard to see the end game. That’s when many people give up, and don’t stick with it long enough to see it through. I’m glad I did, because now things are much more settled.
I’m still waiting for tests and test results (for SIBO, Crohn’s, certain parasites etc.) but in the meantime I’m combining SCD with low-FODMAPs, as per Dr Siebecker’s list. I’m doing this for two reasons. One, because I was following a low-FODMAP diet before shifting to SCD and am not sure my body can handle them all in one go again. I can instead test them one by one to gauge my reaction. And two, because combining the two diets been proven to eradicate SIBO. Alone it can take up to three years, which is not ideal, but when combined with other treatments it’s much faster. In my case, I figure I may as well be doing it while I wait for the tests.