Hi SecretAgentMan and Ph7ph,

SecretAgentMan, I realize that according to the date you posted this, it has now been almost 3 years. How has your recovery gone? Are you back to a normal diet, or do you still have some sensitivities?

Here's my story:
My problems also started shortly after taking heavy antibiotics! Fall 2012 I all of a sudden had massive chest pain and multiple other symptoms that sounded exactly like a heart attack:radiating pain down my left arm, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pressure, difficulty breathing, etc. Only problem was, I knew I was too young for that and had no history of such. But I went to see my Doc. Discovered a massive ulcer that had caused my esophagus to spasm - very painful and DOES mimic heart attack symptoms to a "T"! Docs can't tell it apart unless they do an EKG. Anyway, he put me on PPIs (proton pump inhibitors which you're only supposed to be on for no more than 6 weeks due to the serious side effects that result:neurological problems, digestive problems, etc). I didn't know this until things got really bad 8 weeks into taking the PPIs. I still had chest pain, but it was different. And my face broke out in this weird dry, peeling rash accompanied with the biggest worst canker sores I had ever seen. I've never had canker sores up until I started having stomach problems. Found some info online saying that a certain bacteria (Helicobacter Pylori) causes many of the symptoms I was having. This bacteria had spread throughout my body - my entire digestive system, chest cavity, mouth, and face, and even developed so many food sensitivities that all I could eat was most fruits, and SOME vegetables. Everything else was a no no. If I ate the foods I was sensitive to, I'd get severe stomach pains, nausea, bloating, burping, flatulance, diarrhea, constipation, chemical sensitivities (can't use bleach or any other cleaners except a little 409 to sanitize my counters once a week - otherwise I just use white vinegar), light sensitivity, mild anxiety, difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and falling back asleep, severe fatigue, increased migraines, twitching all over my body, smell sensitivities, yeast infections, UITs, hormone imbalances, irregular and vicious menstruation that affects my blood pressure, etc! The list goes OOOOON! I am just WAY too young for this! It amazes me that power and functions of the body and how one little thing can send the systems out of whack, and scary at the same time.

My doc put me on a quadruple treatment of HEAVY antibiotics to get rid of this horrible bacteria - it's a super-bacteria. Was on them for 14 days. Things seemed to improve for a while and weened off all the meds he had me on. Knowing my digestive system had just been stripped of ALL bacteria including the good ones, I started taking a LOT of probiotics to help replenish my digestive system with good bacteria. Things seemed to be going well. Then a couple months later, I again started developing massive amounts of food sensitivities to foods I never had problems with, adding in a lot more fruits and veggies that I couldn't have anymore. I feel like I'm back to square one all over again. Though I've had a feeling that my sensitivities are all traced back to having very small amounts of good bacteria in my digestive system. It makes sense too because little infants when they first start eating solids have food sensitivities like crazy - that's why they break out in so many rashed on their little bums. They've never had these foods, and they don't have enough good bacteria to aid them in this new shocking food!

I have found also that I have to rotate my foods or I end up not being able to eat them for months. I can only have eggs 2-3 times a week, bread once a week, rice 3-4 times a week, dairy and meats only once a week and sometimes only once every other week unless it's beef, then I can only have it once a month. I still can't take my potassium or magnesium supplements. Fatty recipes (like cheese or "cream of soup" based) I cannot have unless I want to be awake moaning all night long and feel like I got hit by a truck the next 3-7 days. I can't eat anything that's processed without paying a price. And the only cooking oil I've found that I can handle is olive oil. Canola and veggy oil turn me inside out with pain. I've found I even have to rotate the probiotics that I take or they start irritating my stomach. I usually rotate between yogurt, Kefir, and 2 different forms of acidophilus.

It has only been 7 months since I took those heavy antibiotics AND changed my diet. I can see some improvement, though I feel like it's going to take forever to recover. I've had two other friends with the same problems. Took them 3-4 years to fully recover, though one friend still has the food sensitivities. Cheers to antibiotics - a blessing and a curse!!!