Therefore, having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith
into this grace in which we stand;
and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
and perseverance, proven character;
and proven character, hope;
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God
has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:2-5
In my devotions lately, I've been reading in Romans. Oh, what a book. This particular passage hit home all over again, and I am encouraged by it.
In Romans 8, Paul talks about the fact that we have been saved in hope, "but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?" (8:24) Having hope for something that is as yet unseen is an amazing thing. It keeps me going.
Truly, "while there is life, there is hope." We'd smother without it.
So, we are once again on the threshold of hope with my health journey.
I talked with my new doctor today to review the allergy and stool testing results. There are 3 really interesting pieces of information:
1. I am highly allergic to eggs and almonds, as well as to several other specific foods, but to a lesser degree.
2. My stool test reveals that I have only one opportunistic bacteria that is overgrown and that the populations of 6 out of 8 good bacteria are way too low. There are no pathogenic bacteria or parasite issues. Nothing is showing on yeast either, though that is a hard one to really determine because they know how to hide really well.
3. The test they ran for my sensitivity or resistance to various pharmaceutical and botanical antibiotics shows that I am resistant to four of the 23 for which I was tested. Two of them are Allin (garlic) and Rifaxamin. These are the two that we used to treat SIBO which resulted in higher levels of bacterial overgrowth. What an amazing thing to discover!
So, the treatment plan is first to avoid the foods to which I am allergic. And second, to use Berberine, a botanical antibiotic, which the doctor believes will get rid of the opportunistic bacteria strain, and then take a high-powered probiotic to build up the good bacteria which I am lacking.
The outlook from the doctor's perspective is that I will probably be experiencing die-off for the next few weeks, which is normal and I've been through it before. And then that I should be noticing a difference within about a month in how I'm feeling and how my gut is working.
Time will tell, and during the ensuing month, hope will win. Again.
Thank you for praying with us. I'll let you know how it's going as we progress through June and July!
