Rifaximin Treatment, Day 8

8:30 – Woke up and took first dose. More groggy waking up today than yesterday. Head still pretty clear in terms of fog and pressure, but just really sleepy. Still coming out of the depression too .. usually takes about a week after I have a reaction.

Upon Waking

Sensitivity to FODMAPS – ?/10
Brain fog – 1/10
Head pressure – 1/10
Bloating – 3/10
Anxiety – 3/10
Depression – 6/10 (because of the food reaction a couple days ago)

(high = good)
Overall well being – 6/10 (8/10 if we’re excluding the depression)

2:00 pm – pressure in head getting pretty intense again, feeling kind of crummy. Not sure if it’s die off or not, or maybe what I ate for lunch. The effects from the depression as well as the probiotics I’m taking are making it difficult to tell which symptoms are being caused by the antibiotic and which are not. I’m going to stop taking the l. reuteri as it has a more pronounced effect on me than the VSL#3 and tends to change how I experience symptoms.

4:00 pm – Took dose 2. Symptoms have mostly cleared up after a really rough day. The depression and the die-off from the antibiotics were hitting me all at once but both have let up. Still feeling a bit depressed but my other symptoms have improved drastically once again.

6:30 pm Thinking SO clearly, but so DAMN depressed. Judging by reading my previous posts (just realizing how useful writing things down can be) the depression really has been coming in waves, making me think (*hope*) it is just bad die-off. I got really bad depression last time I was on antibiotics for H. Pylori about a year and a half ago .. felt the worst depression I’ve ever experienced for 3 solid hours and then felt amazing right after. Die-off can be shitty. I hope this is just part of the process. Usually I don’t get depressed like this.

8:00 pm Depression getting better again. Symptoms literally flying all over the place today.