Not sure whether to post on Welcome or Newbies , but here goes. I’m a 70 year old Clever Git from Sydney Australia (love that name). After reading the book a few things have been absolute revelations to me – thank you Michael Mosley! You have offered me hope.

I now know how I tipped myself over the edge into bad biome land. A prolonged peroiod of severe stress in my life. During this time I had a take-away for 7 years and despite what people thought about my increasing size it wasn’t food. It was 7 – 8 diet drinks a day, so as not to eat and besides I never had time. Minimum 4 but usually 6 anti-inflammatories per day to enable me to stand for 13 – 15 hour days. Stress, NSAID’s and artificial sweetners!

I recently had a colonoscopy thinking the diagnosis would be IBS – instead it was gastritis which affects the stomach more than bowel, although there lots of crossover with both. I’ve tried every diet for weight loss and the only result I had was an intense paleo to re-set grehlin levels which took my cholesterol from 4.3 to 8.6.

I am just getting over a recent flare-up and my tummy is still very tricky so I’m doing the re-boot but watching for FODMAP issues as well, which restricts food considerably. I was prepared to go to Israel for a month but have been advised that trial is over. Now only for pregnant women and pre-diabetics. I emailed DayTwo and .. of course the personalised diet is only available in Israel and USA. I am considering following up if I can get it in USA. They’re probably inundated with requests.

Through this Forum I’ve found a website offering faeces testing in Australia which will be an excellent start to see what my biome garden has grown.

Is there anyone else out there from Australia with Gastritis? It’d be fantastic to swap tips we’ve discovered on our journey to improved health. Really, I’d almost resigned myself to a life of never knowing what would trigger a flare and taking a week to deal with it. All replies welcome!

I’d simply follow the recommendations in the clever guts book plus Diet Myth by Tim Spector and see how you get on with the caveat of not making too many changes at one go..

In response to your gastritis, I too suffer from bouts. When it flares up I feel completely drained and find it difficult to function normally. A gastroenterologist diagnosed gastritis a few years ago, and I take nexium on a very regular basis. Diet wise I’m very health conscious. Have done the broth drinking, take probiotics, drink kefir, eat organic full fat yogurt and so on. So as far as food affecting my gastritis I find it very difficult to tag. Alcohol is definitely a trigger especially when I over do it holidays etc. Stress seems to be the biggest culprit, difficult to avoid in our crazy working lives. I’m keen to see touch base with someone who suffers in a similar way.

How are you getting on silver slippers? The gastritis was most likely caused by the alcohol which a notorious gastric irritant. FYI, daytwo should be coming to the UK soon.. I’m planning to offer the service to my clients.

Hi Silverslippers,

I would love to hear how you have fared since your initial post.
I have recently been diagnosed with gastritis and am planning to reset my bi ome, I would also love to try the daytwo test but it is still unavailable in Australia.
Also who was the website that did offer fecal testing in Australia please?

I had thought i was a fairly healthy young Aussie, decent diet, try not to eat heavily processed foods at all.
Possibly a stress problem as Im a huge worrywart.

Hope you have identified your triggers and reset your biome succesfully, would be great to hear more.

Hi Surfergirl – and others,
Well, it’s been a long journey. Things went from bad to worse and I was diagnosed with IBS for which I was doing everything, diligently, to manage. However, nothing worked and I became very depressed and wondered how I could even keep on working. It’s a whole world of sufferers out there.
I live in Sydney Australia and I heard, from my chemist, about The Centre for Digestive Diseases. I made an appointment with Professor Borody who believes this is essentially an untreated long term infection often from C Difficile. I had to wait 14 months as people come from all over the world to see him. I had a colonoiscopy and was subsequently given two antibiotics to take, one made by a compounding chemist, the other a fairly obscure antibiotic. Within 20 mins of taking my first dose the bloating started to subside, then the gas reduced, the burning went away and over the next few days all symptoms virtually went. I was elated yet just waiting for it to come back. I didn’t believe that could so “simply” be the answer. It was. Early this year I had a bout of gastro and the symptoms came back albeit very mildly. Enough that I recognised the distinctive body sensations and feelings… including depression. I immediately took a short dose of the meds and have been symptom free ever since. This, to me, is a miracle. I still follow everything Dr Mosley advocates – not always strictly but do believe that if you’re following all the guidelines and still have considerable problems there’s something else going on and a lot of this is as Prof Borody says. The walls of his office are papered with testamonials. I will be forever grateful. Good luck to all of you!

Hi Silverslippers,

Thank you for telling your story, glad there is still silver linings out there.
It does make life hard when you do the right things and it doesnt fix the problem. Im glad you found out what was causing your symptoms, i think this is the hardest part for patients, there are so many doctors and so many diagnosis that are wrong or misdiagnosed or even just a single part of the problem.
Thats an amazing cure time, 20 mins.
I think 12-14 months is about the normal waiting time for a public wait list. I had an Endoscope four months ago after my time on the waiting list, and was diagnosed with gastritis, which i have been prescribed a PPI for six months to stop the irritation of the gut lining but the only advice to stop the cause of the irritant was stop eating symptomatic foods. I dont think this will be a long term solution to my problem.
Since reading your post I am wondering if i will have to come for a holiday to Sydney and see if I can get an appointment at the Centre.