ABOUT SHIVAN
I want to share my own personal story with you.

Now, I’m not sure where or when I got SIBO, but it’s likely that I’ve had it since I was five years old. Even at such a tender age, I didn’t want to talk about it. Shame can set in so early.

Honestly, I can’t really remember a time when it was okay. In my twenties, I owned a yoga studio and wore unitards. I looked amazing... except for a big bloated belly.  On the outside, it looked like I had a charmed life, but this is when things started to get worse. The bloating wasn’t the only issue anymore — now I also had IBS, so I sought out a specialist.  

I was shocked when I told him about my belly symptoms and he suggested antidepressants! I later learned how common this is.  The physical symptoms were bad, but the shame and isolation may have been worse. If you’ve experienced something similar, you know that it is an emotional roller coaster.  At that time, I was a host on the Home Shopping Network, but I was stuffing myself into shape wear before going live on TV and spending way too much time in the bathroom.  

The worst was when this (very sweet) woman wrote to me, congratulating me for being pregnant! She was really happy for me, but there was no baby on the way….What frustrated me the most was that I knew that there was an answer out there, but had no clue what it was. My doctor never recommended a SIBO test — a friend did. But even when I got the test, my struggles were far from over…My doctor told me the test came back negative. 

Back to square one with still no answer…I was already a seeker, but now I became a full-on online detective. All along, there were all these little whispers and clues. When I listened to them, I always did better. My intuition nudged me to the next step.  It had been a year and a half since I tested negative for SIBO and I still wasn’t better, so I found a different doctor. He took a look at my records, and that’s when I was finally diagnosed with SIBO.  As it turned out, the original doctor who interpreted my test results actually crossed through the positive diagnosis and wrote “negative” because he didn’t know how to read the results! 

Getting diagnosed was a huge relief. The journey continues, but I’m so much better. I spent so much money and time trying to piece it together — persistence really is my secret power!  

I realized that here I was, a smart person with a burning desire to figure this out. If I was so confused, others must be, too. That’s when I got the idea for the SIBO SOS™ Summit.

After learning from so many experts and patients just like me, I no longer feel alone or ashamed of my symptoms. I wish I’d had found this quality of information five years ago. It would have saved me a lot of time, money, effort, and sanity.