My Health Journey: Finding Answers with Hypermobility, Dysautonomia, and SIBO

SIBO and Histamine Intolerance

During my last health update, I shared that my gastrointestinal scopes and diagnostic testing showed gastritis and digestive inflammation. Since then, I took a breath test in September to check for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). When I received confirmation of the diagnosis, I felt so relieved and deeply grateful to finally have an answer.

A Season of Renewal: A Year of Family, Personal Healing, and Healthful Growth

I shared this on my personal Facebook page and wanted to share it here.

BRE HEALTHYBreanna

After a year and a half of near-constant abdominal and pelvic pain and discomfort, having both clarity and direction meant so much. My SIBO was hydrogen gas-dominant and I completed a two-week course of a gut-specific antimicrobial medication. I also introduced a prebiotic fiber supplement into my daily regimen, which I continue to take to cultivate a beneficial gut microbiome.

That brought significant relief to my abdominal and pelvic pain, and my gut function gradually improved. Healing the gut takes a long time!

Meeting with a knowledgeable, attentive registered dietitian was pivotal in my healing. Because I was showing signs of intestinal permeability and leaky gut, she recommended strategies to help support and repair the intestinal lining and encourage the intestinal cellular junctions to heal. I also corrected a vitamin D deficiency, which was beneficial. Long-term SIBO can lead to nutritional deficiencies, and addressing those significantly improves the body’s ability to heal and function well.

Since I was showing intolerances to high-FODMAP and high-histamine foods, I used strategies like digestive enzymes and supplements to help my digestion before eating those trigger foods and primarily focused on low-histamine and low-FODMAP foods. After SIBO treatment, with the help of my registered dietician, I slowly began reintroducing high-FODMAP foods, and my variety has increased greatly. I still try to follow a low-inflammatory diet and continue to focus on low-histamine foods and cooking methods.

FODMAPs are fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols—types of carbohydrate chains that are preferred food sources for bacteria. This can be beneficial in the large intestine, but problematic in the small intestine if there is an overgrowth of bacteria. Low-histamine foods—like fresh vegetables, fruits, grains, and meats—are generally well tolerated, while high-histamine foods, such as aged cheeses, fermented items, cured meats, and leftovers, can trigger symptoms in people whose bodies struggle to break down histamine or regulate its release.

Hypermobility

On a family trip, I was listening to the health-focused What’s the Juice podcast, and one episode in particular focused on histamine intolerance. During the discussion, the hosts also talked about hypermobility (joint and connective tissue laxity) and it's connection to histamine intolerance, which led me to explore hypermobility spectrum symptoms. I began to realize that I had some of these tendencies—without recognizing for a long time that this was another piece of my health puzzle.

Some of the indicative symptoms I noticed included bendy fingers, weak shoulders, wrists, and knees, pelvic floor dysfunction and hypertonicity, diastasis recti, an umbilical hernia, Gorlin’s sign (touching my nose with my tongue), piezogenic papules (bumps on the inside of my feet where tissue pushes out), and mast cell–related issues such as seasonal allergies and histamine intolerance. I’ve also experienced gastrointestinal functional issues (hello gastritis and SIBO), dizziness and faintness, visceral pain, heat and cold intolerance, and venous pooling.

I had been thinking I needed to see a geneticist to test for hypermobility as it relates to hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and I plan to continue pursuing that (Got a referral! Yay!). But I actually got an answer sooner than expected—a trial disguised as a blessing.

It happened at church—I picked up my well-stocked church bag, looked to the right, and tweaked my neck. The pain wouldn’t go away. I tried to self-treat and manage it, but progress was slow, and normal daily movements continued to trigger pain.

At the end of 2025, I had been wanting a break from physical therapy after doing pelvic floor physical therapy for a year and a half. The thought of needing weekly PT again wasn’t what I had anticipated. I genuinely love my physical therapy clinic and the therapists there, but after so many weeks of sessions, I needed a break. So, hesitantly but necessarily, I scheduled a PT consult with one of the orthopedic specialists.

The consult went well. She confirmed that I had a sprained levator scapulae muscle and elevated ribs 1 and 2 on my right side. But I couldn’t help thinking—such a severe reaction from a seemingly benign action? There had to be more to the picture.

As she worked on my neck and shoulder, she asked if I had heard of hypermobility. She noticed a lot of laxity and mobility in my joints and connective tissue. I had been planning to ask her about hypermobility, but she beat me to it! A quiet confirmation and spiritual nudge realized. She recommended a consult with the occupational therapist at their clinic, whose specialty includes hypermobility.

On the short drive home, I cried tears of gratitude. Another piece of my puzzle was coming to light, and I felt validation for years of struggles—even from my youth and young adult life. I saw God’s hand in my journey, blessing me through this injury and placing earthly angels on my path to aid in my health. Blessings—like the proximity of the clinic to my home and the knowledgeable, specialized therapists there—felt so significant in that moment.

I met with the occupational therapist, and she confirmed that I do have hypermobility in my joints. With her guidance, I will be working on deep core muscle activation, fascia health, and improving communication between my brain and body. This includes body mapping and biofeedback.

Hypermobile "bendy" bodies often struggle with proprioception because the sensory receptors in lax connective tissue—such as ligaments and joint capsules—may send less accurate signals to the brain. Retraining the brain to interpret these signals correctly and “talk” to the body is a key goal. It also involves allowing the deep core muscles to do their job, rather than overusing or compensating with other muscles not designed for that role.

Dysautonomia

The occupational therapist also performed a NASA Lean test and determined that I have autonomic dysfunction, or dysautonomia. Dang! My aspirations to be an astronaut are kaput! Ha ha. Just kidding—no aspirations here; I’m very happy to stay grounded. I didn’t fully meet the criteria for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), but during the test, I experienced lightheadedness, chest pounding, venous pooling (purple discoloration in my hands), tingling in my hands and feet, spotty vision, and chest tightness. My heart rate and blood pressure showed hyperadrenergic responses to standing—a heightened sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system reaction.

During the final supine portion of the test, my sympathetic nervous system overshot my heart rate and then slowly regulated. I began yawning, which indicated reactivation of my parasympathetic nervous system. The venous pooling was likely due to connective tissue laxity, and I experienced brain fog despite reperfusion.

Growth Through Healing

It’s wonderful to have knowledge about my body so I can learn techniques to help it feel its best and move through life free from pain and illness. The trifecta of hypermobility, dysautonomia, and mast cell and histamine overactivity has been a reality for me for many, many years, and I am so grateful to be learning the tools to manage my health and be a good steward of my earthly body and home to my spirit—the healthiest woman, wife, and mother I can be.

I keep looking to Christ as the source of healing and comfort, and He is all of those things—the Master Healer and Physician. He is my source of comfort and regulation. He has led me through this path, teaching me that uncovering these health issues is often a slow, gradual process. For so long, I often felt like something was off or wrong, and now I am finally finding some answers.

Learning about the Polyvagal Theory on my own and through yoga teacher training has shown me that Christ is the perfect individual to practice co-regulation techniques with. He grounds me, centers me, and helps me enter a parasympathetic nervous system and ventral vagal functioning—where my body feels balanced, I can feel the Spirit, engage fully in life, and think clearly.

My massive flare of symptoms in the spring of 2024 also led me to step back from social media and its neuro-dysregulating effects—a constant source of comparison and overstimulation. I was able to make progress on closing my diastasis recti, healing my pelvic floor, and sought allergy shots for my environmental allergies to help manage mast cell and histamine responses. Leaning into an anti-inflammatory diet, deepening my Christ-centered yoga practice, cultivating healthy family patterns, and seeking mental health counseling for long-standing struggles I had been sweeping under the rug—all became part of my healing journey. With the support of my psychotherapist, I worked through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), processing past challenges and developing skills to better manage my health struggles, relationships, stress, and emotional well-being.

This journey bonded me more deeply to Christ and made me rely on Him. It gave me answers to long-term struggles, balanced my hormones more, and improved major PMS symptoms—all heavily tied to inflammation pathways, histamine levels, and neuromuscular and connetive tissue/fascia health. It reconnected me to my body and began to address the mind-body disconnection that long-term stress and illness had created. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, nature walks, resistance training, pilates, and Christ-centered yoga have all helped me become stronger and rebuild the connection between my body, mind, and spirit.

I simplified my life, focusing on its foundations and top priorities—my husband and children, our farm animals, and our home—and my self-esteem and self-trust have grown. I continually sought answers without dismissing the symptoms I was experiencing, even when it felt like no one understood me (besides Christ). Advocating for myself and seeking the answers I knew were out there strengthened my confidence and self-efficacy. I realized I could overcome so much because I had crawled out of one of the hardest trials of my life—a very dark and gloomy place.

SIBO had been affecting serotonin production in my gut (which produces 90–95% of the body’s serotonin), so my gut-brain axis was not supplying the “happy hormones” my body needed to feel well. Choosing positivity and hope became an uphill climb, but slowly and surely, I began climbing that steep mountain. In constant discomfort and with minimal answers, I often felt hopeless and wanted to escape the pain and sickness. Focusing on my role as a wife and mother kept me moving forward, reminding me that my life was valuable.

My husband, children, and parents prayed for me constantly and helped me take those baby steps forward. A priesthood blessing from my Heavenly Father, administered through my husband Karson, encouraged me to hold on to the promise that I would feel well again. My daughter even had a dream that Christ healed me. I have felt His healing and support—I was not alone. Christ fully understood and experienced the emotional and physical pain I was experiencing, and I found so much solace in Him. My Heavenly Parents and my Savior, Jesus Christ, were with me every step of the way. Jesus Christ is the Master Physician, Healer, and Comforter.

I have also developed stronger relationship boundaries, protecting my internal resources and peace and focusing on my Christ-centered values. I am a more understanding wife, mother, and individual. I have been able to help others with similar struggles find answers. Simply listening with understanding has proven to be one of the most healing practices.

Encouragement

From my experience, if you’re navigating health challenges, know that healing is possible. It helped me tremendously to find providers and therapists who truly listened and guided me in supporting both my body and mind. Even just one compassionate person can open doors to others who will help you along the way.

Step by step, little by little, I’ve been able to rebuild understanding, confidence, and connection to my body, mind, and spirit. Listening to the Holy Spirit in my decisions has been transformative. Looking back, I can see His guiding presence in every small step I took forward—each one a step of faith, trusting it was the right next move: the next recipe, the next therapy, the next diagnostic test. I’ve seen that God uses this journey not only to restore physical health on His timetable but also to bring spiritual wholeness. Camille N. Johnson’s talk, Spiritually Whole in Him, deeply spoke to my soul and resonated with my experience. Jesus Christ's guidance is present with me every step of the way, and I trust it can guide you too.

Much L💛VE,

Breanna

Published on March 29, 2026