Fair points, ya, I'm not disagreeing, and most of what I'm saying is anecdotal. My working theory right now is that food poisoning triggered an autoimmune response to something with my gut motility. Exacerbated by sleep apnea, stress, drinking, malnourishment from inflammation, who knows. Ashwagandha may have desensitized that somehow.
To be blunt, 2019 was one of the worst years of my life. I found myself out of work with no insurance and worse, no executive function. I went from loving my job and hitting gym PRs to broke and barely able to get out of bed in the morning. 20 years of trying to win the internet lottery and failing had sapped my motivation. Then the pandemic hit and things went from bad to worse to even worse to past the point of believability. But thankfully that series of traumas led to my conscious awakening and so I am grateful for that experience. And am gainfully employed and having fun with my work again, which is priceless. And hitting gym PRs again, which is frankly a miracle.
I guess I keep OCD'ing on this because working in tech is so high-risk that mental health issues are all but inevitable IMHO. But there are basic preventative steps we can do that western medicine seems reluctant to advocate for whatever reason. I have to be honest - without publicly funded healthcare, our system is garbage because it's being ruled by the profit motive and a tiny elite who spend their ill-gotten gains on lobbying to get out of paying their taxes. Their greed preventing win-wins like preventative medicine is just another hurdle for people on the edge, effectively talking them out of getting the care they need. Maybe the breadcrumbs I leave might help someone struggling to get just well enough to schedule an appointment.
I should add that I finally did go to the doctor and got some treatment, but they had trouble isolating any specific cause. I feel that the everlywell.com (no affiliation) food sensitivity test I took and dietary changes were the main fix, YMMV.