Thanks for replying! Did you rent a car for your travels, and did you find parking to be difficult (something else I've seen mentioned a handful of times)? That's one of the factors on whether we choose the on campus Courtyard or not, of course aside from price (looks pretty expensive..)

As far as my symptoms, 2 years ago next month I had diverticulitis for the first time, after a lifetime of typical IBS struggles. I actually ended up fainting that day, not knowing it was diverticulitis and thinking I was just really sick. That ended up being diagnosed as a vasovagal syncope. Ambulanced to the hospital, typical scans etc, antibiotics and went home the next day. Fast forward literally 1 year to the day (my ex's birthday both times) and I again had diverticulitis, this time I kind of knew what it was though and was able to act on it without fainting, however since that time I have fainted again, and have had several episodes of almost fainting. Since that second diverticulitis last year, I was repeatedly diagnosed with diverticulitis from August thru December, and put on antibiotics 8-10 times ( I truly can't recall the number, but they just kept throwing meds at me). Each time I would come off antibiotics, I would within 1-2 days start having symptoms again; constipation, and pain in my lower middle and lower left abdomen. It was just a rinse and repeat cycle. I tried fasting for multiple days. I tried week long liquid only diets. I was eating a really simple low fodmap diet (basically dry white toast and plain eggs). Absolutely nothing was helping so I started doing my own research. I saw a handful of interestingly relevant things, in particular on Reddit (/r/diverticulitis to start, which lead me to /r/sibo and /r/ibs). I started reading up on SIBO and I was a dead ringer for the symptoms, I begged my doctor to test, and low and behold, I was positive. I also begged for a colonoscopy because he and 4 other GI's before him were convinced I "just have IBS". After the colonoscopy I was also diagnosed with colitis...go figure. He decided to go for the SIBO first and put me on Rifaxamin (but not the second antibiotic you're supposed to also take, I believe its Flagyl). I didn't feel much different so he repeated it. After the second course I felt noticeably better, but not all the way, and for whatever reason he decided to completely abandon it and treat the colitis instead. He put me on mesalamine which I ended up having a serious allergic reaction to, and had to stop. He then put me on Budesonide which did help curb the pain, but NOTHING else at all, and in fact the symptoms I believe to be related to the SIBO have just been steadily worsening. The budesonide also led to me having crippling and rampant cramps in all parts of my body, so that's been fun. The cherry on top of all of this is I was supposed to have a followup with my GI tomorrow, but last week (Day before I got into Mayo Clinic, so that's kind of poetic) they called me to tell me he's on indefinite leave, and pushed my appointment to the end of September and put me with his PA.

So, my overall symptoms in short:
-Lower abdominal pain
-Constipation (have been basically relying on Linzess for months now)
-Horrible bloating and reflux
-Esophagitis or esophageal spasms (have had doctors diagnose both and each disagreeing with the other, so not sure exactly which, but really bad pain in my esophagus that takes hours and half a bottle of Mylanta to settle down)
-Trapped gas/belching, probably should have put this with the bloating, in truth
-And seemingly something wrong with my vagus nerve, which my research has shown is actually one of the top causes for any and all of these things...hard to know what came first though. Diverticulitis can lead to colitis or SIBO, and vice versa. Really chicken or the egg kind of thing

I've had colonoscopies and endoscopies so I don't think I have to fear the big C at the moment, but I'm just trying to get good treatment and and concrete answers at this point. My quality of life has been shattered. I'm in and out of work, lost a 4 year relationship, dealing with depression...the works.

Throwing on at he end as an edit: I HAVE been tested for Celiac, but as far as I know not within the last year. I do have RA and (supposedly) Antiphospholipid Syndrome (I say supposedly because sometimes it pops up on my blood work and sometimes it doesn't..). For my mom they are chasing what they think might be Lupus, and my sister has confirmed Epileptic Lupus and either Hashimotos OR Grave's Disease