First of all, definitely see your doctor. They may be able to help and ease your anxiety.
Try drinking bone broth to see if that helps heal your stomach a little. I am also experiencing stomach upset and that sometimes helps me.
Also, I wonder if you have a food sensitivity?

@blessedwildapplegirl could it possibly be that you are allergic to coconut … or coconut does not agree either your stomach?

Hi,
Probiotics can be the worst thing to try with some forms of SIBO as it can feed the SIBO. If you have SIBO it is not something to be played with. I hope you can make that appointment.
I get periodic flare ups and get straight onto medication as quickly as I can. I keep a two week course at hand for the flare ups so as not to be waiting around for a Dr's appointment.
Stress certainly can affect the stomach but as yet I have not discovered a remedy or found anyone that can stop it. All I have heard is to stop worrying, easier said than done.
Cheers

Hi,
I have Ciprofloxacin 500mg and Metronidazole 200mg tablets. They do not work with everyone so there is a far more expensive medication in that case. Touch wood always found success with the above. They leave a nasty taste which eventually goes after around 2 weeks off meds. Probiotics have their place but some caution needs to be considered, best to know what you are trying to treat first. If your stomach is totally messed up like I live with then a good prebiotic should be used for the probiotic to live of while esstablishing it'self. In the extreme case of stomach troubles with IBS, probiotics can be just feeding the so called bad yest based enzymes making them ever worse. As far as I remember there are two types of SIBO infection, one I believe is fine with probiotics and the other isn't. I get the methane production.
Anyone with an unhealthy dose of SIBO will undoubtedly think the world is ending for them, far worse than just plain old IBS. After SIBO IBS is a doddle.
With SIBO there are crippling abdominal pains, extended stomach to the point it is difficult to bend at the waist and I usually end up lying down for relief. Typically when I relapse into SIBO it pays to stay around the "throne room" for safety! Along with it goes a fairely bland restricted diet to curtail eating anything that feeds the SIBO.
I'm currently taking probiotics for no other reason than I have them, so why not use them when I can. I would not replace them as I'm well into the incurable and untreatable IBS problems with Autonommia controlling my digestion. I intitially use pre and probiotics to good effect and cleared the IBS but subsequently took another hit and there I stay stuck with it.
Cheers

Hi,
If you have SIBO it is unlikely you can beat it without medication. I have had no luck at stopping it when I first realize I'm heading into SIBO. Sudden change of diet and trying to starve it out have all proved ineffective with me. It is an infection/ bug that needs to be killed off. That is why I keep a supply at hand, I'm just grateful that these meds work for me. Had they not it would be a completely different ball game, out of my financial reach, expensive to say the least.
I'm unable to medicate diabetes and high blood pressure, having just finished trialing the last known BP medication available to me with disastrous results and finished all diabetes meds 1 month ago including all insulins with again disastrous results. I don't mind and understand not everyone can be medicated. I get more than a little annoyed at Dr's who resort to the psychological tag when they can't get a grip that medication and me don't do well. They fail to realise that side effects are only the ones that have been reported. For the few of us that find side effect that are not on the list it must be psychological, right! Seems to be the favoured reasoning with their inability to treat me. Fortunately my wife understands how I react to medication, usually I become something even I don't want to be, she insists on being present at all my Dr's appointments. It is interesting how quickly they back track with my wife's testimony and my results of meticulous monitoring to prove my point. I get tired of proving what drug companies should have done when testing medication for everyone, not just those who can tolerate their concoctions.
Autonomic polyneuropathy means all my nervous systems are corrupted. Some permanent while other come and go daily at their pleasure. My entire digestive system is corrupted, I have problems from long term high glucose levels, PN and sky high blood pressure CSVD but I still function as best I can. Without warning Autonomia can kill me instantly, sounds bad, but yet I carry on because we all die sooner or later so why concern myself about what I can't control or medicate. I work through each day as it comes trying to ignore it and suppress it, putting it out of my mind. I push myself everyday to do better because I can't just give up, that's not in my nature and I won't allow it while I have a choice.
Cheers

Good morning, you probably need to wait for suggestions on diet and over the counter meds until your gastroenterologist appointment. Just continue to eat bland foods until that time. Please stay away from the yogurt and coconut milk!😊

Thank you for the link. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I’m going to. I have terrible anxiety! I always have. And I carry it in my stomach. I’m also under a lot of life stress currently, so I’m kind of not surprised, but I need to be able to eat. I’ve always had IBS, but I’ve never had it come up so high like this. I suppose as you get older (I’m 70) it probably starts pushing on that flap. I was supposed to go have a CAT scan today and I was so afraid it would mess up my ability to eat that I canceled it. I’m more anxious on weekends and on Monday I start being able to eat again and I didn’t want to mess it up, so I think I’ll try to reschedule for a Friday. I know that sounds crazy, but if you understand anxiety, you know sometimes it seems to have a mind of its own. I’m sorry to hear that you struggle with that as well. Anxiety can cause so many different things. It’s hard on the body and also it can masquerade as other things, which I’m sure you’re aware of. I’m constantly trying to figure out whether or not something is 100% organic, 100% emotional, or a mixture of emotions and physical. It’s very hard to tell the difference. Thank you again for your help. I wish us both some relaxation and peace! Wouldn’t that be nice? They say you can rewire the brain, but it sure isn’t easy. Take care. 💕

It’s brave of you to be willing to try again! I hope you can figure it out one way or another for sure. It’s so frustrating when we’re not sure what’s going on. I talked to a new doctor today who takes a natural approach, and he said exactly what I was thinking - that I need more digestive help rather than people trying to give me ant acids. So I’m going to give his medications a try, although one of them contains ox bile, and I don’t use animal products normally. But, since it’s an emergency, I will. Sounds kind of gross. 🤢

Believe it, or not, when I went to the G.I. doctor, I didn’t even get to talk with the doctor! I met with a nurse practitioner and she barely asked me any questions, and just perfunctorily told me that I had to get the colonoscopy/endoscopy and a CAT scan. I felt like she would have recommended that for everyone. So I don’t think I will mention the functional doctor because it might not go down well. And I emailed the functional doctor today and told the receptionist that I couldn’t purchase what he wanted me to because of the dairy allergy and she just answered back and said OK and if I had any more questions I had to pay for another visit. No explanation of why he would recommend something he knew I would be allergic to. She just said he trusted that brand. I think it’s his own brand! That feels like a conflict of interest to me. And no, there are really no foods I can eat when my stomach hurts like this, although sometimes I can have a few bites of an avocado, and it seems to help the inflammation. I think they’re looking for diverticulitis, colon cancer, and a hiatal hernia from the colonoscopy/endoscopy. That makes sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have diverticulitis because it runs in my family. But I’m allergic to almost all antibiotics, so I don’t want to take that route. I’m sure that’s what they would suggest. I have read though that you can use oil of oregano and it’s as effective as an antibiotic! I read that on the national institutes of health website. Now I just need to decide if I want to see if I can eat for a few days and get stronger before I have my test or if I should go ahead and schedule it while I’m already not eating very much. Kind of a conundrum. How are you feeling?

Ah, avocado helps you! Anything else help? Olive oil has been heavenly for me. I had to watch how much I used when I reintroduced it and now it helps add those calories I need. I also feel like vitamin C has been helpful, working it into each meal.

It is interesting you bring up oregano oil. I used it for a time and thought it was helpful. I have since, sorta reset everything and finding care to help me make progress instead of going in circles. To answer your question, This makes me hopeful!