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Small intestine bacterial overgrowth
Hi, I have been suffering from small intestine bacterial overgrowth since last Jan. Have gone through a few courses of antibiotics, but whenever it finished, it came back and the stool got loose. I really am desperate, could anyone have suggestion? .
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Yes, I currently have SIBO , both hydrogen and methane .
I took a 2 week course of antibiotics , but don’t feel any different.
UCLA is the gold standard for treating SIBO.
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3 ReactionsI was diagnosed with SIBO and prescribed Xifaxin (which cost me $2,000) and did absolutely nothing. Last I heard, nobody knows what causes SIBO, so maybe that's why no one's come up with an effective, lasting treatment for it, sigh.
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2 ReactionsI agree!
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1 ReactionHi,
I too was just diagnosed with SIBO, I also have autoimmune gastritis which can contribute to SIBo and they said I have chronic fatigue although it might just be the SIBO causing fatigue? I’m waiting for my order of Xifaxan and hoping it works for me. I ordered it from Maple Leaf pharmacy in Canada and it brought the price down to $65 from $2400!! I have to wait a few weeks to get it though. What else are they sending you to UCLA for and what are your symptoms?
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1 ReactionI have a torturous colon, five hernias, rectal scarring due to radiation treatments, overly sensitive sphincter, little to no rectal muscle control. I have fatigue following BMs that doctors have attributed to thyroid or vagus nerve with no solution. Four abdominal surgeries have created adhesions which prevent any future surgeries (bladder removal, two hernia repair, blockage/volvulous). Diet seems to be my only hope of relief. Kaiser sent me to three dietitians all of whom said they do not have the expertise to advise me, hence the UCLA referral.
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2 ReactionsI'm not certain, but I believe this can be made worse by eating too much refined sugar. Refined sugar can result in an overgrowth of bad bacteria, and this causes inflammation throughout the body.
Check your diet and check with your Dr. I Hope this helps.
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2 ReactionsYes, battled it for 3 years before I knew what it was. Thru my own research, I figured it out and found a GI Dr that had some experience treating it. I did the Tri-Smart breath test and it was came back positive for Hydrogen and some methane gases. I took the Xifaxan for 2 weeks. Ate as normal of a diet as I could - to wake up all the bad stuff, haha. About 4 days into the meds, I started experiencing die off of the bad bacteria, which is normal. About 1 week after I finished the meds, I was good! And very surprised I no longer had the constant bloat and painful gut. But as my Dr suspected, the methane gases have returned, but not as bad as before. I can deal with the burping and gas. Dr Mark Pimentel at Cedars Sinai is the best expert I know of. Check out his books - very solid guidance. For many folks, the meds don't help. It's a very complicated issue. I do know that many say it boils to your intestinal motility.
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5 ReactionsThanks for the info. what do you mean by 'experienced a die off?'
Thank you. I have a lot of diet advice. Much of it conflicts. I truly don't know what to do anymore. I hope UCLA can hellp. It has been 6 days since my referral has been approved an they have not returned my calls for an appointment. Maybe tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing! I also have IBS and I just read all of Dr. Pimentel’s blogs. I’m going to look into seeing him. Were the symptoms of the die off of bacteria awful? Flu-like?
Thanks