Small instestines bacteria overgrowth

Hi @emstorm, I have an ileostomy and am prone to pretty dramatic water-dumping/dehydration events requiring hospitalization. This was happening rather often so the doctors were pulling everything they had out of their bag of tricks. One was to assume I had SIBO. I may be totally mistaken, but I recall the correction was pretty benign. One office visit and then drinking Kefir for a while. I was pretty stable for a long time after that. Please don't take this as Gospel! I've been through a lot, as it sounds like you are, and I may have all the details mixed up. Best of luck. -- Dave

Thank you for the info. I too have an ileostomy. Not easy. Hard to keep my head on straight and not fall into the pit of despair. Every day is a gift.

My gastroenterologist is ordering me a test for this based on my recent symptoms. I don’t think I have it though. For some reason, I just feel it’s something else. I am worried.

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.

I 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.

I agree!

Hi,
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?

I 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.

I'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.

Yes, 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.