Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO)

Posted by jacque6977 @jacque6977, Feb 22, 2017

My wife, after years of suffering from debilitating nausea and fatigue, has finally been diagnosed with SIBO as confirmed by a hydrogen breath test. It is estimated the bacteria has had at least two years to grow and may be well established. She has started on Xifaxan, at $35 per pill, but it is estimated that elimination of the SIBO may take up to six months. Her day now starts with her waking up with nausea and when she has a cup of tea and toast in the morning she gets sick within fifteen minutes thereafter. Her sickness is accompanied by violent belching, and at times she regurgitates liquid vile. The only drug she has for nausea is Zofran which does nothing for her. Are there any other SIBO sufferers that are experiencing the same symptoms, and what are you taking to reduce the nausea?

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@lizbee78

I was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic this past November with SIBO, small bowel damage, and Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. After 25 years of suffering I am finally feeling well. The Mayo put me through a round of 3 different antibiotics to kill the bacteria. I was told to begin taking Align Probiotic daily. Probiotics are very important in keeping the bad bacteria from taking over. I include probiotic rich foods in my diet daily in addition to the Align, such as Kefir, yogurt, Kombucha, supplemented juice blends. I no longer really need anti-nausea medicine, but I used to take Promethazine, which I found to work better than Zofran. I also found that a simple Gas-X chewable would often help with belching and bloating. SIBO creates an excessive amount of gas. I hope this helps, and that your wife feels better soon!

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Hi @ginpene05,

I wanted to follow-up and ask about your progress; I hope you are doing well? I was wondering if you had the opportunity to view these discussions about Non Hodgkin's lymphoma on Connect; they are incredibly informative groups, and you may also wish to post your questions and suggestions there:

– CAR T: A New Treatment for Complex Cancer Cases https://connect.mayoclinic.org/newsfeed-post/chimeric-antigen-receptor-car-t-cell-therapy/
– Non Hodgkin's lymphoma https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/non-hodgkins-lymphoma-2c0eb7/

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Hi all, well I went to the nutritionist at Mayo. Of course she put me on the low FODMap diet. I haven't really started it yet since I am finishing up the foods I have right now. I don't want to waste all this money, and I need time to figure out what to buy and recipes. She said even though my sibo test from them came back negative, I did have it, and there probably still is bacteria and the diet will help regardless. She said she recently went to a convention and they discussed the lactulose for testing and said not true results because we have more bacteria in colon anyway, but I know that and we look for a certain number above, so I am still not totally convinced. Anyway, we will see. I forgot to ask her what probiotic she recommends. I haven't taken one for awhile with all the testing.
I have two tests coming up and was wondering if anyone has had them done. They sound, how should I say, 'uncomfortable'. They are called: anorectal manometry and proctogram. My gi doc said she wanted to look into possiblility of pelvic floor dyssynergia. Anyone experience these?

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I went through all the tests at Mayo for GERD before my LYNX surgery. I had a fructose and lactose tests done and both were negative. However after surgery still had to take acid reducers. I went on FODMAP as well as every other GERD diet. If you look at my other posts I read a book about GERD diet that suggested eliminating fruit. No one ever recommends that since it's so healthy but within a day my whole life changed. There are a few books on elimination diets to find out what foods your intolerant to. Another good book I'm reading by Dr. Gunthry about lectins is also interesting but most of stomach problems can be blamed on food. After getting off the fruit my blood sugar went down, foot cramps stopped, cystitis stopped, weight went down it was amazing something so healthy could cause so many problems.

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Wow, that's interesting. Did you ever do a food allergy test? Would it have shown up in that?

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Yes, a waste of money came up with foods that never bothered me and fruit wasn't on the list

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Wow, interesting. My son is going through a lot right now. Did a whole food allergy test. He was like allergic to everything. Did a food diary though for naturopathic dr. and seemed to be gluten bothering him. Tested neg. for celiac, but saw a pattern so he is doing gluten free for awhile to see if that helps. I wonder about all these tests sometimes.....

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Gluten bothers everybody, no one should ever eat grain products! Read the Plant Paradox and Fast Track Digestion, very enlightening. I pretty much follow a Paleo but no fruit or honey. Now when I eat something bad I'll know right away and be miserable for several days.

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@lizbee78

I was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic this past November with SIBO, small bowel damage, and Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. After 25 years of suffering I am finally feeling well. The Mayo put me through a round of 3 different antibiotics to kill the bacteria. I was told to begin taking Align Probiotic daily. Probiotics are very important in keeping the bad bacteria from taking over. I include probiotic rich foods in my diet daily in addition to the Align, such as Kefir, yogurt, Kombucha, supplemented juice blends. I no longer really need anti-nausea medicine, but I used to take Promethazine, which I found to work better than Zofran. I also found that a simple Gas-X chewable would often help with belching and bloating. SIBO creates an excessive amount of gas. I hope this helps, and that your wife feels better soon!

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Hi, Kanaazpereira, Thank you for the info. I have had 2 of the planned 6 treatments of R CHOP and gratefully seem to be tolerating it well. My GI system seems to be settling down after my two intestinal resections. I feel fortunate.

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@saucy

Yes, a waste of money came up with foods that never bothered me and fruit wasn't on the list

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Some fruits are high fodmap and some are not. Try the Monash University app. It's $8.

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