# No response to antibiotics, not even temporary



## incompleteguy (Oct 15, 2009)

Is there anyone here with SIBO that has not had any response to antibiotics such as xifaxan? Not a temporary response, I'm referring to zero response - like you were taking sugar pills. If that is the case, then is it not SIBO? The breath tests can be wrong.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The breath tests can be wrong. Some have a fairly high false positive rate depending on how they are done.Have you tried 3-4 different kinds of antibiotics and had the same breath results at the end that you did at the beginning. Did you get restested after the antibiotics?You may have IBS that is not dependant on SIBO so clearing it up won't make all your symptoms go away. SIBO is not the only reason to have GI symptoms.Sometimes with the bacteria you have any given single antibiotic will not be the right one to kill the bacteria you have. No antibiotic kills all bacteria so if it is the wrong antibiotic, no one will die.


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## Hester (Jul 5, 2009)

Xifaxan is only specific for e-coli. So if your "bad" bacteria is something different you need a different AB. I tried a few. Tetracycline helped nearly instantly but it took six months before I could stop.


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## UrbanUrbane (Jul 31, 2006)

Hester said:


> Xifaxan is only specific for e-coli. So if your "bad" bacteria is something different you need a different AB. I tried a few. Tetracycline helped nearly instantly but it took six months before I could stop.


Hester, I would love to see the source for your claim as I've never heard of this before. Xifaxan is known as a "broad spectrum" antibiotic. Thank you.


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## XxJustMexX (Dec 11, 2008)

Hester said:


> Xifaxan is only specific for e-coli. So if your "bad" bacteria is something different you need a different AB. I tried a few. Tetracycline helped nearly instantly but it took six months before I could stop.


6 months of being on it? Without a break? How did you get your doctor to do that? My doctor doesn't seem to have a clue on what to do. She have me 7 days of antibiotics (I've forgotten which one) and she said if that didn't help she couldn't do anything for me!


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Just me, So sorry to hear that! You might want to move on to another Dr maybe? Or perhaps a GI specialist? If the antibiotics didn't or don't work for you.. she gave you a perfect excuse to seek help elsewhere since she admitted she couldn't help you if they didn't help! So I would definitely move on to someone else!All the best!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

http://www.drugs.com/xifaxan.htmlIt may work with other bacteria, but is approved specifically to treat diarrhea from E. coli infections so I could see where someone would think it is for E. coli and nothing else.However, it is always listed as broad-spectrum even if it happens to be approved for a specific type of bacteria.Even broad-spectrum antibiotics do not kill every species bacteria. Even if you attack a mechanism a lot of types of bacteria have at least some will have a variation on the theme that means it doesn't kill them. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7774516 has some info on what it is better for, or what groups it has more limited activity.


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## Hester (Jul 5, 2009)

UrbanUrbane said:


> Hester, I would love to see the source for your claim as I've never heard of this before. Xifaxan is known as a "broad spectrum" antibiotic. Thank you.


http://www.labeldataplus.com/detail.php?c=8786I will go along with our Moderator. But above is the approved label according to the FDA. This means the drug in its trials was shown to only be effective in its specific indications and that other drugs are probably a better choice for other bacteria. The label is basically the Bible for drugs. Doctors can do whatever they want but everyone puts themselves at risk by not knowing the label.


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## Hester (Jul 5, 2009)

XxJustMexX said:


> 6 months of being on it? Without a break? How did you get your doctor to do that? My doctor doesn't seem to have a clue on what to do. She have me 7 days of antibiotics (I've forgotten which one) and she said if that didn't help she couldn't do anything for me!


Well, they kept checking my liver and kidney function and every time I went off the AB, the diarrhea came back. I have now been off the ABs for a few months now. I learned NO antacids of any kind!!!! They bring it right back with a vengence. I do not take anything except the calcium and D and my BP meds. I bought that Blendtec and eat six to eight servings of fruits and veges per day. I only eat organic and only eat grass fed meats free of any #### or altered grain products. I also eat a lot of nuts now. (Trader Joe's and local farms.) So far so good. I see a doctor who trained at the Cleveland Clinic and another that believes in Glutamine to heal a Leaky Gut. We are doing a two week stool test to measure all sort of stuff and see if I need to alter my diet or have any allergies. I have been avoiding all dairy, all grain except rice, barely and oats, most coffee and alcohol. I even make my own juice. We do a lot of juicing, soups and stews. . . so far so good. . . the dose of the AB did vary. Some days my head would throb and I just could not take but one. . .There are clinical articles that absolutely point to SIBO requiring heavy ABs and LONG therapy. I read one last month that said the best results came from 6 to 8 weeks of continued or altering AB therapy (one week of one, one week of another). Seven days sounds ridiculously short. That being said, my diarrhea let up within four hours of taking the tetracycline and within three days I was able to eat again. For me and while I was sick, I had lost 35 percent of my body weight, had severe uncontrolled diarrhea for more than six months - nearly a year, it did NOT matter what I ate and I tired everything. The Flagyl made me much worse as did one other AB (can't remember the name now). I have no idea why the Tetracyline worked so well for me but it did. However, it lost its effect if I took even ONE proton pump inhibitor or antacid!!!!


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## searching4answers (Mar 4, 2010)

I took 2 rounds of Flagyl for SIBO. 1st time worked and i had 10 amazing days but then it all came back. 3 months later I was on the 2nd round of Flagyl this time twice as long(14 days). But this time it did absolutely NOTHING. And yea, it made me wonder if they gave me the placebo (sugar pill) instead. I was kinda mad. So now im doing like i was told and followed the antibiotics with a probiotic which is doing NOTHING. I have a feeling that had they just told me to take the probiotic after the 1st round when the AB actually worked then i would be wayyy better by now. So yes i'm left with the same question: WHAT NOW?


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