# other antibiotics for sibo



## cynthia

Does anyone here know if antibiotics other than rifaxamin work on sibo? My understanding is that rifaxamin stays in the gut, therefore acts on bacteria only in the digestive tract without the side effects that broad spectrum antibiotics have. So, if you only had sibo it would be the antibiotic of choice. But I was wondering if you were taking tetracycline or doxycyline for something else, would they also kill bacteria in the small intestine?


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## Kathleen M.

That is the one Pimental uses a lot for his IBS/SIBO work, but a large number of other antibiotics are more tradtionally used to treat SIBO in patient populations everyone agrees gets SIBO.Many different antibiotic kill bugs in the GI tract.


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## cynthia

Kathleen M. said:


> That is the one Pimental uses a lot for his IBS/SIBO work, but a large number of other antibiotics are more tradtionally used to treat SIBO in patient populations everyone agrees gets SIBO.Many different antibiotic kill bugs in the GI tract.


Hi Kathleen, That does make sense. I remember reading more than once on this forum that people noticed an improvement in their symptoms when they were taking antibiotics (not rifamaxin) for something totally unrelated. - Do you know where I can get more information on different antibiotics and the kind of bacteria that they target? Thank, C


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## DonGoober

I think tetracycline is a bacterostatic antibiotic and only puts the bugs to sleep. It does not kill them.


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## cynthia

DonGoober said:


> I think tetracycline is a bacterostatic antibiotic and only puts the bugs to sleep. It does not kill them.


Dan, Please explain. I don't understand this. Thanks,C


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## Kathleen M.

Here is a link for other antibiotics for SIBOhttp://www.medicinenet.com/small_intestina...rowth/page6.htm


> * Neomycin orally for 10 days. One observation that has been made is that neomycin eradicates methane-producing bacteria and alleviates constipation. * Levofloxacin (Levaquin) or ciprofloxacin (Cipro) for 7 days. * Metronidazole (Flagyl) for 7 days. * Levofloxacin (Levaquin) combined with metronidazole (Flagyl) for 7 days. * Rifaximin (Xifaxan) for 7 days. Rifaximin is a unique antibiotic that is not absorbed from the intestine, and, therefore, acts only within the intestine. Because very little rifaximin is absorbed into the body, it has few important side effects. Higher than normal doses of rifaximin (1200 mg/day for 7 days) were superior to standard lower doses (800 or 400 mg/day) in normalizing the hydrogen breath test in patients with SIBO and IBS. However, it is not yet known whether the larger dose is any better at suppressing symptoms. * Commercially available probiotics such as VSL#3 or Flora-Q, which are mixtures of several different bacterial species, have been used for treating SIBO and IBS, but their effectiveness is not known. Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 is the only probiotic that has been demonstrated to be effective for treating patients with IBS


http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/tetcycl_cp.htm has the mechanism of action for tetracycline.Bacterostatic, means prevents the growth. I think the idea is that it may not outright kill the bacteria, but when they can't grow properly the body's immune system has the time to get rid of them. Now with SIBO that may be less effective as your immune system usually doesn't attack the normal flora in the colon so just not growing for awhile won't get rid of them.K.


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## 14159

Tetracycline and doxycycline are broad spectrum antibiotics (active against a wide range of bacteria) and widely penetrate into body tissues and fluids. So these antibiotics able to kill susceptible bacteria in GI tract. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics (e.g. ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin) appear to be more effective than tetracyclines for SIBO:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlere...gi?artid=165422Amoxicillin with clavulanic acid and cephalosporins of the second generation are also treatment options.


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