# SIBO



## blitzk (Jul 24, 2011)

This may be a long story.A few months ago began feeling sick. Loss of appetite, bloating, extreme fatigue, chest pains, anxiety, weird sensations in my body, constipation, bad stomach pains, shortness of breath you get the idea. Lost ten pounds which is not necessarily a bad thing yet could obviously tell something in my stomach wasn't right. Went and had an endoscopy and subsequently diagnosed with GERD. However, never had heart burn or any of the other symptoms. Began taking Prilosec and never did feel right on it (gave it about a weeks time too) so stopped taking it. Follow up appointment this past Friday and turns out SIBO was the diagnoses. Same day began taking Xifaxan and now onto day three of it am beginning to feel a little better yet still very weak and fatigued. Should state that I am a 29 year old female with no prior health issues, very active lifestyle and solid diet. Have certainly changed my eating habits in the past two months as a result of the WAR going on in my stomach. Also should be noted been to many doctors, even the ER and also had one doc in particular tell me "maybe you are going through menopause". Its been frustrating to say the least.Just wondering if anyone has any tips, stories anything on SIBO. This is all very new to me and would just like to begin living my life again.


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## faze action (Aug 6, 2009)

You should google SIBO to get some basic info; there is a lot out there and it's pretty common. I've had it for several years now... it does tend to recur, even if the antibiotics help it go away (I've had it recur 2 or 3 times).I'm also relatively young, female, active, and eat a healthy diet. I find that trying to stay low-carb (particularly avoiding sugars) helps my symptoms.Sounds like you have the constipation type of SIBO (I have the D-type). There may be different antibiotics that help more with the C-type of SIBO because I think the bacteria vary form person to person.I also took rifaximin (Xifaxan) three times: the 1st time it helped tremendously, the 2nd time a little, and the 3rd time not at all. Not sure if the bacteria become resistant or what... my doctor offered to either just try random antibiotics, or put me on an antidepresant (for the D, mainly), but I refused both.The two things that I find help me the most are keeping low-carb/low-sugar, etc (which can be hard sometimes), and taking digestive enzymes before every meal. The enzymes are the only thing I"ve found that help with the bloating.How did they diagnose your SIBO? Breath test?


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## blitzk (Jul 24, 2011)

faze action said:


> You should google SIBO to get some basic info; there is a lot out there and it's pretty common. I've had it for several years now... it does tend to recur, even if the antibiotics help it go away (I've had it recur 2 or 3 times).I'm also relatively young, female, active, and eat a healthy diet. I find that trying to stay low-carb (particularly avoiding sugars) helps my symptoms.Sounds like you have the constipation type of SIBO (I have the D-type). There may be different antibiotics that help more with the C-type of SIBO because I think the bacteria vary form person to person.I also took rifaximin (Xifaxan) three times: the 1st time it helped tremendously, the 2nd time a little, and the 3rd time not at all. Not sure if the bacteria become resistant or what... my doctor offered to either just try random antibiotics, or put me on an antidepresant (for the D, mainly), but I refused both.The two things that I find help me the most are keeping low-carb/low-sugar, etc (which can be hard sometimes), and taking digestive enzymes before every meal. The enzymes are the only thing I"ve found that help with the bloating.How did they diagnose your SIBO? Breath test?


Feeling better on day #3 of the antibiotics yet well aware it will probably come back stronger in time. Had an endoscopy a few weeks back and subsequent follow up where they diagnosed the SIBO. Have noticed feeling better when carbs are a smaller part of my day. VERY hard to cut carbs (this from a NON carbaholic as it was!) especially when consitipation is involved. What kind/brand of digestive enzymes do you take?


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## faze action (Aug 6, 2009)

Right now I'm using a brand called H-Zyme-Prime. I take them before every meal, except breakfast (for some reason I don't seem to have issues when I eat first thing in the morning). The site below is an excellent source of information about enzymes:http://www.enzymestuff.com/basicsdosing.htmCutting carbs is difficult, and I'm not really a carbaholic either. I usually eat some carbs at breakfast and then try to avoid them for the rest of the day (salad and protein at lunch and the same or similar at dinner). I find that white rice doesn't bother me nearly as much as other carbs though (pasta, bread, etc).


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