# I am new and looking for your advise



## n0007917 (Mar 19, 2008)

I was surfing the internet today- like I do everyday looking for an answer to my problem. I couldnt believe I found a forum that discusses bacterial overgrowth of the small intestines!!! I am hoping you all might be able to give my some guidance. I have recurring SIBO. I go on the XIFAN it it clears it right up. As soon as I am done, it comes immediately back. My DR thinks it may be related to something I am eating, but he has no clue what it is or advise. I have had allergy testing, all negative via the skin prick test. I have had upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, breath tests etc and everything looks great with the exception of a small ulcer in my esphogus that I am now taking prilosec for. I have recently added probiodics, peppermint oil capsals, apple cider vinegar and digestive enzymes to my diet,but I am not seeing any changes. I eat very healthy, fresh fruits and vegs, lean meats and minimal processed foods. I just read "Why doesnt my Dr know this: by David Dahlman. His thoughts make some sense, but his supplements will cost me about $1000 for 3 months! When I saw this forum, I started reading and saw mention of another book, " A New IBS Solution- Bacteria, the missing link by Mark Pimentel. I ordered it immediately from barnes and noble and it should be in my mailbox in 2-3- days. I am desperate for anything to help me. My Dr has me retaking the Xifan when things get so bad I cant stand it, but I cannot stay on them forever. I was DX with IBS , but I think it might be a misdiagnosis as I do not have constipation or diarrea. I am very regular when it comes to that. My problems are severe bloating, very smelly severe gas, and abdominal pain. Every single day. regardless of what I eat. If it is a food, how do I discover what it is? If anyone has read or followed any of the 2 books I mentioned, did it help you? Have you had any success with recurring SIBO with alternate methods? I thank you all in advance for any help you can give me. Kathy


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Some people here have followed the diet advice in Pimental's book.You might be one who needs a bit of a prokinetic to keep things moving to keep them out of the GI tract.You could also be having issues with the colon rather than just small bowel (bloating, gas and pain can be either SIBO or Functional bowel problems) and messing with the colon bacteria may be doing you as much good as treating the SIBO (and the colon bacteria I think come back faster, usually with SIBO there are several weeks to a few months for it to re-establish)If your breath test is normal that may mean it is colon bacteria rather than SIBO.One problem with a diet high in fresh fruits and veggies as those are foods that are often high on the gas producing end of the food spectrum.http://www.gicare.com/pated/edtgs12.htm has some info on that, as does I think Pimental's book.When you say no diarrhea or constipation do you mean all stools are normal in frequency and consistency. IBS doesn't require watery diarrhea or full on rabbit pellet constipation. Just you aren't quite normal. May be overly hard or overly soft/loose, or the frequency can be off (like 4 or more small movements that are normal in consistency but small).There are other functional bowel diseases so it could technically be Functional Bloating or Functional Chronic Abdominal Pain. However the treatments for any of the functional bowel diseases focuses on which symptom bothers you so the label isn't that big an issue as they'd treat the pain the same no matter which it is.It make take trying a couple of different probiotics to find one that works for you. Sometimes with dietary supplements there is variations in quality so it can take finding both one that actually has live bacteria as well as one that works for you.One thing that can reduce odor is Pepto Bismol. It can be constipating, but start at a low dose (like one a day) and see if that makes a difference (usually can take up to 8 per day and be OK based on the studies).K.


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## n0007917 (Mar 19, 2008)

Kathleen M. said:


> When you say no diarrhea or constipation do you mean all stools are normal in frequency and consistency. IBS doesn't require watery diarrhea or full on rabbit pellet constipation. Just you aren't quite normal. May be overly hard or overly soft/loose, or the frequency can be off (like 4 or more small movements that are normal in consistency but small).


yes I am as regular as clock work, every morning when I have my coffee and one more later in the day. it is regular consistancy, I would not consider it a problem. But then again, I'm no DR.I have actually been living on pepto bismol for a very long time now. It is the only thing besides the antibodic that gives me any relief. as for colon bacteria how would you test for that. My colonopscopy came back great. Everytime my Dr gives me the breath test for SIBO, it shows I have it again. Is there a treatment for colon bacteria?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There really isn't any test for colon bacteria.Usually the ones that may increase gas are totally normal residents, it just depends on which proportion of which ones you have how much total gas is produced (and what it smells like).I'm not even sure they can culture enough of them to do routine testing of what a patients flora looks like. (they do some research but that may not be what you could do routinely).Some people just have more gas producing bacteria than others, and knocking the whole population down a bit with an antibiotic may reduce gas production there just like the same antibiotic knocks back the SIBO.Probiotics sometimes help if you find the right one. They, by definition, do not produce gas when they digest carbs.The other strategy tends to be not feed them so much and I posted a link already for a flatus reduction diet.Sometimes they do things like treat with Erthromycin (which is an antibiotic at high doses but just speeds things up a low doses). I think Pimental has also used Zelnorm for that, but I'm not sure if you can get that right now for that purpose. He may have some stuff in his book about that.Do they always use the exact same antibiotic every single time? Maybe a different antibiotic might give a different amount of kill off so might give a bit more time between. Might not, but if it isn't killing off the bacteria that happen to be in your small intestine enough then it isn't the right one for you. Most classic SIBO (rather than the IBS as SIBO of Pimental) does mean the patient takes antibiotics several times a year to keep it knocked back. Often even if they do some treatment to keep things moving properly through the small intestine.K.


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## Patman75 (Mar 9, 2008)

I'm currently taking a supplement called BioClear by Bio-Botanical Research. It comes with a probiotic. Eventually the plan is to move on to another probiotic after using this for a few months.http://www.biobotanicalresearch.com/product_bioclear.htmOther supplementsDigestive enzymes to help improve digestion (you mentioned you are taking)Omega 3 fish oil pills as a natural anti-inflammatory. My quick storyhttp://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=94551


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## frantic1980 (Aug 21, 2016)

I wouldn't take pepto-bismol if you have SIBO.... The reason the small itestine is usually sterile (or almost sterile: less than 1000 bacteria per ml) is because of the acid there - digestion in the small intestine doesn't use bacteria, it uses acid. The acid helps to keep bacteria levels low. Pepto-bismol is an antacid - it will reduce the acidity of your small intestine and make it easy for bacteria to overgrow there.Although it might make you feel better short term, long term pepto-bismol won't help you get rid of your SIBO.


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## idph811 (Jun 30, 2011)

Check out the website www.siboibs.orgPretty good resource for all about SIBO.


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