# Have seen doctor at Cedars-Sinai ... still have questions



## 15652 (Apr 5, 2006)

Hello, I'm new to this board and thought it was fantastic that there was a SIBO specific one here. I'll try my best to make this brief. I see Dr. Soffer at Cedars Sinai GI Motility Program since I live near Los Angeles. I wish I could see Pimentel but I feel awkward asking to switch doctors now. I've taken breath tests with Soffer and have been diagnosed with SIBO. He gave me neomycin and another antibiotic which cut the bacteria down by half. But within a couple of months, symptoms were back just as bad as ever. I think the bacteria just come right back. Would have returned for further treatment but we had decided to start trying to get pregnant.Anyway, brief history: I've always had IBS with very chronic constipation my entire life. My GI system just doesn't move. Which is what has led to the SIBO. Also, starting in 2004, I've had three "attacks" about 6-8 months apart in which I just get terribly, terribly sick. I'm talking, laid out and can't even get up all day I feel so horrible. Think stomach virus combined with the flu. Symptoms include chronic fatique, total lack of appetite, weight loss, some diarrhea, vomiting from the horrible smell of it (I know that's gross but), bad stomach pain, etc. After a week or so, I'll start to feel better but then will have awful bloating for a few weeks after (the kind of bloating where you can push your stomach out and look 7 months pregnant). And of course the constipation is always there. The last attack was in December and I dread the next one.Soffer says that these attacks may not even be related to the SIBO but I don't know what else it could be. He says it could be viral or gastroenteritis but I get soooooo sick, and I know I'm not just getting some random virus. Each attack feels exactly the same! They are the same recurring attacks, I am positive. And my family never catches anything from me. My only guess is the bacteria in the small intestine get to proliferating too much, cross over into my system, and make me very ill. Soffer says he hasn't seen the SIBO cause attacks like this in his other patients ... that they have more ongoing symptoms. I also have ongoing symptoms (bloating all the time, chronic constipation, feeling full after not eating much, etc.) with the addition of these bad attacks occurring every few months.Do any of you have this kind of thing going on with your SIBO??? I talked with Soffer on the phone today and the problem right now is I'm 31 weeks pregnant. So I can't take antibiotics. If the attacks follow the same pattern, I'm due for the next one sometime this summer right when I'll have a newborn and a two year old. I can't imagine how terrible that will be. Just trying to keep up breast milk production while I'm so sick that I can't eat or even lift my head, let alone take care of the kids. I just want some answers and to see if anyone out there with SIBO is experiencing this. I'm just so frustrated. I might be able to take antibiotics while nursing the newborn should the next attack occur then but hate to do that with a newborn. I don't want to take chances with it going into breast milk. I feel like no doctor has an answer.Anyway, if ANYBODY can relate, that would be great. Thanks for the Pimentel book recommendation by the way. I'll have to read it.Jennifer


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## 23392 (Jan 31, 2006)

Not that this explains the attacks, [and I'd be inclined to trust you on the 'same feel, same attack' front--I think he should listen] but have you been checked out for stomach motility as well? I'd imagine so but worth asking.And, how about probiotics--did they recommend/give any after the antibiotics? You might want to check out that part of the site.I'm no real help, I suspect but just some ideas/questions for you to ask. The 8-month thing is very interesting. How exact is that?Things that shouldn't hurt while pregnant include the hypnosis tapes, and they do address motility. Likely there are others.


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## SteveE (Jan 7, 1999)

As I read your description it sounds similar to the way I used to feel before adjusting my diet. I found that a diet very similar to the one in the Pimentel book helps avoid the most serious attacks long before the book was ever even conceived.


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## 15652 (Apr 5, 2006)

Thanks for the replies so far. It's so nice to have others to talk with besides husband. He's very supportive but is probably tired of hearing it







In answer, I'm not sure what you mean by stomach motility but I have taken the Sitz marker test for GI motility. I retained just few enough markers to make me barely "normal" but on the slow side (I think it was six or seven left inside). I don't know what probiotics are but I'll check into it, thanks. And the timing between attacks is interesting, I agree. Three attacks total: 8 months between the first and second and 6 months between the second and third. And another interesting factor is there is always an "aftershock" sort of attack that has come each time exactly a month after the initial attack. They aren't as bad as the initial attacks so I call them aftershocks. Strange.I'm willing to give hypnosis a try, however I tried it out for the delivery of my first child and it didn't really work all that well for me. Thanks for the diet advice as well! I'm ordering Pimentel's book today and will check into it.


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