# Sick of SIBO



## XxJustMexX (Dec 11, 2008)

I am a 24 year old female that has had "tummy issues" since before I could walk. I would eat and would have to run to the bathroom. At the age of 14 I saw my first GI. I was told (magically I suppose because she never ran many tests on me) that I had IBS. I was told to just increase my fiber intake. I did that for awhile and some days I would be ok, but I still had to run to the bathroom most days. Around the age of 19 or 20, things started to look up. Or so I thought. I was having normal BM's and less running to the bathroom. I was only getting diarrhea once or twice a week which was amazing to me. But then I was getting terrible gas and bloating. I cut out gluten thinking it might be celiacs. I finally had a biopsy (I went back on the gluten before the test) and it was negative. Finally I went to a new GI who tested me for SIBO and BINGO! I finally had a REAL diagnosis but no hope in sight. She said we could do antibiotics but it probably wouldn't work. I tried them (i forget the name of it) and it helped a bit, but once they were done, so was I. I know some people go the antibiotic route, but staying on them is dangerous no? Does anyone have any recommendations? I feel fine (normal BM's, hardly any gas and no bloating) when I really restrict my diet. Coffee, table sugar, oatmeal, rice based cereal, bananas, rice, meat. Im sure anyone could see why eating just these things would be bad. Not healthy and boring so I tend to go off on binges of "bad food" that I crave. Any suggestions? Specific brands of probiotics? Foods? I really appreciate any help


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## IBD/IBS Author (May 24, 2007)

My GI desperately wants to test me for SIBO for since most SIBO tests are only 60% correct and the only treatment options GIs give are antibiotics I've said, NO. I've had IBD & IBS for 10+ years but severe gas and bloating for just the past 4 months. I don't have Celiac - been tested - but find that going gluten-free does help along with taking digestive enzymes before meals, ginger in the middle of a meal (you can get ginger pills or crystallized ginger or chewy ginger) and probiotics - 1 b'fast and 1 with dinner. A good probiotic is one that is 1. refrigerated to keep the bacteria alive; 2. has a freshness date on the bottle; and 3. has at least 5 billion live organisms that are a combination of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. Whole foods has good quality probiotics as do health food stores that are now in most cities. Also, if you weren't tested for other things like IBD before being given your IBS Dx, then you weren't properly diagnosed. IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion - meaning, only after all other possible GI problems have been ruled out is an IBS diagnosis settled on. You may want to find a better GI, if you can. And, as hard as I know it is, especially at your age, if you have SIBO things like sugar just feed the bad gut bacteria. So really try to stay away from it as best as you can. Good luck,Elizabeth


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## IanRamsay (Nov 23, 2008)

HiProbiotics also come in extremely good varietys that arnt refrigerated. some of the strongest probiotics come in powdered form with a shelf stable life in normal temperatures of about 6 - 10 months. the refrigerated versions are "fresher" but are very unstable during transport where breaks in the refrigeration chains of more than 40 minutes can degrade the contents. if you buy the refrigerated type, do it right at the end of your shopping trip so the time that they are out of teh fridge is as short as possible. cheersIan


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## faze action (Aug 6, 2009)

Hi there.I don't know if you have tried this already, but you may want to experiment with eliminating dairy from your diet. I tried this back in January with no improvement, but that was before I saw the GI and was diagnosed with SIBO (via a breath test). I subsequently went on ABs (rifaximin) and they cured the SIBO, but I have been having a slow recurrence of symptoms since then. I am probably going to try eliminating dairy again for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference, since some people's symtoms seem aggaravated by that food group.Just a thought...


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## IanRamsay (Nov 23, 2008)

its largely because dairy is like steroids for bacteria.Ian


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## nw0528 (Apr 17, 2009)

IBD/IBS Author said:


> taking digestive enzymes before meals, Good luck,Elizabeth


Elizabeth,I'm curious...what is a digestive enzyme? What are some brand names of these that I might see in the store?Thank you!Nicole


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## faze action (Aug 6, 2009)

Bacteria on steroids huh? (not an encouraging thought)









> Hi there.I don't know if you have tried this already, but you may want to experiment with eliminating dairy from your diet. I tried this back in January with no improvement, but that was before I saw the GI and was diagnosed with SIBO (via a breath test). I subsequently went on ABs (rifaximin) and they cured the SIBO, but I have been having a slow recurrence of symptoms since then. I am probably going to try eliminating dairy again for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference, since some people's symtoms seem aggaravated by that food group.Just a thought...


Well, anyway just a quick update to say that I don't think dairy is a trigger for me... for some strange reason I was virtually symptom-free two weeks ago while I was eating dairy. I quit eating dairy for a week and my symptoms are now back, so I don't think dairy is the culprit (at least in my case). I was keeping a food diary for about 3 months, but have quit because there doesn't seem to be any direct correlation between what I eat and the IBS attacks.


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