SIBO and functional medicine Practitioner

[Halfwayuphill]

I’ve posted this on the Lupus forum as I have UCTD with Scleroderma symptoms but thought may be appropriate here too. I have posted before about SIBO and how I’ve recently been trying to deal with it. After having 2 three week courses of antibiotics as Professor Denton suggested, and some antibiotics for UTI’s which I seem to get alongside, I am having more days without symptoms and the attacks are shorter now. However, I am still not putting on lost weight and it is difficult when you are avoiding sugar and certain grains. I must admit I don’t know about anyone else but my head is spinning with the various diets for SIBO. It seems that only eating sourdough and giving up sugar is helping though. I am consider seeing a Functional Medicine Practitioner as they seem to get good results for SIBO and are not averse to taking antibiotics and they work out a whole treatment plan through diet and digestive enzymes etc. ( I personally do not know where to start with those!). I’ve found one fairly close who works alongside a GP and several London hospitals but it’s not cheap. As part of the package you have a 90 minute consultation with their resident GP and 90 minutes with the functional person. They then work out a plan. I think, bearing in mind it might give me the confidence to book holidays, make commitments etc again it might be worth it. My question is has anyone on this forum consulted a Functional Practitioner and if so was it helpful?

The other question I have is as the NHS will not approve Rifaximine we are advised to take alternative three week courses of Ciprofloxacin and Metronidazole which I have done but my GP has told me he will no longer prescribe Ciprofloxacin for me anymore as it causes nervous system and reflex problems. Has anyone had problems too?

Sorry this is a bit long.

Thanks for reading!