I have suffering IBS for years but the last two years have been extreme. Could anyone tell me about SIBO? Not heard about it before

[dipsy14]

when I had to have antibiotics during Christmas for chest infection my symptoms improved. Could this be SIBO?

[Bevsy86]

SIBO is to do with the small intestine and I cannot find much on in. I did find webmd.boots.com/digestive-d.... If I was you I would go and discuss it with your GP as there could be many reasons for why the antibiotics also relieved your IBS symptoms.

[Hidden]

Hi,

A lot of people say their IBS symptoms clear up after a course of antibiotics taken for an unrelated complaint although nobody really seems to know why. I don't think this necessarily points to SIBO as, not only is a prolonged course of treatment involved in clearing it, a special diet must be followed too over the course of several months.

It's well worth asking your GP to refer you for a SIBO test though as many people actually have this rather than IBS - the symptoms are virtually the same. Most general hospitals provide this service on the NHS.

Roz

[dipsy14]

Thank you both - this is really helpful. I am just despairing because I have been off work for almost 2 years and want some form of life back and tried everything that I know of. Got to find an answer somewhere and for everyone else who has been suffering this debilitating condition!!

[Hidden in reply to dipsy14]

Hi again,

If you have IBS-D, you should also ask for a SeHCAT test to see whether you have bile acid malabsorption (BAM) instead. This also has exactly the same symptoms and, according to the latest research, accounts for 50% of misdiagnoses of IBS-D. Better still, it's an easily treatable condition.

Have you tried the FODMAPs diet?

Roz

[angbri in reply to Hidden]

Hi Roz, I have seen you on here a bunch. Is bam low stomach acid? I am the one who had high levels of sibo, re-tested & is gone. But still can't digest even rice. Well I tried taking the hcl tablets for stomach acid, I was taking the max because I didn't feel the "burn" in my stomach that your supose to feel, then you start backing off on the tablets. Well they made me ill & haven't taken them. So I know for sure I don't produce stomach acid, & I have low SIGA levels. Any input would be much appreciated

[Hidden in reply to angbri]

Hi angbri,

Glad you're keeping SIBO at bay at any rate, so many people don't know about this - or BAM, and our medics aren't well up on them either.

If you Google 'Professor Julian Walters', you'll find several sites about the research he's doing on BAM, there's a youtube clip as well. Better to read/hear it for yourself than have me try and explain it!

I don't have BAM all the time and only take cholestyramine when necessary, but it does work.

By doing FODMAPs I was able to find out my food triggers which are all of the polyols group plus a few extras which are low in FODMAPs and meant to be okay (must be an individual thing). One of those 'extras' is rice which comes out just as it goes in and in an almighty rush too, so wasn't surprised to read that you too can't digest it. Oats, blueberries, grapes and their derivatives also give me a lot of probs.

Hope this helps.

Roz

[mflint in reply to Hidden]

Great info. What happens to bile if gall bladder removed?

[dipsy14]

Hi Roz

Thanks for your reply - yes I did FODMAPS last year to no avail and it was difficult to stick to but because I was so hopeful it would help I stuck to it like glue. I was on that for over 6 months. Now I stick to foods I know wont overly aggravate which at least I can say Fodmaps helped with but I cut out so much and really no return. So reintroduced each food one at a time. Still made no difference.

I have IBS-C and got it really bad since yesterday and now so bloated cant do very much of anything!

[Hidden in reply to dipsy14]

I really do feel for you especially as you obviously worked so hard at FODMAPs but all to no avail.

Have you been tested for candida?

[dipsy14 in reply to Hidden]

No - how would I go about that? Not heard of Candida before when related to IBS? Gosh you have an awful lot of knowledge on the subject and so grateful for your reply.

[Hidden in reply to dipsy14]

If you keep coming back to this site and reading as many posts as poss, you'll also soon find yourself in possession of a great deal of knowledge about IBS. In my opinion, it's easily the best forum on the web, the people on here are just great.

Unfortunately, the medical profession in the UK doesn't recognise candida as an illness and, as far as I know, won't do tests for it. I had mine done privately at a German lab at this address: candidatest.co.uk. After you get your results (takes about 2 weeks), you can ring the microbiologist to discuss anything you're still not clear about.

It's a stool test and costs about £70.

Treatment is (yes, you've guessed it) a special diet, but it does work for anybody who tests positive for candida. I started to get an improvement in symptoms within about 3 weeks of starting it and continued with it until improvements levelled out after about 4 months. Had another test done at that point which showed all clear. I still had IBS, of course, but getting rid of candida reduced symptoms by about 30% overall.

I don’t think FODMAPs would have worked anything like so well for me if I hadn’t got rid of the candida beforehand.

The diet is quite straightforward, just miss out the following, taking care to check all food labels:

Prescription and OTC medication (unless essential for another condition).

Sugar.

All dairy (not just lactose-free).

Yeast.

All fruit for 1 month, then low-sugar fruits only.

Caffeine.

Fermented and fermentable foodstuffs e.g. vinegars.

Alcohol.

Best wishes,

Roz

[dipsy14 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Roz - you're a star and so helpful. Going to give this a go!

Dipsy

[Hidden in reply to dipsy14]

Do come back and let me know how you get on.

Roz

[angbri]

If you want info on Sibo, I did get tested & treated for that. I live in portland Oregon & the naturopathic college here does the testing for half the price, they could mail your dr the test. The antibiotic is super expensive, you can try Canada pharmacy or get with a naturopathic dr & do natural antibiotics which do work the same. If you have sibo you would take antibiotic, when done you take huge doses of probiotic & follow the low fodmap diet. You have to stay away from food that will feed the bad bacteria. I have had this for over 20years & I fee for you. Don't stop & don't take the typical "ibs" diagnosis for an answer.

[stwdiehl]

I had a question about your post angbri. Do you have health insurance and did it cover the price of your testing at the naturpathic college? Did you need to get a referral from a primary care doctor under your insurance? Did this antibiotic help clear your IBS problem long term?

[Kitty78]

Hi everyone, I have just joined thanks to reading the wealth of information from posts that I have read. I recently had the SIBO Breath test and in my understanding it measures levels of methane and hydrogen brought about by bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine. The test I had involved taking a control sample by taking a deep breath and holding for the count of 15 and then exhaling into a bag. The nurse took 2 syringes full of the breath in the bag. Then I had to drink a glucose solution and repeat the breath holding, exhaling into the bag every 15 minutes for 2 hours after drinking the solution. Frustratingly, my test results have come back indicating no bacterial overgrowth in my small intestine and I am slowly going mad. Aside from a proven diagnosis of lactose intolerance and avoidance of lactose, my symptoms haven't improved