Brief overview: I think the product helped me significantly, although it was far from a miracle cure for all my symptoms. I have a diagnosis of IBS with a hiatus hernia.
Atrantil is a herbal medication devised by an American gastroenterologist interested in SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). It is designed to reduce the number of archaea in the small intestine. Archaea are small life forms that can live in our bodies, just like bacteria can; it's normal and healthy to have some of them inside. There's lots more information on them in this article ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... in case you're interested. The article says that studies have tried to find a link between IBS and archaea, but unsuccessfully so far. However, the makers of Atrantil have published a couple of small studies showing their product has very good results (see atrantil.com/ for more details), and they seem to be marketing it for anyone with excess gas, whether they've got SIBO, IBS-C or IBS-D or none of these. One thing you may find confusing is that the makers of Atrantil refer to archaea as archaebacteria (sometimes) or more often just call them bacteria. In fact, till recently they were classified as bacteria (according to Wikipedia), but now they are in a category of their own. So I guess the manufacturers are trying to use as simple a message as possible in their marketing information, but when I showed the bottle to my gastroenterologist she looked at the ingredients and said "There's no antibiotic in there!" so I was glad I'd understood all the different terms so I could discuss it intelligently.
The company offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, but I believe it's only relevant if you live in the USA and buy the product directly from them. It's expensive - the cheapest source I could find for it was detoxpeople.eu/index.php?l=... at £100 for 2 bottles ie. a month's supply. The recommended course is 2 capsules 3 times a day, with results expected usually in 7-10 days but sometimes up to 30 days. What they don't say anywhere on the website but it says in the fine print when you get the product is that they recommend you eat a low-carb diet while taking it, for best results. This was a bit of an issue for me as I am vegetarian and also was reacting at least mildly to almost anything I ate, so devising a low-carb diet was daunting. When I asked them how important the low-carb diet was they weren't able to give me any facts or figures, but I decided to try it anyhow. As a result I can't guarantee the improvements I experienced were from the medication and not from the low-carb diet. What I can say though is that the low-carb diet disagreed with me both in terms of gut symptoms and also I was very tired while on it, and within 2 days of going back to my previous diet at the end of the month's trial, my energy was back to as good as it gets. I was eating plenty of proteins and fat, so according to the proponents of low-carb/palaeo diets, I should have been getting enough energy from those, but I do have long-term issues with low energy, so I don't blame the diet alone for my month in bed as there are certainly other factors involved.
I noticed fairly early on in the month that I was able to eat half a dozen spears of asparagus without a reaction, whereas previously I had reacted to just one or two and had given them up. But I was getting enough symptoms generally that I wasn't sure if it was just a blip. At the end of the month, I dropped the low-carb diet but decided to carry on a little longer with the Atrantil at a higher dose - they say a few people have written to tell them they were helped by a longer course than 30 days, or by taking 3 capsules per meal instead of 2. I carried on for another week or two, and noticed I was now able to eat a whole peach at a time without a reaction whereas previously I had reacted to that; and although I definitely still reacted to some foods, I was reacting a lot less easily and often than I had been.
The makers suggest it's a good idea to keep taking a maintenance dose of the product at a low level to prevent problems recurring. I decided to try not doing that, as it's so expensive. So far, I still think I'm doing much better than before I took the Atrantil. I've also taken a course of antibiotics recently, to see whether I might have SIBO rather than IBS, and I don't think they helped at all, although it did inspire me to eat a lot of lactofree yogurt to help restock my gut flora, and I mixed up some muesli made with dried sprouted buckwheat instead of oats to eat with it, which I've been really enjoying. So I remain confused about what's wrong with my digestion, but am giving Atrantil a hesitant thumbs-up. I have tried quite a few different remedies now, and the only ones that have helped me at all with my digestive troubles are avoiding particular foods, and Atrantil (eating sprouted buckwheat regularly seems to help somewhat with my energy levels, but it gives me gas like most other foods and more than some). I haven't tried Silicolgel yet, that's probably next on the list; Buscopan didn't seem to help although it's a long time since I tried it and I've got worse since then, and I stopped taking peppermint oil after a few days because I thought it was actually making me worse. I know a lot of people find those helpful! So we're all different and many of you might find Atrantil isn't any good for you.. this is just my experience and I hope someone finds this useful. I know I've found other peoples' experience and suggestions on here extremely helpful - it's frustrating that there are so many things to try and so many don't help, but it's also wonderful that there are so many possible remedies to try and that we can keep hoping we'll find the one that works for us.
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Does anyone have SIBO and IBS?
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