It’s been half a year since I shared the last SIBO update with you. Shame on me!

Time sometimes seems to fly by so quickly that I don’t even realize it’s been that long. Unfortunately, I still suffer a lot from stomach complaints. The SIBO updates are now becoming a bit of an overview of all kinds of things that didn’t work.

But I still want to share them with you, because who knows, you might find them useful in your own search for fewer IBS or SIBO complaints.

In the previous update, I told you that I was going to try intermittent fasting. However, we soon discovered that this did not affect my complaints. So I stopped doing that.

In addition, on the advice of my dietician, I started taking berberine supplements in combination with chlorella with my meals. This did have some impact on my complaints.

I suffer a lot from a bloated feeling and I get a lot of intestinal problems immediately after meals. These supplements seemed to reduce that somewhat.

I would like to add that I do not recommend taking supplements on your own. I recommend doing this only on the advice of a doctor or dietician.

An antibiotics treatment

A while ago I was talking to my dietician and we came to the conclusion that nothing we tried until now had been working to improve my symptoms. So the conversation came back to using antibiotics in the treatment of SIBO.

I always prefer to use as little medication as possible and I prefer not to take antibiotics if it is not necessary, but I was also getting a little discouraged by how little effect I noticed on my symptoms.

In America, antibiotics are regularly used in the treatment of SIBO. The most commonly used type of antibiotic is Xifaxan or Rifaximin.

This is a type of antibiotic that does not have much effect on the bacteria in the large intestine and that reduces the chance of other intestinal complaints.

This treatment does not work for everyone and there is also a risk that the SIBO will return after a while and a new treatment will be necessary. But this is the most commonly used treatment at the moment.

Here in the Netherlands, SIBO is still relatively unknown and so are treatment methods for SIBO. My dietician wrote a recommendation for my GP with the request to prescribe Rifaximin.

She did indicate immediately that the GP must also be willing to try this. Rifaximin is not considered a treatment for SIBO in the Netherlands, so it is possible that not every GP will want to do this.

Talking with my doctor

I really hoped that the GP would want to give this a try, because I didn’t really know what to do next.

But when I went to the GP, she immediately said that she wasn’t familiar with SIBO and that she therefore didn’t want to prescribe antibiotics just like that.

Which I also understand very well, because I wouldn’t just prescribe antibiotics for something I don’t know. But I was disappointed.

She was also very understanding and wanted to see if she could help me further and suggested a stool test.

I didn’t expect much from that, because I had already done that once about 1.5 years ago and nothing had come of it. But I agreed to try this again.

However, nothing came of the test.

Fortunately, the GP suddenly came back to me and suggested asking the gastroenterologist whether he/she was familiar with this treatment method so that she could get advice from there about prescribing the antibiotics.

The GI doctor confirmed that it was possible to try a Rifaximin treatment to see if that would have any effect on my symptoms. So I was prescribed the antibiotics after all.

What’s next?

I now have the antibiotics at home and I have discussed the treatment with my dietician. I am going on holiday to America this month and I did not think it was a good idea to start the antibiotics just before my holiday.

The treatment lasts 2 weeks and can also cause some intestinal complaints. In addition, it is also important to pay attention to what you eat after the treatment, to make the treatment as effective as possible.

That is why I did not feel comfortable starting just before my holiday, especially because I have less control over what I eat on holiday than at home.

That is why I am going to have a nice holiday first and I will start the antibiotic treatment in early October.

I am very curious to see how the treatment will go. I do not dare to hope that it will have an effect, because I have been disappointed too often recently. But I am positive about it.

I will definitely keep you informed about how my antibiotic treatment goes!