Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

Hi Karen, You might want to do some research on Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). That's what I had before I had this overgrowth problem with Candida. SIBO and Candida are very similar because I think they both involve "Leaky Gut"..

With SIBO I had that gurgling sound you mentioned in the lower right hand side, (cecum) whenever I massaged that area. Sometimes I could hear it as I just lay in bed at night. It was loud! I had bloating and gas and the smell from my lower "emissions" was quite caustic. The smell from Candida die-off is nice by comparison.. :)

SIBO is a new diagnosis and is recognized in the western medical community although most doctors don't know about it (and don't seem to want to know about it.) It can be detected with a hydrogen breath test and the only clinic I know that has an established protocol is Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles -- their G.I. Motility Clinic there.

Here's an article they wrote about SIBO: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/digestive-health/ZaidelArticle.pdf

Their treatment is rather severe and I don't recommend it but I must say that it worked for me. I took the Antibiotic Cipro for 12 days and simultaneously "fasted" for 2 to 3 weeks. Then you are supposed to follow the Candida restricted diet for months. I didn't remember the Candida part and after consuming cookies and bread and rice got full-force Candida -- I'm sure it was a problem even before but I'm guessing the bad bacteria was keeping it in check.. who knows? The medical food I was consuming during the fast(called Vivonex)contained Aspartame in the Flavorpac's you have to add to be able to drink the stuff. (It is meant for intravenous tube feeding and is VILE to drink without the "flavoring".) I couldn't afford to lose any more weight and this so-called "elemental diet" of pre-digested food allowed me to consume enough calories in the form of amino acids to maintain my weight. I don't recommend Vivonex and would have to check to what better options exist...

Anyway, after 3 weeks of that madness, all my digestive problems have gone away except that if I eat starch or sugars etc. I get extremely exhausted and depressed now due to the Candida overgrowth. I had gas and bloating in the die-off period but it was nothing compared to the gas and bloating I had when I had the bacterial overgrowth. With SIBO just about any food was impossible to digest.

A good over all book is "Digestive Wellness" by Lipski and the other book that helped me a lot was "I Was Poisoned By My Body" by Gilbere. The products they recommend helped me especially the powered food-supplement called "BioInflammatoryPlus" by BioGenesis.

Since the Antibiotics and the fast I haven't noticed any of that miserable gurgling sound, even in the worst stages of the die-off. (I'd better add here that I KNOW Antibiotics are awful -- in fact an accident and an over prescription of the things is what started this whole thing for me.) It's just that my digestive problems kept getting worse and worse and worse over about 3 months and I was losing so much weight because I couldn't absorb any food. When I finally got painful shingles all over my torso and back I became really scared and tried the crazy therapy I mentioned above. Again I don't recommend it -- you should look into SIBO and Leaky Gut though...

Warm regards, ~Robin