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Megasporebiotic - Has anyone tried this?

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Hi Everyone,

I have SIBO (Small intestine bacterial overgrowth) and my new Dr. recommended I try this probiotic,
I have tried several probiotics before such as PB8, VSL#3 and many others with no success... Just curious if anyone has tried this probiotic and if yes what was your experience with it?
Thanks
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
Actually just started on this along with several other things a few days ago per my functional med dr. Being treated for high methane sibo and yeast overgrowth. He also has me taking rifaximan for 3 months. Can't really tell you effectiveness or anything else atm but I haven't had any deleterious effects. Oh I'm also taking prescript assist everyday too. If you want a rundown on the whole protocol he has me on I can get back to you.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Actually just started on this along with several other things a few days ago per my functional med dr. Being treated for high methane sibo and yeast overgrowth. He also has me taking rifaximan for 3 months. Can't really tell you effectiveness or anything else atm but I haven't had any deleterious effects. Oh I'm also taking prescript assist everyday too. If you want a rundown on the whole protocol he has me on I can get back to you.

Thanks for your reply... I have the Methane type of SIBO as well.
3 months of rifaximan? I thought it was only suppose to be for 10 days... is he giving you any other antibiotics? How about Neomycin?
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
I did a 2 week round round of rifaximan and neomycin late last year per Dr Kaufman at OMI then was retested earlier this year and still had sibo so dr Kaufman had me do another round (2 weeks) of rifaximan and flagyl this time. In the meantime I had started to see a functional medicine dr and he sent me a table showing where depending on how high you levels of bacteria were (either methane or hydrogen) your course of treatment should be anywhere from 30 to 90 days. Mine is 90.

Additionally, he sent me study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24836868) showing that the generic rifaximan that we get out of the country on the cheap (well, cheaper lol, still quite pricy) isn't as effective because they don't have the same chemical makeup or react quite the same in our bodies or something can't remember). I had ordered mine through a Canadian pharmacy and it came from India. Luckily my insurance approved the xifaxin this time otherwise he said that he'd heard of a compounding pharmacy in Australia that made one for a 3rd of the u.s. Price that would work equally as well.

He has me on a very clean diet, had me quit all non absolutely essential meds and supplements for the 3 months we are treating this (sibo, yeast overgrowth, leaky gut) and has started me on the below as a combination protocol. With the xifaxin 3x a day but I've finished the flagyl:

OPTIONAL
  • Super Milk Thistle (Integrative Therapeutics)
  • Activated Charcoal (Integrative Therapeutics)
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
Need to note also that on several of the supplements (like the lauricidin and Interfase plus) that require a large amount at a time he has me titrating up a third of a dose every week.
I do take a milk thistle with breakfast and dinner and do the charcoal at bedtime (2 caps) and usually one other time in the day when I can squeeze it in on an empty stomach away from all other meds.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I did a 2 week round round of rifaximan and neomycin late last year per Dr Kaufman at OMI then was retested earlier this year and still had sibo so dr Kaufman had me do another round (2 weeks) of rifaximan and flagyl this time. In the meantime I had started to see a functional medicine dr and he sent me a table showing where depending on how high you levels of bacteria were (either methane or hydrogen) your course of treatment should be anywhere from 30 to 90 days. Mine is 90.

Additionally, he sent me study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24836868) showing that the generic rifaximan that we get out of the country on the cheap (well, cheaper lol, still quite pricy) isn't as effective because they don't have the same chemical makeup or react quite the same in our bodies or something can't remember). I had ordered mine through a Canadian pharmacy and it came from India. Luckily my insurance approved the xifaxin this time otherwise he said that he'd heard of a compounding pharmacy in Australia that made one for a 3rd of the u.s. Price that would work equally as well.

He has me on a very clean diet, had me quit all non absolutely essential meds and supplements for the 3 months we are treating this (sibo, yeast overgrowth, leaky gut) and has started me on the below as a combination protocol. With the xifaxin 3x a day but I've finished the flagyl:

OPTIONAL



    • Super Milk Thistle (Integrative Therapeutics)
    • Activated Charcoal (Integrative Therapeutics)

Thank you so much for posting.
I wonder how long I would need to be on xifaxin based on my test results.
My Methane reached 88 on the last interval (180th minute) . That was the highest it reached...
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
DURATION BASED ON ELEVATED METHANE

Methane level

Treatment Duration

<25 ppm highest value before 120 min. 30 Days

25-50 ppm highest value before 120 min. 60 Days

>50 ppm highest value before 120 min. 90 Days

Also, he said that if you can't get more rifaximan then add GI Synergy made by Apex Energetics 1 pack at breakfast and 1 pack at dinner.

Please note that this treatment plan was formulated for my specific circumstances by a medical dr and may not be suitable for everyone ;):thumbsup: Gotta cya lol
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
DURATION BASED ON ELEVATED METHANE



Also, he said that if you can't get more rifaximan then add GI Synergy made by Apex Energetics 1 pack at breakfast and 1 pack at dinner.

l

Thanks for this great and informative post.... I really wish I had a good Dr. here. I am going to go see my old Doctor from 3 years ago who tested me.... But most likely he will only give me rifaximan for only 10 days. I guess I can look at GI Synergy afterwards myself.
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
You're very welcome, hope you can find some relief. If you have access and the funds you might look into either a functional medicine dr it integrative dr.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
You're very welcome, hope you can find some relief. If you have access and the funds you might look into either a functional medicine dr it integrative dr.

I have been to at least 5 functional medicine Doctors in the last 3 years since my SIBO was discovered... For whatever reason, 3 of them wanted to treat the liver toxicity first.... and that does not work simply because
if I have SIBO, it means I have leaky gut and toxins are pouring into the blood from that area.... so detoxing the liver without addressing the SIBO first makes no sense(This has come evident to me after listening and wasting bunch of money on them).....The other 2 Doctors that actually realized they need to treat the gut first before anything else could not prescribe anti-biotics so they tried to use natural antibiotics which did nothing.. (At least with rifaximan I healed temporarily)

Anyways, yesterday I went and saw my old GI doctor whom discovered the SIBO 3 years ago... he said the science has improved a bit and now after they give the antibiotics for 10 or so days then they put the patient on a LDN(Low Dose Nalterxone) for several months... what this does is that it keeps the large intestine bacteria in the large instestine and prohibits it to crawl up to small intestine again and small intestine gets a chance to build itself back up again.... I also saw a post on the internet on a different site with someone saying this is the exact way they healed themselves from SIBO.... Anyways, the GI wants me to go to his office next week and take the Lactulose test again to see how much I have/have not changed since the last time... and getting the results will take a week and since I will be traveling for a few weeks I will probably not start on the Antibiotics until June.... Can't wait!

I would really appreciate it if you could post your progress as you stay on your protocol .. especially 3 months from now to see if the SIBO will really get eradicated with your Dr.'s method...
 
Last edited:

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I think this is the research study mentioned by Firefly_ but it only talks about the patients with SIBO-Hydrogen type which makes sense because rifaximan by itself is generally prescribed for the SIBO with Hydrogen and for the Methane type the drug that is combined with rifaximan is neomycin.. I could not find any research done on longer period of time to use on neomycin.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26028929
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
I have been to at least 5 functional medicine Doctors in the last 3 years since my SIBO was discovered... For whatever reason, 3 of them wanted to treat the liver toxicity first.... and that does not work simply because
if I have SIBO, it means I have leaky gut and toxins are pouring into the blood from that area.... so detoxing the liver without addressing the SIBO first makes no sense(This has come evident to me after listening and wasting bunch of money on them).....The other 2 Doctors that actually realized they need to treat the gut first before anything else could not prescribe anti-biotics so they tried to use natural antibiotics which did nothing.. (At least with rifaximan I healed temporarily)

Anyways, yesterday I went and saw my old GI doctor whom discovered the SIBO 3 years ago... he said the science has improved a bit and now after they give the antibiotics for 10 or so days then they put the patient on a LDN(Low Dose Nalterxone) for several months... what this does is that it keeps the large intestine bacteria in the large instestine and prohibits it to crawl up to small intestine again and small intestine gets a chance to build itself back up again.... I also saw a post on the internet on a different site with someone saying this is the exact way they healed themselves from SIBO.... Anyways, the GI wants me to go to his office next week and take the Lactulose test again to see how much I have/have not changed since the last time... and getting the results will take a week and since I will be traveling for a few weeks I will probably not start on the Antibiotics until June.... Can't wait!

I would really appreciate it if you could post your progress as you stay on your protocol .. especially 3 months from now to see if the SIBO will really get eradicated with your Dr.'s method...

I hope it works for you. I have been on LDN for almost a year and had been on it for several months before my 1st go around with rifaximan and neomycin and I still retested high. My FMD is in the camp of treat the gut before anything else then address the toxins. I am lucky that he can and will write for pharmacological drugs in combination with natural treatments. I believe a combination approach is the best. Also, he said that you want to keep the little buggies out and happy whilst you are killing them or they will basically hibernate and that's why he has me taking the guar gum.

I will try to remember this thread when the time comes! Let me know how u do.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I hope it works for you. I have been on LDN for almost a year and had been on it for several months before my 1st go around with rifaximan and neomycin and I still retested high. My FMD is in the camp of treat the gut before anything else then address the toxins. I am lucky that he can and will write for pharmacological drugs in combination with natural treatments. I believe a combination approach is the best. Also, he said that you want to keep the little buggies out and happy whilst you are killing them or they will basically hibernate and that's why he has me taking the guar gum.

I will try to remember this thread when the time comes! Let me know how u do.

Are you able to share your Functional Dr.'s name with us?
Is there any Doctors in CA that he can recommend which believe in the same school of thought as far as using rifaximan long term?
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I found a Dr. in CA who is suppose to use the same method (long term rifaximan) at least from what I could read on his web site..... I wonder if there is a main Doctor who is teaching all these other ones that this is the way to go.. if I can get a hold of that main Dr./teacher he might have a web site that can show all the Doctors that are educated in long term usage of rifaximan for Sibo and then I can find one close to me by doing searches on his/her web site.... The Dr. that I found is in Northern Cali and I am in Southern Cali so I still prefer to find someone closer... but at least if he writes prescriptions I think I should be fine since we are both in the same state .
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
I found a Dr. in CA who is suppose to use the same method (long term rifaximan) at least from what I could read on his web site..... I wonder if there is a main Doctor who is teaching all these other ones that this is the way to go.. if I can get a hold of that main Dr./teacher he might have a web site that can show all the Doctors that are educated in long term usage of rifaximan for Sibo and then I can find one close to me by doing searches on his/her web site.... The Dr. that I found is in Northern Cali and I am in Southern Cali so I still prefer to find someone closer... but at least if he writes prescriptions I think I should be fine since we are both in the same state .
Chris Kresser. He has podcasts you can listen to, books, and a practice in Berkeley if you can get in. If not he has been doing clinician training for outside practitioners (my dr has attended this).

My dr is in Oklahoma lol so that wouldn't help you, it's a miracle that I found him! Not a lot of this kind of thinking in my neck of the woods.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Chris Kresser. He has podcasts you can listen to, books, and a practice in Berkeley if you can get in. If not he has been doing clinician training for outside practitioners (my dr has attended this).

My dr is in Oklahoma lol so that wouldn't help you, it's a miracle that I found him! Not a lot of this kind of thinking in my neck of the woods.

I think Kresser is a Lac not a MD so he can't write prescriptions for pharmaceuticals although I am sure he works with many MDs and can refer the patient to them.
Today I heard back from the Doctor in northern Cali and he is booked till end of July.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Yeah, if I remember right he does referrals for that. I'm fortunate that I have 1 stop shopping lol.

Today I went and did my Lactolose test again... Oddly enough I did not get bloated with a headache afterwards like
I did 3 years ago... I wonder if being on Paleo and HCL w/Pepsin with food has helped... I also noticed they changed the company that they used to get their test kits from... Today they used Common Wealth... 3 years ago they had used QuinTron.
Any idea which company they used for your test?
 

Firefly_

Senior Member
Messages
235
Location
Oklahoma, USA
I got my kit from the sibo center out of umm Seattle I think. You can google it. dr Kaufman at OMI ordered it for me. My FMD uses a different brand but I think they are all pretty standard
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I got my kit from the sibo center out of umm Seattle I think. You can google it. dr Kaufman at OMI ordered it for me. My FMD uses a different brand but I think they are all pretty standard
If they are all the same then I think maybe I should have stopped the HCL+Pepcin a week before testing... My GI Doc. said it was okay as long as I stopped the Probiotics which I did... My GI doesn't know much about supplements though... But in anycase, I guess if HCL+Pepcin can really reduce the test results that much then I will stay on it.. I am just so much more comfortable with it.