bertiedog
Senior Member
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- 1,743
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- South East England, UK
About 3-4 weeks ago I did a 10 day course of 400 mg Rimfaximin (from inhousepharmacy) x 3 daily. Apart from a bit of dizziness and some headaches it seemed very easy to tolerate. I took this because for quite a few years now I would have a feeling of permanent rolling around just under my ribcage very quickly after eating anything and I never knew how my bowel habit would be on any one day.
I duly had the Genova GI Effects 3 day stool test before treatment and this showed up nil lactobacillus, 4th quintile E-coli, and 2nd quartile for Bifodobacteria plus 4+Citrobacter freundi. I also had low diversity but low infection, low inflammation, low insufficiency and medium imbalance in short chain fatty acids.
So putting this altogether and after watching many You Tube videos on SIBO plus reading very many sources, I felt that I did have a problem with this going on because of my symptoms (a tendency to constipation alternating with very loose bowels for no reason). Hence me ordering the Rimfaximin.
One interesting and not very pleasant thing happened for almost a week immediately after completing the course of this specific antibiotic. I developed an unusual gut infection that made me feel dreadful. I had a strong pain across my back and could hardly take a breath (never suffer with anything like this) and also my gut was bloated and rumbling and rolling. The pain across the back went away later that evening but I was feeling dreadful for nearly a week with the gut bloating and generally feeling very ill. I had very unusual bowels at that time, sometimes needing a suppository and then whoosh where did all that come from!
It all ended up with a bladder infection which had been hanging around for several weeks but wasn't causing too many symptoms previously and I needed 5 days of Azithromycin to get me right. I responded within 24 hours to this. Naturally I hadn't wanted to take an antibiotic but my symptoms were so bad with peeing every half an hour plus this massive bloating and pain in my abdomen I knew I needed to. It all came to a head on the Friday evening when I realised what was happening and why I was so unwell. My GP gives me the Azithro to have at home incase I need it relatively quickly because I am steroid dependent with a poor immune system but I never take it unless I absolutely have to.
After the Azithro I began to feel much better and my gut is hugely improved. I don't have the bugs partying under my ribs anymore and I am tolerating more fibre in my diet which I am trying to achieve having read The Good Gut by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg (You tube videos are good). They explain that if you eat a limited diet regarding complex carbs then you aren't able to feed the good bacteria that are needed to crowd out the bad guys (like Citrobacter). I have eaten a lowish carb diet for 10 years but always had vegetables daily and just a tiny amount of berries. I haven't eaten bread, rice or potatoes during that time.
I started off taking 1 teaspoon of psyllium husks in the morning and with a drink during my evening meal and have also upped the ground flax seeds that I add to yoghurt twice daily. Today I made a homemade soup of lentils and other legumes together with vegetables and a tin of tomatoes. I used my NutriBullet to break the soup up to a thick consistency still with some small bits in it. I was dubious of how my gut would be but it's been fine. I have to keep an eye on my blood sugar because of the 6mg Prednisolone I have to take daily but it has been ok so far.
In addition to the above I took a 7 day Intensive Probiotic from Biocare after the Rimfaximin and now have moved over to 2grams daily of their Acidopholous powder. Both these contain FOS but I have been fine with it. I have also started taking one Lipase with each meal because I had a bit of a problem with not digesting fats too well (slightly orange stools sometimes). I was already taking betaine hcl and a digestive enzyme but now my stools look a normal colour.
The constipation hasn't gone but is improved, I just take more magnesium citrate as needed. I think I do have a motility problem which can occur after one has had severe food poisoning which I had in 1998 (Camplybactor). The loose bowels have gone for the time being so I have to say I am very pleased as how things are going and I hope that sorting my gut out as best as I can will also have a beneficial effect on the very frequent migraines/headaches that I get (the gut brain axis is explained well in the book). I thought it might be helpful to others out there who are suffering with IBS like symptom to know about the Rimfaximin (not called that in the US btw).
Pam
I duly had the Genova GI Effects 3 day stool test before treatment and this showed up nil lactobacillus, 4th quintile E-coli, and 2nd quartile for Bifodobacteria plus 4+Citrobacter freundi. I also had low diversity but low infection, low inflammation, low insufficiency and medium imbalance in short chain fatty acids.
So putting this altogether and after watching many You Tube videos on SIBO plus reading very many sources, I felt that I did have a problem with this going on because of my symptoms (a tendency to constipation alternating with very loose bowels for no reason). Hence me ordering the Rimfaximin.
One interesting and not very pleasant thing happened for almost a week immediately after completing the course of this specific antibiotic. I developed an unusual gut infection that made me feel dreadful. I had a strong pain across my back and could hardly take a breath (never suffer with anything like this) and also my gut was bloated and rumbling and rolling. The pain across the back went away later that evening but I was feeling dreadful for nearly a week with the gut bloating and generally feeling very ill. I had very unusual bowels at that time, sometimes needing a suppository and then whoosh where did all that come from!
It all ended up with a bladder infection which had been hanging around for several weeks but wasn't causing too many symptoms previously and I needed 5 days of Azithromycin to get me right. I responded within 24 hours to this. Naturally I hadn't wanted to take an antibiotic but my symptoms were so bad with peeing every half an hour plus this massive bloating and pain in my abdomen I knew I needed to. It all came to a head on the Friday evening when I realised what was happening and why I was so unwell. My GP gives me the Azithro to have at home incase I need it relatively quickly because I am steroid dependent with a poor immune system but I never take it unless I absolutely have to.
After the Azithro I began to feel much better and my gut is hugely improved. I don't have the bugs partying under my ribs anymore and I am tolerating more fibre in my diet which I am trying to achieve having read The Good Gut by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg (You tube videos are good). They explain that if you eat a limited diet regarding complex carbs then you aren't able to feed the good bacteria that are needed to crowd out the bad guys (like Citrobacter). I have eaten a lowish carb diet for 10 years but always had vegetables daily and just a tiny amount of berries. I haven't eaten bread, rice or potatoes during that time.
I started off taking 1 teaspoon of psyllium husks in the morning and with a drink during my evening meal and have also upped the ground flax seeds that I add to yoghurt twice daily. Today I made a homemade soup of lentils and other legumes together with vegetables and a tin of tomatoes. I used my NutriBullet to break the soup up to a thick consistency still with some small bits in it. I was dubious of how my gut would be but it's been fine. I have to keep an eye on my blood sugar because of the 6mg Prednisolone I have to take daily but it has been ok so far.
In addition to the above I took a 7 day Intensive Probiotic from Biocare after the Rimfaximin and now have moved over to 2grams daily of their Acidopholous powder. Both these contain FOS but I have been fine with it. I have also started taking one Lipase with each meal because I had a bit of a problem with not digesting fats too well (slightly orange stools sometimes). I was already taking betaine hcl and a digestive enzyme but now my stools look a normal colour.
The constipation hasn't gone but is improved, I just take more magnesium citrate as needed. I think I do have a motility problem which can occur after one has had severe food poisoning which I had in 1998 (Camplybactor). The loose bowels have gone for the time being so I have to say I am very pleased as how things are going and I hope that sorting my gut out as best as I can will also have a beneficial effect on the very frequent migraines/headaches that I get (the gut brain axis is explained well in the book). I thought it might be helpful to others out there who are suffering with IBS like symptom to know about the Rimfaximin (not called that in the US btw).
Pam