Sorry to hear about how bad your SIBO has been. Is it possible to improve SIBO through probiotics? The theory confuses me - if it's overgrowth of bacteria in the SI, how does it help to bung some more in there?
Have you had treatment for the h. pylori?
How do you know it's die-off? That is, a good thing rather than a bad thing?
When I started taking resistant starch (both times, with a long gap in between), my OI just gradually improved and I wasn't aware of any side-effects. I was taking the highest dose of 4 tbsp/day (apparently, beyond that, it's more than your good bugs can absorb) but I wonder if, with these probiotics, a long-term low dose that doesn't provoke symptoms is better.
I wish I knew!
My ME is severe so thanks for the advice to take just a tablet a day to start with.
Sorry, I'm asking a lot of questions! I've read up on SIBO lately in case that's what I've got but it won't stay in my head.
All good questions,
@Sasha, with no clear-cut answers in my book.
Regarding SIBO and probiotics, standard LAB probiotics you buy in a shop will of course tend to make it worse by contributing to the overgrowth. C butyricum isn't just some probiotic, it's a very unique species amongst those available commercially in that it's a butyrate producing anaerobe and a TLR4 antagonist. Butyrate beneficially influences pretty much every key process in your body, directly or indirectly. One would hope that by creating more favourable conditions in the entire GI tract and normalising the autonomic nervous system, SIBO will improve due to improved bacterial ecology and gut motility.
Regarding treatment for H. pylori, I did try the triple therapy a few years ago... for a day. The reaction to antibiotics esp. clarithromycin was severe. As I'm sure you are well aware of the perverse situation where the sicker we get with ME, the LESS we are able to tolerate treatments normal people can take to deal with these issues. Aggressive antibiotic treatments years ago caused my illness in the first place by wiping out large important parts of my microbiome so I'm stuck with my friend H. pylori for now.
Regarding die-off, one can never be quite sure but the chills, tachycardia, lymphatic pain, nausea, GI upset have in the past always occurred with various effective gut interventions.
It's very interesting and unusual that you have been able to tolerate 4 tablespoons of RS with severe ME. Most here get massive reactions from a fraction of that dose. I have heard of two other ME patients with zero reaction to RS. To my mind, lack of any die-off probably indicates it's not working. You can't displace pathogens in the gut without getting some symptoms, that seems impossible.