SIBO Update

I changed functional medicine doctors and now have a new doctor with Parsley Health. I prepared myself for the high costs of functional medicine, testing, and supplements by contributing more to my HSA to at least use tax-free dollars. Almost nothing is covered by regular insurance, which is a clear sign our healthcare system is broken. I cannot get healthcare through conventional doctors and means so it took me on a journey to figure things out for myself. After several years I'm now settling in to functional medicine as it is starting to undo the web and layers of pain.

Last fall my doctor prescribed me Flagyl (metronidazole) in combination with Xifaxan to clear my SIBO which caused most if not all of the bloating I was feeling at the time. I couldn't handle the cost of Xifaxan ($500 out of pocket) and my gut told me that it wasn't going to be extremely beneficial anyway due to my past experience with it so I only took Flagyl for 14 days. I finished the antibiotic in November 2019.

It took only 1-2 weeks to notice a change in my GI system. I had a trip to Europe for work early December and a lot of the food there is just wheat bread on top of wheat bread. So I challenged my stomach and ate everything I could with minimal side effects.

It's now 4 months after the antibiotic and I still have little to no bloating, which means the SIBO likely cleared. My new doctor retested for SIBO in February 2020 and here are the results:

I had 53 ppm of CH4 in November 2019 and now it's at the cutoff of 10 ppm CH4. This means most of the bacterial overgrowth from the small intestine is cleared. Clinically, I feel much better and do not experience bloating after I eat anymore.

I do still experience some gas and poor bowel movement especially when I'm eating higher FODMAP foods. So, I will start to reintroduce some high FODMAP foods for my stomach to begin to get used to it. Additionally, after a whole host of other blood work done to see vitamin levels, hormone levels, chemistry/hematology, antigens,... the list goes on and on. My doctor and I discussed all of the results and the key takeaways are that I have intestinal permeability/leaky gut, still have IBS, and my body isn't absorbing all the nutrients from the food I eat. At least now I don't have SIBO on top of that too.

I will soon start new supplements to balance vitamin levels, balance my gut bacteria, and restore my gut lining (to fix leaky gut). I also have to change my diet - this seems to never end. Wheat/gluten free. Dairy free. Both those are actually not a big problem for me as I have had success doing this in the past. The most difficult one that I don't think I can actually achieve is... sugar free.

Based on all the test results from the blood work performed, I was prescribed the following supplements:

• Vitamin B-Complex - I am deficient in a couple vitamin Bs
• Vitamin D3/K2 - A bit deficient in Vitamin D
• SBI Protect - I have some inflammation so this IgG is meant to bind to microbes and toxins in my GI tract to reduce inflammation
• GI Synergy - to support intestinal membranes/tight junctions of my GI tract
• MegaSporeBiotic - helps to balance my gut bacteria. Includes different strains of Bacillus.
• Phosphatidylcholine (PC) - helps to restore cell membranes

Let's see how this goes!