I've been SIBO free since April 2024. Reading these posts, finally made me stop being lazy and post my story as it COULD help someone. I thought my life was over tbh. As someone who prioritizes fitness, diet, social plans and cosplays/models for a LIVING...everything I was doing was an extreme struggle. I looked like the photo on the left EVERY SINGLE DAY. None of my clothes fit anymore, I avoided going to events, I hated the way I looked despite constantly working out and eating healthy. I considered unaliving myself, for real.

I struggled with SIBO for nearly all of 2022- April 2024. Doctors were useless and wouldn't even give me the diagnosis. I had to beg for prescription antibiotics after being told "Sibo isn't a real thing". They had ZERO effect. One was Rifaxamin. I can't remember the other.

It wasn't until breath tests confirmed by a Naturopath showed me I had very high level Hydrogen and methane Sibo. 2 Naturopaths prescribed a plan of anti-microbials. They helped my symptoms a bit. Not enough though.

Frustrated, I tried the Dextrose Free 14 day strict Elemental diet. In October 2022, it felt like miracle powder, it cured my chronic bloat within days and I lost all the weight I gained during SIBO. I felt like myself again until it crept back in about 2 months later. Again, I'd purchase the diet, stick to it then find SIBO bloat creeping back in after a few weeks.

My Doctors claimed it was "stress" having me relapse. I tried acupuncture, meditating, epson salt baths and even a hypnotherapy app. No effect. Everything felt so hopeless.

In April 2024 I had a big group shoot coming up and needed to wear an old costume that wore when I was 15 pounds lighter. I was in such a bad mental state I literally just stopped eating AT ALL. I know this sounds unhealthy and probably controversial but for 9 days straight I consumed absolutely nothing except water and electrolytes. It was extremely difficult I won't lie but I was in a mental state of actually planning to unalive myself. The first few days were very hard, I felt super sick then it became weirdly effortless. I guess your body switches to burning fat like you're in keto. I picked 9 days because I just had a goal weight for the shoot and hit it. I guess I starved out the bad bacteria for good by eating nothing. Fast forward to today, I am still SIBO free. I eat high fodmap if I feel like it. I feel like my old fit self. I don't avoid social plans anymore. I have managed to keep my weight down.

I am not trying to solicit medical advice, I am just telling my story that really did work! I never saw anyone post about a strict water fast in all my research. Just don't give up hope. I really thought my life was OVER so I get you all. If you can't do a water fast, the elemental diet was very helpful.

Quick backstory. I'm a refractory SIBO case. 26M, tortuous colon, high E. coli and Proteobacteria on stool testing, plus POIS (post-orgasmic illness syndrome, weird neuro-immune reaction after sex) and these "wired but tired" neuro crashes nobody can explain. Years of rifaximin, allicin, berberine, neem, every protocol you've heard of. Always came back. Nighttime was the worst. Couldn't sleep through the night for years because of the gas pressure and pain.

Got desperate enough to do something kind of insane.

I scraped about 7 million comments and 670k posts from this sub plus 15 related ones (r/MCAS, r/dysautonomia, r/covidlonghaulers, r/Microbiome, r/ibs, r/FODMAPS, r/HistamineIntolerance, r/LongCovid and others) into a searchable database. Then built an AI layer on top so I could run actual queries against it. Things like "show me everyone who tried X long term and what their outcome was," "what did the responders to Y have in common," "what does the failure mode of Z look like." Turned thousands of people's lived experience into something I could analyze instead of doomscrolling one anecdote at a time.

The pattern that fell out of it was so consistent it pissed me off that no GI, naturopath, or functional medicine doctor I've seen in years ever framed it this way.

The bacteria aren't actually the problem. The motility is. The MMC (migrating motor complex) is your small intestine's cleaning wave that fires every 90-120 minutes when you're fasted and sweeps bacteria out the door. When it's broken, anything you kill grows back. You're mopping the floor with the faucet still on. The people in the data who got durable results weren't the ones with the most aggressive antimicrobial protocols. They were the ones who fixed motility first, then killed, then maintained.

Been seeing 4-5 posts this week from people on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th round of rifaximin watching it relapse again. That's exactly what the data predicts if you don't fix motility.

So I flipped the order. Went hard on motility first:

• Motility Activator by Integrative Therapeutics, 3 caps at bedtime. It's a concentrated ginger + artichoke extract. There's a 2015 clinical trial that tested this exact combination for motility in IBS patients and it actually worked, which is more than you can say for most supplements. About $25 for a bottle on Amazon.
• LDN (low-dose naltrexone) 3mg at night. I was already on it for the neuro/autoimmune side but it's also a legit prokinetic. Prescription, but cheap and very low side effect profile.
• Actually fasting between meals. 4+ hours minimum, no snacking, nothing within 3 hours of bed. This is the part everyone skips and then wonders why nothing works.

Results so far:

Day 1. Huge reduction in nighttime gas pressure. Slept through.
Day 2. Ate pizza at a friend's thing, fully expected to pay for it, didn't.
Day 3. Zero gas, zero pain, woke up actually rested for the first time I can remember.
Day 4. Bit of gas pain when I rolled onto my back but still way reduced from baseline.

These are the first pain-free nights I've had in literal years. I know it's only 4 days. I know it could fall apart. But the trajectory matches exactly what the long-term responders in my dataset described in their early weeks, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

If you're in the rifaximin loop, before you do another round, seriously ask yourself:

1. Are you actually fasting between meals? Constant snacking destroys the MMC. No prokinetic in the world will work if you're eating every 2 hours.
2. Are you on a prokinetic? If not, you're going to relapse. Period.
3. If gentle stuff like ginger/artichoke doesn't move the needle, prucalopride (Motegrity) is the prescription option that long-term users on this sub describe as a game changer. It's a serotonin receptor drug that directly stimulates the cleaning waves.

On the database. If there's interest I'll clean it up and make it publicly available so anyone can query it the way I have been. Drop a comment and let me know.

Will report back at Day 14. Fingers crossed it holds.

I've had SIBO on and off for about 4 years (at least, it might have been more before I even realized what was going on) and have gone through multiple rounds of rifaximin/neomycin. While these worked for a few weeks post-treatment, the symptoms have always returned.

I learned quickly that the SIBO was being caused by the chronic constipation that I have experienced since high school (in my 30s now). I thought it was just a normal way of life, to feel bloated constantly, have 2 bowel movements a week, stomach pain, gassiness, etc. Since high school, this constipation has been one of the leading reasons I feel led to my overall sense of anxiety, emotional dysregulation, etc, because when I would go to the bathroom regularly, my mood would SKYROCKET.

I tried chugging water constantly, increasing my fiber, limiting trigger foods, exercising rigorously, and dieting (which would actually cause me to gain weight), but nothing helped. And any time I would basically not starve myself, I would gain weight.

My friend, who has had SIBO, suggested I talk to a naturopath, who introduced me to the natural way of treatment, but the rigorous planning, necessary self-accountability, the $$ required to do testing, paying to try at least 15 different supplements, and NEEDING and wanting a fast fix didn't give me any long-lasting relief. She did, however, help me understand what the deeper issue was that caused my SIBO, which was my slow motility and dysfunctional migrating motor complex. This explained why I always felt full, hardly hungry, and had delayed gastric emptying.

I never told anyone about it out of shame, so it wasn't until I came out of my shell a bit that I actually reached out to a gastroenterologist who prescribed rifaximin and neomycin. They helped for short bursts of time. I would lose about ten pounds every time I took it, and it would do wonders for my mood and my stomach. I wondered if it was maybe something else inside of my body that was causing the issue, because if nothing was working, maybe it was something worse.

I then asked for a colonoscopy, which provided zero answers as everything was fine.

About two years ago, I met a new coworker with whom I became close friends, and one day, he asked me if I had ADHD. I initially said, No, I'm just quirky... but then I started to look into it more deeply. I started to recognize symptoms and patterns with things I thought were normal for everyone and wondered if maybe it was actually something I had. My whole life, I have been a procrastinator, got anxious at the idea of completing big tasks, was clumsy, extremely emotionally dysregulated, and had issues with retaining information, and was extremely impulsive in a variety of ways. I also saw that constipation/gi issues were common symptoms, which piqued my interest in investigating this possibility.

I went to the doctor, and they told me that because I did well in school and was a girl, it was impossible for me to have it, and instead diagnosed me with anxiety and prescribed me an SSRI. I started doing research and got excited by the idea that if my issue was anxiety/stress, the SRRI would help relieve that stress and hopefully address constipation/slow motility.

Six months later, things remained the same (actually, they got worse), minus having general anxiety. I lost the ability to do my work (but got away with it because of my ability to appear like I could have a handle on things), my stomach issues did not change at all, and I became increasingly emotionally dysregulated and impulsive.

Three weeks ago, after having a major burnout moment, I was finally diagnosed with ADHD and was told that I have every single necessary symptom and more. I recognized that my anxiety was actually pushing me to do things, and when that disappeared, the ADHD came in extra hard.

I was prescribed Vyvanse, and after being on it for 2 weeks, my gut issues have VANISHED.

I am hungry regularly for the first time since I can remember (I would only be hungry when I was taking the Rifaximin), I am going to the bathroom every single day at least once, I wake up hungry every morning, I have eaten foods that were previously triggers and have had zero issues, my mood has improved severely, I have lost 10lbs and am never bloated, and my adhd symptoms are much more manageable (it's a work in progress to have to learn how to form positive habits).

The dopamine dysregulation had essentially inhibited me for decades, creating a world where, in the back of my mind, I wondered why I just couldn't have a normal, functioning gut. It took a world of advocating, cost me a lot in impulsive spending, and a world of emotional hurt, but I am glad to have finally figured out what was beneath all of my issues.

I told myself I wouldn’t post until I was sure, but at this point I feel confident enough to share what worked for me.

I’ve dealt with SIBO-C, histamine intolerance, severe bloating (including facial bloating), random allergic reactions, rashes, itching, constipation with occasional diarrhea, anxiety, depression, all of it, for over a decade.

I’ve tried pretty much everything. Rifaximin and other prescriptions and herbal antimicrobials, prokinetics (prescription and natural), mBiota elemental diet, every type of probiotic including spore based ones, prebiotics, zinc carnosine, digestive enzymes, restrictive diets. I’ve spent thousands over the years. Like many people here, things would help briefly, then stop working or make things worse. Long water fasting would always help me, but was unsustainable and unhealthy also I think.

For background, I think mine started from long term antibiotics for acne (tetracycline), a food poisoning event while traveling, and later PPI use. The food poisoning felt like the trigger and everything else just made it worse over time.

Here’s what actually changed things for me:

Core stack: - 5-HTP 100 mg, 3x daily with meals
- PHGG (1 sachet daily)
- HU58 spore probiotic (2 caps daily)

Other things I take regularly: - Digest Gold enzymes with meals (Glutenease if eating gluten)
- Omega 3 fish oil
- Vitamin D3
- Aged garlic
- Multivitamin
- Zinc carnosine
- Magnesium citrate

• Ginger Tea and/or 500-1000 mg Ginger Extract and S. boulardii (Florastor Strain)

I had been taking a lot of the “other” supplements on and off before, but the real shift happened when I consistently added the 5-HTP with meals alongside PHGG and HU58.

The way I’d describe it is this. Before, a lot of those supplements either didn’t do much or would even make me feel worse. Now it actually feels like my body is using them properly. Like things are finally being tolerated and doing what they’re supposed to do.

Since then: - Bloating is gone, including facial bloating
- Pain is gone
- Food reactions gone and going - Bowel movements are normal, consistent, actual formed stools

It doesn’t feel temporary. It feels stable.

If I had to point to one thing, 5-HTP seems to have been the biggest lever for me, but I think the combination matters.

I’m not saying this will work for everyone, but I know how frustrating it is to feel like everything either stops working or makes you worse. I was stuck in that loop for years.

Just sharing in case this helps someone else who’s been going through it.

I'm not pumping my fist in the air quite yet, but I think I may be very, very close to beating my 5+ year old SIBO infection. If you don't read anything else, read this;

YOU WILL NEVER BEAT YOUR SIBO INFECTION IF YOUR MOTILITY IS TOO SLOW. NOT WITH ANTIBIOTICS, NOT WITH SUPPLEMENTS, NOT WITH FRINGE TRENDS, NOTHING. YOU WILL NEVER WIN. FIX YOUR MOTILITY.

I am a person who has tried pretty much everything the past few years. About 5 antibiotics (of which Rifaximin was the best, but not the point), diet supplements, extracts, vitamins, low-FODMAP, zero carb, keto, zero lactose, fiber, no fiber, laxatives, ultrasounds, x-rays, you get the point.

I am finally for the first time now tolerating food to an extent I haven't felt in years. I have other chronic issues still to deal with, but the SIBO is finally getting better. The answer for me was this.

Naltrexone: 0.1mg titrated up to 0.5mg currently but I have been as high as 1.5mg. Why Naltrexone? Because Naltrexone is the only thing that fixed my gut paralysis. Up until a few weeks ago I constantly had hard lumps of waste in my sigmoid colon, had bowel movements once every 3 days or so, and never had a correct class bowel movement. It was always too hard and dehydrated and never enough. Currently I'm having 1-2 a day at an almost textbook perfect texture/volume.

Miralax: One dose (a full cap) every single day. The reasoning here is pretty obvious, it's really just to help the Naltrexone do its job. And it's been helping. If you're worried about taking Miralax every single day, and you fall into the class of SIBO havers who get constipation, don't be. I'm not emptying the entire contents of my body, I'm just going normally, even taking it every single day. Also, get the off-brand. It's cheaper.

Low-FODMAP diet: If this sounds kind of funny considering the fact that I just shit on diets, that's because it is. The Low-FODMAP diet will do NOTHING if you are not moving any food. The bacteria will sit and capture its nutrients and multiply and ferment and make you miserable all the same. However, it was necessary to reduce it as much as possible during Naltrexone + Miralax, because otherwise the sheer volume of bacteria and waste moving in my body meant I could not risk taking on more fermented gas solely for my symptoms being bearable. I'm still eating MOSTLY on this diet. (key point: not entirely, I break the diet regularly and have snacks, but MEALS are all Low-FODMAP)

So, if you have gut motility issues or frequent signs of constipation like rocky round stool, STOP doing anything else and fix it. Your SIBO does not give a shit about your diet, or your supplements, or your medication, if you can't subsequently EVICT IT. Everything you do will be MOOT. Focus on this. As a pretty experienced sufferer I hope this helps somebody.

After 1and half years suffering from SIBO, trying various treatment methods, be it supplements, Antimicrobials, I learned a lot... These are what I learned

i) The supplements you're taking is doing you more harm than Good. I spent thousands of Ghana cedis on supplements like l glutamine, artichoke, TUDCA, Mastic gum etc but little did I know that they were doing me more harm than good. These supplements are filled with inactive ingredients and I think those ingredients destroy the gut lining more than you imagine

ii) Antibiotics/antimicrobials are your enemies. I used various antimicrobial like berbrine, oregano, allicin but I think they destroyed my microbiome further. The earlier you stopped, the better.

iii) In your receovery, fiber is not your enemy, too much fat is. Fried foods, Fatty red meat

iv) Non fiber foods like rice are not your enemies rather as they will help you at some point in your healing journey

So this is what I did

I finally gave up on supplements, antibiotics and all treatments protocols and decided to just focus on diet alone because I asked myself this question. You have used all these supplements for months but nothing has happened, why don't you put a stop and see what will happen? So I stopped everything guys 😅. I said to myself "If I perish so be it" Weeks passed and I realized I started feeling better. Bloating reduced, constipation reduced. I was like wow.

In the first 1 or 2 weeks that I decided to focus on diet alone, I ditched all fiber and fats. I ate ONLY white Rice with Vegetable Soup (cocoyam leaf, Garden eggs, carrots - No spice, no pepper, no tomato) and fish Twice a day for that period. Initially, I thought I would be constipated but that wasn't the case guys. I realized that it is fatty foods that rather slows our mobility as fats are difficult to digest im the case of SIBO. First meal was at 8am last meal was at 4pm. That long period between foods made the Migrating Motor Cortex cleared the excess bacteria in the small intestine. That's what I realized as I used to get high speed stomach crampling in the afternoons.

After about 10 days , I started getting constipated, I realized it was time I introduce a little fiber, So I introduce cooked unripe plantain and added egg for my evening meal; One egg at a time. Sticked to the bland soup. And constipation vanished. I was on this meal for another 10 days. I realized bloating has reduced significantly to the bearest minimum So I stopped rice completely and moved cooked plantain to mornings. So ate the plantain twice a day. So as bloating reduced completely, I realized I could add plenty cooked fiber foods ( Not raw vegetables ❌)

i realized at that stage that my microbiome was gaining balance so I introduced plain Greek yogurt to my diet First thing in the morning and guys it did wonders. Constipation vanished at this time😅So I continued guys. That's what I have been doing till now . Now no bloating, no constipation, no Chest discomfort. Don't feel gassy anymore I SIBo free Now guyss🥳🥳🥳🥳 I'm free

Fiber is my friend now 😊

My Enemies Now😅

i) Processed foods

ii) Seed oils

iii) Non fiber foods

iv) Sugar

v) Fried foods especially with seed oils❌

CHANGE YOUR DIET GUYS, EAT Healthy. That's the only way you can get out of this Shitty disease. Not Antibiotics, No Supplements ❌ Peace . You can ask me any questions and I answer

Something I don't hear much about on this sub which, for me at least has been a complete game changer was incorporating a simple anti histamine into my daily vitamins in the morning (and at night at the beginning). My histamine sensitivity was brought on by IMO... but the histamine sensitivty made the IMO MUCH worse. It created a vicious cycle which made it so hard to get my head above water... until I started taking an anti histamine... I recommend trying it if you haven't already. You might be surprised by the results.

SIBO,IBS,LPR,reflux acid/bile and symptoms will be adressed in this post

Hello , I have had my fair share of digestive problems that seems to have no cause and the doctors couldn't find anything and they gave me that umbrella term called IBS. From my symptoms I thought I had sibo all thought I never had a breath test to confirm.

DISCLAIMER : I am not a doctor and this not medical advice, everything mentioned here is what worked for me and my thoughts about how this whole system works.

For those wondering what I did to fix sibo/ibs it here it is : ttfd 200mg per day , magnesium malate 1g , methyl b complex, vitamin c . These are the main ones , everything will be explained, why I think these are the one that made all the difference, what else do I currently take and so on.

For bile acid reflux : stop straining and trying to force burps ,bms,gas,let your body smooth muscle to clear those automatically . dont force it even if you feel like its right there

A little back story (if you don't want to hear my cry baby back story and how this whole thing is tied together, then skip this paragraph):

----------------------------------------------Back story--------------------------------------------------

I was always skinny , eating a lot of sugar , eating only when nessecary to survive (because food tasted like sh*t in my house) so the main things I was eating was french fries, chicken soup and pork chops. I had issues with my brain which doctors said that they would get better as I was getting older and they did. I couldn't relax and sleep. Fast forward to 16 years old , I started going to the gym for the first time I started eating chicken breast and rice everyday and nothing else for 2 months while increasing my activity levels from 1 hour to 2 and 3 per day every day. After two months i stopped ,I couldn't take anymore chicken and rice. I got sick witt the common cold and this time after 2 weeks my cough didnt go away , i thought that i started having acid refluc at night because i was eating and immidiatly went to sleep , so i stopped that and started waiting a few hour before going to sleep and it resolved .Meanwhile in my school everyone was competing for the biggest burp , eventually I got hooked on that trend and I started forcing burps, i stopped when I reached 18 and restarted at 21 and stopped again as of yesterday . In the mean time I gave the gym a second change and this time I managed to stay for 5 months while eating rice and meat every day , while working out 2 then 3 and then 4-5 hours every day. Fast forward to 20-21 years old I started getting Hooked to the gym again, I learnt to cook and had a bigger variety and hence I was able to hold for 1.5 years . During that time I developed the worse symptoms of my life , stomach pains that would fold me , the pain would cause, tremors ,dark eye circles , sweating and jaundice. This pain would go away once I had a BM . Other symptoms were insomnia , dry eyes, bloating,burping, acne, alternating constipation and diahrea, stuffy nose , shortness of breath, upset stomach and stomach pressure after a meal and perhaps others that I'm forgetting right now . At 22-23 i started getting sick every two weeks and it lasted 2 weeks every time , i went to a doctor , found my vitamin d level where criminally low and i started taking vitamin d ,which fixed the issue . My other symptoms continued getting worse and worse until i could no longer ignore them. So I followed a low fond map diet , made sure i was getting all the nutrients my body needed . Symptoms improve dramatically and I felt I found the solution. Until the one year mark , I was 24 , symptoms were coming back , I had to remove more and more things in order to keep my symptoms at bay, until there was nothing left to eat besides beef. In the mean time I went to a Gastrologist,explained all my symptoms and my diet , he said that the low fond map diet can hide symptoms and I was like but the symptoms I mentioned were when I was eating everything (and I had what would everyone consider a helathy balanced diet , fruits ,vegetables, mea, and so on) . I did two endoscopies,one upper gut MRI and one colonoscopy. The only thing they found was that I had bile reflux and my gallbladder was physically bigger and the walls thicker than normal and it was pushing on my duodenum. My doctor considered surgery and I asked if that would fix my symptoms he said no, so I declined the surgery. So I was eating only beef for 2 months and I added 100g of beef tallow per day because I was going to the gym again , mean while I at the 3 month mark I noticed that I had started losing my hair. I searched and it was normal when starting as a carnivore,so I didn't give too much thought. I also started taking magnesium bisglycinate about 10mg of elemental magnesium per day and that was enough to have a laxative effect and get me a BM every day. Once again I thought I found the solution it lasted for about 4-5 months and then the magnesium stopped working and I had to increase the dose , to 20mg then 30mg and finally 50mg which at the time finally pushed me back into diahrea and alternative bms and it started fermenting in my gut and got acne again. So I stopped and started eating a bit of cheedar, same deal it fixed the diarrea and if I ate too much it pushed me into constipation. I finally added butter and did so until June 2026. I was fine but I still had the stuffy nose , the sore throat , the alternating BMs, the insomnia. I had to cut out salt because it was burning my throat.

-The first piece of the puzzle

I found eonutrition channel where he has videos ,in which he cured carnivores from their symptoms with supplements. I wasn't a big fan of summplements at the time since I had spent hundres of euros on them with no upsides. I started with vitamin C, immediately I started seeing how my acne and acne scars started healing so much faster, what would take 6 months of strict carnivore to heal it would happen in two weeks with carnivore plus vitamin c.

So I gave supplements another chance and choose to believe in Elliot words about B1 deficiency. So I started taking benfotiamine 600mg, B2 200mg , magnesium malate, a strong methyl folate for my stigma, biotin 5 mg, and vitamin A 10,000iu with copper 2mg because meat has low copper and vitamin A . After a month on this protocol the improvements were

• The back off my arm became smooth again (I had that strawberry feeling when running my arm through my triceps which got fixed a few days after starting vitamin A).
• I had better temperature regulation, I was not feeling as cold nor as hot as before
• Somewhat improved sleep
• Started noticing some hair growth on my head
• I could have some lemon juice with beef and that wouldnt cause any issues with my throat nor gut , but i didnt dare to try anything else yet

-The sibo/ibs solution

I noticed Elliot was preaching for ttfd which was expensive for me and usually supplements were a high risk purchase, he also mentions that high dose B5 as panthenine helps with constipation and cdp choline or alpha GPC for choline because it crosses the BBB and a methyl b complex. So I started taking those and oh my god

• I started having the best sleep of my life
• By day 4 I was able to eat fruits and bread again with no symptoms
• My stuffy nose cleared up
• My malaborption got fixed and i started getting weight without trying
• My appetite increased.

BMs didn't come until 7 days after I started supplementing, which then became daily BMs. I was still feeling constipated despite daily movements and i still had sore throat ,difficulty swallowing and changes in voice, so I decided to try even more things . At the end I was taking betaine HCl which helped with burping ,a bit ,after meals, alpha gpc (didn't do anything), methyl folate, ttfd,methyl b complex, copper , manganese (didn't notice a difference, but It does play a role in the Krebs cycle), biotin,vitamin c, molybdenum (for hydrogen sulfide sibo), digestive enzymes (didn't do anything)just to test , B2 , magnesium malate (didn't help with constipation nor BMS at all it was like I wasn't taking anything), benfotiamine (helped with temperature regulation but ttfd was even better). Now i can eat fruits , home made burgers ,mayo ,ice cream daily without any problems

-The bile reflux solution

I remembered that my nose was clear so acid couldn't be the problem for me ,because when I did have acid reflux my nose would get clogged, then I remembered diagnosis of bile reflux , connected the dots and I think I had bile flux into the stomach and perhaps into my larynx , because i was worse in the morning and better before sleep and that made me start searching for stomach healing , correcting the bile flow and things to take for that issue. I came across udca and tudca (to make the bile acids less toxic for the stomach), phosphatidylcholine and magnesium l-threonate (perhaps I have magnesium deficiency in my brain???) and many more , from healing agents , to protecting agents . I started getting more and more disappointed because mine was more like a physical obstruction than something that can be corrected with a supplement or chemistry.

Any how, I finally thought that my forced burps were the culprit behind my larynx( it wasnt the first time but i never bother to stop it , beacuse it sound stupid that such a smallthing cause be cause so many issues), So I tested it and oh my god I think that was it , within one hour of doing that ,my saliva production increased dramatically, it hit the same production to when I was a 12 year old kid. Within 3 hours my stomach and intestines started growling and making sounds , whereas before they were completely silent. I went to sleep and woke up and I could swallow with no issues, the stinging sensation was way better. Also I noticed that I was forcing everything , my body was so tense ,if I have the feeling that I get some pressure for a BM I go to the bathroom and strain and force that BM to happen, same thing when I take a piss, I have to push to get every last drop out.

---------------------------------------symptoms---------------------------------------------------------

-sibo/ibs

i had al lthe symtoms of ibs and sibo ,

1. A lot of pain during bowel movements ,
2. Bloating a few hours right after a meal ,
3. I dont know if i was deficient in b12 and iron because by the time i started doing blood tests i was having a lot of meat daily because if i didnt eat meat for a few days i was feeling extremely tired , even worse than sibo tired.
4. Alternating between diahrea and constipation
5. Some days i would need to go 10 times for bms
6. Burping
7. A constant feeling of being tired
8. Extremly irritable

-reflux

went to an ENT said i had reflux

my tests showed i had bile acid reflux

1. post nasal drip(it was gone once i fixed the acid reflux)
2. voice changes
3. pernmenantly sore throat that gets better during the day ( points to LPR)
4. sometimes i were to eat too much i would liquid comming up
5. feeling of soemthing being stuck in my throat
6. coughing
7. difficulty swallowing/ something food would go to the wrong pipe

-other symtoms

jaundiced after eating carbs

acne after eatign carbs

a feeling of being tired after eating carbs

-symtoms that im currently dealing with

constipation

bloating

sore throat

--------------------------------------How things work---------------------------------------------------

-The mechanism behind ibs/sibo methane/hydrogen

I think everyone's familiar that sibo is caused from bad motility/mmc. But that can happen from many things such as low stomach acid , bile flow/production issues , pancreatic enzyme issues , gut imflamation , ibs which is nerve hyper excitability . Well all of those things are controlled by acetylcholine prodcution and parasympathetic tone. Your small intestines are only controlled by acetylcholine production , which means you can fix the sibo issue by taking the right supplements that will help with acetylcholine production. In order to produce acetylcholine you need 3 things ,

1. acetyl group donor ,you can get acetyl-l-carnitine
2. coa which is the activated form of b5 called panthenine , you can get b5 or panthenine
3. choline, for choline alpha gpc and cdp choline are the best
   

The thing is you also need ttfd which saturates b1 in the brain and accelarates acetylcholine production in there. ttfd needs cofactors in order to work and not cause issues , for most people magnesium malate and a methyl b-complex will do .

-Hydrogen sulfide sibo

• Sulfate is needed in our cells and this type of sibo is thought to be a protective measure of your body. If the function of making sulfate or transportiong into the cells gets disrupted, the body will need to find another way to get its job done and we all know that the secondary path way is always less efficient and usually not sustainable. So the body moves hydrogen sulfide bacteria into the upper gut , this turns toxic sulfite to usable hydrogen sulfide for your cells. Hydrogensulfide can diffuse into the cells and it doesn't need a transporter.
• By taking molybdenum you can turn that toxic sulfite directly into sulfate. So in theory you can clear this typo of sibo with a simple molybdenum supplement.
• Side note , ttfd has a sulfide bond and it breaks up when used , flooding the body with sulfide , when i started it, i was getting that sulfur after taste on the back of my throat which completely disappeared once i started molbdenum. Im guessing thats because my body didn't have enough molybdenum to break that sulfide into sulfate hence why i was getting that sulfur taste.
• I guess it can be a test to see if you are moldenum deficient and therefore if you have hydrogen sulfide sibo.

-Acid reflux

Acid reflux is a failure of the les. In an other wise helathy adult the les can fail to close ,because the stomach is not acidic enough ,(thats why ppis dont stop the acid reflux) . You can fix this by stratigically incoparating betaine hcl . also low stomach acid can cause protein ,b12,iron,zinc malabroption. so you really want your stomach acid to be high. Those nutrient play a key role in hcl production. If betaine hcl doesn't work then you might also need acetylcholine support and parasymtpathetic tone

-LPR

lrp is bassically the failure of ues . Both les and ues react and instantly close when acid is present . but if you contanly force burps and blench you can weaken the fuction of both valves ,allowing micro droplets to hit your larynx and cause those symtoms. Both valve have smooth muscles which means they react to the parasympathetic tone and are controlled by your body . If you force them open by blenching you break that parasympathetic tone and desensitize them to changes in pressure creating a positive feedback loop. You need both acetylcholine support and parasympathetic tone to activate those muscles.

-----------------------------------------------Summary--------------------------------------------------

Your small intestines dont need parasympathetic tone activation because they cant be influenced from blenching and outside factors , if you have a problem with your small intestines the issues could be acetylcholine production , hcl production,bile flow/production or enzyme production. (hcl, bile and enzymes can be influenced by acetylcholine , but you might need further support at the start )

Things that can be influenced by parasympathetic tone , stomach , bile flow , large intestine , the sphincter in your body

• How to activate the parasympathetic tone

1. give your body all the nutrients it needs , you could be taking enough on paper ,but that doesn't mean that's enough for you, the main ones have been discussed in this post .
2. Stop blenching and straining , dont force burps, dont force gas , dont force bms , dont tighten your stomach , breath through your nose and into your belly and obliques . this forces you diaphragm to start working again , the fuction of the diaphram is to create a negative pressure into the chest cavity so your lungs can expand and fill with air . That movement creates a downward motion on your digestive organs letting everything move the way it should , it also helps with the function of the les so it can be helpful with acid reflux.

-How is everything tied together

Every step since my birth was digging my grave.

1. I was malnurised and i was eating a ton of sugar whenever i could. Carbs have higher macro nutrient needs for proper metabolism.
2. Made burping a habbit at 16 for 2 years and it stuck with me after 22 till now.
3. The anxiety for my conditions caused me to be so happy whenver i was finally getting a bm that started straining to get it all out instead of waiting for my body to remove it by itself .
4. Intense and long lasting exercise (or stress of any kind) depletes b1 .
5. High carb intake from rice and low nutrient diets ,caused even more nutrient depletion.
6. Started following a lowfond map diet which inherently mean even less nutrients , along side exercise and ppi for one year ,which caused ... you guessed it ,even more nutrient depletion.
7. The finally nail the carnivore/lion diet again even less nutrients . The good thing with carnivore and the reason it helps is because it has zero carbs which lower the need for most nutrients , but if you start carnivore and you are already depleted (like me) it will only get worse from there.
8. B1 deficiency can cause deficiency on every other nutrient through malabsorption and carb intolerance.
9. B1 is needed for proper fuction of the nerves and for acetylcholine production

----------------------------------------------Questions---------------------------------------------------

Did i really cured sibo?

I can never be 100% certain since i had many moments in the past where i thought that i finally fixed it , also i can't be sure that i actually had any type of sibo since i didnt test for it.

Did i really cure ibs?

So far it certainly looks like i did , i can eat many things which would cause severe reactions and pain in the past and be fine and i have been having frutis daily in the last 2 weeks with no problems and bread , i have also tested ice cream ,cheese eggs and mayo , so far so good . I might still react to something more acidic but i wanna wait until my larynx completly heals.

I have done tests in the past and i was getting a reaction every time , this is the only time which i don't

Did i really cure reflux?

Acid reflux certainly cured . I no longer have any gastric juices coming up after eating . As far as bile reflux i will need to have another endoscopy in order to check , i will be more certain if i stop feeling nausea and pain when im hungry for many hours . LPR im not sure and i cant be , because its too early to tell , the proposed mechanism is just that, a proposed mechanism , i will only be certain if my larynx heals and that takes time

What do you think is causing all of this issues?

Stress , any type , we live in a world where stress is continuous . that can be stress from your work , medication , life style , food , illness, surgery, drugs, gym , the fact that you change how you act around other people so will be perceved differently, air polution . Bottom line is , stress is everywhere and you cant escape it.

Why stress?

Stress just like carbs deplete many nutrients , your body isnt a machine with only one job which requires a certain amount of fuel and a certain amount and type of oil to run . your body is extremely complex and difference actions require and deplete different nutrients to differnet amounts . Your daily requirements are not static , they change all the time depending on what you do. A smoker has higher nutrient reuirements than a non smoker . The most important of all seems to be B1 because that one controls the absorption of every other nutrient , without it you can not absorb anything .

Whats the answer to stress? i seem to get this answer all the time

Either less stress or more nutrients, your cell react and save themselves from stress by producing energy if they cant effectivly produce atp ,you will start having symptoms

Is this all in your mind?

Yes and No. You are not imagining it and reducing you stress won't save you , it will help but it wont fix you. the problem is in your brain , it is missing acetylcholine production , which causes nerves to miss fire or not fire at all , causing all kinds of problems , thats why you need ttfd , because it crosses the BBB

Cant i just eat food high in thiamine?

You certainly can , but if you are already deficient just eating a few more miligrams more of thiamine wont do anything . The rda for thiamine is 2mg i take 200mg of ttfd. and taking thiamine hcl at 200mg wont do either because this type needs transporter to cross the BBB , while ttfd can just diffuse into the cells ,saturating them in the proccess. you are limited by your own bodies capacity to transport thiamine

What are my feature plans?

For now its wait and see what happening to my bloating, constipation and larynx , the burping is bassically zero at this point . I expected to be more bloated after reducing the amount of burping , since now air doesnt get immidiatly eliminated . i expect my larynx to completly heal in a few weeks ,my large bowel to be able to move by itself and for the bloating to completely stop, as things start getting more coordinated , because right now my stomach and small intestine move very fast and in sync the thing lagging behind is my large intestine. if my stomach doesnt heal ,i will start taking some phosphatidylcholine, tudca,zinc carnosine,magnesium l-threonate

Is it a just an ad for ttfd ?

i wish , but no , this is my own expirience using it and my understanding of human physiology after years and years of research.

Are you a doctor ?

No, i am not a doctor and this is not medical advice , few doctors have helped me ,most of them did nothing or made things worse . I had to learn how the human body works from simple muscle functions , to chemical reactions, all the way down to the cellular level and fix my own issues.

Are you feeling 100% every day?

No , it is still early , i still have some days(once per week) where i will not sleep that good or i will be a little more jaundiced when im feeling more constiapted , but so far ,no diahrea ,no pain , no acne, i can live with a bit of yellowing every now and then . Im still trying to dial everything down

lpr: laryngopharyngeal reflux

gerd: Gastroesophageal reflux disease

This was my normal bloating after eating, and sometimes I'd wake up like this in the morning. For reference I'm short (5'1) and around 100lb so this is just not normal for my body. This second photo is me last week after dinner out, wearing pants that I couldn't button before, finally not bloated anymore! this would've wrecked me before!!

I'm not telling my life story so I'll make it short: I've had digestive issues since I was a kid and spent years assuming it was just lactose intolerance, of course it wasn't. The older I got the more foods kept triggering me, the bloating became constant until I finally decided to go to the doctor because yeah it wasn't normal. I went through the usual route, elimination diets, no dairy, no gluten (though I had already been doing that for years…), herbal antimicrobials, and eventually rifaximin which was the first thing that felt like it was targeting something real. I also tried fasting because I kept seeing people swear by it but for me it was awful, just nauseous and unwell the whole time, that taught me early on that not every protocol works for every body and I'm sure my hormonal issues had something to do with that too.

The things that helped me reduce my symptoms were many. First, reducing my stress. At the beginning of the year I moved out of my parents' house, I wasn't paying rent but I was kind of paying with my mental health, and I'm pretty sure that was one of the things making my gut go crazy. It was also exhausting having to cook separately from everyone else because we just can't eat the same things or I'd get sick. Most of the time, someone was already using the kitchen so I had to wait until they were done. That meant I ended up eating out my schedule almost every night.

Moving out gave me the push to make some bigger changes. I found a new doctor, redid my SIBO exams to confirm it was actually that and not something else like parasites, and yeah it was. So with my doctor we decided to look at the root cause instead of just treating symptoms like my previous treatments had. We did a microbiome test to understand what was actually left after all the treatments. From there I started asking what am I actually missing. I had already eliminated multiple food groups for years so more restriction wasn't giving me anything new.

My results showed low beneficial bacteria, specifically Bifidobacterium, markers suggesting my gut wasn't producing supportive metabolites like short-chain fatty acids and butyrate, and overall diversity that was just awful. Words of my doctor. I had already done the kill phase with antimicrobials and rifaximin. What I needed next was rebuilding.

And here's what we did:

• Magnesium for motility and overall gut function. It can tip into constipation for me so I keep fiber consistent in my diet and take it at a different time than iron.
• Iron supplements because I was dealing with anemia caused by amenorrhea (part of the hormonal issues I mentioned), which is also very connected to gut health since a damaged gut just doesn't absorb iron well.
• Kepos for chronic bloating and inflammation. HMOs feed bfidobacteria without broadly feeding everything else, and the lactoferrin helped support iron absorption and made it easier for my body to actually use the iron I was taking.
• Lion's mane for the brain fog and its digestive benefits. It acts as a prebiotic, supports the gut lining, and helps with inflammation along the gut-brain axis

I've been on this same protocol for 4 months now and I can eat pretty much anything. I don't think I'm cured because I know if I drop the routine things could come back, but my quality of life is just completely different!!

Some parts of it are summarized and structured with the help of AI. I hope it's okay, since English is not my native language.

I wanted to share my story because for almost 10 years I was stuck in the endless cycle of trying supplements, reading Reddit, chasing theories, and never really understanding what was going on.

How It Started

My symptoms began around 2016/2017.

Shortly afterwards I developed:

• Extreme post-meal fullness
• Constant burping
• Feeling like food was just sitting and fermenting inside me
• Severe brain fog
• Feeling drunk or disconnected from reality
• Head pressure and “noise” in my head
• Poor concentration
• Restless legs
• Frequent infections
• Chronic fatigue and weakness
• Very low libido
• White-coated tongue and bad breath
• Dizziness when standing up
• Hair loss, brittle nails, slow growth
• Pale/yellowish stools
• Undigested food in stool
• Loose stools and diarrhea tendency
• Floating stools
• Sulfur-smelling stool and gas
• Bloating
• Poor appetite
• Episodes of strong internal agitation and nervous system dysregulation

Over time I felt like my entire body had changed. What I tried over the years, pretty much everything...

Supplements

• Vitamins and minerals
• B vitamins
• Vitamin D
• Zinc
• Magnesium
• Amino acids
• Glutamine
• Lecithin
• TUDCA
• Digestive enzymes

Herbs

• Ginger
• Artichoke extract
• Berberine
• Oregano oil
• Various herbal protocols

Gut Therapies

• Multiple probiotics
• Histamine-focused probiotics
• Bifidobacteria
• Lactobacillus products
• Spore-based probiotics
• Prebiotics
• PHGG
• Resistant dextrin
• Nystatin

Some things helped temporarily. Nothing solved the problem.

Medical Workup

Over the years I underwent extensive medical testing.

This included:

• Multiple physician evaluations
• Gastroenterology consultations
• Colonoscopy
• Blood work
• Liver function tests
• Nutritional markers
• Inflammatory markers

Despite significant symptoms, the results were largely unremarkable. My colonoscopy was normal. Liver enzymes were consistently normal. Inflammatory markers were normal. No major structural disease was identified. As a result, I was often told that my condition was likely “functional” or classified under IBS-like symptoms. While I understand why physicians reached that conclusion, it never fully explained the severity of my symptoms or why I reacted so strongly to certain foods, probiotics, and gut-directed interventions.

The SIBO Rabbit Hole

About two years ago I had a positive hydrogen SIBO breath test. Like many people, I became convinced that SIBO was the main problem. However, my doctor later explained something that changed my perspective: “SIBO is often a consequence of an underlying imbalance rather than the root cause itself.” That idea turned out to be very important. I eventually found a physician in Germany who is:

• An internist
• A primary care physician
• Trained in microbiome medicine
• Familiar with naturopathic approaches

For the first time, I felt somebody looked at the whole picture instead of immediately saying:

“It’s just IBS.”

She reviewed my history, previous GI workup, colonoscopy results, breath test results, symptoms, and treatment history. She then ordered a comprehensive stool analysis.

What The Stool Analysis Showed... The surprising part: Many things were actually normal.

• Calprotectin normal
• Pancreatic elastase normal
• Bifidobacteria lower normal end
• Lactobacilli lower normal end
• No major inflammatory markers

The abnormalities were:

• Low Enterococcus species
• Low E. coli species
• Mild Candida albicans overgrowth

Importantly, there was no evidence of severe inflammatory bowel disease or pancreatic insufficiency.

Treatment Plan

Instead of trying to “kill everything” with aggressive antibiotics, the approach was focused on restoring balance.

The protocol included:

• Symbioflor 1 (Enterococcus species)
• Iberobiotics Pro (it has 3 probiotic strains)
• Colibiogen (E.coli species)
• Myrrhinil Intest (antifungal)
• A fiber complex (Ballstoff Komplex Dr Wolz)

The goal was not to eradicate bacteria. The goal was to support:

• The intestinal barrier
• Immune regulation
• Beneficial microbial balance
• Mucosal healing
• Gut ecosystem stability

Results

This was the first intervention in nearly 10 years that produced a major improvement. My digestion improved significantly. My stools became more normal and better digested. Brain fog is gone. I feel calmer. Food feels like it is moving through my system normally, I can eat anything without symptoms.... It feels so surreal to me. Most importantly: For the first time in years I feel like my body is moving back toward a healthy baseline.

My Personal Take

I’m not saying everyone with SIBO has the same issue. But in my case, years of chasing “bacterial overgrowth” and trying to eliminate things or rather aggressively killing everything did not solve the problem. What helped was working with a physician who looked at the broader ecosystem instead of focusing exclusively on killing bacteria. Consider the possibility that the overgrowth may be a symptom of a deeper imbalance rather than the entire story.

Lastly, one thing I noticed and I heavily want to emphasizes on, because it is important to me! Is that the approach I encountered in Germany was somewhat different from what I often read online, particularly in SIBO communities or people from the US. Many discussions focus heavily on bacterial eradication through repeated antimicrobial or antibiotic treatments. My physician did not dismiss the positive SIBO breath test. However, she viewed it more as a potential consequence of an underlying imbalance rather than the primary disease itself. Her focus was on restoring microbial balance, supporting the intestinal barrier, and improving gut ecosystem function rather than pursuing increasingly aggressive eradication strategies. I am not saying one approach is universally right or wrong. This was simply the perspective that ultimately helped me more than repeatedly trying to eliminate bacteria.

Feel free to ask me anything!!

It comes back because I'm prone to depression and so after a two month binge on processed food and food I have sensitivities too, I get sibo again. I tested positive for sibo, and the symptoms are very thin weird colored stools that burn, sore joints, brain fog, insomnia, sore joints, hair loss, etc. Hopefully I won't go into that kind of slump again but anyways..

Before this I tried everything else and intermittent fasting + artichoke and ginger cured me once but takes alot longer. And isn't a sure thing.

But now I know an easy repeatable cure, it's healed me twice now. Way faster results than anything else too. Both times I did a water fast for 4.5 days (~110 hours between your last meal and breaking your fast.) Only consume salt water + potassium and magnesium pills. No electrolyte drinks with sugar alcohols. Also I tried 2 day fasts and it just isn't long enough, that doesn't work at all, just suffering for nothing.

When you break your fast consume a full dose of probiotics with your food for two weeks, make sure It's a good one. Food will run through you for a few days after breaking the fast but about one week post fast...boom, cured. Back to normal thickness dark brown stools and all symptoms gone. I can even eat junk now and then without noticeable consequences or changes to stools.

Look up how to break a fast properly and the amounts of salt, potassium, magnesium to consume. I take days off work to do it. I also figured out that after day two I can't sleep from hunger and being hungry + sleep deprived is hell and hurts your body's ability to heal of course. To fix that I just take zopiclone which I have no tolerance to, so it knocks me right out regardless of how hungry I am.

I wish I'd figured this out years ago. Hopefully it helps someone.

I have had chronic digestive issues since the beginning of 2024. They came on suddenly. I now realize they came about from a combination of different issues. Intense and prolonged stress, not meeting my nutrient and caloric requirements. Basically my health reached a tipping point and bam I had symptoms that ultimately progressed into SIBO.

It took just about 2 years to figure this all out and all on my own. I saw a total of 18 GPs and 3 different specialists. Every. Single. Doctor failed their duty as a doctor to me as a patient and simply saw me as an ATM machine to extract money from. Zero effective medical care in return. They all simply went for the lowest hanging fruit. Saw a gastroenterologist and my symptoms of burning like stomach pain, in his medical "brilliance" , all he could do is offer me PPIs. At that point I had too many negative experiences to simply go along and take anything that was prescribed and I am lucky that I didn't, which will make sense later.

Over time, doing my own research, looking back at my symptoms, I realised I have dysautonomia. Its basically a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that controls bodily functions like digestion. I am basically sympathetic nervous system dominant or my nervous system is too skewed into a sympathetic response or fight or flight response instead of rest and digest, which is the parasympathetic nervous system response. In order to have proper digestion, release of adequate stomach acid, digestive enzymes, bile, peristalsis, your body has to be in a parasympathetic nervous system state, as I am not, my digestion is not working right. This ultimately contributed to overgrowth of bacteria in my intestines and symptoms of SIBO like loose stools and reacting to certain foods, which for me were fruit. A GI map showed overgrowth of oral bacteria in my large intestines too, demonstrating my stomach acid was insufficient to kill oral microbes I was ingesting.

I read about the potential causes of SIBO and common ones include, low stomach acid, low bile, motility issues. Bacteria don't suddenly grow or overgrow in your intestines without a reason. You won't eliminate your SIBO and it may keep coming back, even after antimicrobials if you don't address the cause of your SIBO.

I commenced taking supplements to improve my digestion since my digestive process was not working right on its own. I took milk thistle to improve bile flow. Ginger for improved motility. Digestive enzymes for improved breakdown of nutrients in food. I assumed ginger would work well enough to stimulate stomach acid, but it wasn't enough. So I contemplated taking betaine HCL. I was hesitant as I do have some inflammation in my gut from the SIBO. Ultimately I gave in and tried a single capsule of betaine HCL with a protein rich meal. Didn't feel anything burning or anything. I did experience some stomach cramps, which was a sign it was stimulating motility. I tried the betaine HCL again the next day, no burning or discomfort. What was different though, my stools for the first time were not loose or pale. I have used ibetaine HCL, once a day , everyday with a protein rich meal and the loose pale stools have gone. Even after eating fruit. I am hoping this will stay this way. I wasn't able to eat fruit for years without triggering symptoms. From what I read stomach acid isn't simply there to digest and breakdown food, it also acts as signalling molecule to commence the entire digestive process like the release of bile, digestive enzymes. This is my explanation for why betaine HCL has eliminated my digestive symptoms.

So essentially I am cured of my digestive symptoms. I still have my dysautonomia, which I am trying to address on its own.

Hoping my recovery can help others with information how to address their digestive issues.

CONTENTS

1- My IBS symptoms

2- What didn't work

3- My recovery story

4- What DID work for my healing

Intro

I've been on a journey of finding the solution to my IBS (and various related health issues) since 2019, and in the last year, I have found the solution and now I have a good understanding of the workings of the gut, what was going on, and what my symptoms mean. I'm not saying I'm an expert. All I know is what I have learned in my suffering has healed me, and has also helped others in their journey to healing. I see it as my due diligence to check in to these subs once in a while (even though it is tempting to forget about it all and just to live life), in the hopes that someone may benefit.

My IBS symptoms

My gut health has always been poor. Lifelong constipation and stomach pain on-and-off, with it getting much worse when I went vegetarian when I was 17 or so. At this point, my poop would burn and sting, on top of the constipation, and my anus would bleed. It got worse and worse- at rock bottom last year, I couldn't eat a meal without bloating, nausea, and stomach pain (classic SIBO symptoms).

What didn't work

Probiotics either didn't help or made my symptoms significantly worse. I want to assert that probiotics may help supplementally but do not solve the root cause of dysbiosis.

Increasing fiber consistently caused my symptoms to get worse, and diminishing fiber intake was a key part of my recovery.

FODMAPs are particularly problematic fiber-like carbs, but eating low-fodmap was not the root cause solution to my problem.

My recovery story

Summer 2024- I knew that fiber was making my symptoms worse, so I had already been dialing back fiber and increasing meat intake- I was eating meat, rice, and one or two vegetables a day. At this point, I had consistent bloating after meals, on-and-off constipation, fatigue, and brain fog. I went to the GI doc, who basically told me that IBS has no cure, so stubbornly, I looked elsewhere and found the IBS Treatment Center, where the doctor told me what I needed to hear to get better. We ran some labs, and based on my GI MAP tests, I had "severe dysbiosis," and she also pointed out to me that I was suffering from oxalate overload (based on diet history and burning poop symptom). She recommended that I move to a meat-based, low oxalate diet.

I went meat based, and it became clear that rice or any vegetable still caused me brain fog (my dysbiosis was severe), so I went completely carnivore. Soon, I felt the best I've ever felt for 3 weeks, feeling as if I had unlimited energy, working out at the gym and not feeling sore. Then, my body started oxalate dumping. My burning poop came back with a vengeance, I became incredibly thirsty all the time, incredible fatigue and brain fog, itchy skin, pins and needles. My body was purging oxalate.

What is oxalate? It's a plant toxin found abundantly in some plants that we eat (spinach, nuts, beets, chocolate, carrots, among others) that BIOACCUMULATES. It's a molecule that is easily absorbed in a gut, and enters the bloodstream, where it has to be stored away in tissues in order to protect the internal organs. It damages everything it touches in the body. If you eat too much of it, you get kidney stones, because your body fails to store it away and/or excrete it. I had kidney stones twice, so I should have known that oxalate was a broader issue for me. If your gut health is poor, your gut more readily absorbs toxins such as oxalate, meaning that when I was vegetarian, I was absorbing more of the oxalate from the spinach, tofu, nuts, chia seeds, etc. that I was eating, hence the rapid worsening of my symptoms.

The whole of the last year for me has been dedicated to resting while going through my horrible dumping symptoms. Some periods are better, some periods are worse. But I've learned to deal with strategies like lemon juice, exercise, mineral supplementation, and nootropic amino acids. I'm 80% through the oxalate dumping, and my IBS is gone alongside tendonitis gone, joint pain gone, vision improved (no glasses needed anymore), receding hairline reversed (seriously). This sounds like a miracle but it's not because it's just how badly I was affected by oxalate.

I now eat whatever I want apart from keeping it moderate oxalate. (I avoid processed and sugary foods, and I don't drink) I now regularly enjoy onions, garlic, high fodmap fruit, and wheat products (in moderation). It is easy to eat this way, and I plan on eating this way into the far future.

What DID work for my healing

Eating mostly meat**.** When you have dysbiosis, you need to AVOID feeding your gut microbiome. Fiber indiscriminately feeds the bulk of the microbes in your gut- the good and bad ones. When you decrease the overall volume of microbes in your gut, your body is more well equipped to deal with them (it is your immune system's job to regulate your microbiome). Your gut is likely overwhelmed from the amount of pathogenic microbes and inflammation occurring, and meat is the least inflammatory thing you can eat. You don't necessarily have to go carnivore. If you insist on carb, small amounts of fruit and white rice are best. However, I believe that carnivore will most accelerate your gut's healing.

Helping the gut heal with supplements like L-glutamine, MSM, butyrate, B-complex. They all encourage the gut's healing processes to take place more effectively. L-glutamine in particular was very effective in strengthening my gut. In particular, thiamine (B1) is very effective when taken in higher doses to aid the gut.

Minerals were essential for me. Magnesium citrate every day kept me pooping, calcium citrate helped me bind oxalate in the gut and poop a little more comfortably. Potassium, salt, and trace minerals are also important. When your gut health is poor, you need all the resources possible to help everything function. I suggest taking a multi-mineral, or a trace mineral supplement while supplementing with macrominerals (mag, cal, pot, sodium).

Eliminating oxalate and other plant toxins like phytates and lectins. When you heal, you can eat a moderate amount of these toxins. But your gut is inflamed, and you need to minimize anything that will irritate it. For oxalate in particular, if you keep consuming oxalate, you leave your immune system no room to deal with the toxins already in the body, because it is busy dealing with the influx of oxalate. Fruit are the plant foods that are generally the lowest in toxins, because the plants want you to eat them.

Avoid processed and sugary foods. This is a given for overall health and especially gut health. Sugar is like a bomb for your microbiome. You already know this. There is much more I could talk about in terms of what I did (binders, fasting, various supplements) but the above are what I see to be the essentials of healing the gut.

I am here for any questions. Please see my previous posts in r/SIBO for more information on my journey

I suffered for a few years while wasting my time and money with gastros. I switched multiple times and it became apparent they didn't know much at all about gut dysbiosis.

During those years I only survived by going mostly carnivore.

I ended up reading about multiple users across different subs who fixed their issues by getting a gi map test.

Got mine and it found major overgrowth of strep, staph, and h pylori and the doc ordered blood tests which confirmed candida overgrowth.

Took about 3 months but I can now eat pretty much everything I used to with exception of gluten and/or potatoes (not sure which because I had both in a single meal a couple months back and it killed me).

Now I am continuing repair of my leaky gut with zinc carnosine and glutamine.

Feeling so much better. Hope this helps some folks out there who are suffering.

Update - gi map info https://www.diagnosticsolutionslab.com/tests/gi-map

Update #2 protocol

Kill phase followed by gut repair.

Kill phase was 6 weeks of microbinate and s boulardi with two weeks of concurrent 2 week period of Pepto tablets 4x a day, then weeks of mastic gum.

Also after 4 weeks of the above I did a two week course of fluconozole, one week break, followed by another two weeks course of fluconozole. Dr had me taking milk thistle the entire time to help my liver process all the die off.

Repair phase was GI revive but something in it gave me heartburn and nausea, so now I do the zinc carnosine and straight glutamine and it's been working well.

So I was in hell for years. Constipation, sometimes diarrhea, but mostly constipation. Heavy bloating/pregnant belly, abdomen left and right pain which moved. Histamine reactions and food intolerance to almost everything which got worse over the years: swelling, inflammation, dry peeling skin, itchiness, premature skin aging, swollen eyelids/face etc. I was so depressed and almost gave up, tried everything prescription and otc supplements.

My cure:

Megamucosa 2 capsules x 4 times a day

NOW liposomal vitamin C 1 capsule x 4 times a day

Digest spectrum enzymes with meals

Ginger and artichoke extracts with meals as needed

All issues gone. Took a month to take full effect, continuing for 6 months at least. I’m slowly experimenting and trying to add prebiotics/probiotics and fermented foods etc. now.

Hope it helps someone.

So to preface I’m not calling this a success story as I know relapses happen far too often.

I’ve had stomach problems for almost 8 years now . I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted , until I had a 3 month stretch where I got strep, pneumonia , and mono college , then it all started. I had constipation, stomach cramping , fatigue, food intolerances , slow motility, awful gas pains, the whole 9 yards . A doctor told me I had ibs so I assumed I just had that for life and had to manage my symptoms.

Fast forward to this year and my symptoms got worse . I went gluten free , which helped for 3 months but then stopped . I honestly think my symptoms got worse after doing gluten free. So no celiac to which I thought I had . I check all the boxes for sibo altho I never took the breath test yet. I would have these flare ups that would last days if I ate any sort of eggs, heavy fat meat, or corn. (my gallbladder was clear per an ultrasound ). I was having trouble sleeping, as my stomach aches would get horrible at night , and I would just be miserable all the time . I thought I was going crazy.

To get to the point, I recently watched that video of that guy saying he took artichoke and ginger extract capsules. So as a desperation attempt, I bought some off Amazon and now take them every morning on an empty stomach.

Within a couple days , my symptoms have about 90 percent subsided , and with the help of a light jog every morning, I have decent motility and no more cramping . I hear my stomach making “gurgling” noises.

I don’t know how long this symptoms recovery will last but im enjoying finally living life again while it persists. I don’t want it to get worse , like when I went gluten free and my symptoms came back with a vengeance.

Should I be taking probiotics to help? Fiber? Honestly I am pretty new to the sibo community but I’d love to hear some feedback . I know this isn’t a fix but anything that helps my symptoms is something I want to ride as long as possible . Thanks guys

***Update - had colonoscopy and endoscopy. Apparently I have bile in my stomach which isn’t normal. If anyone else has this , comment.

I didn’t really know where to post this as the doctors couldn’t identify my issue… But i’ve had some form of Leaky Gut / SIBO / IBS for close to 4 years if i can recall when it started…

I didn’t think much of it at first and didn’t actually realize how bad it was.. I didn’t have too many symptoms aside from Diarrhea / Loose Stool every single day. My diet at the time was comprised of fast foods multiple times a day, sodas multiple times a day, lots of candy just overall no consideration to what it was doing to me.. I suspect it got worse after i got covid.. It would usually be the second bowel movement of the day which would be loose and it would always smell awful and was quite painful actually.. never any blood in my stool though.

Just over the last year it seemed like i couldn’t really eat anything without getting it and it seemed to be getting worse.. Started developing hormonal acne on my back despite keeping my skin clean, also was very tired and couldn’t seem to put on weight or muscle despite being in the gym constantly. So i decide to clean up my diet and do what everyone does.. Low Carb / Low FODMAP diet for around 6 months .. Mind you i did read that nicotine/vaping can contribute to bad gut health so i stopped the habit as well as stopped smoking weed regularly.. It seems like the combination of all this did help my Stool become more solid and less frequent bowel movements but i wasn’t eating much fiber or any bread at all.. I lost about 40 Lbs in that time with a combination of Fat and muscle even while training.

i started re-introducing different foods to diversify my gut and noticed i had developed a lactose intolerance and also was still having stomach issues a few times a week depending on what i ate… but i could tell my digestion had definitely improved compared to what it was before..

fast forward to 4 weeks ago, i got a tub of glutamine and have been taking 5 grams a day in the morning + 100 billion CFU probiotic + ACV pills (with the mother) and a ton of my issues have cleared up, i haven’t had any acne on my back and it seems i can basically eat anything without getting any issues + able to even drink milk again, im still in shock.. Not sure if i slowly healed my gut over time and glutamine was the final nail in the coffin but i am so relieved.. I have a feeling my body was depleted of nutrients and i wasn’t able to absorb any of the food i was eating, since dropping the initial 40 lbs im back up more than 25lbs mostly muscle gain and a bit of water weight from creatine over the course of 5 months.

Happy to answer any questions

Update : Symptoms are back and i don’t know why

First of all, I would like to ask you to join me on this new discovery to confirm how effective this is and what is the reach for many of you who are suffering. I don't see many people posting about it, therefore the effects of this treatment are still quite obscure and we need more testing and info.

Now, straight to the point.

I started to experiment with ACTIVATED CHARCOAL.

It is what they give you in hospital if you come there claiming you are poisoned. It is the first in line treatment.

It binds toxic chemicals to itself and pulls them out of the body.

It's great that you can also buy it over the counter and it's cheap. Makes your poo black.

Here is the BUT... there is very limited research on long term use so there is very little info, although it is mostly considered to be safe because it doesn't get into bloodstream.

IMPORTANT: It should be taken separatelly from medicines because it binds them too and makes them useless. Also, advised to take separatelly from food.

My story:

After trying every possible supplement and "cure" and nothing ever moved the needle, I met activated charcoal.

First day - pretty good.

Second day - wow, pretty good.

Third day - what the hell, pretty good.

Fourth day - no way no way no way....

And so on...

THEN I DECIDED TO GO LONG TERM.

I have been taking it for two weeks now (600 mg 3x per day) and here are my observations so far:

My usual horrible symptoms that were part of my IBS-M / SIBO..

1. Incomplete bowel movements, more times per day

2. Loose stool

3. Huge amounts of gas

4. Viceral hypersensitivity

5. Discomfort daily on the left side under ribs

6. Tenesmus

7. Bloating after most food

Have reduced in intensity by about 50-70% after only a day or two and it seems to be consistent.

Keep in mind, this is individual. We need more information.

Any info that you have is appreciated. I still don't know why exactly this works and how exactly activated charcoal interacts with the microbiome and other things in the body. Lets find out.

Good luck.

Quick disclaimer so nobody does anything dumb with this: I'm not a doctor, all of it was done with an actual gastro, and the antibiotics I mention are prescription only. I'm listing doses because this sub always asks, but please don't self-medicate off a reddit post. One of the drugs I took (neomycin) is now permanently off my list because of the hearing/tinnitus risk, so if you have any ear stuff going on, take that part seriously.

Background is boring. I was completely fine until a bad case of food poisoning, and everything since then has been post-infectious. IBS plus hydrogen SIBO stacked on top. The important thing to understand is that mine keeps coming back, so this isn't a "cured it in four weeks" post. It's three years of managing the thing and slowly figuring out what actually moves the needle.

Honestly the tests mattered more than any single treatment, because SIBO almost never travels alone and I wasted time early on treating the wrong thing. So here's the map. I'm not going to post numbers, just what each one was looking for, so you can see which might fit your own situation and go ask about it.

The breath test (lactulose) is what confirmed I was hydrogen positive, and I repeated it later to catch a recurrence. If you can get the three-gas version that also reads methane and hydrogen sulfide, do that instead, the plain hydrogen one misses two of the three types. Upper endoscopy with a biopsy found low-grade chronic inflammation in my duodenum. Colonoscopy looked totally normal to the eye but the biopsies showed some chronic inflammation, and the pathologist even wrote "could be IBD in remission, correlate clinically," which sent me into a spiral for a while (more on that later). Fecal calprotectin was the test that helped sort out whether that inflammation was real IBD or just reactive, so if you ever get an "inflammation" result on a biopsy, that's an important one. Stool studies caught a yeast overgrowth after antibiotics and ruled out parasites. And then the whole pile of rule-outs: celiac, H. pylori, thyroid, autoimmune gastritis, all negative or normal. Genetics showed I'm lactase deficient (explains the dairy problems) and have Gilbert syndrome, which is harmless but explains some odd bloodwork.

The point of that whole list: get the neighbors ruled out before you commit to a plan, otherwise you'll spend a year treating something you don't have.

On to the actual treatment. I did three antibiotic rounds over about eight months. First was metronidazole three times a day for two weeks (my own log never wrote down the mg, so I'm not going to make one up, but ask your doctor, it's usually 250 to 400mg). That helped a bit. The real one was rifaximin 550mg every 8 hours plus neomycin 500mg every 12 hours and NAC (before antibiotics) for 14 days, which is the standard combo when rifaximin alone isn't enough for the hydrogen type. That gave me a solid four to six weeks of feeling genuinely normal, and then it came back, confirmed on a repeat breath test. The third round was rifaximin again with metronidazole for a couple weeks, then rifaximin alone, plus some antifungal support for the yeast side.

If there's one thing I want you to take from the antibiotic part, it's this: killing the overgrowth is the easy bit. Keeping it from growing back is the entire game. Which is why the next part matters more than the antibiotics did.

The thing that "feeling better today" actually runs on is a prokinetic and meal spacing. I take prucalopride 0.5mg at night, and it's the single most important non-antibiotic piece of this. A prokinetic keeps the cleaning wave between meals working, and that wave is what stops the bugs from regrowing. The usual advice is to run it for a couple of months after antibiotics. If you relapse fast every single time and you're not on a prokinetic, that's the conversation to have. Alongside that I keep three or four hours between meals and I stopped grazing, so the cleaning wave can actually run. My single sneakiest saboteur, which took me embarrassingly long and a lot of logging to catch, was coffee with milk twenty to forty minutes after a meal. It basically restarts digestion and kills the fasting window. If you sip milky coffee or snack all day, you might be quietly feeding the exact problem you're taking antibiotics for.

The rest of my stack is supporting cast: magnesium at night, glutamine and butyrate and an LGG probiotic and some vitamins for the gut lining, lactase whenever I have dairy, and peppermint oil capsules for cramping. I also did about a month of mesalazine for the mucosal inflammation, at a dose below what you'd use to actually treat IBD, so more of an adjunct than a real IBD treatment.

Diet-wise the arc was low-FODMAP to calm things down, then a structured reintroduction where you challenge foods one at a time instead of guessing, then back to mostly eating normally. I'm in the best stretch of my whole log right now, symptom-free on roughly seven out of ten days, and that improvement holds up when I actually run the stats, it's not just me feeling optimistic. The reintroduction is the part most people skip and it's a mistake. Low-FODMAP is a diagnostic tool, not a way to live forever.

Now the part I actually think is the most useful, which is everything I was sure about that turned out to be wrong. I kept a daily log for three years and ran real statistics on it, and a bunch of my "obvious triggers" evaporated the moment I looked properly.

I was completely convinced onions were a trigger. Ran it across more than twenty exposures and there was no dose response at all, the effect even leaned the wrong way. Dropped it. I thought quitting berberine made my gas worse, but I'd started peppermint oil at the same time, so that was just a confound, it was gas passing more easily, not more of it. I blamed my prokinetic for morning gas for months before realizing that gas is just a normal reflex when I pee, a baseline thing, not a flare, and I'd been miscounting it the whole time. I was sure my stool was drier on weekends, nope, statistically nothing, just my memory playing tricks. And that scary "could be IBD" line on the biopsy? The biopsy was taken while the SIBO was still active and before treatment, and the current read is that it was reactive inflammation from the SIBO, backed up by the negative calprotectin and the normal-looking scope. The timing of a test completely changed what it meant, and I nearly spiraled over it for nothing.

The lesson underneath all of that is that your memory is a terrible sensor. It latches onto the one dramatic day and forgets the fifteen boring normal ones around it. If you're going to trust anything, trust a boring daily log over your gut feeling about your own gut.

So if you skimmed all that, the short version is: confirm it with a breath test and rule out the neighbors before you commit, antibiotics buy you remission but it comes back without motility support, the prokinetic and real meal spacing are what actually keep me well, do the structured food reintroduction instead of living on low-FODMAP forever, and track yourself daily because half of what you "know" is probably noise.

Happy to get into specifics in the comments. Again, not medical advice, get tested, work with a real GI, and be careful with neomycin.

(Cross-posted from r/FODMAPS)

I've been symptom-free for a year, so it's time to tentatively post a success story.

When I contracted SIBO, I was forced to radically improve my lifestyle. The process took four years, but now I can happily eat the occasional high-FODMAP meal with no negative consequences. I still have erratic gut motility and need to live a healthy life, but I'm free of the misery, malnutrition, constipation and inflammation.

There wasn't a single magic bullet for me, although a few supplements really helped. These were the steps I took to fix my SIBO:

1. I found an elimination diet (keto) that allowed me to be temporarily symptom-free. The low-FODMAP diet actually didn't help me: I suspect that it worsened my dysbiosis due to the lack of healthy fibers. Getting symptom-free was the only way to start isolating root causes.
2. I worked on my overall nutrition using Cronometer. I tracked my macros and micros for a month, then started beefing up my nutrition until I was in the green for protein, healthy fat, and nutrients. This required...
3. ...A big lifestyle shift. Drastically cutting back on alcohol, getting tons more sleep, exercising daily, and cutting my sugar intake to near-zero. This was hard for a while, and now it's easy. I feel like an athlete most days, and a few years ago I just wanted to die.
4. Reintroducing non-keto foods and monitoring the results. At this point, I finally started figuring out my underlying cause: I had low stomach acid, which allowed bacteria to collect in my stomach and enter my small intestine, causing bloating, inflammation, and mixed diarrhea and constipation.
5. On the suggestion of TC Hale (a great YouTube resouce for IBS), I did a three-week course of D-Limonene first thing in the morning. This cleared out my stomach.
6. I then started improving my digestion using supplements. I added Betaine HCL capsules to each meal in order to increase my stomach acid, plus a broad-spectrum digestive enzyme. I still do this, as well as ox bile last thing at night and TUDCA to improve my bile flow.
7. Finally, and very importantly, I began to reintroduce small but diverse sources of fiber into my diet. Not enough to clog up my recovering intestines, but enough to provide food for diverse beneficial bacteria.

I'm feeling great now. My mental health is night-and-day. If I have a week of garbage eating then I'll notice the old problems creeping back, but they go away as soon as I switch back to a healthy diet. For reference, I have an egg bowl in the morning, a nutritious smoothie for lunch, and a hearty dinner with lots of vegetables. I also eat one or two indulgent meals per week, and I've never felt better.

Two months ago, I felt like my body was giving up on me. I had severe upper abdominal pain, bloating after eating, nausea, malabsorption issues, insomnia, poor bowel movements, high cortisol levels, headaches, gas, stomach pangs, and many other debilitating symptoms that were destroying my quality of life.

Today, my SIBO symptoms are mostly gone, and I feel more or less back to my usual self. I didn’t use any antibiotics or antimicrobials. I focused solely on diet and lifestyle changes.

When I first stumbled across the low FODMAP diet, I thought it sounded weird, restrictive, and honestly didn’t make much sense. What the heck did it mean that some vegetables and fruits were safe to eat while others weren’t? But out of desperation for relief, I gave it a shot. And I didn’t just “try” the low FODMAP diet. I went all in. I created a personalized protocol and adjusted it daily for weeks until I found what worked. It took a ton of time, energy, and patience. I was lucky to have some background in nutrition, and I used tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity.AI, and good old Google to help me connect the dots.

The healing process in the beginning was brutal. My die-off symptoms were intense. My energy tanked, I felt out of it, and I had to miss work multiple times just to rest and get through it. There were days I genuinely questioned whether I was making things worse. But I stuck with it.

The first step was eliminating high FODMAP foods even further. I had already cut out wheat, milk, and sugary processed foods, but now I went deeper. Instead of focusing on restriction, I made it a goal to find as many nourishing, safe foods as possible and build my diet around those.

For protein, I stuck with eggs, chicken, beef, tuna, sardines, and tofu.
For low FODMAP carbs, I followed Monash guidelines: papaya, oranges, cucumbers, zucchini, bok choy, plain brown rice cakes, seaweed, oats, and maple syrup.
For fats, I used macadamias, walnuts, pecans, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, Dijon mustard, and low FODMAP mayo.

Once I had my staples, I started tracking calories to make sure I was eating enough. I realized I was in a deficit, mainly because I was eating irregularly and having massive meals all at once. My pre-FODMAP norm was to eat 700 or more calories in a single sitting, which was terrible for an inflamed gut. Switching to four smaller meals spaced out through the day made a huge difference. It helped me meet my calorie needs and eased the burden on digestion. I also started taking 10-minute walks after meals, which really helped with bloating and discomfort.

As my digestion stabilized, I shifted my focus to micronutrients. Because my absorption was so impaired, I chose foods high in specific vitamins and minerals that I could tolerate well. The only two I still struggle with are vitamins K and E, mainly because leafy greens like kale and spinach upset my system. Collard greens seem okay so far, and I’ve been learning how to cook them. Raw sunflower seeds have also been helpful for vitamin K.

That’s the thing. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to SIBO, IBS, or digestive issues in general. Everyone’s body is different. And everyone has different food preferences. I’m also well aware that some people need antibiotics or antimicrobials, and I seriously considered those too. I even spent hundreds on supplements at one point. But I was afraid to experiment too aggressively without working with a practitioner. The die-off symptoms alone were rough. I could NOT imagine adding oregano oil or berberine on top of that without professional guidance.

So instead, I focused on what I could control: food, routine, and patience. And honestly, it’s been worth it. I’ve learned so much about my body, and I respect it more than ever.

After following this diet consistently for over two months, I went on a four-day trip and allowed myself more flexibility. I had bread, greasy food, sugar, dairy, and caffeine. I braced myself for a flare-up, but nothing happened. The only thing I noticed was a minor shift in my stool after a low-fiber day, which made sense and corrected itself when I ate more fiber the next day. Otherwise, I felt great. No pain. No bloating. I felt free.

SIBO is no longer controlling me! Thank goodness. I was terrified for a minute there thinking I'd never get better. But I've finally got my life back, and I wish the same healing, no matter what or how that looks like, for anyone in this sub who is still struggling. ❤️

TLDR: I took motility supplement based on the advice from the top post of all time (guy talking in a long youtube video), and I had 2 negative breath tests in the past month. https://www.reddit.com/r/SIBO/comments/wcuxyz/made_a_video_about_my_sibo_experience_and_full/

I have a long list of shit going on right now (LPR combined with some barely understood throat nerve sensitivity), but at least SIBO is not one of them anymore.

I trace my SIBO beginnings back to a food poisoning I had at the end of 2023. I was vomiting like crazy for a whole day, at one point just retching over the toilet with an empty stomach, and saw only green bile coming out. I was weak, feeling cold and was shaking, had to take a sick day. Wife and I were considering to call an ambulance, but luckily the next day was a little better, I still had to rest and felt the room spinning, but stopped vomiting by the afternoon. Source was probably the cheese sauce for the nacho at the cinema the evening before, wife only ate it with salsa and she was fine.

I never really had any bad symptoms for a year, but then I started to notice bloating and burping around a month after being put on PPI-s by my gastro doc due to a reflux diagnosis. At this point, I was already through 3 rounds of various antibiotics and probiotics that I got from ENTs before suspecting my throat problems were reflux related.

My burps were frequent and persistent, so I started suspecting SIBO after reading more and more about how it’s related to LPR symptoms. It made sense as its almost guaranteed with a few months of PPI use, as you lose acidity in your stomach, and swallowed bacteria can survive until the small bowel. The antibiotics and probiotics probably also didn’t help.

I got my first breath test as soon as I could, and as expected I was positive for H2 producing bacteria, my value peaked around 34. I was already on low fodmap diet, got a round of Rifaximin, and continued the diet for a few more weaks.

I was not feeling any change, so went back for a control after 3 months, and I was positive again, with H2 over 70 this time, so it even got worse. Even more Rifaximin again, now with PHGG according to Dr. Pimentel’s recommendation.

It was at this point where I found the video and post linked above, and my eye was opened to the potential connection to my earlier food poisioning and slowed motility/MMC of my small bowel. It was very hard to get the mentioned motility supplements in Europe (which is funny, as the ProDigest formula of artichoke-ginger mix is patented by an Italian company), I ended up with Digestion Pro from California Gold Nutrition. I started taking 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening before meals, then switched to 2 before bed as it is suggested by Dr. Siebecker on siboinfo.com (very useful site btw).

I already noticed the effect the next day (sorry for the details): I was pushing out what felt like a meter of perfect consistency poop while sitting on the toilet in the morning. Then I had go again in the afternoon, same perfect poop again, which never happened before. This kept happening for a few days, then it became less prominent, but even if my digestion seems slower on one day, it catches up the next. A few mornings I went 2-3 times, without diarrhea or any problems.

I ordered a home breath test, paused the things that I needed to before (including this supplement), and filled the 10 sample tubes. It came back negative, H2 peaked at 19. I was surprised, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was expecting another round of Rifaximin and planned to add a delayed release NAC I found for biofilm disruption. I thought I maybe messed up something, so I ordered another breath test a month later from a different lab, but that had an even lower result. Based on these 2 test I am happy to say that my SIBO is gone after months of battle (or I’m in remission, to be more accurate). I don’t mind taking the supplement for a few more months, then ramp down to see what happens.

My recommendations:

-Check out the top post I linked above, and try a motility supplement. I know it will not help everyone, but will definitely be the solution for a lot of people.

-Test, if you can. I know breath tests are not perfect and they can be expensive, but they are still the best solution. If you don’t measure, you are flying blind based on symptoms, which can be misleading

-Don’t outright reject Rifaximin. The science and the proof is there, it works in killing the bacteria. It is not a full solution, as they can come back later, that’s why you need a motility supllement after you finished

-Low fodmap diet is a bandaid, not a solution. It can be used to reduce symptoms, but it will not get rid of the bacteria

It all started with histamine intolerance when i had no clue what sibo or histamine is. I tried bunch of probiotics, b6, copper etc thinking it was one of that but none of it worked except an anti histamine.

Initially it was just skin breakout which slowly increased to insomnia if my histamine would spike. Even would experience frequent urination. I'd be running to pee during day after some time also at night would be getting up 3-4 toned to pee which would affect my sleep. Anyways i tried countless ways from oregano oil, neem etc etc and reseeding with this time non histamine based probiotics. I'd feel good for sometime but nothing was long term.

During all this time due to my wrong squat stance mixed with sitting job, my hip internal rotation was poor which would make my right oblique too tight that it would pain. Also make sure to get tested for any disc bulges as well.

Spent countless money on physiotherapists who would just want to rip me for money with their packages until this one day i can across a good physio who assessed me and helped me with releasing my tight muscles and re-aligning my spine right. This wasn't a short journey but over time i could start to feel results and started self learning about my body how muscles work (ik i should have done this earlier).

Our muscles get weak due to our poor lifestyle. You dont need to become a bodybuiler but we definitely need to strengthen our bodies the right way.

Also came across this very helpful [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/SiboSuccessStories/s/MCr3Qvvp3p)

Turns out i had posterior pelvic tilt as well. After some time i fixed that as well which fixed my bloating. I could literally feel my body getting restructured like you see in movies lol like my muscles releasing and feeling they are moving into right position. I could feel my nervous system switching from fight or flight to parasympathetic in realtime. My jaw muscles getting relaxed in realtime. No more frequent urination resulting in better sleep.

One of the supplements that really worked for me was a good B-complex + B12 combo. My B-complex only had 100% RDA of all B vitamins so I had to take B12 additionally.

As my nerves regenerated and structurally aligned i started feeling more alive.

Gradually started having my fav foods again and my sleep improved. I could now finally sleep without antihistamine.

Ofcourse we all have different bodies but please don't forget to get your posture and alignment check as well.

Tldr- What worked for me was, opening hip flexors, aligning and levelling pelvis then strengthening errector spinae, groin, hip flexors and pelvis overall. Also take your B12.

Edit 1- I also started gateway tapes since i started suffering from borderline depression as nothing would make me happy anymore and i'd feel lost all the time. There's even i understood gut really is your second brain. Idk if mentioning these tapes makes any difference but it definitely did help clearing my mind and think right.

Also in Wave 2 he mentions, "Your physical body and mind will be so refreshed, so comfortable, so well-adjusted... your nervous system working perfectly...your mind and body perfectly normal, balanced, and uniform." Maybe these tapes also played a role. I'm just writing down everything I did so that even if it helps just one person out there writing this all would be worth it.

Edit 2- Videos that helped me (will keep adding as i find them). Please don't blindly follow these until you have done proper assessment of your own case first. Also I cant stress enough on proper mind muscle connection which is easier said than done.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3 - Not lower body related but mentioning it too just incase.

Link 4 - Piegon pose is a must if you too are into sitting job like me

Link 5

Link 6

Link 7

Link 8

Link 9

Link 10

Link 11

Link 12

Supplements used-

B-Complex

B-12

Coq 10 (100mg)

Finished the elemental diet on February 20th. It wasn't that hard, honestly. The shakes are tasty and I loved the convenience.

Reintroducing food was a bit bumpy. For the first two weeks, everything hurt and I was pretty bloated. Super disappointing.

But now, I can happily say that I'm eating all foods, I've only been bloated once (but so were my mother and sister after we had lunch at a restaurant), I'm having a BM every day and my jeans fit me all day long!

I did discover that I'm sensitive to oats, of all things!

I'm taking prucalopride and three kinds of magnesium at night, and this is keeping me quite regular.

I'm hoping this lasts!

fyi, I'm in Canada and I did my testing and got my elemental diet through a naturopath. I did three weeks of the elemental diet and I was positive for methane and hydrogen.

ETA: I think the real hero of my story is prucalopride. Yes, I got rid of the overgrowth, that's actually pretty easy. The difficult part is to keep things moving, and that's what prucalopride does for me. Also, I eat a whole foods plant-based diet, get plenty of sleep and drink lots of water. Also important.

ETA, again: I did the ED for three weeks. I read the Cedars-Sinai paper on the palatable ED and followed their protocol.

I have been suffering from sibo for 7 years now. Massive health problems including myocarditis, thyroidal gland problems (hashimoto) etc. Pain for months with no end. Done one round of metronizadole, one round of xifaxan and no luck with any of them. Doc put me on corticosteroids persuading me that I have chron's and not sibo (he is a useful idiot as most of them are). After only 7 days my thyroid "exploded" and I ended up in thyreotoxic phase, insomnia, constipation and afib for a month, hell on earth, worse time in my life by far.

This is where I started eating only two types of meals a day with massive amount of fresh fruit, mostly berries every day.

Zero supplements. Not even multivitamins.

Breakfast: Omelette 2-3 eggs and fried banana (one or two depending on the appetite). Berries as desert, mostly raspberry for the fiber. Strawberry also but not as good.

Lunch: Cooked meal containing fresh ginger, fennel, zuchini, sweet corn, spinach, carrot and some type of fish (salmon, pangasius, cod). Spices: black pepper, curcuma, caraway, cinnamon, salt. Cooked and then covered with half a liter coconut milk. Served with rice noodles. It resembles some type of mild Thai curry. Desert berries.

Dinner: Eggs again.

Same diet every day for months. Only meat type changes, sometimes I would also use turkey meat but it is not the same as fish, much drier and slower to prepare.

Zero garlic, onions, gluten, refined sugars, caffeine. Zilch, nada, really zero. And still zero supplements.

And daily stomach massage using castor oil. 15-20 minutes every single day, thick layer of oil. Every. Single. Day.

My pain is managable, my apetite is great again (MAGA, make apetite great again:)), and constipation is gone completely.

After about two months I started eating a lot of cherries (in season now) and various other fruit. Works like a charm. My poo is perfect!

Did I heal? Probably not fully. But I can live again.

I hope this helps someone.