Is SIBO Real?

dogtrainer

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This all started with an acute presentation of constipation about a year ago. Four days no poop and INSANE burping. Extremely loud and embarrassing. I was on vacation at the time and chalked it up to the change in timezones/travel.

Since then, my digestion has been ***t. Most days I have no appetite, and can barely manage one meal per day most days. I vividly remember not being able to eat thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

-BURPING ALL DAY regardless of content of diet (diet is all over the place, but very low PUFA) try to stay away from starches, but even fruit and cane sugar bloat me most days

-bloating after meals, worse when starchy

-burping worse after pooping

-burping worse when fasted

-when I am in a “burping state” I can’t fart

-burping is better AFTER meals unless the meal is starchy

-symptoms come and go, but more “come” than “go.” This is what makes it hard to tell what’s working. Some days I can handle high fruit & starch, some days not. Some days even all meat diet bloats me. I am trying to stay keto not out of choice but because it poses the fewest problems for digestion.

-about a month ago, I pooped a long skinny thing that looked like a worm. I took it to Urgent Care, they prescribed praziquantel (anti-helmintic) and sent me for a stool test. That test came out negative. I can post a pic of the “worm,” but after posting it on several forums the consensus is that it was probably not a worm.


-need cascara to poop (poops are typically solid)

Things I have tried:

-domperidone seems to move things along, and if I take it before meals I can actually fart some of the gas instead of having a large wad of gas stuck in upper GI. Don’t want to take this drug routinely due to its effect on prolactin

-extremely high doses of thyroid seems to help - I use cytomel upwards of 100mcg per day in divided doses, also NDT from Thailand and “Thyrovanz” from New Zealand. Even at the highest doses (100+ mcg T3 on top of 6-7 grains NDT) I never feel hyper. My hair simply stops falling out, my heels stop cracking, my mood improves, and

-carrot salad with coconut oil. Hard to say but I think it might be helping? Most days I get so full after a few bites that the last thing I want to do is eat raw carrots.

-betaine HCL no effect
-digestive enzymes no effect
-probiotics no effect
-bateriophages no effect
-Manuka honey no effect
-mastic gum no effect

Testing

-h.pylori negative
-awaiting GI MAP stool test
-awaiting blood work

My (incompetent) GP told me to take high doses of magnesium. Magnesium gives me runny poop, but doesn’t solve the burping and bloating.

Any Peaty insights for me?
 

charlie

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Yes its real, I was even thinking of making a SIBO mega thread. Seems to be an epidemic happening right now with it. Even on this forum.
 
OP
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dogtrainer

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You should. I have always had awesome digestion, then was all of a sudden hit with this bull****. I'm currently involuntarily keto.
 

redsun

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You should. I have always had awesome digestion, then was all of a sudden hit with this bull****. I'm currently involuntarily keto.

As charlie said, even on this forum I have seen many users hopelessly wandering in circles as they try to fix digestion or other health issues when something like SIBO will basically compromise digestion regardless of what you do and we have people here ending up on unnecessarily restrictive diets as they have found most things give digestive discomfort. Bacteria overgrowth will elevate serotonin, endotoxin, estrogen and keep them elevated. If your digestion is bad, fixing anything like say brain function, thyroid function, or fatigue becomes an uphill battle.

You likely have bacterial issues and will likely needed antibiotics for it when your tests do come in and one good step would also be thiamine and zinc supplementation as both are needed to make stomach acid. This will help digest food better and help burping and gas. I believe niacin(niacinamide) as well. The thyroid supplementation is helping because it is increasing stomach acid, as thyroid is needed to produce adequate amounts.
 

gaze

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i would heavily, heavily salt meals, eat more white rice and potatoes, some steaks here and there, lowish fat milk. all of the while, if your appetite isnt going up, I would still force feed heavily salted food and liquid until your bowels start moving. once you start eating more food, the more stomach acid you will produce, and the less bacteria are able to feed in the small intestine. Under eating is the number one problem that causes SIBO, IMO, which is why many vegans have trouble with it, because most vegans aren’t eating enough. i think a lot of people like to blame fiber, but i think it’s more from the fact that fiber makes people eat less, rather then the fiber itself. no amount of HCL will raise stomach acid as much as eating more food will
 
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gaze

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heavily salted orange juice is also a good way to get appetite and bowels kickstarted
 
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dogtrainer

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heavily salted orange juice is also a good way to get appetite and bowels kickstarted

Believe it or not, I have been doing the carrot salad and higher than normal T3 for about a week now, and my digestion is very nearly back to normal. I get hungry at appropriate times, I can eat fruit no problem. Haven’t been brave enough to try starches.

My bloodwork came back. High CRP, T3 on the low end, TSH 1.3 and low T4 (it was actually flagged in red.) I’m guessing if I have been primarily supplementing T3 directly, this slowed down endogenous thyroid production down? Does a low T4 even matter if I am supplying biologically active T3?
 

gaze

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Believe it or not, I have been doing the carrot salad and higher than normal T3 for about a week now, and my digestion is very nearly back to normal. I get hungry at appropriate times, I can eat fruit no problem. Haven’t been brave enough to try starches.

My bloodwork came back. High CRP, T3 on the low end, TSH 1.3 and low T4 (it was actually flagged in red.) I’m guessing if I have been primarily supplementing T3 directly, this slowed down endogenous thyroid production down? Does a low T4 even matter if I am supplying biologically active T3?

High t3 is masking an underlying problem imo, high crp and low t4 is not a good sign. How much and what exactly are you eating daily?
 

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