Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: To Jordy Re: SIBO and IBS

I'm a D also - not the really watery kind that just squirts on out, but I would have 8 BM in 2 hours. After starting Heather's diet, I started gravitating toward C (I think it was the bananas b/c since I've omitted bananas I'm going regulary. I did have 4 BM today, but I've also been taking a probiotic for 3 days now so my guess is that is the cause - which I'm fine with, b/c I completely expected some changes the first week on probiotic (if I didn't see changes, I'd think it's not working). When I start going too much (like today), I drink a cup of Heather's peppermint tea and that really settles things down - Have you tried that? Both of the teas seem to be helping me alot. Sometimes the peppermint will give me some gas and bloating, but I just follow up with a cup of fennel and that takes care of it. So, depending on the day and how things are going, I flip flop back and forth between the 2 teas and it seems to be helping!

The probiotic I'm taking is Udo's Choice Super Bifido Plus. It is recommended that you take 3 pills per day for the first month to get things under control then reduce to 1 pill per day. So, it's kind of spendy for the first month ($30 for 30 pills - $90 for the first month supply). But the way I see it is, I've already spent thousands and thousands on tests etc. so what's another $90... Like I said, I'm only on day 3 and I'm beginning to see noticeable differences.

I've not been tested for SIBO yet (that will happen on the 18th),but I'm certain that is what I've got b/c of the following cite from Practical Gastroenterology - July 2003 "One of the most common clinical manifestations of SIBO is chronic diarrhea secondary to fat maldigestion and malabsorption". I have had a 24 hour fecal fat test which came back abnormal - I have twice the normal amount of fat in my stools. Also, the small intestine is not supposed to produce very much gas at all - when I had my small bowel follow through, the doc pointed out gas all over the place in my small intestine. So, all signs are pointing to SIBO for me!

Jordy, I know you said you tested negative for SIBO, but it's not uncommon for the breath test to give a false negative - I would recommend that you and Sarah ask your docs to perform the 24 hour fecal fat test to see if you have a fat malabsorption (if you haven't already had this).

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Jeanette IBS-D, then switched to IBS-A, now stable with Udo's Choice Super Bifido Plus Probiotic

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