A couple of years ago, I took a massive dose of antibiotics for h. pylori. I was terrified to do it, but terrified not to, because it was pretty clear h. pylori was causing some upper GI symptoms, it's connected to gastric cancers. But I hated the idea of blasting away at my already-sensitive gut with a stew of three antibiotics (tetracycline, Flagyl and bismuth) four times a day for two weeks. Broad-spectrum, hard-core weapons of mass destruction. Also, with antibiotics for gut infections like that, there comes a risk of post-"therapy" c. difficile, an opportunistic bacteria that can cause serious, serious problems.
So I went to this doc who walks the line between Western and alternative medicine and sought his advice. He said take the antibiotics. He also advised me to take a high-level, 85 billion-plus probiotic between each dose of antibiotics. He acknowledged that it might just all get killed, but figured it couldn't hurt. Once I was done with the antibiotics, he said, immediately start taking S. Boulardii and continue the high-level probiotic. He explained that the S. Boulardii had been shown in studies to be helpful against c. diff and post-antibiotic dysbiosis. At the time, I had to get S. Boulardii online, but I just saw the other day that Whole Foods carries it.
I got through the two weeks of antibiotic "therapy" with some general discomfort, one very bad night, and the whole time I had not-quite diarrhea (soft serve) and my whole body felt stripped of any bacteria, good or bad. It took two weeks to a month for things to feel back to normal, and I was taking the general high-level probiotics and s. boulardii several times a day. I even had some cultured foods, which to me taste like, well, vomit.
You might want to follow up on that stool test, just to make sure that you find out ASAP whether you've got any c. diff going on. From what I understand, that requires treatment right away. But if it's "just" dysbiosis from the antibiotics, hang on and be patient. I had a friend who did three rounds of Cipro for a bug she picked up in Mexico, and it took her several months of probiotics, no dairy, no wheat, a very low-residue diet (rice, rice and more rice!), to get back on track.
Good luck! I hope you're feeling better today.
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Re: Worse after Xifaxan - please help
