Bacterial Overgrowth
#57427 - 04/03/04 12:15 AM
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Claire
Reged: 01/27/03
Posts: 65
Loc: Paris, France
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http://www.gsdl.com/assessments/finddisease/indigestion/bacterial_overgrowth.html
http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/bacteria.html
Hello there,
I am posting 2 links about bacterial overgrowth and would just like to add my own personal story.
Having had chronic diarrhea for over 5 years now, I have had EVERY test going (well almost, the breath test mentioned in the article is what I plan to take and it will be the last test I do!). Having had a horrific bout of diarrhea this February and dropping to 41kg, I reached the end of my tether (we've all been there) and started doing my own research. I found some articles on Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth and decided to ask my gasteroenterlogist (incidentally I live in France and haven't had much success with doctors here) if I could try treatment. I had also had a stool test which had found blastocystis hominis (a parasite which is not meant to be harmful in most people but I figured that getting rid of it may help) so I embarked on a course of anti-biotics and anti-parisitic medicine.
I HATE anti-biotics and have always read how awful they are for the digestive system but I was prepared to take the risk. I often think that my problems started when I took my first course of anti-biotics here in France at the age of 25 without taking probiotics at the same time.
Anyway, the results?? Well, over ten days after treatment (followed by anti-candida drugs (fluconazole), I no longer have loose stools and if anything they are hard (pellet like- sorry to be so graphic). I go to the toilet every morning (and sometimes again in the day) and I have NO symptoms of gurgling, cramps, gas (well, not as much) etc.
SO FAR, (and it's still early days) I consider the treatment to have been a success. I have to also add that I have cut out all gluten and milk products (though I can tolerate hard sheeps cheese) and I no longer eat any sugar, apart from a bit of honey and one piece of fruit a day.
I don't know how many of you have had the D-xylose or lactulose breath test but I am certainly going to take in in a few months or so to moniter my progress. At the moment I think that there could be something in this bacterial overgrowth theory (and I have given both view on it in the links) and though antibiotics may have been the cause of all my problems, they may strangely end up being the cure too!
I'd welcome all your views and personal experiences,
Claire
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Not to rain on your parade but I have heard of success stories like this but then the symptoms come back after a while. I gues the little guys return. I hope not in your case. Good luck with it all. 
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Claire,
I had a similar experience with what I call bacterial overgrowth. I've told this story here before but will repeat it for you. Doctors just ignore me when I tell them this (they are no better here than in France I guess) but I swear to God this works for me. Having suffered from IBS for 14 yrs now I've been through all the normal tests. Most of the time I'm pretty much okay, watching my diet but do have about one flare up a month. On at least 1/2 dozen separate occasions (and mind you the first occasion I am going to tell you about LASTED AN ENTIRE YEAR and I just wished I'd not wake up every night I went to sleep). Anyway this first occasion my IBS got so bad I couldn't eat or drink anything without gas, gurling, pains diahhrea. This was every crummy time I ate. I had previously been on antiobiotics for a bad cold and this happedn to me. The antiobiotics also happened to give me a vaginal yeast infection so I used monostat and guess what my stomach cleared up after a whole year or prolems. I thought it was a coincidence. Then a year or so later the same every meal symptoms happened. I hadn't been on antibiotics but had been using a lot of sugar (which from what I understand makes it a field day for yeast). I didn't have a vaginal infection but I took the monostat anyway as a test and wa-laa, the stomach got better. This happens to me 2-3 x per year and when nothing else works I use the monostat and my IBS symptoms improve dramatically every time. If you can get your doctor to believe this there is something easier than using the monostat cream. One Diflucan pill does the same thing. By the way, the very same problems happened with a BC patch at another time in my life, but that's another story. I also know of a friend of a friend who had terrible IBS like symptoms. His doctor said it was yeast overgrowth in his system and he is on some type of regular medication to help him but I dont' know what as I've lost track of a friend and he has to stay clear of sugar and yeast. I heard one time he was so bad and he was flying somewhere and litterally had to crawl up the aisle to get to the bathroom. 
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Dr. Pimental at Cedars-Sinai did a clinical study sometime around 2000 that seemed to show antibiotics dramatically reduced IBS symptoms in folks. For most of them, though, symptoms returned after a few months. And other researchers had problems with the design and control of the study, and wanted to see the results duplicated. I don't think any other studies have been done to back this up.
I've heard from a few other people who had really great results like this from antibiotic treatment. Some folks also say that anti-fungals have really helped them, but there is pretty clear evidence at this point that IBS does not have any candida connection - they've looked for this for a long time, and simply never found it. So...I honestly don't know what to say. Maybe there are bacterial or fungal problems that mimic IBS, or that cause IBS in some but not all folks, or that co-exist with IBS in other people. I really don't know. 
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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