OK, now I'm getting scared...
#180025 - 05/19/05 07:22 AM
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It's been almost ten days now since I completed the antibiotic treatment for small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). As I related in the last few posts, it significantly reduced gas, bloating and pain (75%?) but has DRAMATICALLY worsened constipation, which was already pretty bad before the treatment.
I'm starting to get alarmed. In the past I've been able to use Atri-Aloe (concentrated aloe) and flax seed powder to keep things moving. Occasionally I would have to take a laxative, often senna tea, when I got really stuck.
I haven't had a BM without an enema since I finished the treatment.
The night before last I drank strong senna tea, took my 6mg of Zelnorm, two Atri-aloe pills and 1 TBS of Natural Calm (magnesium). Before the treatment, this kind of regimen would have had me running to the bathroom at 3 AM and several times throughout the next day. Instead, NOTHING happened. Except some cramping in my gut due to all of these laxatives.
I'm getting really scared that the antibiotics caused some irreversible damage. I'm doing everything I know to get the motility going again and none of it is working at all. (Fiber and probiotics make the constipation worse for me, so I haven't been doing those)
Does anyone have any ideas on how to get things moving again? (Sand, I'm going to try the green apple juice today... but in light of the fact that much more extreme measures aren't working, I'm dubious).
Thanks for your support.
Chris
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Have you tried miralax?
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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Chris,
I can certainly understand why you're scared. I'll keep my fingers crossed the the green apple juice works.
If you really can't get anyone at Cedars-Sinai to help you until your doctor gets back (Doesn't that seem really, really wrong? Doesn't this guy have backup), do you have a regular GI guy you could talk to or see?
Hang in there. Keep us posted.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Yep, it's strikes me as pretty irresponsible. The main doc is out of the office until May 31st. I wasn't advised of this, and if I had been, I probably wouldn't have done the treatment (knowing that I wouldn't have the support I needed).
The back-up (his "apprentice") is sick and won't return to the office until next week. Okay, I can understand this. Still, wouldn't it make sense to have SOMEONE patients can speak with?
Vent. Vent. Vent.
Thanks for your support. It helps. A lot.
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I haven't tried it yet. I'm really scared to use laxatives regularly because I don't want to further damage the natural peristalsis. I'm still holding out hope that I will be able to recover regularity without laxatives.
That said, Miralax might be helpful in the short term.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Chris
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I'd be venting, too, in your situation. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for the green apple juice. If that doesn't work, I do think you should talk to your "old" GI guy if you have one. This just doesn't sound right - what's happening with you or the fact that you can't find someone to talk to about it.
You've given me another question to add to my existing list. In addition to ones like "How long has this drug been on the market?" and "Have you ever treated my condition before?", I will now also ask, "Are you going to be out of the office anytime in the next month?"
Take care.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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The funny thing is, I'm really encouraged about the treatment. The gas and bloating and pain which have crippled me for so long is so much better. If I can just figure out a way to get things moving again, I'll be a happy camper. Right now that seems like a big "if", but...
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Sand?????
#180067 - 05/19/05 09:23 AM
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Cyndy
Reged: 03/05/05
Posts: 1301
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Do you have a list of questions to ask a doctor when "interviewing" them? I am looking for some doctors and would love to see a list of questions/factors to consider.
Also, do you know of a good juicer brand/model to use for the granny smith remedy? I need to get one ASAP!
Thanks
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Re: Sand?????
#180070 - 05/19/05 09:48 AM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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I don't have a formal list, just stuff that's stuck in my mind over the years. My level of assertiveness varies a lot - unfortunately I'm usually least assertive when I'm the sickest. In my more assertive periods, I ask questions about how easy it is to get a same-day appointment if I'm really sick, accessibility outside of office hours, how many people like me have you treated, and I explain my medical oddities and make sure the doctor doesn't pooh-pooh them. (For example, I react weirdly to most medications). In my less assertive phases, I tend to be too passive, but even then I've learned to go with my gut feeling. The times I've convinced myself that a doctor was "OK" even though I didn't "like" him never turned out well - no matter who else said he was fine.
My doctors are pretty set, so a lot of the preliminary stuff is out of the way for me. Heather has a list of IBS related questions that you might find helpful.
My two big questions now are asking how long a medicine has been on the market and asking to see copies of all test results - and following up on anything that looks off. Most test results I've seen show clearly what results are out of normal range and, yes, it is possible that a doctor will not pick up on it without prompting.
Sorry, no help on the juicer. I'm IBS-D, so I stay far, far away from juice. Do let me know how it works. I was so intrigued when I found the "treatment" and am very curious about why it seems to have just dropped off everyone's radar.
HTH.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Miralax in the short term sounds like a good idea to me. And I know it's against what you have been doing (which hasn't been working which is why I'm thinking this), but I'd try a gentle SF diet, lots of herbal tea and probiotics for a few days at least.
It's entirely possible you had IBS AND a bacterial overgrowth...now you've sorted one and majorly triggered the other!  It was always a possibility with this treatment. So think about soothing the IBS now. SF soothes C guts as well as D's!
Good luck. 
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...that round of antibiotics had me MAJORLY backed up, but with quite a few doses of miralax and magnesium (i'm talking 2000-2500mg A DAY of magnesium), I'm doing FANTASTIC. Better than I have in almost a year. Take a whole bunch of miralax or magnesium and you'll get going again. 
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Elizabeth
all those years it wasn't IBS - it was celiac!
send me an email: liz@dopple.net
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Thanks for this. It helps to know someone has been though something similar with at least one of the same drugs I took. And happy to know that the "damage" wasn't permanent. I've got to get my doc to prescribe Miralax though.
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that this was way too much magnesium to take in one day. He said it was not safe for the GI system and could cause long term problems. 
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Yep, I did. Not sure what I think of all this yet. The Cedars clinic would say that the SIBO is IBS. In their experience, when the bacterial overgrowth is cleared up most or all of the "IBS" symptoms disappear. They are trying to get at what is causing the set of symptoms currently referred to as IBS.
I appreciate this perspective and have always resisted the diagnosis of IBS without more understanding of what that actually means. However, I also believe that the etiology IBS is complex and not the same for every person.
Perhaps in my case SIBO was a big part of the equation. Taking the drugs seemed to knock out the bad bacteria. But I'm guessing the drugs also killed a lot of good bacteria, and in some way "traumatized" the gut. (Another way of saying what you said in your post). Also, I'm no longer taking the aloe supplement that I've been taking for so long, which may have damaged the natural motility and peristaltic action of my gut.
In any event, I appreciate your thoughts. I am (and have been throughout the treatment) on the IBS diet, drinking lots of strong peppermint tea, taking Heather's peppermint capsules, etc. The last couple of days I've been reintroducing fiber and probiotics in small amounts.
Forgot to mention: the Cedars clinic recommends a diet they call "low-residue". The intention is to only eat foods that easily absorbed high up in the small intestine, thus preventing "residue" in the lower parts of the intestine and the symptoms caused by that. It is similar to the IBS diet, but has some differences (for example, they definitely don't recommend soy or any legumes because they're all very high residue foods).
If anyone is interested, post here and perhaps I'll write a post with their guidelines. Not to create more confusion, but to offer something that might be helpful for folks who haven't had total success with this diet.
Chris
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