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Jeanette, I wish I could update you but the truth is I didn't really get anywhere. I didn't take that antibiotic because I was afraid of what it would have done to me. I still have pain, bloating, etc. And honestly, having read your post, now I'm thinking if I should have done it differently and take the ATB. Oh, I wish I knew what to do but there's so much contradicting information .

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Zara, I know exactly how you feel - I just wish the experts really knew more oh and wouldn't it be grand if all of the experts could agree on any 1 thing!! I can tell you this, if it helps at all - I spoke with my daughter last night who is an RN.... She's very concerned that I'm so resistant to take the antibiotic. She's definitely not an expert on the GI system (she works oncology), but she is in the medical profession and certainly has a vested interest in me I think what I'm going to do is wait for the results of the 72 hour fecal fat test which I'm currently doing (my new GI says it's much more reliable than the 24 hour one which does make sense to me) and if it comes back as high or higher then I'm going to ask my doc which antibiotics he recommends and research the crap out of them and probably give it a shot.... I've also made a post to Heather so my decision could also change based on her feedback. But, my daughter is right in that I have to get some quality of life back (that's not to say that it hasn't improved, but it still isn't good).

I really hate to say this to you, but we're all here to try and help each other (and I'm certainly no expert on any of these subjects), but your new doc has said some things that cause me a bit of concern.. He said that if you had SIBO you'd most likely have D (based on what I've read that is not true at all. According to my readings, It is more common to have D, there are many people who have C with SIBO. They've even defined which antibiotics work best for the individual based on predominiant C or D. I think if I were you, I would definitely request the 72 hour fecal fat test - I know that won't tell you if you have SIBO, but it should give you an indication whether or not you have something else going on other than IBS. The test is certainly not fun especially if you've been following Heather's diet - but honestly, it's no worse than most of the other tests we've been through. But you really need to plan it for a time when you can stay at home for 3 days because you must collect ALL stools in a 72 hour period. Also, if you do decide to get the fat test, I would suggest that you increase your fat intake for 3 days prior to beginning the test. My GIs didn't mention this to me but every site I've found on this test says to do this then on the 4th day you start collecting stools. Here are some links I've found that discuss this test:

cmc

Hope this helps and please keep me posted on your quest...
HealthAToZ

Labcor

permanente

aruplab

I should also mention something to make eating the fat a little easier. The 1.5oz creamy ranch from McDonalds has 22 grams of fat so if you were to pour 5 of these on your normal food, you'd get all the fat you need. I'm going to do that today to make it easier (b/c eating what I did yesterday made me feel a little ill)... But no D yet (which I think is odd) - another odd thing is that I've not had any gas (I can't remember a day without gas).

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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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