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Hi Listmates,

When I posted recenty about using Cipro for small intestine bacterial
overgrowth (SIBO), there were some requests to please expand upon the
treatment I am undergoing. Also, I would appreciate your feedback on
whether bacterial overgrowth is a common side effect of gluten ingestion. I
have been gf for nine months. The doctor who suspected bacterial overgrowth
in me is different from the doctor who first suspected celiac. I am having
a problem getting everyone to agree that this is all inter-related, not a
bunch of separate problems.

This message is long, so please skip if you're not interested in this topic.

For those interested in bacterial overgrowth of the small intestines as a
separate diagnosis and treatment protocol, here's what I'm going through
and what I've been told (you can find out more by doing a google or other
internet search for Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth):
- One of my primary care/holistic doctors first suspected it due to my
abdominal bloating
- My other chronic symptom of SIBO was burping/belching for 19 years
- The SIBO specialist I am seeing is Dr. Henry Lin, a gastroenterologist at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the GI Motility Lab. He and
his colleagues recently published a journal article finding a high
incidence of SIBO in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
- The test for SIBO is a hydrogen breath test. It is not painful but is
long, a little uncomfortable and costs over $1,000 each time - which my
insurance fights me on and pays only a small portion.  I am working day and
night, 7 days a week to pay off these bills! You are given a sugar alcohol
(lactulose) to drink at the beginning of the test. For the next 3.5 hours,
you give a breath sample every 15 minutes that tests the level of hydrogen
in your breath. As the lactulose travels down the intestines, any
overgrowth of bacteria will feed upon the sugar and you will breathe out
more hydrogen.
- I've done three tests, showing very high levels of hydrogen each time.
For overgrowth, the regimen is to go on a two-week course of antibiotics,
then repeat the breath test to see if there is improvement. The goal is to
eradicate the bacteria. The last round of antibiotics reduced my bacteria
but I'm still way too high.
- The good part: This protocol has dramatically reduced my burping. Nothing
else in 19 years has given me this much improvement of this one symptom,
including going gluten-free.
- The bad news: SIBO is considered a chronic condition. Even if the
bacteria are eradicated, most patients relapse every six months or so,
meaning you face a life-long future of antibiotics. The antibiotics make me
very sick and have flared-up my candida which had taken me years to get rid
of. The tests are outrageously expensive. The only alternative to
antibiotics is a special liquid protein diet for two weeks to starve the
bacteria. Most patients I've spoken to who've been on the liquid got very
sick, lost weight and were hungry and miserable. Even my holistic MD who
uses lots of alternative methods said there is no sufficient natural
approach to eradicate the bacteria (I've taken garlic, etc. for years which
is a natural antibiotic). The lactulose used in the test gives me gas and
diarrhea for a day or so, but it's not horrible.

Thank you in advance for any insight you can give me on the relationship
between bacterial overgrowth and gluten. If I can be of any more help
regarding the bacterial overgrowth regimen, let me know.

Jill Easton
San Diego, CA

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