I knew I didn't want to go to a conventional doctor. I had been misdiagnosed so many times, I've lost trust in the medical community. Not only that, but after the research and books I had read, I began to learn something very alarming. Most doctors, some even GI specialists, either mis SIBO and call it IBS or have never even heard of SIBO. IF you can find a specialist that actually knows the depths of SIBO and really what is happening with it, what it does to the body, they want to do all these tests to confirm you have it and how bad or what type of bacteria.
Tests, yeah, okay, I'm good with that. You can only get answers with tests right?? WRONG!! As I began to learn more about SIBO and testing, I find out, a colonoscopy won't show it because the bacteria is in the small intestines. Colonoscopies don't go that far up. Okay, so have an endoscopy. Still, they don't go back the lower part of the stomach into the small intestines. It doesn't who up in lab work and you can't see it on a CT, MRI or X-Ray. So how in the world do you test for it? Breath test. And that's what I did 3 years ago that I blew off not really taking it seriously. Great.
That's fine, I can either request a breath test from a GI doctor or I can show them my test results from the one I already did. Sure, however, most doctors want their own testing done. Okay, so I do another one. No harm in that. Except for, as I continued to learn, what is the only treatment doctors give for SIBO? You guessed it, antibiotic. Well, it is a bacteria overgrowth, so that makes since right? It would except, when you read about what this specific, and really all antibiotics do, they kill everything. They don't know the difference between good and bad bacteria. If you are other wise healthy, I can see taking an antibiotic short-term with no major issues. However, with SIBO, this is a much bigger deal. I'm not the average person. SIBO patients have bigger issues than a healthy person with just a minor bacteria overgrowth. More on this part in a later post.
Rifaximin is the most prescribed antibiotic remedy on the market for SIBO. It's doctor's first go to. One big issues though is, it's very expensive. I was curious so I looked up the price. I saw $3,000.00. That was using an app, GoodRx. Will insurance help, maybe, but I'm not even going there.
Why not use Rifaximin if it's the #1 prescribed antibiotic? I'm not a doctor or any type of professional, this is just from my own personal research. I am NOT suggested anyone use it or not use it. This is just my story. You do what is best for you. It is like an atomic bomb going off. It kills everything. EXCEPT, the ability to breakdown the bad bacteria's biofilm (their protective barrier). Bacteria also has the ability to hide and morph when threatened. Rifaximin does not have the ability to seek bacteria out in hiding and will flat out miss it if it morphed. Which means, you are some times losing good bacteria, you desperately need, and some times not able to kill much of the bad bacteria at all, due to them hiding and morphing.
My choice was, not taking the chance. The worse part of what I had read from those that had used it, although great results, almost every single person (unless their SIBO was caught early) had a repeat round several months alter. Again, because of the biofilm and ability to morph. Rifaximin killed the bacteria floating around their intestines which gave them some relief. But the ones hiding came out of hiding once the threat was gone. Hence the relapse. So what do these patients do when they have symptoms again? They take it again. I've read some that have taken 4 rounds.
Nope, I'm out. But now what?
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