Hi everyone! My name is Robert and, for the last year, I've been suffering from a severe motility disorder(possibly IBS-C) which seems to worsen whenever I raise my SSRI medications that I take for my OCD. What led me to believe my condition was somehow related to a bacterial overgrowth of the small intestines was the miraculous, but sadly, short-lived effect that taking peppermint and garlic had on normalizing my bowel movements. Three weeks ago, my doctor prescribed Rifaximin, 4 pills(800 mg) a day, for 7 days but it had little effect other than taking care of my burning ulcer-like upset stomach. Last week however, after showing my doctor some of the latest research in which Neomycin was given to patients with IBS-C, he prescribed me Neomycin, one 250mg teaspoon twice a day for 10 days.(The pharmacy took 500mg tablets and grinded them into a liquid cherry syrup suspension) Since I was given more than double the prescribed amount in a bottle, I decided on my own to take twice what the doctor wanted me to be on so than I matched the subjects in the Cedars-Sinai studies. The result? Surprisingly, within 2 days, I began to notice more of a mental change than an intestinal one. My brain fog had significantly dissipated and I was gradually beginning to feel myself again. Eventually, I began to notice too that I was able to go to the bathroom without the aid of the laxatives I've been taking(Ex-lax, Milk of Magnasia) albeit it is still a struggle and still an incomplete evacuation. I need to remind everybody again, that I haven't been formally diagnosed with IBS-C or bacterial overgrowth so you need to take my experiences with a grain of salt. This is my recent self-diagnosis, version 11.1, based on my recent experiences: I believe that I have an acute sensitivity to anti-cholinergic drugs, like SSRIs, due somehow to my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I contracted three years ago. This, in turn, produces the undesirable effects of paralytic ileus or decreased motility(peristalsis) of the intestines not unlike what people with IBS-C experience. Since a slow moving intestine can allow bacteria from the colon to seep into and proliferate in the small intestine, I've probably been suffering from Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth(SIBO) as well. Again, this would explain why I feel better after I take antibiotics, both natural and pharmaceutical. Therefore, I've learned from this experience that my bacterial overgrowth is probably secondary to my sensitivity to drugs since I still don't feel completely well. The only thing left for me to do is lower what little medication I'm on and hope for the best. The doctor will try to push Zelnorm on me, but again, it is a drug and I'm ultra-sensitive to drugs, so it will probably make things worse for me like it did last time. I want more than anything else to find others with CFS who are hypersensitive to medication and who respond to them the same way I do.
My Neomycin trial
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Hi Spasman. I took 2 teaspoons(500mg) twice a day for ten days. I believe it worked much better than Rifaximin in clearing up whatever bacterial overgrowth I had. I no longer have bloating, distension, burning stomach pain, sharp intestinal compaction pain, and my concentration has improved. Unfortunately, I still feel like my BMs are incomplete and I still need to take Milk of Magnesia at times.I feel that in order for me to reach my goal of normalacy, I'll have to gradually taper off of Lexapro which is giving me a problem of withdrawal symptoms. Aside from Effexor, Lexapro has given me the worst withdrawal syndrome ever. I tried lowering my 10mg by half, then by quarters, then by one-eighth, and failed on every attempt. My next attempt is to order liquid Lexapro and lower it by one-tenth. I'm hoping this will work.
Right now I'm on Paxil and Lexapro for OCD. The only reason I'm still on Lexapro is because I get severe withdrawal every time I try to get off the blasted drug.I think that my bacterial problem was secondary to my drug sensitivity problem which is still a cause for alarm. So once I get off of Lexapro, which was a mistake to go on in the first place since it doesn't help my OCD, I'll regain full functionality.So are you considering taking Neomycin? The only side effect was nausea which isn't a problem if you don't eat anything for about an hour or two surrounding the time you take it. Holy cow! You have 7313 posts! You must really have a problem with your intestines. You're not on any drugs that might be inducing your symptoms are you?
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