[19927]

I took printouts of the recent threads about Pimentel and SIBO, as well as some of the cited studies to my GI, and he agreed that it’s a strong possibility. He also said that many GI specialists used to prescribe antibiotics, often successfully for IBS. Anyhow, he offered to put me on Cipro for ten days, just to see how it works. He said he’d be willing to do the Pimentel protocol if he had Pimentel’s exact drug regimen from Pimentel himself. I emailed Pimentel, but haven't heard back yet.So, in any case, I’m 3 pills (36 hours) into the ten-day Cipro trial, and I still have gas. My primary symptoms are gas, bloating, and abdominal distention. I didn't take the breath test: GI felt it's not necessary.Here’s my question: for those of you who have responded to antibiotics, even accidentally (like for a sinus infection, etc) how long were you on the antibiotics before your IBS symptoms really improved?

 

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Thanks. So, you're saying it took five or so days to kick in?

 

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To Spas, thanks for getting back to me.I'm from northern California--Oakland. To Bonniei, I've seen your previous posts about the lag time. I'm a bit hesitent to believe that's very common. It seems to me that if the antibiotics work, then the symptoms will disappear. I've read a lot of anecdotal postings on this board about antibiotics temporarally helping symptoms. If the symptoms return after having been cleared up, it simply sounds to me that the bacteria have not been completely irradicated and have returned. My goal is to take the full month-long Pimentel course and just wait and see. If the symptoms return, then i've still got a problem, wich is pretty much what the breath-test would tell me.Much of what i have read suggests that GI researchers aren't really in agreement about the validity of the breath tests anyhow. For me, clearing up symptoms is the gold standard. In any case, i still have symptoms, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. Can anyone else tell me about their antibiotic experiences?

 

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Bonniei: Thanks for the info. Do you have that paper? Does it say what percentage of the time symptom diminishment lags behind the therapy? Thats good news for me, i guess.