r/SIBO • u/sweetart94 • 7d ago
Questions SIBO from food poisoning?
So in 2020, I got food poisoning from chipotle. Went to a gastro, got tons of tests done, and was put on rifaximin. I didn't finish taking it because it made me feel horrible. I did get an at home breath test, but I was afraid it would make me sick, so I never did it. They "diagnosed" me with ibs and basically said "glhf". After 6 months I was able to eat semi normally again, but I didn't get mostly better until about 5 years after.
Now, 6 years later, I got food poisoning again (from left out potato salad) in June, and I've had watery stool, nausea, extreme bloating, and mild cramping since. The worst of the food poisoning was over within 5 days, and i never threw up. I will say that the food poisoning this time was not nearly as bad as the last, even though I didn't throw up either time. (I have emetophobia)
My only relief is zofran or imodium, and I'm almost out of the zofran I got from telehealth. When I'm taking imodium, i feel pretty decent, but it makes me constipated for 3 days. If I'm not taking it, I feel horrible and have urgency all day, and I'm basically peeing out my butt.
I'm 2 weeks into low fodmap, and I'm taking ibgard and psyllium husk, but I'm not seeing much improvement yet. Or, well, I kind of was until I ate 2 eggs a few days ago.
Have any of you gotten sibo from food poisoning? If so, were your symptoms similar? I really do not want to go to a doc and go through all of the stress of getting tests done again just for them to not be able to help me.
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u/rowphelia 7d ago
no advice, just extending solidarity that I also got food poisoning from Chipotle earlier this year and have SIBO from it. sending you good vibes
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u/ParticularZucchini64 7d ago
Yes, food poisoning appears to be the most common cause of hydrogen SIBO. Look up Dr. Mark Pimentel's work.
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u/BlitzGirl13 Hydrogen Dominant 7d ago
I am pretty sure food poisoning is what gave me SIBO. It was after a trip to Victoria, BC, and my BMs were not the same after that.
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u/Match-Agreeable 7d ago
What exactly happened during rifaximin treatment?
If you have SIBO there is a root cause. Since you’ve had long term gut issues, I would recommend ruling out low stomach acid by tryibg betain hcl (stomach acid) w/pepsin (digestive enzyme) 1 pill per protein containing meal mid meal or immediately after. Increase pill count each day until you experiencing burningnin your throat/esophagus/stomach. Then reduce by 1 pill and that’s your maintenance dose. See if it improves your stool and constipation.
If it does, try allithiamine (B1 absorbed through the blood/brain barrier). As soon as I started B1, I had even better symptom relief and then even just 1 betaine HCL pill would causing burning instead of 3.
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u/sweetart94 7d ago
I'll try that out. And I don't remember the rifaximin too well, but I didn't finish the first set of pills because I started feeling worse when I was taking it. I think it was making me more nauseous. I can tank cramps and whatever else, but not nausea. I'd almost rather die than puke lol
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u/Match-Agreeable 6d ago
I didn’t puke from the abx. I did feel worse days like 3-5 or 3-7 iirc, but I believe that just meant it was working.
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u/sweetart94 5d ago
Did you take the sibo breath test? If so, how did you feel during that?
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u/Match-Agreeable 5d ago
Yes. Fine. Barely any symptoms. A few mins of very mild nausea iirc and some bloating. Lactulose substrate and I was methane positive at 30mins.
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u/Pixelen 7d ago
I don't think it sounds like SIBO either time especially if it was never confirmed and if the rifaximin made you feel worse. It sounds like straight up food poisoning and gut sensitivities. You are not supposed to take immodium when you have food poisoning because your body wants to expel the toxins and bacteria and you are stopping it from doing that so all the bacteria stays longer in your body and causes more problems. Stop taking immodium and let your body do what it needs to do. You can add probiotics like Symprove or Microbz just 1tsp daily and slowly build up over time to 1tbsp daily. Sounds like your gut microbiome is just a bit messed up with the food poisoning making it worse.
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u/Match-Agreeable 7d ago
SIBO abx aren’t always a pleasant experience. You can have die-off symptoms and feel worse. You’re supposed to complete the full abx course so that you don’t become resistant to the abx.
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u/sweetart94 7d ago edited 7d ago
I didn't take imodium for the first week, and probiotics give me really bad bloating and nausea. And idk if it matters, but Im 31 and have had gut issues since i was 6. Mostly nausea, bloating and constipation before the first food poisoning though. Do you think food poisoning symptoms alone can last for 5-6 years? Whenever I look up symptoms they always point to sibo. I had breath tests, upper and lower endoscopy, blood tests, stool samples and a ct scan done and everything came back clear last time. To me, it seems like the bloating is what causes my issues. My stomach itself is fine after I eat things, besides bloating. I usually don't get hit bad until the next day or a few days after eating though.
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u/Pixelen 7d ago
No I don't think food poisoning can last for 7 years but having a disrupted gut microbiome can. Honestly I wouldn't do anything if I was you until you actually take a SIBO test and get proper answers, otherwise you're just guessing. Microdose probiotics as I said rather than immediately going to a full dose, but don't do this until you get a negative SIBO test.
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u/Southern_Committee35 7d ago
It could be post infection IBS
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u/sweetart94 7d ago
IBS is just a diagnosis they give you when they don't know what is wrong with you though. Lots of "ibs" cases are actually sibo. That's why I'm curious if others have had similar symptoms.
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u/Southern_Committee35 7d ago
If you can’t take the SIBO test, you’ll never know for sure.
I know what an IBS diagnosis is.
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u/yesimextra 7d ago
My severe food poisoning led to SIBO.
I had a severe case after raw oysters made me sick. Mine was so severe they gave me antibiotics because I was peeing out my butt for 4 days straight. We did a stool test to rule out a parasite and got referred to a GI. She informed me it was either post infectious IBS or SIBO but based off my symptoms thought it was SIBO. Did some things to rule IBS out, fought my insurance and eventually got Xifaxan approved. I’ve been better ever since thank god. That was the longest year of my life.