A few weeks ago I had to have a 1 week course of penicillin to clear up a bad throat infection.
Now my Ibs seems to have gone? I have managed to start eating foods that I know irritate me, and have been ok. I drank fizzy drink and been ok. I'm having fairly normal bowel movements and all this weird stomach noise, heavy heartbeat, feeling sick after certain foods all seems to have gone and I feel ok. I've reintroduced gluten in my diet and seem to be coping with it ok.
I'm keeping a balanced diet and will see how things go. I've started taking digestion enzymes to try and help and recovery / healing of the gut? Not sure whether I would benefit from probiotics as I don't feel I need them at the moment.
I'm a bit confused atm as I don't know what's happened or why? Either way i do not want to go back feeling the way I was for +4 years!
some peoples' IBS is actually a gastrointestinal infection or bacterial overgrowth, hence why it gets better with antibiotics. i dont know where you live but i know tis fact is pretty much ignored in the uk and dr's wont even investigate it.
Did you tell this happy accident to your (GI) doctor, Ned? It's pretty good news, I'm sure!
It sounds like you may be okay in the long run if you stay aware of your body and what you eat and take the enzymes and/or probiotics to help everything stay in balance. Seems like the pencillin killed off the bad bacteria and let the good ones do their job!! If it starts to get unbalanced again, though, you are probably better off trying probiotics than antibiotics since the former gives you more "good guys" and the latter has side effects for most. Plus, antibiotics can hurt the good bacteria, too.
My GI doctor wants to do a full workup (endoscopy/biopsies) and says if he does not find Celiac, he will likely prescribe antibiotics with probiotic as he feels that will re-balance whatever is off. (I sure hope he finds nothing)
Good luck,and thanks for sharing your story - it gives me hope!
I've been experimenting a lot with my diet to see what happens if I consume things that used to irritate me...
I seem to be able to handle take away much better without all the bloated ness and diahrrea. I can handle alcohol ok. Went out last weekend and drank loads of beer for the first time in years and didn't have any issues the next day (usually I have diahrrea for a week). I've eaten foods with gluten and feel slightly more bloated but am passing solid stools.
I had fajitas last night with a load of fizzy drink and then I've cream. I did feel a bit rough today, but wasn't anywhere near as bad as it used to be.
Now obviously I'm not going to keep my diet full of crap. I've learned a valuable lesson after having bad ibsd for years, I need to quit fizzy drink (these have always caused me issues) and quit tea / coffee. I think I can regulate gluten intake and will now be ok.
I am debating whether to start re taking VSL3 probiotic as I don't know whether I will see improvement. I've been taking digestive enzymes after it seems recommended following antibiotics.
Everything was normal for 3 months following the antibiotics I had.
Unfortuneatly though things took a turn for the worse one Friday night after eating a take away. Everything seemed to come back and I felt exactly how I did all those years ago when my whole IBS thing started.
I had stomach cramps, felt dizzy, ibs d, burning throat etc.
Still don't really know what's going on. I've tried a few different suppliments etc and now got things back under control 90%. It's just that last bit. I can't quite work it out. I'm currently following Maurice's post regarding SIBO.
God knows what's going on... I will probably be trying to cure / understand my ibs for a long long time yet.