IBS Study Shows Benefit From Targeted Antibiotics

Research at Cedars-Sinai have found that Xifaxin (rifaximin) may be an effective long-term treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Participants benefited from the antibiotic use even after the course of treatment ended, supporting previously published research identifying small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) as a possible cause of the disease. Among study subjects whose primary symptom was diarrhea, those on the antibiotic showed more than twice the improvement of those on the placebo (49 percent vs. 23 percent). Patients received the drug (or placebo) for 10 days and were then followed for a total of 10 weeks. Participants kept a stool diary, took a questionnaire and were given methane breath tests. The positive effects of the drug were shown to continue throughout most of the 10-week study, not just during the actual antibiotic course.  In 2000, Pimentel linked bloating, the most common symptom of IBS, to bacterial fermentation, showing that small intestine bacteria overgrowth (SIBO) may be the causative factor in IBS (The American Journal of Gastroenterology, Dec. 2000).  In the first study, an abnormal breath methane profile was shown to be 100 percent predictive of constipation-predominant IBS. In the current study, the correlation between the amount of methane and the amount of constipation was confirmed, another key finding.

http://www.thedoctorslounge.net/gastroenterology/articles/ibs/antibiotic_treatment/index.htm

Thanks CrohnieToo... very good read!!

Hi Everyone,  I am calling my doctor tommarow about this new drug!!!  If this helps my IBS it will be a life changing event for me...  I will let you all know what happens...  I hate to get to excited until I talk with my doctor...

I took it for about 16 days and I am still doing great.
--bunny
i highly encourage everyone to talk to their doctors about it. it helped me.
best of luck

Hi,-Glad you liked the video clip.Do posts only stay on for one day. I don't see the link now???

i wrote down the name of this drug and AX and when i go to see my GI man next month i am going to ask him to put me on it, but my ibs may be owed to my spine as  it is out of whack with all the herniated discs and stenosis, arthritis etc. so i am not sure if my sympotoms are nuerogenic or AX related but i can norrow it down some with all this

DavidLA, it is allowed - as long as you do not have a "vested interest" or are trying to "advertise."  However, when your first posts are directing the forum to other sites your motive is questioned.  One wonders if you are trying to advertise.  Please email Peter, the site Admin, if you would like to discuss:  Peter's email

 

very interesting stuff....

Please guys keep posting and let us know how you get on with the antibiotics!

Well, I am glad I read this post this morning and was able to check out the website. What a hopeful idea! When I go back to the states I'm going to insist on a breath test.

hey. i had D. on a good day i would go 4 to 6 times (with immodium), on a crappy day i would go up to 15 sometimes 20 times a day, with cramping, exhaustion and often the explosive urgent D. i also had anemia, blood in my stools, sometimes vomiting---overall yuckiness.
while on the drug i was my same old sick self, sometimes a good day sometimes a bad day. i don't think the drug itself made me sick, it just didn't work wonders right away for me. it was about a week after finishing that i felt a heck of a lot better.
now, i was also on, Nexium, The Pill, Zoloft, Acidophillus, Multivitamin, B Complex during that time. i know only take the pill, acidophillus and my vitamins... i am no longer anemic and i go MAYBE 2 to three times a day, not D but formed... i have gone more than that when i ate a half a jar of salsa--but it was formed, not urgent and nothing like what it was.
i know that i will have bad days when i eat poorly, but i am beginning to think that there is hope for everyone... though i have no idea if it could help ibs C.

the breath test is really easy, fasting, drinking some lactulose (had D afterwards) and a breathalyzer every 15 minutes for two hours. i sat with my ipod and a book. and my nurse talked to me about the digestive system, she was really into bacterial overgrowth...

take care and i wish you the best of luck!

Bunnybabe,   Thanks for your quick response..  I will let you know what my doctor says...

I totally understand....If I ran a forum I also would be pretty careful that people were not just using the forum to sell or advertise some product or service. Especially a new user! Anyhey, I am a huge believer in Dr. Pimentel's protocol. I have seen dozens of G.I.'s in the past  for my IBS &  have never found any of them helpful.  Dr. Pimentel was the only Dr. that seemed to understand some of my other symtoms.( fatigue, poor concentration/focus ) He also strongly dis-agrees with take anti-depressants to treat IBS. And...really believes that until you treat the "root cause" (Overgrowth of Bacteria in the Small Intestines) you can be suffering with this condition for a long time. 

Hey Guys this is jay4,I was Dx in 91 for IBS,Then in Jan 05 I was told I had crohns,I have a New GI and She wants me to take a Breath test this coming Saturday and also wants me to do this study by taking this antibiotic called Xifaxan,This is through a study,Because of Bacterial overgrowth in the small Intestianal tract.She also thinks I have Fibromyalgia,I hurt all over ,every muscle and bone,its an ache,my old GI thought it was from the crohns,but with two other specialist showing there is not signs of crohns.So its like I am at square one again.I have bloating,gas, abdominal pain,diarrhea,troulble sleeping,muscle pain and restless leg syndrome,which goes along with this.I just want to feel better.I can handle cheese,yogurt,wheat,i can;t eat anything fried,and greasy food,it goes right through me.Just wanted to add to what Crohnnietoo had to say.