TrialbyLyme said...
Just wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on this.
I am on my 3rd round of Rifaximin for SIBO, which doesn't seem to be doing anything but making me more sensitive to foods. I have lost 15 lbs in about 2.5 months without trying(and people asking if I am ok) which is what prompted me to get blood work done. What surprised me was that my liver enzymes were abnormally LOW. The doctor(just my GP, not my LLMD) didn't seem too concerned. I will talk to my LLMD in a few weeks and get his thoughts.
Just wondered if anyone else has had this and what could be the causes. Lyme, ABX for SIBO? I am wondering if it just part of having leaky gut, weak digestion, etc. I never really had gut issues before.
My blood work always seems to baffle the docs because it is the opposite of what they are expecting to see. For example, I have macrocytic anemia which is usually low B-12 or folate, but when mine was checked they were both way above normal. Then my Vit D 1,25 was excessively high, so was told to quit any Vit D and stay out of the sun. Because of my fatigue, they were sure I was low in iron, but my ferritin was abnormally high as well. And now this too.... It all just gets so overwhelming! 
Personally I would stop the Rifaximin for SIBO. One reason for the uptick in symptoms is that you are destroying your good bacteria. I did 2 rounds of that and it decimated my beneficial lacto bacteria. I was told that it stayed in the small intestine and did not harm your beneficial bacteria. NOT!!!! I did not have bad gut issues before using Rifaximin. Dr. Mullen who is very much a leader in the field of SIBO has always been pro herbs for treating SIBO.. I worked with a nutritionist who studied under him and when I began working with her, she told me that most clinicians that have been treating SIBO patients are now very disappointed in Rifaximin. They have seen their patients get worse. Most are not even recommending it anymore....but rather just an herbal protocol.
In my case, last year I started googling weight loss and a few other symptoms and came across Candida and SIBO. Well I had been tested for Candida and it wasn't there, then tested for SIBO. I did the SIBO breath test. My numbers were very small though, but he decided to treat anyway. So started the Rifaximin, saw no difference in symptoms. Though the weight stabilized some. Stopped the Rifaximin, started having more gut issues. Tried it again, still no changes, but started to feel worse. Once I started working with the nutritionist and doing other stool testing, that's when I found out that the Rifaximin really did more harm than good. I also worked with the Candida expert, Eric Bakker and he said that he was working with a number of patients who treated SIBO with Rifaximin and they were
opened up to other fungal/yeasts/bacterial infections because of now low or NO good bacteria. Yep, that was me.
I think in my case I had Lyme/ co-infections, which had already begun to mess with the metabolism (weight loss) and gut to a certain extent. I think I made the intestinal terrain worse with the Rifaximin, but I didn't know anything about
Lyme/co-infections at that time. Looking back, once I started some herbs for the SIBO, I did feel a little better, but obviously they weren't the right ones for Lyme and co's. So I think it's a double edge sword. Which comes first, SIBO or ..........I've been suffering on/off, however now that I'm on the herbs for the real issues, I'm seeing improvements which tells me SIBO was never my main issue to begin with or at least not enough to cause issues or treat with Rifaximin. I think once we clear the Lyme& co's everything else falls into place. Though we do need to give our guts some love (probiotics, colostrum, etc.).