Why Do We Devote So Much Effort On Alleviating The Symptoms Instead Of Dealing With The Cause?
Posted , 4 users are following.
Let me first explain that I am not medically qualified in any way, but, after reading some of the many posts on IBS, I would just like to make a few observations. My problem for several years has mainly been excess flatulence/gas and burping, and doctors insist on calling it a symptom of IBS. I notice many of you suffer from the same sort of thing, and, as in my case, the only help you get from your Doctor/Consultant is advice on how to alleviate the symptoms, when you really want them to deal with the cause.
If your car belches too much smoke from the exhaust because it is burning oil, you don’t alleviate the symptoms by starving the car of oil or petrol. You deal with the cause by replacing the piston rings! A crude analogy I know, but I’m sure you get the point?
So why are we reverting to diets like FODMAPS, or other partially effective medication and/or food supplements, when the real cause is almost certainly due to bacteria? I’ve been convinced of the need for an antibiotic to deal with excess gas since 2011 when, on more than one occasion, I was treated for an unrelated disorder, and the antibiotic, augmentin, completely cured the gas problem within a few days. And yes, my gas problem did return after I had been taken off the antibiotic, but of course my Doctor was not trying to treat that anyway.
Tests for SIBO proved negative, so my doctors refused to treat my excess gas with antibiotics as a matter of policy, claiming it would be inappropriate. "Inappropriate" to treat bacteria with antibiotics!?
I am glad to see that there is now some medical evidence (since 2012) to support the conclusion that bacteria is the main culprit, and I refer to work/research carried out by Mark Pimental, reported on the website MNT, Medical News Today, “Irritable Bowel Linked to Gut Bacteria, Definitely”.
Having said all that, why not pool our information by answering this with the following information:
1.Have you at any time experienced relief from IBS when prescribed antibiotics? (for whatever reason you were prescribed it)
2.How quickly did it take effect on the IBS?
3.Did the IBS eventually return?
or,
4.Did it completely cure your IBS?
5.What was the name of the antibiotic?
2 likes, 10 replies
carmel83758 Lenx
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gallee Lenx
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carmel83758 gallee
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gallee carmel83758
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Lenx gallee
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I started this discussion originally to find out how many people have had success with antibiotics in the light of Mark Pimental's research which indicated some permanent success with Rifaximin even after the patient has come off it. In the absence of any direct answers to my five questions, I gather no one has! This might have more to do with doctor's reluctance to prescribe antibiotics?
Lenx gallee
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But we are where we are, and can't turn the clock back. Nevertheless, Mark Pimental's reseach seems to have proved that with carefull management antibiotics can result in a permanent cure for IBS even after the patient has come off the medication?
Incidentally, not one of the three Gastroenterologists I have seen over the past few years have acknowkedged that there is "good and bad bacteria". One told me that he thought the concept is merely promoted by firms trying to sell probiotics?.
gallee Lenx
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louise55264 Lenx
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carmel83758 louise55264
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Lenx carmel83758
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In my layman’s view, part of the trouble is that IBS is referred to as though it is a “black and white” diagnosis. I sometimes feel it would be more fitting to call it BWS, Black & White Syndrome? You know how the conversations go: “I’ve got IBS”, “Oh have you? Well I never, so have I!”, as though both have the same problem. But is it the same problem? We don’t announce “I’ve got a broken bone”. We say “I have a broken arm” or “I have a broken leg”. In fact we are generally quite specific about that sort of complaint.
I also think the arguments about bacteria are too vague. It is often suggested that antibiotics totally clear out all the bacteria in the gut, but is that really likely? There are lots of different antibiotics used, presumably because there are many different strains of bacteria (the manufacturer of VSL#3 claims there are as many as eight different strains in their product alone). So I venture to suggest that taking one sort of antibiotic will only remove some of the bacteria.
Now there is the question of “good” and “bad” bacteria which, again doesn’t appear to be a black and white issue. We are told, and I believe, that gas (flatulence and wind) is produced as a result of fermentation when bacteria is mixed with sugars and carbohydrates in our food and drink, hence the FODMAP diet aimed at depriving the bacteria of what it needs to produce gas. So is there such a distinction as “good and bad bacteria” in the context of fermentation? Does that mean some bacteria will produce gas when mixed with FODMAPs and some will not? I’d be surprised if that is the case? I suspect that all bacteria will ferment with FODMAPs to a greater or lesser degree depending upon which of the FODMAPs are present in the mix.
Then there is the question of SIBO. I have been tested for it and the results were negative. On the basis of that the Consultant declares antibiotics are inappropriate! OK, so he has proved that I do not have excess bacteria in the small intestine. But he readily accepts that there will be plenty of bacteria in the large intestine, but he refuses to do anything about that, resulting in me being left suffering with excess gas to a life changing degree.
But whatever the answers are to all these questions, the fact remains that Mark Pimental claims to have had some success in a trial with the antibiotic Rifaximine which, he claims, has the benefit of not being able to enter the bloodstream. If it works why knock it!?