SIBO/Histamine Intolerance

[Mystrys]

I don’t know where else to go with this so I’m bringing it to the knowledgeable vets here for consideration.
Just curious if there’s anyone who has dealt with a SIBO diagnosis and what your outcome has been during/after treatment? I was treated with 2 rounds of Xifaxan in 2021 and thought it had taken care of it. But last year I started with minor “bloating” again after any food at all. Our issue being we have a shortened small bowel anyway, will this just continue forever? It’s not like that can be “healed or corrected” to avoid dysbiosis. Also has anyone with or even without SIBO actually developed histamine tolerance issues after surgery?
I’ve never had issues until recently. In June I began having EXTREME hand hives and body itching 5wks po from my second round of plastics.(technically a revision of my first round) Allergist calls it cholinergic urticaria but it’s not caused by heat or pressure. So I’m going with spontaneous idiopathic urticaria. She’s got me taking 4 Zyrtec a day with my 2 Famotidine. It’s been ok but not great and I’m now even more limited with my diet in trying to avoid histamines or histamine liberators. I’m starting to worry about it escalating to the point I can’t eat ANY proteins without symptoms. That would be devastating with a DS. So I want to see if anyone has had SIBO and if you think these issues can be related. The consensus I’m seeing says yes but also there’s not many people educated in our anatomy to guide me through this.Even my gastro calls me a zebra unicorn and knows almost zero about how a DS works. 🙄 How can we “heal our gut” if it’s already short and altered and that is what’s causing a small bowel overgrowth issue? I feel stuck and exhausted and completely overwhelmed.
TIA

 

[hilary1617]

I don’t know where else to go with this so I’m bringing it to the knowledgeable vets here for consideration.
Just curious if there’s anyone who has dealt with a SIBO diagnosis and what your outcome has been during/after treatment? I was treated with 2 rounds of Xifaxan in 2021 and thought it had taken care of it. But last year I started with minor “bloating” again after any food at all. Our issue being we have a shortened small bowel anyway, will this just continue forever? It’s not like that can be “healed or corrected” to avoid dysbiosis. Also has anyone with or even without SIBO actually developed histamine tolerance issues after surgery?
I’ve never had issues until recently. In June I began having EXTREME hand hives and body itching 5wks po from my second round of plastics.(technically a revision of my first round) Allergist calls it cholinergic urticaria but it’s not caused by heat or pressure. So I’m going with spontaneous idiopathic urticaria. She’s got me taking 4 Zyrtec a day with my 2 Famotidine. It’s been ok but not great and I’m now even more limited with my diet in trying to avoid histamines or histamine liberators. I’m starting to worry about it escalating to the point I can’t eat ANY proteins without symptoms. That would be devastating with a DS. So I want to see if anyone has had SIBO and if you think these issues can be related. The consensus I’m seeing says yes but also there’s not many people educated in our anatomy to guide me through this.Even my gastro calls me a zebra unicorn and knows almost zero about how a DS works. 🙄 How can we “heal our gut” if it’s already short and altered and that is what’s causing a small bowel overgrowth issue? I feel stuck and exhausted and completely overwhelmed.
TIA

Hi - I think some vets have SIBO from time to time and have treated it with ciprofloxacin.

It might be good to start back at a standard post op diet and add foods in one at a time to see if there is a specific dietary culprit. From a dietary standpoint for a DS-er, carbs can cause bloating. Also, some individuals become lactose intolerant and there is skim milk powder in protein shakes and also in foods where it might not be an expected ingredient. FWIW, in years on these chat boards as a layperson, I haven't heard of hives and itching around protein itself, but there is something I've read about called alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), which is a red meat allergy resulting from a tick bite.

The timing around your 2nd round of plastics may be informative. I am allergic to surgical glue (dermabond) which caused some challenges for me until we figured it out. Did your plastics involve surgical glue? Are there bandages that might activate a tape allergy - or an implant of any kind that could be a trigger?

Hope you get answers and relief soon!

 

[southernlady]

There use to be a post by @kirmy on the subject but I can’t find it at the moment. I’ll have to look through her history way back once I’m home.

 

[Mystrys]

Hi - I think some vets have SIBO from time to time and have treated it with ciprofloxacin.

It might be good to start back at a standard post op diet and add foods in one at a time to see if there is a specific dietary culprit. From a dietary standpoint for a DS-er, carbs can cause bloating. Also, some individuals become lactose intolerant and there is skim milk powder in protein shakes and also in foods where it might not be an expected ingredient. FWIW, in years on these chat boards as a layperson, I haven't heard of hives and itching around protein itself, but there is something I've read about called alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), which is a red meat allergy resulting from a tick bite.

The timing around your 2nd round of plastics may be informative. I am allergic to surgical glue (dermabond) which caused some challenges for me until we figured it out. Did your plastics involve surgical glue? Are there bandages that might activate a tape allergy - or an implant of any kind that could be a trigger?

Hope you get answers and relief soon!

Thank you for your thoughtful insight and support. ☺️ These are all great points! And unfortunatelyI believe they’ve all been addressed and at this point I am back to square one. With my initial battle I had 18 months of misery, elimination diets, testing, scans, colonoscopies and endoscopies( yes, plural on both🥺) and digestive studies done. None found anything they could pinpoint but my surgeon was convinced I might have a blockage so into emergency surgery I went. He removed my gallbladder while he was exploring but didn’t find anything worrisome. I recovered and continued with the same symptoms. Gastro doc # 1 did another set of upper and lower scopes and promised to do an aspirate test for SIBO while he was in there. I fired him promptly when I woke up after he informed me ,callously, that he “ just decided not to do it because they’re not reliable tests anyway”. I was livid! So until gastroenterologist #2 entered the pic 3 months later, I continued to survive on bone broth and scrambled eggs because it’s all I could tolerate without the severe distention and early fullness. That was at the 18 month mark. New gastro doesn’t believe in the tests either, doesn’t know much about the DS anatomy, but believes treating me as if I have SIBO is the best option. (Although we have no idea what variety I might have!) I was desperate. And after 2 rounds of Rifaximin I was better than I’d been in almost 2 years and I was exhausted and just needed to work on putting on some weight. I felt “good enough” and I accepted that’s where I was going to be. I haven’t had sugar, simple carbs, any RTDs or protein powders except for Equip Beef isolate powders in years. I can only tolerate stevia as a sweetener outside of honey or maple syrup. I don’t seem to have much issue with regular dairy. I’m pretty close to carnivore at the moment with focus on the antihistamine diet but am finding pork gives me hives even through the antihistamine meds. I’m learning a lot about what foods are actually high in histamine and/or are histamine liberators. It’s insane how little I can actually consume between the two diets now. No issues with red meat, been tested for Lyme and AGS as my mother in law had it 7 years ago so I’m familiar.

No implants. The sutures used have all been used in the past(of course you can develop allergic reactions at any time, I know) no surgical glue was used and no known allergies to it that I know of. But adhesives are definitely a mess for me. The tapes and tegaderm even left blisters and scars this time around. It was bad. But none of my hives were in those areas or even showed up until 5 weeks post op and that stuff had already healed. It’s all very bizarre. I REALLY am at my wits end and feel like I’ve explored everything possible. But I MUST be missing something.

Thanks for giving me a place to get this out today. It’s been a heavy day and I really needed it. I’m just so exhausted and frustrated.

 

[hilary1617]

Sorry this has been so persistent and unexplainable. I would say that my offspring have significantly reactive skin. One had a particularly challenging struggle with asthma, allergies, and eczema when he was little. As his allergies led to anaphalaxis twice and local allergists couldn't find the trigger for the second event, we ended up traveling him to National Jewish Hospital in Denver CO. They are really top notch in this space, if you'd ever like a second opinion on allergies. ( https://www.nationaljewish.org/home ).

I'm assuming you've looked into the of mast cell activation disorder, but I'll mention that here in case someone reads this thread who isn't familiar with MCAS.

Hang in there!

 

[southernlady]

Okay, I looked back thru Kirmy’s history, I can’t find it. Either I remembered it wrong or it disappeared when I sold the forum.

I’m sorry you are dealing with this.

 

[talitali]

You might look at the Dr. William Davis book, Super Gut. He specifically calls out SIBO and offers some recipes for yogurt that is designed to help keep our gut healthy. He also suggests some herbal remedies which I’ve tried and found good to help reset my system.

 

[Mystrys]

You might look at the Dr. William Davis book, Super Gut. He specifically calls out SIBO and offers some recipes for yogurt that is designed to help keep our gut healthy. He also suggests some herbal remedies which I’ve tried and found good to help reset my system.

Thank you. I’ll look into it. I’ve cut 100% of my carbs except what comes from meat/eggs and the small amount of HWC. And yogurt went away for me immediately due to the histamine content. I miss my fermented foods because I feel like they made my gut feel and work better. I just can’t risk a reaction right now because my histamine bucket is full. Going strict carnivore seems to be giving me some improvement. 🤞🏼🤞🏼Once it empties out a bit I do want to try some sauerkraut and see if I can tolerate it and build on that.

 

[talitali]

Thank you. I’ll look into it. I’ve cut 100% of my carbs except what comes from meat/eggs and the small amount of HWC. And yogurt went away for me immediately due to the histamine content. I miss my fermented foods because I feel like they made my gut feel and work better. I just can’t risk a reaction right now because my histamine bucket is full. Going strict carnivore seems to be giving me some improvement. 🤞🏼🤞🏼Once it empties out a bit I do want to try some sauerkraut and see if I can tolerate it and build on that.

Yeah I definitely have zero experience with histamines. I just share that book with everyone because of the valuable content. He’s one of the only doctors I’ve seen even acknowledge the existence of SIBO and SIFO.