u/Global_Stay5010

Hey everyone. I have a question that I simply NEED answered, and fast:

I have been told that the classic treatment for IMO is Rifaximin + Neomycin for 2 weeks, but since I'm an Emetaphobe, I am terrified to try them, especially the Neomycin, because I have heard the horror stories of the most brutal nausea that antibiotics give- AND IN FACT, I myself was on the receiving end of one over a decade ago. IDK which one it was but I was prescribed one by my doctor back in 8th grade and after eating it with scrambled eggs (probably wasn't anywhere near enough food to take it with, looking back...) I think it was less then 2 hours after taking it after I got to school and got beyond nauseous and around 10 mins after that I projectile vomited into a trash can, and the whole ordeal traumatized me of antibiotics ever since. Obviously I did not take it ever again after that day, and felt perfectly fine AFTER it happened, but still (apparently I never needed them anyways as the doctor misinterpreted whatever I had for bacterial when it was LITERALLY JUST POISON IVY the whole time, like come on!!!). It definitely wasn't rifaximin ik that much, and I don' think it was Neomycin cuz it was for like an itchy rash or something and IK that those 2 aren't systemic, but either way I just need to know how bad the nausea is, exactly what it feels like and if it has ever caused anyone to outright vomit and most importantly, if its possible to fight back against it or if anything can work to mitigate it or make it go away. I also have severe chronic insomnia too so not being able to sleep because of diabolical nausea on top of it would be a hell i really hope dosent happen and that i wouldnt wish even on my worst enemy.

I have yet to do the Trio Smart Breath Test my GI ordered, but I am almost 99% certain it is IMO, and they said this is the combo they would prescribe if it came back positive. The bloating is pretty bad, but its nothing compared to the sheer, unreal constipation. I have never had anything like this before and its not even remotely close: I will straight up not go for days on end and when I do its barely anything and I have to strain so hard it occasionally causes bleeding. Sometimes the stool is hard but even when its not its still hard to pass, and this is all WITH taking ginger extract. Its to the point I'm going to get CT scan of my abdomen done soon to see if there's a blockage, even a partial one, or at least to see just how constipated I really am.

It started while I was trying to treat severe acute gastritis caused by taking baby aspirin on an empty stomach for a few weeks, which made me feel EXTREMELY sick to my stomach constantly (started taking aspirin last november and the gastritis started in december. the EGD found mild irritation- but mild my ass, that was a waking nightmare every single day feeling like i was constantly on the verge of projectile vomiting if i didnt do everything JUST right, and i could barely eat, and not to mention there was burning sometimes too, like being branded in the center of your abdomen occasionally). I was suppressing stomach acid like a MF'r with tums and mylanta and eating things with mostly no fat (so probably barely any bile secretion either I'd imagine...), and on top of that i took carafate a few times which constipated me severely short term in january, and i only occasionally took it too, though even after i stopped i noticed the constipation never really went away, and then a month later (beginning of march) i took high dose omeprazole for a week and good lord i stopped right after because everything started feeling wrong: food would just sit in my stomach barely getting digested, got incredibly bloated, the constipation skyrocketed from hard to pass to things beginning to barely move through my whole GI tract at all, and my stomach was making all types of noises and felt SO horrible. Then after that i havent been able to go almost at all for over 2 months now. The worst part too is the mental side. Intense, and I mean, "INTENSE" dizziness, mental disorientation and brain fog. cant function at all mentally anymore on top of barely being able to prevent an outright blockage in my GI tract. tried taking allimax allicin when it first began, the 180mg one, and it seemed to work a bit but within 2 weeks it started getting bad again weirdly after i tried a higher dose and combined it with 950mg of neem (the allicin was also 900mg with it) over a week ago and then i felt extremely flu like that night and to this day (been over a week since i did that) i still feel that way to an extent, FROM JUST ONE DOSE. idk if neem is just irritating to the GI tract or if it was straight up die-off but god it was bad. allicin never did that to me before so im guessing it was the neem. But since i took it, somehow, and this is gonna sound crazy, but my ability to have a bowel movement is even WORSE now since the neem.

TBH if the neomycin is only as bad as the neem was then maybe i could handle it but idk if that would be the case. Could someone please tell me how to avoid the vomiting while on antibiotics like this one? Could anyone please give any personal experiences of successfully fighting it back until the end of a course? Like did zofran work? Would help alot.

P.S. Ik that constipation is a side effect of zofran, and the whole point of the treatment would be to fix the constipation (and bloating), and i wouldnt wanna make anything worse but would it maybe balance things out? Like if your killing the things causing slow transit wouldnt that have a bigger net effect then the zofran slowing things down?