u/sumnifs71

This is a long one but I hope sharing detail will be more helpful for those suffering. It feels miraculous but I'm finally feeling better after 2 years of SIBO suffering and want to share what worked for me over the past 5 months.

For context, I'm a 28 yo male, in good shape, 71kg, active lifestyle with a very healthy diet. I'd had some form of IBS since I was 21 in the form of flatulence (odourless) and inconsistent BMs (including lots of clear mucus). This came to a head 2 years ago, when in a stressful meeting at work my stomach went on a rumbling parade, and I felt humiliated. From that point, I fell into a deep anxiety in all aspects of my daily life, consistently experiencing gas bubbling up inside me and making all sorts of weird and embarassing noises.

I went to one consultant gastroenterologist, who suspected Crohn's and did a colonoscopy which found inflammation in my terminal ileum. I then had an MRI which found thickening of the ileal wall. Finally, I had a capsule endoscopy, by which time my inflammation had faded and I looked fine internally. The consultant dismissed me and said I just have IBS.

The suffering continued so I went to see a different consultant. He suggested a SIBO test, which revealed hydrogen SIBO. He then prescribed rifaximin, which I paid £300 for and it did nothing for me. I thought this was my golden ticket so I was in despair. He suggested other band-aid solutions but nothing to really address the root cause of the SIBO. At this point, my anxiety had become such a problem that I decided to start psychotherapy.

At the same time, I decided to put my history into Gemini and get some ideas - this was the real start of my healing journey.

I promise this is not an ad for Gemini, I'm just so grateful that it provided help where 2 top consultants couldn't. Because I'd had all the above tests, it helped that I could rule out other problems. Gemini helped me analyse the little details about what was happening for me, and my TikTok algorithm was also giving me ideas. For example, it helped me realise I've always had flared ribs (I didn't know this was a thing), suggesting I've never learned to do diaphragmatic breathing and it's led to pelvic tilt. Another example, I asked Gemini about the mucus in my stools and it suspected causes like low stomach acid and fat malabsorption. It also helped me realise that the chronic rhinitis I get in my nose could also be linked to my poor breathing.

What became clear to me is that SIBO is itself a symptom of very complex problems intersecting across the brain, the nervous system, the gastro system, and even breathing organs. Gemini helped me understand the complexity of all these cause-effect relationships. My lifelong anxiety, stress and hypervigilance meant my nervous system is a mess; my breathing is poor and has led to nasal issues; then stressful events at work stressed my gut to the point of SIBO.

5 months later, the gas has 90% gone, my BMs are remarkably consistent and I'm now getting non-wipers most days.

Here's a full list of the many things I tried over the past 2 years:

What didn't work (chronological):

• Peppermint capsules - I tried these for years (long before SIBO diagnosis) and didn't make a difference
• Probiotics - I took Bio-kult Everyday probiotics for a while - they didn't seem to make it worse but they didn't help either
• S. Boulaardi (also Bio-kult) - I took this for 30 days and felt no change
• Rifaximin - I paid £300 for this and it did nothing for me

What I'm not sure worked:

• Bitters - I tried A Vogel Digestisan intermittently on Gemini's recommendation and it never made me feel any better
• Low FODMAP diet - I've eaten quite restrictively for the past 2 years and while I definitely did see a correlation between FODMAP consumption and gassiness, avoiding FODMAPs didn't eradicate my symptoms. Likewise, it's not a sustainable solution.
• Lots of sleep - I'm a big sleeper, always get 8 hours a night, but this didn't alleviate my anxiety or prevent symptoms.
• Magnesium glycinate - I take this on Gemini's recommendation 1 hour before bed every night. It seems to help relaxation before bed
• Atrantil - my consultant suggested this and I took 6 pills a day for 6 weeks. Since I was doing so many other things (all below), I couldn't tell if this was helping, but I wasn't massively convinced it helped.
• Ginger tea - I had this semi-regularly during fasting periods between meals, and I think it did help, but I don't think it would heal SIBO on its own.
• Anti-histamines - I took fexofenadine and beclometasone nasal spray for hayfever and chronic rhinitis. While they helped clear up my nose, I don't think the fexofenadine improved the SIBO.

What did work (chronological):

• Pscyhotherapy - to date I've had 9 months of weekly psychotherapy and it has been a huge help, to understand my anxiety, release unprocessed pain from my childhood and learn to know and accept myself. In turn, healing my nervous system has been essential.
• TTFD + B complex - I started this shortly after a study in the Gut journal was released suggesting Thiamine could be key. I didn't feel any improvement for at least 2-3 months, but alongside the other supplements/exercises, it seemed to have an impact after 4 months or so. Gemini was very confident this was essential for fixing my MMC.
• Berberine - I took 1500mg a day for 4 weeks, then dropped to 1000mg for 2 weeks. I really felt I could notice it killing the bloating and gassy sensations in my bowel. Gemini explained that the Rifaximin probably wasn't able to break through the bio-films, whereas berberine could.
• Qigong movements (for vagus nerve) - I came across these on TikTok and they were mindblowing. I started doing them every day, a few minutes here and there in the morning, in the toilet at work, before bed. I noticed as soon as I started swinging my arms, I got tingles down my spine, like my vagus nerve was finally activating after a lifetime of being broken.
• Silicolgel (or enterosgel) - my second consultant recommended this and I was sceptical because it's not addressing the root cause. But I tried it and it made a massive difference in sweeping out the gas and preventing embarassing noises when I had meetings in the office. Gemini explained that it's also important for sweeping out dead bacteria during the berberine kill phase. Having silicolgel sachets in my bag at the office gave me a lot of peace of mind, and reducing anxiety went a long way to healing my nervous system for good.
• Breathing - in the past 1-2 months I decided to address the flared ribs/pelvic tilt issue. Gemini's main recommended exercise was a 90/90 breathing exercise with feet pressed against a wall. I learnt that the pressure of your gut is crucial for the MMC. This seemed to be the final piece of the puzzle for me and I'm already noticing a visual reduction in my flared ribs.

I hope this has can be of help to someone. Feel free to ask anything, I'm happy to answer any questions and provide any further detail.

TL;DR Two different doctors couldn't address the root cause of my SIBO. I used Gemini to investigate the complex causes and tried various treatments. Check out the list above of what worked me.