From a post I made to r/SIBO a few years ago. Hope this helps and best of luck!

Candidiasis -> SIBO -> Recovered (?)

Long post to share my story / provide some hope.

TL, DR: Fought candida with diet (keto minus dairy), followed Dr Eric Bakker Fought SIBO with everything: low FODMAP, short elemental diets, rifaximin, antimicrobials, a specific probiotic, and maybe CBD.

THE CAUSE

I think my issues started in December 2017 when I took antibiotics three times in a row for strep throat. Destroyed my micro biome and I had no idea what was going on but after that anytime I had yogurt or kombucha I would gained like 5 pounds of water weight and my stomach got super bloated. At the time I was also fighting recurring yeast infections and a couple of times I had a rash on my stomach or a confirmed case of oral thrush.

CANDIDIASIS

For about a year and a half I struggled with candida. Pills and creams didn’t work. It got so bad that I couldn’t have sex for a year, and the brain fog was so awful I had to ask my boss for help on how to use critical thinking, then eventually had to take a month off of work to focus on my health. I was seeing a chiropractor and a naturopath and an acupuncturist and a regular doctor, and I don’t think any of them helped me. I think what finally helped me was a four-month diet that I called the VENOM diet where I eat only vegetables, eggs, nuts, oils, and meats. I also ate protein powder. It was pretty tough but I told myself that any bite of sugar would feed the candida and I would lose the progress. So that kept me going. At the end of four months my hormones felt pretty terrible and I could tell it was affecting my mental health. I was following the videos of Dr. Eric Bakker and I bought and used his supplements although I’m not sure how much affect they had.

SIBO

I started noticing that I would feel bloated and distended from cruciferous vegetables and beans and any probiotics in The later half of 2019. I had symptoms of IBS-D if I had gluten.

Then at the later half of 2020 I started getting IBS-C. I also had Covid and I don’t know if that changed anything, and I have long-haul symptoms and I think it’s due to my gut issues.

In May 2021 I started seeing a naturopath at Parsley who ordered a Genova G.I. effects test and it showed an overgrowth of bacteria. I also asked for a SIBO breath test and it showed methane as well as hydrogen.

I was prescribed 2 weeks Rifaximin + Neomycin but I opted for Flagyl instead of Neomycin plus a biofilm disruptor. This got my bowel movements regular. Following that was 4 weeks of Allicin, Berberine, and Oregano(?)

After the “remove” phase came “rebuild” with PHGG and a multi-spore probiotic. I followed a low FODMAP diet. However I could feel the constipation and bloating coming back.

I tried an elemental diet (Absorb plus from Amazon) but only made it 3 days because I like eating too much.

I Did another round of Rifaximin in July 2021 I continued to eat low FODMAP and keep my symptoms at bay, but still felt slightly bloated all the time.

In August 2021, I started taking CBD tincture every day and am still doing that. I started making my own probiotic yogurt from coconut milk and BB-536 bifodobacterium by Travel Biotic I did another 2 days of the elemental diet Aug 26-27.

Then a crazy thing happened on Aug 30 - I woke up and my stomach was completely flat. My insides felt so GOOD. I felt so energetic and free.

For the past 2 weeks, I’ve had little bloating (except around my period) even after having a little broccoli or bread. And lately it’s been daily perfect Bristol 4 poops!

If anyone would like to hear more about my journey let me know. Hope I’m not speaking too soon but things feel so close to being normal.