I have lost weight after taking probiotics for SIBO. Please help.

Question

Hi doctor,

I am ongoing with SIBO symptoms. I have a lengthy inquiry. I have to tell an interesting array of happening that happened from fifteen years. I thought the problem was a urinary tract infection and used a hot tub before diagnosing the problem. After a week, I started to have occasional stomach pain. After that, I got reactive arthritis. I tested for all STDs and UTI. The results came negative. But reactive arthritis did not get resolved. I did an endoscopy with a concern that I can have an H.pylori infection. The result came negative. The doctor advised me to take probiotics. At that time, I had some candidal overgrowth.

After a month, I consulted the doctor and they told me I can have SIBO. At that time, I have started taking probiotics and continued it for a year. Then I stopped taking it for seven years and my body condition got improved. Now I started taking probiotics again and I have improved. I got lean due to SIBO and gaining weight is very difficult for me. I have normal bowel movements now without diarrhea and constipation. What is the problem with me now? Does reactive arthritis indicate an infection in the bloodstream? I have never been sick even though I had an infection in my blood. I do not think that I have a leaky gut. Does going through some sort of overgrowth for fifteen years lead to long term disease like cancer? I have consulted the doctor and he told me that I do not have it. But I have paranoia.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Taking probiotics may not cause weight gain and it promotes weight loss. Intake of sugar can lead to weight gain. In SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), the sugar is utilized by the candida in the bowel and it releases inflammatory mediators. It enters into the systemic circulation bypassing through the leaky gut and it can induce inflammation leading to arthritis. It cannot cause malignancy or cancer. But it can cause eczema, arthritis, allergy and it can lead to gluten sensitivity and lactose sensitivity. You need to replace gut pathological microbes with gut sterilization for a week. Then supplementation of probiotics has to be inoculated into the gut. Repair the damaged epithelium using Glutamine daily. You can protect yourself from the leaky gut by adding collagen peptide in your food. It takes up to six weeks.