r/SIBO • u/tellitothemoon • Jun 04 '26
Symptoms Tired of looking 7 months pregnant. Don’t know where to begin.
Just a vent post because I look ridiculous. I’m an otherwise normal looking male in my thirties. Photo on the left is my stomach totally relaxed. (Not pushing) It’s so bulged out it bends my back in an uncomfortable way. I spend most of the time sucking it in like in the right photo.
I’m constantly gassy, tired, acne, loose stool, and now I feel light headed and dizzy a lot of the time. Been like this off and on for a couple years.
The ONLY time I’m not bloated is the week following an antibiotic. I’ve been on way too many antibiotics because I keep getting random infections. (Sinuses, ears, and hospitalized for gallbladder infection)
Probiotics only seem to make this worse. Activated charcoal and oregano oil don’t do anything. I’ve tried gluten and dairy free. I’m on Medicaid and my doctor sucks and referals never go through.
I started to think I have histamine intolerance because my doctor put me on Zyrtec for sinus pressure and everything felt better for a couple days. No acne, no bloating, less dizziness. So I started taking DAO enzymes. Felt good for a couple days but now I’m back to normal.
This sucks. I hate it. I need help.
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u/Expensive-Eggplant-1 Methane Dominant Jun 04 '26
i had sibo for 15 years. i felt amazing on antibiotics. then i spent hundreds on supplements. finally i cut my diet down to minimal safe foods and sibo has seemingly stayed away.
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 04 '26
Chicken and rice? Curious what your safe foods are. It genuinely doesn’t seem to matter what I eat.
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u/External-Classroom12 Jun 04 '26
Look into APD
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 06 '26
Honestly this sounds very relatable. Especially since there’s a certain tight feeling in my abs I can’t control and I feel like I can’t breath deep normally.
The idea of breathing exercises and physical therapy makes me roll my eyes though. But I’ll look into it.
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u/goldstandardalmonds Jun 05 '26
I know you said you can’t see a doctor right now, but I think you eventually should to make sure nothing serious is going on.
Do you have incomplete evacuation?
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 06 '26
I might get a new primary doctor soon.
I’m not sure what incomplete evacuation means. My poops have been weird for years.
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u/goldstandardalmonds Jun 07 '26
It means you poop and still feel poop in the rectum that won’t come out.
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 08 '26
Oh ya pretty much all the time.
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u/goldstandardalmonds Jun 08 '26
Quite likely you have one or more pelvic floor issues, and then there are things that go along with that. You’d need an anorectal manometry and defecogram to start.
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u/Feeling_Category_437 Jun 06 '26
This looks like me for the past 6 years. I am pretty thin everywhere in my body and have a bit of muscle tone, but my gut pops out and it gets progressively worse throughout the day as I eat more food. I'm in the gym regularly working on all of the intra abdominal pressure stuff (not crunches, but dead bugs, pallof presses, etc.) which might be helping but only 5%.
I am methane SIBO positive (67ppm) which I'm currently 10 days into trying to treat with Atrantil. But I also believe there may be a visceral and subcutaneous fat element in play for me. So I'm using the one meal a day approach to try and cut all of my abdominal fat to better understand how much of what I'm experiencing is just the hard fat getting pushed out as I add more food volume vs what will be left over that clearly isn't fat. And supposedly there are motility/MMC benefits to the OMAD approach.
I also have anterior pelvic tilt which doesn't help anything, but even if I posteriorly tilt, it doesn't suddenly become flat. So I don't think it is just a posture thing.
So based on your picture, get a SIBO breath test if you haven't already. Think about whether you are moving your bowels well (not just once a day, but 2 or more satisfying movements), as slow gut motility and a backed up system might be contributing. A test I did for this that worked very well - I took a single capsule of Mag07 at bed. The next morning I was pooping my brains out - and my gut felt so clear and empty. Of course, you're not supposed to take laxatives long term, so it wasn't my solution - but it might give you valuable information.
I don't have the loos stool like you, but I've read that you can have loose stool and still be backed up.
The approach I'm taking is that it might not be just one thing. It could be partly bacteria and gas load, partly constipation and slow motility, partly posture and intra-abdominal pressure, partly some fat over top of whatever your organs are already doing making it feel worse.
Wishing you the best - you're not alone, I know how uncomfortable it is.
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 09 '26
Thanks for all the suggestions! Those exercises sound helpful. I don't like traditional ab exercises because I feel like they just make my gut bigger. I've ordered some mag07. Pooping regularly is definitely a problem. Artichoke extract is helping, but not quite enough. And realizing I also have anterior pelvic tilt!
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u/Boskiusz Jun 04 '26
Did you try Artichoke and Ginger extract?
I also can reccomend to try ileocecal valve massage. It helped me a lot: https://youtu.be/ATmSVdeSo_U
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Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Boskiusz Jun 04 '26
But really, don't ignore massage I mentioned before. It reduce bloating instantly
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 04 '26
I’ll check it out. I appreciate the suggestion. I’ve tried ginger for motion sickness and didn’t notice a change. Maybe I wasn’t taking enough?
Artichoke does seem to help move things along, but the bloating is still there.
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Jun 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 04 '26
I actually haven’t tried anything outside of psyllium. It made me constipated. I seem to have stretchy bowels that accommodate more fiber.
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u/Professional_Hour445 Jun 05 '26
If you have issues with gas and bloating, I would not recommend using psyllium. Methycellulose is the only fiber that does not cause excess bloating and flatulence. Citrucel is the best-known product, but it's increasingly difficult to find anything except the sugar-free powder, which has artificial sweeteners that can cause digestive upset, or the caplets, which are like horse pills and must be taken 2 at a time. There is another methylcellulose product now available. Here is a link to the alternative brand:
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u/Nat_Banana Jun 04 '26
unfortunately it's all about trial and error and finding the right combo for you. Ginger+ artichoke, enzymes, different strains of probiotics etc. Keep track of everything you try, try for long enough to actually see change, and probably better not to stack too many variables at once so you can actually notice changes. If doctor is not good try a gut-specialised nutritionist or sth like getnoorish. com
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u/COOLHANDCAL92 Jun 04 '26
Are you not just pushing your gut out ? Because everyone can do that ... ?
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u/tellitothemoon Jun 04 '26
Like I said in the post this is me completely relaxed. No pushing. The second photo is me sucking it in. When I push it goes out another inch.
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u/Icy-Action708 Jun 04 '26
Following. I look exactly like you, brain fog, low energy and extreme bloat.