If you have “tried everything” and are still having regular IBS symptoms and persistant digestive issues, seriously consider SIBO and Candida as being a potential cause. There are natural herbal solutions for SIBO and Candida, although to be completely successful you will probably need to work FIRST with the root causes behind why they developed in the first place.
How do I know if I have SIBO and Candida?
SIBO and Candida are both directly related to bacterial overgrowth.
SIBO actually stands for Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth.
Candida is a specific type of bacterial overgrowth. It can occur in the intestines, but also in the stomach, the mouth and other body areas too.
If you’re wondering if you have SIBO and Candida (or either one), check out the commonly associated symptoms, and see if they match what you are experiencing. Both create ongoing digestive issues.
You can ask your doctor for a hydrogen and methane breath test to confirm your conclusions.
Your doctor will probably prescribe you medicines like Rifaximin to help get rid of the “bad” bacteria.
Prebiotics or probiotics may help too. I had a bad reaction to probiotics as many contain lactose. As I am lactose-intolerant, I had to find a different solution.
But there are effective natural solutions available to treat Sibo and Candida.
Why not use natural solutions for SIBO and Candida?
By having to look for an alternative solution for long-term digestive issues and bacterial overgrowth, I came across HERBAL MICROBIALS (also known as herbal antibiotics). They are generally less expensive, can be better digested and can do the job just as well.
There are several medical studies to show that herbs can have a very beneficial effect on gut flora, and even as good as Rifaximin for treating SIBO.
Treating Candida
I was successful improving long-term digestive issues with a product called ERGYPAR by the Laboratories Nutergia.
This product is in liquid form and contains potent herbal extracts.
My local pharmacist stocks it, but it is not widely available outside France. I have found a supplier that delivers Ergypar to the UK, but not to the US. (This is NOT an affiliate link). On the Nutergia website, there are a list of their international distibutors that you could contact.
This is a list of what the product contains, so you can look for a similar solution where you are: extracts of ginger (which I cannot digest as a food), walnut, gentian, alder, thyme and mallow, and trace elements of selenium and chrome.
I added a 20 ml capful to the bottle of water I keep on my desk every day for a nearly a month (I used 2 bottles doing this) You can take the 20 ml in a glass of water in one go, preferably between mealtimes, but the taste is not particularly pleasant.
After that I felt better all round, with less bloating and wind, and had more energy.
I repeated this treatment a couple of months later to maximize its effect.
This treatment helped me significantly improve digestive issues.
Then I went a step further and found and released my IBS triggers. To my great surprise I found that all my IBS flare-ups and long-term digestive problems fell away. I believe that this is the key to long-term recovery.
Natural herbal solutions for SIBO
For best results (and just in case I also had SIBO) my pharmacist told me I should I was should follow ERGYPAR with a product called MY’COKYL
This is a herbal treatment for SIBO.
Unfortunately I couldn’t digest this one at all, probably because of the garlic. However, I found I had sufficient results without it.
This product contains garlic that helps maintain the microbial balance in the gut and defense against harmful micro-organisms. It contains essential oil of cloves, cinnamon, oregano, with garlic, thyme, rosemary, grapefruit and olive extracts.
Dr. Allison Siebecker is a SIBO researcher and specialist, and uses a herbal treatment with SIBO. She says that to treat SIBO, her team commonly use “1-3 of the following herbs x 4 weeks per course, at highest levels suggested on product labels:
– Allicin (extract) from Garlic
– Oregano
– Berberine (found in Goldenseal, Oregon Grape, Barberry, Coptis, Phellodendron)
– Neem
– Cinnamon”
You can see that that MY’COKYL and this next product both contain at least 3 of the herbs she is recommending.
New Nordic DIDA is a similar product to MY’COKYL, a natural herbal treatment for SIBO that you could try which is available in the UK
This was probably because of lactose or maybe the garlic, but other IBS sufferers find them helpful. They contain oregano, olive leaves, marigold, thyme, cardamom, cloves, garlic, cinnamon oil, peppermint oil and fennel oil.
SIBO is known to be particularly difficult to treat. Some people will need to retreat a second time, or try other methods like the specific SIBO diet, Elemental diet or antibiotics (1). Ask your doctor for guidance.
Sugars and refined processed foods are thought to encourage SIBO and Candida.
Remember to EXCLUDE them from your diet while you are taking treatment.
If you find that your Candida or SIBO comes back, it would be wise to look at the root causes. I would actually recommend working on this BEFORE trying out these products. You may not even need them as a result…
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