Hello Clara, I've had an ileostomy for 41 years and have managed to stay healthy and maintain a good weight until 3 years ago when I was diagnosed with SIBO by my gastro doctor. I started losing weight and couldn't figure out why, so my doctor did an endoscopy. He thought it was Crohn's, and so did I, although I wasn't having any symptoms of recurrent Crohn's like in previous years. The pathology report came back positive for H. pylori. I was prescribed the gold standard treatment of Flagyl, doxycycline, and Prilosec. I could not tolerate the Flagyl, so I was given amoxicillin, rifabutin, and Prilosec. That regimen worked as stool test results were negative for H. pylori. Great! No more nausea, loss of taste, etc., but then I began to have lots of gas. My pouch would blow up like a balloon, especially overnight. I saw my GI doctor and was diagnosed with SIBO, although no test for SIBO was done to confirm. Xifaxan antibiotic was prescribed, which did nothing. I was also put on a low FODMAP diet, which did nothing. I then decided to see a functional medicine doctor who ordered many blood and stool tests, which showed an overgrowth of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria. She suggested an antimicrobial called Biocidin along with some enzymes and other natural gut barriers. I have improved but still have gas and have not been able to gain my 20-pound weight loss back. I have read extensively about SIBO to learn all I can, and it's discouraging to say the least because it's very difficult to get rid of. Have you ever had the breath test, which is the only way of diagnosing SIBO? Many say it sometimes isn't 100 percent accurate as false negatives and positives occur. The doctors weren't sure how having an ileostomy would affect the test. There is a book written by a world-renowned SIBO specialist, Dr. Mark Pimentel, that gives great insight into SIBO. When I took all those antibiotics, they wiped my microbiome out, killing the good bacteria that fights the bad, so the bad grew out of control. I don't know why your doctor would tell you what he did about antibiotics helping in 18 months. If you read any of the forums people post, like Reddit or Quora, you can learn a lot from people who have battled it. I think it is worse than any Crohn's problems I've had, which resulted in 4 surgeries, because at least I could always get better and actually thrived, but not so with SIBO. I hope this helps and doesn't discourage you. I have just basically learned to live with it. Rhonda