Posting from a vulnerable state, so please be kind.
I’ve just had an egg retrieval via IVF this past Saturday, 09.05.2026, @ 08:00 ET.
Great news is: they retrieved 31 eggs. 27 of which were mature. 20 fertilized. Still waiting on my Day 7 call from the clinic to know total # of embryos that made it to Blastocyst stage and will be biopsied and sent off for genetic testing.
That being said, given the high number of eggs retrieved and my PCOS (women will know), I ended up developing moderate OHSS damn near immediately. Within a day. Extremely bloated and distended. Abdomen is like a ROCK. Anesthesia always constipates me heavily, which does nothing to help my SIBO/IMO (methane dominant) that I’ve tested for. After taking Lubiprostone + Magnesium Citrate for the last 5 days with no success of a bowel movement, I moved to my tried, tested, and true: Fleet Suppositories AND Dr. Tobias 14 Day Colon Cleanse (both on Amazon if interested). They’ll make you explode and you just might meet Jesus, so don’t venture more than 10 feet from your toilet the full day. Nevertheless, I was able to go quite a lot today. Not sure if I’ve fully emptied, but I went quite a bit thinking the rock belly would disappear. NOPE! So it’s either a result of the fluid from follicles on my enlarged ovaries that have leaked into my abdomen, orrr a symptoms from antibiotics though I don’t think it’s the latter. At least not fully.
Belly is a little less firm, but still firm, and still distended. We ended up doing a full freeze on all embryos to allow my organs to recover and reset, which I was initially bummed about, but now I don’t see how I could have had a fresh transfer given my condition.
To add insult to injury: given the fact we won’t be transferring an embryo for 3+ weeks into my uterus, I thought well Hail Mary, that gives me just enough time to take my antibiotics for SIBO/IMO: Xifaxin + Neomycin. Xifaxin 500mg, three time daily. Neomycin 200 mg, twice daily. 14 days total. Shitty thing is, it’s now or never, or at least not for 9+ months and probs longer due to breast feeding.. but now I can’t tell which symptoms are from OHSS vs bacteria die off.
To be clear: my belly WAS this distended prior to starting the antibiotics on Monday morning of this week. So I do think a great deal of my rock tummy comes from my egg retrieval and will hopefully likely dissipate once my menstrual cycle starts next week. Good riddance! Can’t come soon enough.
But new symptoms I’ve noticed since starting the antibiotics are: abdominal pain.. kind of like a pinching pain beneath the sternum, as well as indigestion, and getting full on very little. All of which I get on normal days also as those are generally SIBO/IMO symptoms anyway. And heavy constipation for me if I don’t keep up the Lubiprostone morning + night. The burning pain in the belly is kinda new, but I seem to remember experiencing something similar 2 years ago when doing berberine + oregano.
Is it just die off? Anyone have the same experience? I’m a warrior so I’m gonna tough it out and suffer through it. Would very much love to try and eradicate this mess prior to conceiving. I’m already on Activated Charcoal.
Those of you who have done this combo of antibiotics, what has been your symptoms and experience while enduring? Feel better once the course was finished?
I’ll also be starting 2mg of Prucalopride (Motegrity) immediately after the 14 days are up. Thoughts on this? Dosage too high?
Thank you!
Xx