How it went
Did it last?
- 6 of 12 said the benefit wore off (including the 1 who relapsed).
- 1 of 12 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 0 | 0% |
| Near-full | 0 | 0% |
| Substantial | 7 | 58% |
| Partial | 1 | 8% |
| Relapsed | 1 | 8% |
| No benefit | 3 | 25% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 3 | 0% | |
| Severe | 5 | 0% | |
| Very severe | 1 | 0% |
3 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
Right-hand number: share describing a full or near-full recovery. Pages that sell something, and advocacy sites, tend to publish only the successes.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention Rifaximin / Xifaxan, per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 4 | 184 | 21.7 |
| 2010 | 0 | 682 | 0.0 |
| 2011 | 4 | 704 | 5.7 |
| 2012 | 2 | 1,491 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | 6 | 1,708 | 3.5 |
| 2014 | 1 | 2,352 | 0.4 |
| 2015 | 0 | 2,158 | 0.0 |
| 2016 | 3 | 1,431 | 2.1 |
| 2017 | 10 | 3,110 | 3.2 |
| 2018 | 13 | 2,201 | 5.9 |
| 2019 | 0 | 1,075 | 0.0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 2,581 | 0.0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 1,867 | 1.1 |
| 2022 | 0 | 1,166 | 0.0 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1,000 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 1,237 | 0.8 |
| 2025 | 0 | 1,019 | 0.0 |
| 2026 (so far) | 4 | 840 | 4.8 |
Posts in the forum threads we archived, 26,806 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These threads all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 12 accounts
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Relief! I still have CFS but am a MILLION times better, takes a lot of work but worth it
Built an extensive daily regimen around kratom (Green Malay strain), weekly B12 injections, magnesium, psyllium fiber, CPAP therapy, an annual course of Xifaxan and a year-long course of itraconazole, plus NAC, glycine, glutathione and BPC-157, for ME/CFS…
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Relief! I still have CFS but am a MILLION times better
julienl42's own title is his hedge: after 13 years and a long, actively-managed stack of prescription, antifungal, sleep and supplement treatments, he has gone from being in bed all day with 3-4 crashes a month to about one crash every one to two months,…
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Antibiotics got rid of malaise
Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (Bactrim), taken twice daily over at least two separate courses roughly nine months apart. She had chronic ME/CFS with severe malaise that began two to three years earlier, on top of gut issues lasting around twenty years.…
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KDM - success of fixing the gut
Cycled through antibiotics and probiotics for gut dysbiosis; after about three months she went "from moderate to mild," with IBS "almost non-existent," but overexertion caused a relapse and she now needs ongoing rifaximin to control bloating ("when I start…
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Objective CPET improvement & remission on ketogenic diet
Unable to tolerate a full ketogenic diet, this poster followed a looser low-carb, high-fat approach alongside antibiotic herbs and a course of Rifaximin, reporting energy "way up" and PEM "very much improved." Presented as a straightforward success with no…
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My recovery after my one and only crash.
Combined a strict elimination diet (no gluten, dairy, processed food or fructose) with Lyrica at 225mg per day, low-dose naltrexone, ketotifen, antihistamines, B12 with methylfolate, rifaximin plus neomycin for SIBO, hyperbaric oxygen, and later tDCS.…
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Rimfaximin seems to have helped my gut
After years of rolling gut pain, alternating bowel habits and frequent migraines, she took Rifaximin 400mg three times daily for 10 days, followed by five days of Azithromycin plus a probiotic and enzyme/fiber regimen. Following the Azithromycin course her…
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Fixing Leaky Gut Helps ME/CFS, and Sometimes Achieves Full Remission
Took a month of Xifaxan for gut dysbiosis after testing positive for leaky gut, enterovirus and H2S overgrowth, and separately tried glutamine, NAG, aloe vera juice, digestive enzymes and zinc. She noticed no changes from the month of Xifaxan alone, and…
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Fixing Leaky Gut Helps ME/CFS, and Sometimes Achieves Full Remission
Tried Xifaxan for IBS about a year and a half before posting but stopped after only four or five days because his diarrhea got considerably worse. He notes the drug "does seem to help a lot of people, just not me," reporting no benefit and a worsened symptom…
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IVIG and Xiflaxan: A Dr. Peterson Patient Improves
With severely swollen intestines, inability to eat or sleep without drugs and severe brain fog, he tried Xifaxan (which caused nausea and dizziness), charcoal tablets, pine cone extract and cat's claw, but reports no improvement and ongoing severe symptoms.
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IVIG and Xiflaxan: A Dr. Peterson Patient Improves
After a long history of recurrent SIBO culminating in septic shock and 15-20 diarrheal episodes a day, he took Xifaxan 200mg four times daily for 15 days alongside Florastor probiotic. Relief was "dramatic" within about 10 days, leaving no abdominal pain and…
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IVIG and Xiflaxan: A Dr. Peterson Patient Improves
A long-standing ME/CFS patient of Dr. Peterson improved markedly after resuming IVIG and taking a course of Xifaxan in late June for leaky gut/bacterial overgrowth, eventually starting full-time law school with only minor symptom-related difficulties. The…