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Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO)

Digestive Health | Last Active: Mar 21 4:02pm | Replies (466)

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@gigi4

To diagnose SIBO, my doctor ordered a breath test which looks at these gases - methane and hydrogen - being produced in your gut. It's a home kit mailed to you but needs to be intrepreted by your doctor. I don't understand how SIBO can be detected via a colonoscopy or endoscopy. Google SIBO to find out what exactly it is and the symptoms one can experience (there are many) - I lost weight, felt fatigued and bloated and that my food was not being digested but just sitting in my upper stomach. Also, do some reading on testing for SIBO so you are armed with that information to share with your doctor. Let him/her know that you would very much like this test to at least rule in or rule out and how to treat if you do in fact have SIBO. What you want is to find out what is causing your symptoms, not just treat the symptoms, otherwise once you stop treating symptoms and feeling good, your symptoms will return if indeed you do have SIBO. That is what happened to me and on my third endoscopy I was told by the GI to never take the proton pump inhibitors (PPI) as they had made my digestive tract cells hypertrophic.
There is also a great book out called SUPER GUT by Dr. William Davis that helps you understand SIBO and dietary changes that need to be changed and/or added to your diet. His recommendations are very similar to what my doctor prescribed for me.
If your doctor refuses, I highly recommend you seek another one out who is willing to work with you on finding the reasons for your symptoms and treating that cause. My doctor is a functional medicine doctor as I gave up on my health providers. You can find one by city and state at ifm.org and look for one that specializes in digestive issues.
Wishing you the best in finding an answer and getting your health back.

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Replies to "To diagnose SIBO, my doctor ordered a breath test which looks at these gases - methane..."

Appreciate it. I sure hope that doctors start looking at a lot of the forum comments, etc. to see people are suffering and just want help for these gut issues. Paying for functional medicine doctors gets expensive out of pocket. Wish traditional medicine docs would maybe look more at these SIBO type tests and stool tests, etc. to evaluate more. I am hoping Mayo can help me at this time as already had endo and colonoscopy, and just trying to get answers how I went from athlete to now some overgrowth of stuff after covid. Not sure if taking products for SIBO work, etc. like the oregano's, allicin, or like CBO protocol products like equilife offers or amy myers offers. I wish docs could just tell us what to try. Thank you again, and if any other supplement suggestions, etc. to ward off commensal bacteria overgrowth feel free to share.

I thought PPIs were bad as they reduce acid that is needed to digest food and keep bacteria away. 5 years ago I became sick and while testing to find out what it was, drs had me on 80 mg of Prilosec. I eventually got diagnosed with Crohn's and now battle with SIBO. I feel the high dosage of Prilosec damaged my stomach . Experts say no PPIs.
Your thoughts?

Who was your GI and where?