What is SIBO?

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth syndrome.

A healthy small intestine has bacteria in it, a square centimeter may have thousands of bacteria. The healthy large intestine is home to trillions of bacteria per square centimeter. In SIBO, the small intestine begins to resemble the large intestinal microbiome. 

What are symptoms of  Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth Syndrome?

Many of my patients have had SIBO, I frequently see SIBO as a symptom of something larger going on. SIBO is an overgrowth of beneficial bacteria in the small intestine. When bacteria overgrows in the small intestine, we can experience gas, bloating, abdominal pain, heartburn/reflux, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, food sensitivities, anxiety, depression, fatigue and even skin conditions like rosacea. 

How is SIBO treated?

Although there are many, many diets for SIBO to be found online, diet alone does not treat SIBO. The only reason to change your diet for SIBO is for symptom reduction. For many of my patients, dietary interventions are not reasonable and we never restrict their diet. I have successfully treated SIBO with pharmaceuticals, herbs or other supplements; with combinations of herbs, supplements and pharmaceuticals. For patients that dietary changes are reasonable and useful, I have assisted in dietary changes for symptom management. 

How is SIBO diagnosed?

With a SIBO test, using the patient’s breath. My current favorite method is using the commercially available FoodMarble Aire 2. The Aire 2 is a simple device that connects to both a bluetooth smart device app and to a FoodMarble Clinicians Dashboard. The data sent to the app may be symptomatically useful, but the data sent to the Clinicians dashboard is significantly more useful in my experience. Using a prescription sugar, Lactulose, we can replicate a SIBO breath test allowing my patients to test, treat, and retest with little additional financial output. Historically, we would have to order a full test repeatedly at considerable cost to the patient, which they would send off to a laboratory, hoping that they had collected their sample properly. With the FoodMarble Aire 2, the patient knows that they are getting a proper collection right away and the data is available for me to see within minutes.