Hi, I’m Dr. Tara Steinke one of the naturopathic doctors with Naturopathic Rx and I want to talk a little bit about IBS and SIBO. If you have a diagnosis of IBS or what’s known as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, I can almost guarantee that you have some level of frustration around that diagnosis because it is a label used by a lot of doctors, when they don’t understand what’s causing your GI symptoms. But we now know that up to 80% of IBS cases are actually caused by SIBO or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.
Now what is SIBO? It is exactly what it sounds like. It is an overgrowth of microorganisms in the small intestine that lead to those IBS. symptoms like bloating especially that happens right after a meal. Diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, and distension, things like gastric reflux; all of these symptoms can indicate that you may have SIBO.
To treat SIBO, number one, we want to know what kind of organisms are causing these symptoms. What organisms are overgrown in the small intestine? So testing is super important. It’s done via breath test and I use a test that looks at all three types of SIBO causing organisms, methane producing, hydrogen producing, and hydrogen sulfide producing microorganisms.
Secondly, we really want to understand the underlying conditions or causes that led to the overgrowth to begin with. Things like motility issues or digestive issues may be caused by low stomach acid or poor pancreatic function, structural issues such as adhesion or other obstructions, or maybe you have a medication history that has led to the development. We need to know what type of organisms and also try to figure out the underlying cause so that we can come up with a multifaceted strategic approach to treatment.
So, if you have IBS and you think you may have SIBO, we’d love to see you here at Naturopathic Rx.
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