SIBO Treatment (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth): Symptoms, Diet, Treatment, Etc.
What is SIBO?
SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth is a digestive disorder where the small intestine has excessive bacteria in it compared to its normal quantity. SIBO can cause mild to severe symptoms and overtime can lead to nutrient deficiencies, leaky gut, gas, bloating, leaky gut and brain fog to name a few.
SIBO does not have to be comprised of infectious bacteria, but rather most bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine is comprised of typical or normal bacteria that you normally have in small quantities throughout your digestive tract.
Finding the best holistic doctor for natural SIBO treatment is critical as the options for treating SIBO naturally can vary greatly and you have to pay close attention to progression if you are truly looking for a SIBO cure.
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SIBO Symptoms
What does SIBO feel like? While SIBO symptoms can vary, you can suspect SIBO if you have the following symptoms:
- Bloating
- Flatulence or gas
- Stomach Pain
- Abdominal
- Tenderness
- Loss of Appetite
- Excessive Appetite
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
Your treatment for SIBO will vary depending on your symptoms and your SIBO doctors determination of whether you have “methane dominant” or “hydrogen dominant” SIBO. SIBO natural treatment is important as SIBO antibiotic treatment can lead to leaky gut and progression into further diseases.
When you have SIBO and leaky gut you often feel like you have brain fog, fatigue, joint pain and that you are bloated all of the time no matter what you eat.
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What Causes Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth?
While there are many causes of SIBO, some are easy to pinpoint while others are near impossible to discover where it came from. Here are some of the more obvious ones:
1. Low Stomach Acid – If you can’t eat heavy meals, red meat or you get acid reflux, then this can be the cause of your SIBO.
Treatment of SIBO doesn’t have to include Betaine HCL or other stomach support, but should be focused on getting the stomach acid back to normal so that you naturally treat your SIBO with your own body.
2. Lack of Movement – When your food sits in your digestive tract too long (constipation) or stress is leading to low stomach acid and slower movement of your MMC (migrating motor complex) if your food isn’t digested in a timely manner, you can get SIBO.
The carbohydrates sit to long in any given area and allow bacteria to proliferate above normal levels. To ensure you don’t get SIBO, try to have 2-3 bowel movements on most days. This is critical if you want to get rid of SIBO.
3. Low Bile and Digestive Enzymes – Since SIBO is caused by too much bacteria in the small intestine, it means that one of the control mechanisms may not be working well. Bile acids, digestive enzymes and stomach acid all control the quantity of bacteria in your digestive tract.
Optimizing liver, gallbladder and pancreas health is one of the best ways to cure SIBO naturally without antibiotics.
4. Antibiotics – SIBO antibiotics are used for treatment of SIBO as well as other antibiotics may be the cause of SIBO. Traditional antibiotic use as well as antibiotics in food can destroy good bacteria in the gut and allow other organisms to grow such as fungus, parasites and bacteria.
We find that treating SIBO with antibiotics is often effective for a short period of time, but that more often than not, dysbiosis needs to be treated from a holistic viewpoint rather than simply focusing on one organism. Our clinic focuses on SIBO herbal treatment and natural remedies for SIBO.
5. Low Immune Function – Stress, autoimmune conditions, hormone imbalance, blood sugar issue and medications can all take a toll on the immune system. If you are trying to keep your SIBO treatment natural, a focus on immune support can keep SIBO from coming back and should be part of your SIBO treatment plan.
6. Food Poisoning – Food poisoning is the #1 cause of dysbiosis or intestinal inflammation. We are exposed to many bacteria, parasites and viruses each day, even if we are eating organic vegetables. We are all familiar with how horrible our gut feels when we have food poisoning at a restaurant.
These toxins in poisonous bacteria destroy our gut lining and attack our immune system. This results in post-infectious IBS and SIBO. Contrary to common belief, not all food poisoning goes away on its own and many SIBO treatments fail to address other types of food poising other than e. coli.
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Hydrogen Dominant SIBO Treatment
Hydrogen producing bacteria live in both the large intestine and the small intestine. In general, more of them live in the large intestine than the small. When hydrogen producing bacteria move from the large to small intestine, this is SIBO.
While there should be hydrogen producing bacteria in the small intestine, SIBO (small intestine overgrowth) means exactly what it says, too much in the small intestine. This can happen with other organisms too like fungus, which is termed SIFO (small intestine fungal overgrowth)
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Methane Dominant SIBO Treatment
There are also methane producing bacteria that live in the small intestine called methanogens. The most common methane producing organism that we know of now is methanobrevibacter smithii.
Given that current SIBO testing only tests for hydrogen and methane, there is still a huge potential for improvement in diagnosis SIBO with other bacteria that can be involved.
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SIBO Treatment Didn’t Work?
As mentioned before, bacteria or SIBO isn’t the only possible overgrowth in the small intestine. Fungi, such as candida albicans is often missed. There are many species of yeast that live in and on the body. You can read my article on SIFO treatment for more information.
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Does SIBO Cause IBS?
Yes, all day everyday! Without being too cynical, let’s talk about testing for SIBO for a second. If you look at the the image below, you will see that up to 54% of people with IBS had SIBO! That’s a 50% chance.
So if you have IBS and haven’t treated for SIBO yet, then you are missing 1/2 the pie. If you went to the doctor and they tested the standard way, then they would only find 23% of IBS associated with SIBO.
Based upon clinical testing, I suggest that even the SIBO breath test still misses even more cases of infection causing IBS. Maybe up to another 25% is going undiagnosed. If you combine that with the percentage of individuals with SIFO, you have pretty much covered most of the IBS population by addressing 2 infections that we know for sure exist in the small intestine.Image Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28274108/#&gid=article-figures&pid=fig-1-uid-0
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Best Treatment For SIBO
At our office we believe the best treatment for SIBO is herbal treatment for SIBO.
Our clinical experiments on thousands of SIBO patients suggest that taking antibiotics for SIBO is not the best solution. While Rifaxamin and Xifaxin are effective at treating SIBO and often include in the “natural way to treat SIBO” by many holistic doctors, the recurrence of SIBO after rifaxamin based antibiotics is about 44%.
In the functional medicine realm many doctors agree that a berberine based herbal treatment for SIBO is a great idea. While there are multiple herbs that include berberine, by far the most effective herb for SIBO is Chinese Coptis. Its secret ingredient coptsine, puts it ahead of the competition.
Grape seed extract is the most commonly recommended on stool tests, though we find it to be less effective and the research suggests it can even be dangerous to the microbiome.
If you want specific treatment for SIBO based upon your symptoms, then it is best to speak with one of our natural digestion experts.
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Best Probiotic For SIBO
If you have mild stomach upset or mild bloating, then a probiotic for SIBO may be a good choice. If you think your symptoms of SIBO may have moved to the more moderate to sever, then we recommend you do not take a probiotic.
In fact we highly recommend against prebiotics for anyone with active SIBO. Our unique approach of avoiding probiotics and using herbal treatments for SIBO gives us results 10x faster than most doctors that treat SIBO in our experience.
Conclusion
If you are looking for the best SIBO treatment we highly recommend you find a holistic doctor that doesn’t use antibiotics for SIBO. In addition, discovering why you developed SIBO in the first place is going to get you to the root cause of SIBO in your specific situation.
For more information, give our office a call at 480-571-3030
For SIBO treatments Visit our clinic in Scottsdale, AZ
For SIBO treatments Visit our clinic in Mesa, AZ
We have so many happy patients; they also rated five stars and shared reviews about Dr. Houston Anderson on Google Maps
Serving Scottsdale, AZ – Mesa, AZ, and nearby areas – Here is the list of cities our patients come from in Arizona, USA. | |||
Anthem | Guadalupe AZ | Phoenix AZ 85011 | Phoenix AZ 85078 |
Anthem AZ | Guadalupe AZ 85283 | Phoenix AZ 85012 | Phoenix AZ 85079 |
Anthem AZ 85086 | Higley | Phoenix AZ 85013 | Phoenix AZ 85080 |
Apache Jct | Higley AZ | Phoenix AZ 85014 | Phoenix AZ 85082 |
Apache Jct AZ | Higley AZ 85236 | Phoenix AZ 85015 | Phoenix AZ 85083 |
Apache Jct AZ 85119 | Laveen | Phoenix AZ 85016 | Phoenix AZ 85085 |
Apache Junction | Laveen AZ | Phoenix AZ 85017 | Phoenix AZ 85097 |
Apache Junction AZ | Laveen AZ 85339 | Phoenix AZ 85018 | Phoenix AZ 85098 |
Apache Junction AZ 85119 | Maricopa | Phoenix AZ 85019 | Phoenix AZ 85099 |
Apache Junction AZ 85220 | Maricopa County | Phoenix AZ 85020 | Pinal |
Apache Junction AZ 85278 | Mesa | Phoenix AZ 85021 | Pinal County |
Chandler | Mesa AZ | Phoenix AZ 85022 | Queen Creek |
Chandler AZ | Mesa AZ 85201 | Phoenix AZ 85023 | Queen Creek AZ |
Chandler AZ 85224 | Mesa AZ 85202 | Phoenix AZ 85024 | Queen Creek AZ 85140 |
Chandler AZ 85225 | Mesa AZ 85203 | Phoenix AZ 85025 | Queen Creek AZ 85142 |
Chandler AZ 85226 | Mesa AZ 85204 | Phoenix AZ 85026 | Queen Creek AZ 85143 |
Chandler AZ 85227 | Mesa AZ 85205 | Phoenix AZ 85028 | Queen Creek AZ 85242 |
Chandler AZ 85244 | Mesa AZ 85206 | Phoenix AZ 85029 | Rio Verde |
Chandler AZ 85246 | Mesa AZ 85207 | Phoenix AZ 85030 | Rio Verde AZ |
Chandler AZ 85248 | Mesa AZ 85208 | Phoenix AZ 85031 | Rio Verde AZ 85263 |
Chandler AZ 85249 | Mesa AZ 85209 | Phoenix AZ 85032 | San Tan Valley |
Chandler AZ 85286 | Mesa AZ 85210 | Phoenix AZ 85033 | San Tan Valley AZ |
Chandler Heights | Mesa AZ 85211 | Phoenix AZ 85034 | San Tan Valley AZ 85140 |
Chandler Heights AZ | Mesa AZ 85212 | Phoenix AZ 85035 | San Tan Valley AZ 85143 |
Chandler Heights AZ 85142 | Mesa AZ 85213 | Phoenix AZ 85036 | Scottsdale |
Fort McDowell | Mesa AZ 85214 | Phoenix AZ 85037 | Scottsdale AZ |
Fort McDowell AZ | Mesa AZ 85215 | Phoenix AZ 85038 | Scottsdale AZ 85250 |
Fort McDowell AZ 85264 | Mesa AZ 85216 | Phoenix AZ 85040 | Scottsdale AZ 85251 |
Fountain Hills | Mesa AZ 85274 | Phoenix AZ 85041 | Scottsdale AZ 85252 |
Fountain Hills AZ | Mesa AZ 85275 | Phoenix AZ 85042 | Scottsdale AZ 85254 |
Fountain Hills AZ 85268 | Mesa AZ 85277 | Phoenix AZ 85043 | Scottsdale AZ 85255 |
Fountain Hills AZ 85269 | Paradise Valley | Phoenix AZ 85044 | Scottsdale AZ 85256 |
Gilbert | Paradise Valley AZ | Phoenix AZ 85045 | Scottsdale AZ 85257 |
Gilbert AZ | Paradise Valley AZ 85253 | Phoenix AZ 85046 | Scottsdale AZ 85258 |
Gilbert AZ 85233 | Peoria | Phoenix AZ 85048 | Scottsdale AZ 85259 |
Gilbert AZ 85234 | Peoria AZ | Phoenix AZ 85050 | Scottsdale AZ 85260 |
Gilbert AZ 85295 | Peoria AZ 85345 | Phoenix AZ 85051 | Scottsdale AZ 85261 |
Gilbert AZ 85296 | Peoria AZ 85380 | Phoenix AZ 85053 | Scottsdale AZ 85266 |
Gilbert AZ 85297 | Peoria AZ 85381 | Phoenix AZ 85054 | Scottsdale AZ 85267 |
Gilbert AZ 85298 | Peoria AZ 85382 | Phoenix AZ 85055 | Scottsdale AZ 85271 |
Gilbert AZ 85299 | Peoria AZ 85383 | Phoenix AZ 85060 | Sun Lakes |
Glendale | Peoria AZ 85385 | Phoenix AZ 85061 | Sun Lakes AZ |
Glendale AZ | Phoenix | Phoenix AZ 85062 | Sun Lakes AZ 85248 |
Glendale AZ 85301 | Phoenix AZ | Phoenix AZ 85063 | Tempe |
Glendale AZ 85302 | Phoenix AZ 85001 | Phoenix AZ 85064 | Tempe AZ |
Glendale AZ 85303 | Phoenix AZ 85002 | Phoenix AZ 85065 | Tempe AZ 85280 |
Glendale AZ 85304 | Phoenix AZ 85003 | Phoenix AZ 85066 | Tempe AZ 85281 |
Glendale AZ 85305 | Phoenix AZ 85004 | Phoenix AZ 85067 | Tempe AZ 85282 |
Glendale AZ 85306 | Phoenix AZ 85005 | Phoenix AZ 85068 | Tempe AZ 85283 |
Glendale AZ 85308 | Phoenix AZ 85006 | Phoenix AZ 85069 | Tempe AZ 85284 |
Glendale AZ 85310 | Phoenix AZ 85007 | Phoenix AZ 85070 | Tempe AZ 85285 |
Glendale AZ 85311 | Phoenix AZ 85008 | Phoenix AZ 85071 | Tempe AZ 85287 |
Glendale AZ 85312 | Phoenix AZ 85009 | Phoenix AZ 85072 | Tempe AZ 85289 |
Glendale AZ 85313 | Phoenix AZ 85010 | Phoenix AZ 85073 | |
Glendale AZ 85318 | Phoenix AZ 85075 | Phoenix AZ 85074 | |
Guadalupe | Phoenix AZ 85076 | Phoenix AZ 85077 |
Serving Scottsdale, AZ – Mesa, AZ, and nearby areas – Here is the list of city postcodes our patients come from in Arizona, USA | |||||
85001 | 85030 | 85066 | 85203 | 85251 | 85286 |
85002 | 85031 | 85067 | 85204 | 85252 | 85287 |
85003 | 85032 | 85068 | 85205 | 85253 | 85289 |
85004 | 85033 | 85069 | 85206 | 85254 | 85295 |
85005 | 85034 | 85070 | 85207 | 85255 | 85296 |
85006 | 85035 | 85071 | 85208 | 85256 | 85297 |
85007 | 85036 | 85072 | 85209 | 85257 | 85298 |
85008 | 85037 | 85073 | 85210 | 85258 | 85299 |
85009 | 85038 | 85074 | 85211 | 85259 | 85301 |
85010 | 85040 | 85075 | 85212 | 85260 | 85302 |
85011 | 85041 | 85076 | 85213 | 85261 | 85303 |
85012 | 85042 | 85077 | 85214 | 85263 | 85304 |
85013 | 85043 | 85078 | 85215 | 85264 | 85305 |
85014 | 85044 | 85079 | 85216 | 85266 | 85306 |
85015 | 85045 | 85080 | 85220 | 85267 | 85308 |
85016 | 85046 | 85082 | 85224 | 85268 | 85310 |
85017 | 85048 | 85083 | 85225 | 85269 | 85311 |
85018 | 85050 | 85085 | 85226 | 85271 | 85312 |
85019 | 85051 | 85086 | 85227 | 85274 | 85313 |
85020 | 85053 | 85097 | 85233 | 85275 | 85318 |
85021 | 85054 | 85098 | 85234 | 85277 | 85339 |
85022 | 85055 | 85099 | 85236 | 85278 | 85345 |
85023 | 85060 | 85119 | 85242 | 85280 | 85380 |
85024 | 85061 | 85140 | 85244 | 85281 | 85381 |
85025 | 85062 | 85142 | 85246 | 85282 | 85382 |
85026 | 85063 | 85143 | 85248 | 85283 | 85383 |
85028 | 85064 | 85201 | 85249 | 85284 | 85385 |
85029 | 85065 | 85202 | 85250 | 85285 |