SIBO: Could your digestive health problems be caused by the wrong bacteria?

What is SIBO?

SIBO stands for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. It indicates a condition where gut bacteria that normally resides in the large bowel move up towards the small intestine, where they can become pathogenically overgrown and cause problems. It’s a case of the wrong guys in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Do these symptoms sound familiar?

• Bloating, especially after meals or fruit
• Abdominal cramps or pain
• Burping after meals
• Constipation and/or diarrhoea
• Acid reflux
• An uncomfortable sense of fullness
• An intolerance to FODMAPs containing foods (foods containing difficult to digest molecules such as Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols)

So who has a higher possibility of developing SIBO?

There are a number of higher risk groups and risk factors that may increase your risk of SIBO:

• Anyone with medically diagnosed IBS or IBS-like symptoms (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
• Those with coeliac disease
• Anyone with leaky gut syndrome
• Elderly people
• Those taking proton-pump inhibitors such as Losec, Nexium or Somac
• After antibiotic therapy, especially multiple courses
• Women who have taken the contraceptive pill
• Anyone with a history of gut motility issues
• Those with Crohn’s disease
• Anyone that consumes alcohol

How do we eradicate these SIBO bacteria and restore your gut health?

Understanding the underlying cause behind your case of SIBO is vitally important. Dealing with SIBO is not a one size fits all kind of treatment plan – which in naturopathic medicine should never be the case anyway.

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