small intestine bacterial overgrowth symptoms

Unfortunately, alterations in bowel bacteria are common and this can produce health problems. They help us to digest food, produce some nutrients for us and assist our immune function. Our intestines are meant to house a large number of bacteria and other organisms. If you would like to make an appointment to be tested for SIBO or discuss management of your SIBO then please contact us.This is an extremely common condition that can be the root of many complex health problems. Various tests can be undertaken to look for causes and this needs to be considered on a patient-by-patient basis. This is something that needs to be discussed with a doctor. Since SIBO can occur in healthy people, it is not always possible to identify an underlying cause. Patients may stay on the liquid diet for up to 3 weeks.This is normally done under the supervision of a dietician.

As a result the nutrients are absorbed more quickly and can help prevent bacterial overgrowth by quickly eliminating the “fuel” bacteria need to replicate.

This is a diet that consists of a liquid formula of pre-digested carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

If the above methods fail, an elemental diet may be tried.

Digestive and pancreatic enzymes therapies may also be used.

Prokinetics such as Resolor (prucalopride) can help in optimising gut motility and preventing SIBO relapse.

Diet –Limiting fermentable carbohydrates and following a diet such as the low FODMAP diet.

Probiotics can make symptoms slightly worse in the short term.

It is unclear how helpful probiotics are in the treatment of SIBO.

Herbal therapies are also sometimes used.

Prucalopride (which increases gut motility) may be used as an adjunct therapy to antibiotics.

A second antibiotic such as Neomycin may also be used.

This primarily involves a course of antibiotics such as Rifaximin (although, despite its apparent effectiveness, it is not licensed by NICE and so is unavailable on the NHS in most hospitals and GP practices).

Treat or modify the underlying cause or predisposing factors.

Treatment of SIBO in comprises three strategies: Normal gas production in the small intestine in the first 120 minutes of the breath test should be less than 20ppm (parts per million) of hydrogen and less than 12ppm of methane. The amount of gas and the way it changes during the test is an indicator of the number of bacteria within the gut. The patient then consumes a small amount of lactulose and the quantity of hydrogen and methane in exhaled breath is then measured by asking the patient to breath into a balloon every 15 minutes, for up to 3 hours. Before the test begins patients breathe into a balloon to allow the baseline measurement of the concentration of hydrogen in a normal breath. Testing for SIBOĪlthough there is no universally-accepted gold-standard test for SIBO, a commonly used diagnostic tests is the lactulose breath test. – Connective tissue disorders such as fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis who are predisposed to relapsing symptoms of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. – Drugs such as narcotic pain killers, anti-diarrhoeal agents Several risk factors have been identified for SIBO although it can occur in health individuals too. These bacteria feed off the sugars in the foods that people eat thereby causing flatulence and problems with digestion or absorption of food.

However, in SIBO, bacteria that normally live in the large bowel start to grow within the small bowel. The small intestine does not normally have any bacterial colonisation. There is also a lack of robust data on the ideal treatment for SIBO. This is primarily because there is a lack of consensus regarding the diagnostic criteria for the disease. These can cause a variety of symptoms, including:įor many years patients with SIBO symptoms have been misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. The hallmark of SIBO is that the small intestine becomes colonised with bacteria. SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) is a relapsing and remitting condition that affects up to one in seven people in the general population.

Small intestine bacterial overgrowth symptoms