SIBO

SIBO is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth — bacteria that belong further down the digestive tract multiplying in the small intestine, where there should be relatively few.

They ferment carbohydrate before you’ve absorbed it. That produces gas, and the gas produces the pattern people describe: bloating that builds through the day, distension after meals, wind, and bowel habit that swings.

It’s testable, and that matters

Most digestive complaints are worked out from history and response. SIBO is one of the few where a measurement is available: a breath test over two to three hours, reading the hydrogen and methane produced after a sugar drink.

Your naturopath can arrange it. The test goes through a private laboratory, you pay the lab directly, and there’s no Medicare rebate — worth knowing before you decide.

Testing isn’t automatic. Where the history already points somewhere else, a result you’ve paid for adds nothing.

What your naturopath works on

Clearing the overgrowth, using herbal antimicrobials where that’s appropriate, or supporting a medically prescribed course.

Why it happened, which is the half that decides whether it comes back. Slow motility is the common one. Low stomach acid, previous abdominal surgery, and structural change all make the small intestine easier to colonise.

Eating in the meantime. Restrictive diets reduce symptoms and, held too long, narrow the microbiome and make the next stage harder. The aim is the shortest useful restriction, then widening.

Motility between meals, since the wave that sweeps the small intestine clean only runs when you’re not eating. How you space meals is part of the work.

⚠ Get these looked at rather than treated

Weight loss you didn’t intend, blood in your stool, vomiting, fever, or persistent pain that wakes you at night are not SIBO symptoms and need medical assessment. Coeliac disease should be excluded before gluten is removed, because removing it first makes the test unreliable.

Where specialist care is the next step, we’ll provide a detailed letter setting out the findings and recommendations, including who we believe is best suited to your needs.

Related: IBS, bloating, gut microbiome and leaky gut, coeliac disease.