Beyond the Bloat: Unpacking the Surprising Link Between SIBO and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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Beyond the Bloat: Unpacking the Surprising Link Between SIBO and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Beyond the Bloat: Unpacking the Surprising Link Between SIBO and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Backed up and bloated? Here’s how to fix constipation | FMT, Photo by freemalaysiatoday.com, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Bloating or abdominal pain can affect almost anyone. Sometimes, these symptoms can last for weeks or even months. Finding the exact cause can be very difficult, but it makes daily life quite hard for people.

When intestinal problems arise, online searches point to irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome is a common problem, and simply treating the symptoms can make things worse. A condition called SIBO looks a lot like irritable bowel syndrome. As a result, many people find it a very confusing problem. It becomes very important to seek help from your doctor.

Recently, more and more people have begun to talk about SIBO. some celebrities have talked about their own SIBO journeys, which has led people to ask about SIBO. they want to know how it is different from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Both can cause serious problems in the digestive system.SIBO means that there are extra bacteria in the small intestine, which should have only a few.

However, if you have SIBO, the bacteria move toward the small intestine. This can happen after GI surgery, and the slow movement can allow the bacteria to overgrow in the small intestine. Bacteria that are already there can also start to overgrow.

SIBO overgrowth
Què és el SIBO, el trastorn intestinal que les xarxes socials han fet popular?, Photo by vilaweb.cat, is licensed under CC Zero

SIBO Overgrown bacteria often come from the colon. Normally, these bacteria ferment carbohydrates in the colon. But they do the same thing in the small intestine, and the trapped gas can make your stomach bloat and feel uncomfortable. The gas can make you burp and fart. Often you will also feel nauseous or have rapid diarrhea.

Different conditions can give a person SIBO. stomach acid stops bacteria from getting into the small intestine, and some people use antigastric acid medicines to treat acid problems. ppi’s stop the rapid production of stomach acid, but taking these medicines for a long period of time can hurt the defense system.

Slow movement of food is another important reason. Sometimes the nerves in the muscles are not signaling correctly. People with diabetes sometimes have this problem with their nerves. Certain medicines (such as anesthetics) can also make food move slowly. Slow movement allows bacteria to proliferate in the body, which keeps symptoms of flatulence and bloating coming back.

The symptoms of SIBO always look a lot like the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. For many people, the sensations of pain, bloating and flatulence are similar.SIBO and irritable bowel syndrome can be easily confused. Doctors often misdiagnose SIBO as irritable bowel syndrome in the first place, and it takes much longer to make the correct diagnosis. Doctors also use very different testing methods, using blood and stool tests for better detection.

Bloat
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The best way to detect SIBO is complicated, which means taking a sample from the small intestine area. The bacteria are then cultured and counted by a laboratory. This old method was invasive and expensive. As a result, doctors now make more use of simple breath tests that are routinely used to detect SIBO. However, breath tests are not always reliable and accurate.

Studies consistently show a strong relationship between irritable bowel syndrome and SIBO. Many studies have combined to show a frequent association between the two. Perhaps 25 to 36 percent of people with irritable bowel syndrome have SIBO, but it’s uncertain whether SIBO causes irritable bowel syndrome and vice versa. Both SIBO and irritable bowel syndrome involve an imbalance. Once you are out of balance, many health problems can follow.

Let’s now turn to another long-term problem. It’s called Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD for short.IBD also includes UC and Crohn’s disease. It causes long-term swelling of the digestive tract. Abdominal pain and diarrhea occur frequently here. Some people even see blood in their stools sometimes. Today, more and more people around the world are suffering from intestinal syndrome.

Stomach pain
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The symptoms of SIBO are also much like those of IBD. Stomach pain, diarrhea, and weight loss are examples. This makes SIBO symptoms sometimes look like IBD symptoms. It is now easy to confuse the two conditions. Therefore, people want to know the connection between SIBO and IBD. Are people with IBD also more likely to get SIBO, and does SIBO affect the course of IBD?

Past studies have investigated how common SIBO is in people with IBD. The results of each study varied. Some studies claimed that 9% of patients had SIBO, while others found that 62% of patients had SIBO. two older studies explored this link in more detail. a 2019 study claimed that about 22% of IBD patients had SIBO. a 2021 study looked at only one SIBO type of methane. A new study again looked at all conditions more fully.

The new study tries to give a clearer picture. It summarizes data from more studies. This included 29 studies from 14 countries. They looked at 3250 people with IBD and 708 healthy people. One goal of the studies was to find out how common SIBO is in people with IBD. Another goal was to compare people with IBD to healthy people. In addition, they explored what factors were associated with SIBO in the IBD population.

The researchers looked everywhere for studies they thought would be useful. In none of the studies they found did they use the best SIBO test. Each study had to have at least 40 people enrolled in the test. Now, the two researchers examined all the studies very carefully. This ensured that the results were more trustworthy.

Stomach pain
Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

Currently, about 31% of IBD patients have SIBO, but the results do vary from study to study. Some studies show that only 8.9% of patients have SIBO, while others show a prevalence as high as 61.9%. This wide variation means that the data are not the same. We used a special model to handle this data discrepancy. Perhaps the actual number is a little lower than 31%.

The researchers compared people with IBD to healthy people, that’s for sure. They used 11 studies for their comparative analysis. people with IBD were much more likely to develop SIBO. people with IBD were more than five times as likely to test positive for SIBO as healthy people. This result is statistically significant.

A closer look reveals interesting details about SIBO and IBD conditions. The prevalence of SIBO is slightly higher in patients with Crohn’s disease than in those with UC. About 32% of people with Crohn’s disease have SIBO, while 28% of people with UC have SIBO. Both groups are much more likely to have SIBO than healthy people. Patients with urinary tract infections are more than four times as likely as normal to develop SIBO quickly. Perhaps CD affects the valve between the small and large intestines. Because of this problem, it is easier for bacteria to enter the small intestine.

doctors testing patients
Free Stock Photo of Doctor consulting with a patient in hospital | Download Free Images and Free Illustrations, Photo by freerangestock.com, is licensed under CC Zero

Knowing the signs can help with early detection and treatment of SIBO, and antibiotics are expected to relieve symptoms. Antibiotics can normalize the breath test in patients with IBD with SIBO, but treatment also involves addressing underlying causes such as exercise.The strong link between SIBO and IBD suggests that these issues are complex. It emphasizes the need for a complete diagnostic and care plan.

Related posts:
These two digestive conditions have overlapping symptoms – here’s where they differ
SIBO Diet: What to Eat and Avoid
Is it really IBS? This lesser-known stomach issue is often misdiagnosed and can cause nausea and toilet problems

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