Guides
SIBO guides
Clear, evidence-based guides on Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. We summarize public clinical sources and explain them in plain English, cross-checking every figure against its origin.
Root Causes of SIBO: Why Treating Them Prevents Relapse
The causes of SIBO are not a random list: motility, anatomy, stomach acid, and underlying diseases are the mechanisms that explain why overgrowth comes back if you only kill the bacteria.
Read guide → TreatmentThe Migrating Motor Complex (MMC): the gut's "housekeeper" and its connection to SIBO
What the Migrating Motor Complex is, its four fasting phases, why eating continuously shuts it off, and how its weakening is associated with bacterial overgrowth and SIBO relapses.
Read guide → SymptomsDigestive Red Flags: When to See a Doctor (and How Urgently)
The red flags that clinical guidelines describe for digestive symptoms, organized by level of urgency: what counts as an emergency, what needs evaluation, and what you shouldn't chalk up to SIBO or IBS without ruling out other causes first.
Read guide → TreatmentHow Long Does SIBO Last: What to Expect Week by Week
A realistic SIBO timeline: how long antimicrobial treatment lasts, when symptom improvement begins, when the response is reassessed, and why recurrence is common. With verified figures from clinical guidelines.
Read guide → DietLow-FODMAP Diet: Phases and Reintroduction
How to apply the three phases of the Low-FODMAP diet, when it may be useful in SIBO, and how to keep it from becoming more restrictive than necessary.
Read guide → TreatmentProbiotics and SIBO: What the Evidence Says (and When They Raise Concern)
Do probiotics help, harm, or does it depend in SIBO? A meta-analysis suggests symptom improvement and reduced hydrogen, but the D-lactate debate and the clinical guidelines call for caution. This is what the evidence describes.
Read guide → TreatmentProkinetics and the Migrating Motor Complex (MMC) in SIBO
The MMC is the small intestine's "housekeeper" between meals. When it fails, SIBO tends to come back. Here, named and backed by data from real studies, are the prokinetics the literature describes to support it.
Read guide → DiagnosisWhat Is SIBO? Complete Guide
A complete, detailed introduction to Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO): what it is, how it develops, symptoms, causes, risk factors, and when to seek professional help.
Read guide → DiagnosisMethane SIBO vs. Hydrogen SIBO: Diagnostic Values and Why the Treatment Changes
Differences between the hydrogen pattern and the methane pattern (IMO): the breath test thresholds (H2 of 20 ppm or more at 90 min, CH4 of 10 ppm or more), which microorganisms produce them, and why the treatment described in the evidence is not the same.
Read guide → TreatmentWhy SIBO Comes Back: Relapses and How to Prevent Them
SIBO recurs often after treatment because the antibiotic clears the bacteria but does not fix the underlying cause. Here are the real relapse rates from a published study and the verified risk factors, along with what can be done about them.
Read guide → DiagnosisHydrogen Sulfide (H2S) SIBO: the third gas
What hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is, the third gut gas that the classic hydrogen and methane test does not measure: the symptoms it often comes with, the flat-line curve pattern that may suggest it, and why its evidence is still emerging.
Read guide → GeneralSIBO and Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism: The Connection
Hypothyroidism slows gut motility and reduces stomach acid, two mechanisms that favor SIBO. Here is what the real evidence says about this bidirectional connection and what to ask your doctor.
Read guide → DiagnosisSIBO vs. IBS: Differences, Overlap, and How to Tell Them Apart
IBS is diagnosed clinically (Rome IV); SIBO is investigated with a breath test. What truly separates them, why they coexist, and what the evidence says about their overlap.
Read guide → DiagnosisSIBO Breath Test: Complete Guide
How the SIBO breath test works, what it can contribute, how to prepare, and why the results always need clinical context.
Read guide → TreatmentAntibiotics for SIBO: Which Drugs, Regimens, and Evidence
Which antibiotics the guidelines describe for hydrogen SIBO and for methane/IMO, at what doses and durations they appear in the literature, what efficacy they report, and what their limits are.
Read guide → TreatmentHerbal Antimicrobials vs Rifaximin for SIBO: What the Evidence Says
The most-cited study found similar breath-test normalization rates for herbals and rifaximin, but it was retrospective and the difference was not statistically significant. Here is what the evidence actually describes, with its limits.
Read guide → GeneralWorking and Socializing With SIBO: How to Manage Stress and the Vagus Nerve
A practical guide to handling fatigue, brain fog, stress, and social life when you're living with the persistent digestive symptoms associated with SIBO.
Read guide → DietTraveling and Eating Out on a Low-FODMAP Diet
Practical strategies to review menus, ask for simple changes, and travel with options you already know you tolerate.
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