Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - Honestly, for some of this stuff I just don't know what to think. I've seen conflicting research studies about treating IBS with antibiotics. Small bowel bacterial overgrowth I found a little info on at http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/2depts/medicine/fgidc/smintestine.htm It's classified as a different GI motility disorder than IBS (it affects the small intestine as opposed to the colon) by the researchers at UNC, which is one of the top-notch IBS study centers in the world.

There was a very splashy news report a while back from Cedars Sinai that linked small bowel bacterial overgrowth to IBS - that report is at http://healingwellibd.subportal.com/health/Diseases_and_Conditions/Bowel/Inflammatory_Bowel_Disease/106503.html

However, there were quite a few technical problems with this study and the conclusions drawn, and other researchers haven't been able to duplicate the results. The UNC response to the Cedars Sinai study is at http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/2depts/medicine/fgidc/bacteriaovergrowthandibs.htm

My take on the whole thing is that they need to do more research. There is so much evidence now of the brain-gut dysfunctional interaction in IBS that I'd like to see studies in other areas (like bacterial overgrowth) tied into the nervous system elements. Otherwise, the big picture doesn't make sense to me.

Everything I can find about leaky gut syndrome is related to the candida theory - I haven't been able to come across any research studies or articles that seem credible to me. Same thing for the gut fermentation syndrome.

If your GI doc thinks you have small intestine bacterial overgrowth (and it seems from the research articles that there are clear tests to diagnose this) then this may be what's causing your symptoms, in which case the antibiotics could really help. For IBS, antibiotics in general tend to make symptoms much worse.

Sorry I don't have better info on all this - there is a lot of conflicting information on a lot of these topics and all I can do is sift through it and try to be objective. Not always easy...

Best,
Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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