If you have SIBO it means that the bacteria have either overgrown from your large intestine into your small intestine. Symptoms of SIBO include: Loose, pale and foul-smelling stools.
Gas, bloating and flatulence. Diarrhoea. Abdominal cramping. Fat in the stool (stools may have a pale and oily appearance and often float)
Fat: With SIBO, the bile acids responsible for the breakdown and absorption of fat are deficient. Fat malabsorption produces visible signs, including oily, smelly, and floating stools.
When you have SIBO, the bile acids responsible for the breakdown and absorption of fat are deficient, resulting in a pale-colored stool that is also bulky and malodorous.
Stool tests can show signs of SIBO such as fat malabsorption and bacterial composition changes in the colon. Additionally, stool testing can be used to rule out parasites, measure inflammation levels in the large intestine, and measure levels of yeast in the large intestine.
During a SIBO flare-up, a wide range of gut health symptoms can increase or appear. This can involve an increase in symptoms such as bloating, an increase in gas and abdominal pain. It's also common for bowel patterns to alter.
Hydrogen Sulfide Dominant SIBO
This type of SIBO occurs when bacteria in the small intestine consume the hydrogen gas made by other bacteria to produce hydrogen sulfide, the gas that smells like rotten eggs.
When patients suffer from excessive belching, they can belch acid from the stomach into the gullet, causing symptoms that mimic reflux-like heartburn. Flatulence/wind – again some wind is normal, after all everybody farts! Patients with SIBO are often very windy and the wind can be very smelly.
Yellow stool may indicate a malabsorption disorder caused by a parasite, illness, or disease. Malabsorption of fat can lead to an increased fat content in stools, which can be pale, large, foul-smelling, and loose. This is known as steatorrhea, and complications may include: malnutrition.
However, hydrogen sulfide SIBO is a third type that may be present in some people. In hydrogen sulfide SIBO the patient, or rather the microbes in the patient's gastrointestinal tract, produce more hydrogen sulfide gas (colloquially known as rotten egg gas, due to its sulfurous odor), than is normal or healthy.
Common symptoms of SIBO, including gas and bloating, abdominal pain and distension are uncomfortable enough. But left unmanaged, SIBO can cause more serious complications with long-term consequences. Malabsorption of fats, proteins and carbohydrates can lead to malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.
Yellowish, greasy, smelly: This can indicate an infection in the small intestine. It could also be a sign of excess fat in the stool due to a malabsorption disorder, such as celiac disease. White, light, or clay-colored: This can indicate a lack of bile in the body, possibly from a blocked bile duct.
IBS-C (IBS with constipation) – likely to have a darker brown stool colour. IBS-D (IBS with diarrhoea) – likely to have a yellow stool colour.
SIBO does not occur randomly; there are many reasons why bacteria can relocate to the small intestine, or why the bacteria usually present there is able to flourish. In this sense, SIBO is both the cause of a variety of symptoms - and is caused by a variety of health concerns.
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) occurs when there is an abnormal increase in the overall bacterial population in the small intestine — particularly types of bacteria not commonly found in that part of the digestive tract.
Allowed sugars: glucose, sucrose, aspartame (Nutra sweet), saccharin. AVOID: Lactose dairy, milk) fructose concentrate, lactulose, Splenda (sucralose), mannitol sorbitol (sugar free gum/mints), oligosaccharides (soy milk), corn syrup (regular sodas many others sweetened foods).
For most people, the initial way to treat bacterial overgrowth is with antibiotics. Doctors may start this treatment if your symptoms and medical history strongly suggest this is the cause, even when test results are inconclusive or without any testing at all.
Slower transit time
Methane-producing SIBO has been shown to cause constipation and may cause a slower transit time, which means that food stays in the digestive tract longer than it should2. This slower transit time can lead to various symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain and weight gain.
On account of the build-up of gas, someone with SIBO usually feels bloated, experiences excessive flatulence, burps, and has bad breath. The pressure in the stomach resulting from gas can also cause nausea, heartburn, and spastic abdominal pain primarily located near the navel and right lower abdomen.
Of all the symptoms of SIBO, fatigue is often the most debilitating and frustrating. There's plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that fatigue is common for SIBO patients — I observe this in the clinic all the time.
Symptoms associated with SIBO may include abdominal distention and bloating. Abdominal distention grows progressively worse throughout the day and is usually worst in the evening. Abdominal pain or discomfort also is common, though intense pain is not usually associated with SIBO.
“SIBO, with its high likelihood of generating leaky gut, will need to be corrected for both prevention and treatment of autoimmunity,” she says. So while SIBO doesn't appear to be an autoimmune disease in itself, there are strong associations between SIBO, leaky gut and autoimmune disease.