You would never know it, but Canada has one of the highest rates of IBS in the world!

More than 5 million Canadians suffer with IBS. You may even be one of them and not know it!

What is IBS exactly?

If you suffer from…

• cramping and pain in your belly;
• bloating and gassiness;
• changes in bowel habits;
• diarrhea or constipation, or both;
• immediate need to move your bowels when you wake up in the morning or during or after meals;
• relief of pain after bowel movements; or
• mucus in your stool; and
• all of your medical tests are “normal”

…then you might have IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Diagnosing Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Properly diagnosing IBS can be difficult, and relies on a questionnaire, along with ruling out other intestinal diseases like colitis and Celiac disease.

Here is the questionnaire (it’s called the Rome III questionnaire):

(Take a moment to answer it yourself…and then have all your family members take the test):

Have you had recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort at least 3 days per month in the last 3 months associated with 2 or more of the following:

• Improvement with defecation
• Onset associated with a change in frequency of stool
• Onset associated with a change in appearance of stool

If your answer is “yes” then you most likely have IBS.

(What about bloating? It was part of the Rome II questionnaire but unfortunately got removed when they updated to the Rome III questionnaire. It’s quite common for patients with IBS to have bloating – and lots of it!)

Now what do you do?

Find the cause. Fix the cause. Feel normal again.

Testing for SIBO

At a recent symposium I attended on IBS, the most common cause of IBS is too much bacteria growing in the small intestine. They call it SIBO – Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth.

SIBO is really bad. There should be little to no bacteria in your small intestine. It should all be in your colon.

Testing for SIBO is easy. It’s a simple breath test called the Lactulose Breath Test.

Lactulose is a simple carbohydrate that we do not absorb. So what happens is you drink the lactulose (it’s a sweet tasting liquid), and the bacteria inside you eat it, and those bacteria give off gases – usually hydrogen and methane – which you breath out.

Your breath gets collects over a 2-3 hour period. As the lactulose travels through your intestines, the breath is measured for the gases, and we can tell if those gases are coming from your small intestine or colon!

Treatment for SIBO involves killing off the bacteria with antibiotics or herbal antibiotics, diet changes, and supplements to stimulate smooth and regular contractions in the small intestine (that last part is really key…or the SIBO will just grow right back!).

Make a promise to yourself starting today:

Stop feeling lousy…rotten…awful…crummy…miserable…terrible…crappy.

Find a good Functional Medicine doctor to help you get to the root cause of your health problems.

One last thing…

Lastly, for those who want the latest information from today’s leading experts I highly recommend investing in the Digestion Online Summit and/or the SIBO Symposium.

Dr. Carri Drzyzga, DC, ND – The Functional Medicine Doc

Find the Cause. Fix the Cause. Feel Normal Again!