Relief from GI distress starts with SIBO testing
On this website, you will read a great deal about our emphasis on testing. With that being said, testing need not be yet another source of stress, pain, or hassle in your already hectic life.
Our naturopathic physicians, Drs Robert Kachko and Veena Verma-Dzik, may recommend SIBO testing to noninvasively gain insights into the root causes of gastrointestinal symptoms. The small intestinal bacterial overgrowth test, known colloquially as simply a “breath test,” may be used in conjunction with other health assessments available at our center. Together, such extensive evaluation gives us an accurate, “big picture” perspective into your whole self and health.
About SIBO
As its name suggests, this disorder is characterized by the overabundance of bacteria in the small intestine. Such bacterial overgrowth may cause affected patients to release hydrogen, methane, or hydrogen sulfide (a gas most SIBO tests don’t assess for that is available through our clinic) as they breathe out. Via testing, our doctors may detect and assess these substances when you exhale. By evaluating for high levels of these gasses in the breath, we can identify the presence and severity of bacterial overgrowth.
Our findings from such testing inform the potential diagnoses and, in turn, the methods that we recommend to treat your symptoms in the short term and to unlock self-healing in the longer term. Treatment is tailored and may include nutritional guidance, carefully selected and safe antibiotics, and botanical medications.
The process
Testing can be done easily from the comfort of your home. We will advise on the best option or indication for you and provide thorough and clear instructions on how to prepare and what to expect during and after testing. Generally, testing involves consuming a specifically formulated glucose mixture and breathing into a series of provided tubes, as instructed, at regular intervals. After drinking, you exhale or breathe into the tubes. If the levels of hydrogen, methane or hydrogen sulfide increase rapidly, this response can indicate the presence of SIBO.
Bacterial overgrowth is responsible for this release of gasses in the breath. As bacteria accumulate in the small intestine, food stagnates, and toxins may be produced that disrupt the absorption of nutrients from our foods. The byproducts that result after bacteria digest food can also trigger symptoms like GI upset, bloating, pain, and chronic diarrhea.
If you are interested in learning more about SIBO testing, request an appointment today! Call the Connecticut Center for Integrative Medicine in Stamford at (866) 320-6402.
Treatments available for Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Dr. Robert Kachko
What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and what are its symptoms?
Dr. Robert Kachko here. I have put together a cutting-edge program to help people dealing with digestive disorders.
We specialize in patients suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Irritable Bowel Syndrome can manifest in many different ways for different people.
Some people present with pain, bloating, or gas fluctuations between diarrhea and constipation and sensitivity to almost any food.
How can Irritable Bowel Syndrome be diagnosed?
The challenge with Irritable Bowel Syndrome is it can take years for people to get diagnosed. It is a diagnosis of exclusion.
It means we do a couple of testing based on gastrointestinal perspective, and if there are no other digestive disorders diagnosed, you might get a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
What are the treatment options available for IBS?
At our practice, we take a completely different approach. While we help you rule out all those common digestive disorders, we will also do functional medicine testing.
This might include stool tests, breath tests, more comprehensive blood work to assess things like your microbiome, likelihood of having a condition called SIBO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
We will also test for any likelihood that you have inflammation, difficulty absorbing your food, or assimilating nutrients.
Why should someone visit CT Center For Integrative Medicine for IBS treatments?
We are an Integrative Medicine Clinic that combines the best from functional medicine and invests in conventional gastroenterology alongside naturopathic medicine and acupuncture.
This will give you the tools that you need to find relief both now and long into the future. Some of those ways might include IV therapy to replace the nutrients that you might be deficient in.
We might recommend prescription medications or botanical medicines to help you with your symptoms. We take a comprehensive approach that honors who you are as a person, treating you, your mind, body, and spirit.
Digestive disorders affect a large number of people throughout the world. Book a consultation with us today.
The importance of having a healthy digestive system - Dr. Robert Kachko
How important is having a healthy digestive system?
Hi, this is Dr. Robert Kachko from the CT Center for Integrative Medicine. In our practice, we see a lot of patients with chronic digestive conditions.
Having worked with thousands of patients with digestive conditions, we understand that long term and whole-body health often starts in the digestive tract.
The nervous system, the immune system, and our body’s likelihood of being inflamed all correlate to the digestive system’s health.
How can the health of the digestive system be measured?
To understand the health of each person’s digestion, in addition to their symptoms, we can do truly comprehensive testing.
At the CT Center for Integrative Medicine, we do stool testing to assess the microbiome. We can do breath-testing to look for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
We also do stool testing to look for inflammation, absorption, and assimilation of essential nutrients, overgrowth of parasites, bacteria, viruses, etc.
What is included in a treatment plan for a healthy digestive system?
Once we have a thorough understanding of each individual’s digestive health, we can create a customized treatment plan.
When it comes to a customized treatment plan, we are always taking a holistic, integrative approach. Some of our patients will be recommended to receive IV nutrient therapy.
Other patients might do well with acupuncture, mind-body medicine, botanicals, targeted nutraceuticals, and sometimes pharmaceutical medications to help each individual in a personalized and precise way.
