Relief from GI Distress Starts with SIBO Testing
For patients struggling with gastrointestinal issues without medical answers, pinpointing the source of the problem can be challenging without unnecessary stress and anxiety. At the Connecticut Center for Integrative Medicine, our team of professionals is here to listen and provide you with diagnostic testing to find the source of the problem. For those with unanswered questions about their gut health, our providers serving those in the Stamford, Connecticut, area can provide patients with the testing they need to start their journey: SIBO testing.
What is SIBO testing?
SIBO testing is a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth test. It is sometimes referred to as a breath test and can be used in conjunction with other health assessments and examinations performed at our office. This breath test can give us some insight and perspective into your overall health and well-being and help you find the source of your gastrointestinal distress.
How does SIBO testing work?
Certain gastrointestinal issues are marked by excess bacteria in the small intestine. The surplus of bacteria leads to the creation of gases such as hydrogen, methane, or hydrogen sulfide (a gas not typically screened for in most SIBO tests but is available at our office) that a patient exhales. Through a comprehensive testing approach, our medical team can detect and measure these gases in your breath with SIBO testing, thereby determining the extent and severity of the bacterial overgrowth.
The insights gained from these diagnostic tests guide potential diagnoses and subsequently shape our therapeutic strategies to alleviate your immediate symptoms and stimulate holistic healing over the long term. We customize our treatments, which may encompass nutritional counseling, judiciously chosen and safe antibiotics, and plant-based medications.
What can I expect during the SIBO testing process?
Experience hassle-free testing right at home. We’re here to guide you and recommend the best-suited test or diagnostic measure for your unique needs. Precise and detailed instructions will be provided on how to get ready, what to anticipate during the test, and what happens post-testing. The testing process usually involves drinking a specially created glucose mix and exhaling it into a series of provided tubes at set intervals, as directed. Once you’ve consumed the mixture, you simply need to breathe out into these tubes. If there’s a swift increase in the levels of hydrogen, methane, or hydrogen sulfide, this could potentially point toward the presence of SIBO.
How can I learn more about SIBO testing with a provider near me?
At the Connecticut Center for Integrative Medicine, our team of experienced and certified professionals is dedicated to providing the answers you need to feel your best. If you find it difficult to get the answers you need for gastrointestinal distress, we invite you to call our team to ask for SIBO testing by name. Call (866) 320-6402 to request a consultation visit with our providers.
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.
Dr. Robert Kachko, Founder and Director of the Connecticut Center for Integrative Medicine, is a pioneer in Naturopathic and Integrative Medicine and has developed an extensive bio-psychosocial methodology for people living with chronic diseases. As Past President of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, Dr. Kachko advocates for healthcare reform to allow everyone access to the kind of care our clinic provides.
