Telltale Signs of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

I’d like to talk about the tell-tale signs of a problem called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. This is something that I haven’t talked about enough and is proving to be far more important than I ever thought. I explore these kinds of ideas further in my Undoctored book [Undoctored — Why Health Care has Failed You and how You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor], as well as the membership website Undoctored Inner Circle, where there’s several more videos about this issue, including a lengthy discussion on how to identify and then correct this problem; which can be kind of tricky, a little more complicated most strategies in the Undoctored lifestyle.

So these are the telltale signs that you look for in your health and your experience, that suggests that you should explore this. Now, I’m going to assume you’ve taken all the basic steps in the Undoctored program, such as eliminating wheat and grains, curtailing sugar intake, restoring vitamin D, taking iodine, correcting your thyroid status, and especially trying to cultivate bowel flora.

But these are the telltale signs — that if you experience any of these phenomena you should think real hard about pursuing this further, because if you don’t, you probably won’t have full success in regaining control of bowel movements — you’ll still have diarrhea and persistent irritable bowel syndrome — you have persistent inflammatory bowel diseases, like the symptoms of celiac disease, and ongoing risk for cancers, and Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. It can sustain autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. It can allow fibromyalgia — muscle and joint pains to persist. So correcting small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is crucial for your full recovery — regaining full health

So the first telltale sign is malabsorption of fat, and you’ll know that you have this if you see fat droplets or a film of fat in the toilet after a bowel movement, or a film around the edge of the toilet, that suggests oil is being passed, and is undigested — or if your bowel movements repeatedly float, because course fats are lighter than water — they float.

Another telltale sign is having new rashes that you can’t explain, that crop up — it could be anywhere on your back, your arms, and your face. Another common telltale sign is persistent autoimmune conditions or persistent inflammation, that happens after you’ve have you’ve done all the basic Undoctored strategies: think real hard about this issue of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

New food intolerances — say you’ve eaten eggs for years no problem all. All of a sudden you develop this peculiar rash every time you eat eggs, or gastrointestinal upset, or some other reaction to this food that you could previously eat. If that happens, it’s the abnormal intestinal permeability, which is unhealthy, caused by this dysbiotic effect of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

And the last, one of my favorites, which I think will prove be very useful, I call the prebiotic fiber test. If you incorporate prebiotic fibers, nourish bowel flora, as we do in the Undoctored Wild-Naked-and-Unwashed program, and you experience gas, that is lower gas not belching gas — gastro-intestinal discomfort or bloating or diarrhea, within the first 30 minutes or so of starting your prebiotic fibers, that’s a pretty good sign that you have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

Because, think of it, if I eat a fiber, prebiotic fiber, that are meant to nourish the microorganisms in my colon — 24 feet away, doesn’t get there in 15, 20 to 30 minutes. It takes hours; 8, 10, 12 or more hours to get there. So I’m going to have a reaction to prebiotic fibers — they shouldn’t require that much time, right? If the microorganisms are confined to my colon. What if I take prebiotic fibers like those in a raw white potato or inulin powder or legumes, or galacto oligosaccharides or whatever form; and within 30 minutes I’ve got gas, bloating diarrhea, which suggests that those unhealthy microorganisms are way up high in your stomach, duodenum, or upper small intestine. So that’s a really good sign that you probably have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

What we don’t know, what about intermediate response like three or four hours or five hours? Does that still tell us you have small intestinal bacteria overgrowth? This has not been explored and charted sufficiently for us to know those answers to those questions, but stay tuned, I think that will clarify over time.

But those are the tell-tale signs. If you have any of those signs, any or all of them, think about — small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You’ll find this pursued further, mostly in the Undoctored Inner Circle website. The starting program is begun in the Undoctored book and I continue it even further in the Undoctored Inner Circle.