general question, not sure that I actually have IBS?? Options

[faze action]

So, this is what I have learned in the past 8 months or so:

Virtually every single one of my symptoms seems to be caused by bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine (SIBO).
I have been on 2 courses of rifaximin, 6 months apart and both times, following the course, I have been symptom free.
The first time, my symptoms started to return about 6 weeks post-treatment; this time I am taking Align following the antibiotics.
My symptoms generally include: diarrhea (in varying degrees, but mostly soft, mushy -type stool, not watery full-on D), moderate to severe bloating and distension (probably my worst symptom overall), and incomplete evacuation. The only non-GI symptom that I can think of experiencing is general, chronic fatigue, but this also disappeared with AB tx.

My symptoms do NOT include: pain, urgency of any kind, flatulence, weight loss, nausea, or depression/anxiety (can sometimes be associated with IBS?).



My doctor has never actually verbally told me that I was diagnosed with IBS. He also has never told me that I suffer from SIBO, although I think this is evident.

Now my question is: do I actually have IBS?
Is SIBO a condition that can be totally separate from IBS or are they alwyas associated with each other?
Obviously, something is causing the SIBO to recurr in my body... could the cause be IBS?

I know I really should ask my doctor this stuff, but my next appointment isn't until January and these really aren't pressing, life-dependent questions....just nitpicky stuff.

[Kathleen M.]

IBS is discomfort that can be as bad as pain but may be bloating or incomplete evacuation that comes with a change in bowel habit.

Watery diarrhrea is usually not ibs. Farting a lot is not required. Just a change in stool consistency or frequency that has something uncomfortable about it. Some conditions cause diarrhea without the bloating or any other discomfort.

That being said SIBO can be from things other than IBS. But you don't mention any surgeries on your intestines or serious liver disease or those things that were known to cause SIBO for decades before anyone looked at IBS patients.

I don't think we can draw some line between just sibo with no symptoms of ibs because they both tend to cause a change in bowel habit and various discomfort.

Depression oe anxiety while common in any one with any painful or annoying health problem is not again not requires for ibs.

I know some people ate lucky that they only have discomfort with their ibs and not severe pain nut both are in the definition.

[Kathleen M.]

A couple of other thoughts.

There are functional bowel problems that basically are less symptoms than ibs. So it isn't ibs or something much more serious.

I also wonder if sibo will be like lactose intolerence where it seems the only people bothered by it are those with ibs. I just don't think we know of it is just like lactose can be a triiger but some healthy people just don't notice because their guts are not primed to over react.

[faze action]

Well, I guess technically I probably do have IBS that is likely caused by SIBO (and that in turn is caused by some unkown element?)... I just wanted some other thoughts on the subject (the relationship of SIBO to IBS). They seem to overlap quite a bit; I guess the answer (if there is one) is not black and white.

The typical things that cause SIBO (from what I've been told) do not apply to me: no past surgeries, food poisoning, or liver disease. In fact I have no other health problems that I know of whatsoever...

And, yeah I suppose a number of people could be walking around with SIBO, but be asymptomatic.

I've been reading up on a lot of this lately because it seems that the percentage of people existing with functional bowel disorders is disproportionate to the number of studies being done on the condition(s) (i.e. there aren't enough research studies being done!).

[Kathleen M.]

What isn't clear to me is does IBS's disordered motility type of issues set one up for SIBO or is SIBO like lactose intolerance, just one of the things that can make IBS worse than it would be by itself.

It does seem IBS-SIBO isn't as likely to make people quite as ill as some of the more usual suspects so it may be a milder version of that.

There is certainly some chicken/egg thing going on and it is clear not all IBSers have SIBO, just like IBS is not just lactose intolerance or fructose intolerance, but certainly people with IBS and those intolerances do better when they adopt a diet that reduces those problems, and some get darn near to complete remission, or at least get to a point where the IBS is just a minor issue rather than a major disruption.

I dunno if anyone has looked at enough healthy people to know much about them. They have done it for lactose intolerance but it can be hard to get funding to find out what isn't bothering healthy people that they have anyway.

[faze action]

What isn't clear to me is does IBS's disordered motility type of issues set one up for SIBO or is SIBO like lactose intolerance, just one of the things that can make IBS worse than it would be by itself.

I wonder about that too... my doctor initially seemed to feel that a motility issue could potentially be the cause of the SIBO, and I've read that in other places as well. However nothing more was really said about this, and I had a CT a few weeks ago (normal), but I think that's meant to diagnose structural abnormalities, fibroids, etc... not motility.

It's kind of like the chicken and the egg: does SIBO cause IBS, does IBS cause SIBO, or are they just "complimenting" each other...

[S_LIne]

I always wondered the same thing I only have gas and 1 not perfect BM a day. It sucks because you start to wonder if you have it in the first place.