SIBO as a diagnosis…and why it’s a problem.

Amy Hollenkamp6 Comments

I feel like everyone remembers the moment they received their SIBO diagnoses. After dealing with the incompetence of conventional MDs who were adamant that “it was just IBS,” I felt a wave of intense gratification when my functional medicine practitioner diagnosed me with SIBO. All my intuitions that there had to be a cause for my GI complaints were right! And who doesn’t love being right, especially when it seems like the whole world just thinks you are crazy. The SIBO diagnoses seemed like the answer…

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Fecal Microbiota Transplants for SIBO? My Experience

Amy Hollenkamp131 Comments

From December 5th through the 16th, I was in the Bahamas receiving fecal microbiota transplantations to help rebalance my imbalanced gut. It was a unique experience and I think it could be a promising treatment strategy for many diseases in the future. So, why did I decide to undergo FMT treatment? The primary reason was that after years of trying to rebalance my gut, it remained full of overgrowths with little diversity. Both recent  stool and organic acid testing revealed overgrowths of…

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Things I have tried: Part 1 (Atrantil, Restore, MegaSporeBiotic)

Amy Hollenkamp104 Comments

Like so many people with SIBO, I have tried A LOT of different supplements and therapies to help restore my gut function. Sorting through which treatments might be best for you and worth the money can be a frustrating task. I want to share some of my experiences with different products/therapies to hopefully assist you to find the right tools to put in your SIBO tool box. I would also like to state that I am in no way affiliated…

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Stomach Acid, PPIs and SIBO….what’s the link?

Amy Hollenkamp8 Comments

I am always surprised that stomach acid is not addressed in many popular SIBO protocols. Many SIBO sufferers experience the uncomfortable stomach pain, heartburn and GERD that are the trademarks of stomach acid imbalance. If you go to a conventional doctor with these complaints, they will almost universally instruct you to take measures to lower stomach acid. They will tell you to avoid acidic foods and/or take a PPI/acid blocker. (PPI stands for Proton Pump Inhibitor). Not only do these acid lowering recommendations…

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Antibiotics for SIBO….Helpful or Harmful?

Amy Hollenkamp6 Comments

Most of us with SIBO have had a long and tumultuous relationship with antibiotics. I had a recalcitrant ear infection as a one year old, which required round after round of microbiome busting antibiotics. Not to mention the spoonfuls of fun bubblegum flavored antibiotics that I continuously guzzled down throughout my childhood. I am convinced that the over consumption of antibiotics prescribed by my well meaning, but oblivious, doctors played a pivotal role in the development of my gut problems.…

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Why I don’t believe in SIBO diets…

Amy Hollenkamp53 Comments

When I first got diagnosed with SIBO, my practitioner put me on the extremely restrictive Low FODMAP/SCD combination that seems to be the go to protocol by many in the SIBO community. I was on the diet for about 4 months in conjunction with herbal and antibiotic treatment. Although I was following the diet to a tee, my health continued to deteriorate. I struggled to maintain my weight, my gut symptoms were even worse than before and my hormones were…

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How ignoring your thyroid could be derailing your SIBO recovery….

Amy Hollenkamp7 Comments

After spending a lot of time interacting with the SIBO community and through my own experience and research, I think many practitioners and SIBO sufferers fail to recognize the importance of a healthy thyroid during SIBO treatment. The thyroid is a butterfly shaped organ that produces hormones that are used by virtually every cell in the body. These thyroid hormones are in charge of our bodies metabolism; which means they determine how we utilize the calories that we eat. Here is…

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Probiotics….Friend or Foe?

Amy Hollenkamp12 Comments

Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth is a hot topic in the functional medicine world.  SIBO can be defined as an increase in the number or the type of bacteria in the small intestine leading to many unpleasant GI symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea [i] Opinions on how to effectively treat SIBO seem to differ widely among practitioners. When I was diagnosed with a mild case of SIBO, I dove head first into the online SIBO communities and the…

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