Gut and Sibo
Gut Restoration & SIBO Treatment:
**These packages do not include primary care or membership services
“All disease begins in the gut.”
– Hippocrates, ancient Greek physician 2500 years ago
Gastrointestinal health is the foundation on which the rest of your health is built. Your gut has intricate communication with your immune system, hormones, and your brain, with significant influence over your memory, mood, and cognition.
Here are just a few examples of how this digestive powerhouse is linked with other medical conditions:
- Depression: Serotonin, often found reduced in depressed patients and commonly treated via SSRI antidepressants, is predominantly produced by your gut bacteria.
- Insomnia: Melatonin, a strong anti-inflammatory, immune-strengthening, and circadian hormone important for sleep, is not only sourced from the brain, but is also produced in large amounts from your gastrointestinal tract.
- Fatigue: A common scenario we see in patients is excessive fatigue with normal labs. It is relevant to look more closely at the gut in these situations. Butyrate, a short chain fatty acid produced by your gut bacteria is responsible for 20% of your energy levels. Butyrate is also protective for the brain, has anti-carcinogenic effects, helps regulate blood sugar, and can reduce the risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
- Systemic Inflammation: Inflammation has many presentations including cardiovascular disease, joint pain, brain fog, pain syndromes, and rashes, and is very often triggered from an inflamed gut, dysbiosis, and intestinal hyper-permeability (leaky gut).
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Overwhelming research and clinical studies are proving that Hippocrates was quite on the mark.
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO):
An overgrowth and shift away from the normal microbiota balance in the small intestine can lead to symptoms of SIBO, which include:
- Bloating (the most common)
- Constipation and/or diarrhea
- Reflux
- Excessive burping/belching or gas/flatus
- Intolerance to fiber foods
- Abdominal pain/cramps
Conditions linked to SIBO include:
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Gastroparesis (reduced motility), Rosacea, Fibromyalgia, Interstitial Cystitis, Restless Leg Syndrome, Celiac Disease, GERD (reflux), Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, Gallbladder stones
Up to 78% of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) have SIBO. Symptom management should not be the goal of therapy when we have better treatment options available. We consider multiple protocol options for treating SIBO including standard recommended antibiotics and/or herbal therapies with pre and post treatment transitional care. Critical to proper treatment, we also look at possible underlying factors that may be triggering SIBO to reduce the risk of recurrence, and recommend adjunctive therapies.
Tests Often Used:
If recently extensively tested, we usually do not need to repeat this. For labs that have not been tested, we either apply your insurance when submitting lab orders or for those of you with high deductibles or without insurance, we offer heavily reduced lab rates.
We use the GI-MAP (PCR DNA stool test) to detect microbes that may be causing inflammation, promoting autoimmune conditions, affecting mood and fatigue, and contributing to illness. We also look at indicators of digestion, absorption, inflammation, immune function, and deficiencies of healthy bacteria known to promote energy and improved metabolic function.
Trio-Smart Lactulose Breath Test:
The Trio-Smart is the only 3 gas breath test which can measure amount of fermented gas production of hydrogen, methane, and hydrogen sulfide in the small intestine. Breath testing is recommended by the American College of Gastroenterology’s clinical guidelines as the diagnostic test for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and Intestinal Methanogen Overgrowth (IMO).
Gut Restoration/SIBO Treatment Package:
- Six tele-visits with personalized gut protocol
- Includes: 3 visits with Dr. Haque & 3 visits with NP Shelton
- Initial visit: 90 minutes virtual appointment time + 120-240 minutes of pre and post visit case review and plan building as needed
- Follow Up visits: 45 minutes virtual appointment time + 60-120 minutes pre and post visit case review and plan building
- Testing (highly recommended but not always required; Costs of tests are directly billed by the conducting lab – insurance can be applied for these)
- Labcorp bloodwork
- GI Map
- Depending of symptoms: Trio-Smart Lactulose Breath Test
- A super-bill can be provided which you can submit to your insurance
- Initial visit: $550 – can be scheduled now
- Follow Up visits: $300 each – offered as package only
- The initial visit fee is due prior to the first appointment. If you would like to continue with the rest of the package and we find that our care matches your needs, the rest of the payment can be payed in full before the second visit or in 2 installments.
- Package expires after 18 months from the initial visit regardless of whether visits were taken. We do not provide refunds if visits were not used.
Functional Package Email Service Policy:
We welcome our patients to email us anytime with questions, concerns, and/or supplement inquiries. However, if email frequency exceeds 4 messages in between visits, or for more complex inquiries that require the provider to review your medical chart and provide an in depth response, it is our policy to charge $50 with our response. If it is appropriate, we may request that you make a follow up visit instead.
Please do not message for any urgent or emergent concerns – seek immediate medical attention via your primary care, urgent care, or emergency room as appropriate. These packages do not include urgent or emergent care services.
The materials and content mentioned on this site are intended as general information and should not be used as a substitute for personal medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This website does not qualify as creating a provider-patient relationship between us and any user of the website.