What if I told you that a mysterious, incurable syndrome affecting more than 1 in 10 Americans was actually a treatable and frequently curable disease? With the right combination of diet, lifestyle, supplements, and antimicrobial agents, many of these patients can be cured and free to live their lives without pain, discomfort, and constantly assessing the location of the nearest toilet. The problem is that many doctors lack awareness that many of their irritable bowel syndrome patients may actually have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common functional gastrointestinal disorder in the world affecting 10 to 15 percent of the population. The conventional medicine definition of a functional disorder, such as IBS, is “a condition where there is an absence of structural or biochemical abnormalities on common diagnostic tests, which could explain symptoms.” To most practitioners, a functional disorder implies a psychogenic cause or “it’s all in your head.” Current conventional treatment is focused primarily on symptom suppression, with varying degrees of success and for a select few, a psychiatry referral.
