What is SIBO?
Hey, Today, Dr. Berg is telling us about SIBO. What is SIBO? Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. Normally your small intestine contains the right mix of bacteria in the right quantities, but during SIBO, the bacteria population explodes! Normally this bacterial would be located in your large intestine, but being in your small intestine causes a ton of issues. Fermentation, gas, bloating, and general discomfort. The funny thing is eating fiber “to clear things out” would actually make the matter much worse as you would be feeding the microbes that have caused the problem in the first place! Every probiotic you eat is going to make the situation much worse. Worse gas. Worse bloating. Worse pain.
“There’s something called migratory motor complex. What is that? Well, this is a system in your body that acts like a house cleaning, like a broom cleaning up all the leftover foods and bacteria.”
Dr. Berg DC
I was really surprised by the next part. Our bodies are on a 90 min cycle, and through this process of the migratory motor complex, we literally “push” the food and the leftover bits down the line to the next phase of our large intestine. Amazing! But this process is controlled by two things first we hear about motilin, and next, we hear about bile salts. I have read about bile salts in the past, but motilin was something I needed to look up. It’s rather simple as it is just a hormone that helps tell our bodies how to process our foods and when. Dr. Berg kind of skips over it here because the real issue he wants to talk about is the bile salts.
[some foods should not be fully processed int he small intestines such as some fibers]
We learn the bile salts are made in the liver and not in the gallbladder. I was surprised by this, but they are only stored in the gallbladder until they are needed. Once needed around 4 to 6 grams are released into the small intestine. Once in there, they are used to do a whole host of things!
These bile salts that sound so gross help us a ton.
Bile salts get rid of excess cholesterol. Bile salts help us absorb fat-soluble vitamins. And they also do something essential to SIBO, which we are talking about today. They help kill Bacteria! If you don’t have enough bile salts. Or you are not releasing enough during each meal you eat. Then you are going to have a massive disruption in your digestion. Potential causes of not releasing enough bile salts are fatty liver, liver damage, or maybe you don’t even have your gallbladder!
Even more surprising than all that is our bodies reuse up to 90% of the bile.
So far, we have learned that the bile salts are pretty crucial to the process of digestion, but what about that migratory motor complex? And how does this all fit together? See, the thing is, as you are eating, this is all happening, but when you are not eating, this is still happening. So in our lives where we typically eat 3 square meals and some people, often many people are eating so much more such as multi meal diets, snacks, and just mindless eating. We are actually eating way too often to allow our own system to clear itself out. Remember, the bile is killing bacteria. So when you are eating, the bile is killing the bacteria in the food, but when you are not eating, the bile is helping to control the bacteria in your small intestine and helping get rid of SIBO!
The Ways We Can Help
In your food, there are microbes, and there could be viruses, fungus, and yeasts. The bile salts help control these things. But we can’t rely 100% on them. We also need our stomach acid to help us out. One of the things we can do is increase our stomach acid, Dr. Berg mentions betaine hydrochloride and outside of vinegar, and I will post a video and article on this at some point.
Now, if you are low on bile salts or have liver problems, you can take purified bile salts. Dr. Berg goes on to make some suggestions for treatment including acupressure, and other autonomic based treatments. Currently, I don’t know how I feel about this, so I will let you do your own research.
Along the same lines as the acupressure, you can do something similar to yourself by just massaging the area with your hand. To locate the right spot, you only apply a little pressure on your right side roughly halfway up from your belly button to the bottom of your ribs. You might be able to feel it with some discomfort if your valve is having issues or inflamed. Just massage this area until you know it relaxes.
Dr. Berg gave us some clear steps on what we can do here:
- Intermittent fasting
- Take bile salts (consult a doctor if you are unsure)
- Acidify the stomach using betaine hydrochloride or outside of vinegar
- Try natural antibiotics such as garlic, clove, oregano, and thyme
- Try the massaging your ileocecal valve
Thanks for reading! This was Spencer and I appreciate if you leave a comment to let me know you are there or ask a question.
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Dr. Berg Website Link: https://www.drberg.com/
Gallbladder Formula:
https://www.drberg.com/gallbladder-formula
Intermittent Fasting: Coming Soon!