010-Ask Dr Soram-Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Gas, Bloating and SIBO –An interview with Mark Pimentel, MD. Part 1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

 

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the most common chronic medical condition worldwide with 15% to 20% of all populations suffering from IBS.

In the United States, over 60 million people of all ages suffer from IBS.

Other studies show that 30% of all health related costs in people with Gastrointestinal problems are due to IBS. Although it is an important disease, just by the sheer numbers of people with it, it does not kill people. For this reason, research for this condition is not as extensive and not as funded or widely discussed as conditions with major emotional impact like breast cancer and heart attacks.

Mark Pimentel MD has been my friend and colleague for several years and I am delighted that I had the opportunity to interview him about his work with  Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO). 

Gas, bloating, abdominal distention are such common symptoms in our society today. This is confirmed by the number of commercials on radio and television for a vast variety of digestive complaints.

In this podcast I interview, Dr. Mark Pimentel, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Cedars – Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He is the Director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Program and Laboratory at Cedars – Sinai medical Center.

In my interview I discussed Dr. Pimentel's participation in the discovery and recognition that Irritable Bowel Syndrome is not a psychological condition, but rather a condition that is being recognized to be caused by bacteria in the small intestine. This condition is therefore called Small-Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO for short. 

I was delighted to be able to interview Dr. Pimentel because I diagnose so many hundreds of my patients who were told they had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and treat them effectively with appropriate antibiotics and dietary therapy.

Because this interview was long, I have divided it into two sections.

In this, the first part, I discuss with Dr. Pimentel how the diagnosis is made, which antibiotics work best, and the diet that works best for the treatment of this condition.

Next week we will go on to Part 2 of the interview.

You can buy Dr Pimental’s book here.

Do you have friends and relatives with Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Are they aware that SIBO appears to be the cause? What symptoms do they have? How are they treating their symptoms? Have you made them aware that SIBO is the most likely cause and is relatively easy to treat? Please let me know in your comments below.