Here I’ve listed some of the top experts on IBS/SIBO and useful information related to healing and restoring the biome.
Shivan Sarna, http://www.SIBOSOS.com
I got started on this path of discovery and healing of the gut from hearing about a friend of mine who had SIBO. She went through the medical protocol and no longer has any symptoms. I didn’t have many symptoms then and I thought I had mine under control anyway, but just to be sure, I took a stool test suggested by my MD. There, I found I had Blastocystic hominis, a nasty parasite. He offered to put me on an antibiotic for it, but I am very skittish of antibiotics since they ravaged my immune system and gut years ago. Since I felt I was on top of my symptoms – they were only annoying, not life altering – I ignored this test.
Months after that test, my body went into chronic diarrhea. I had no idea what to do. And then, since I am subscribed to several health-oriented newsletters, I heard about the IBS/SIBO summit, given late November 2018. While I usually have a very hard time listening to sound files and videos (I get extremely restless and bored with the pace of information), I decided I needed to learn something. And boy, did I learn something!
I was very impressed with the caliber of the speakers, all interviewed by Shivan Sarna, that I listened to quite a few, furiously taking notes about unfamiliar probiotics, drug and medical protocols, and various diets and options.
If you are willing to educate yourself, I highly recommend that you go to her site at http://www.sibosos.com and sign up for some of her interviews with IBS/SIBO experts, webinars where the experts will answer your questions, or purchase the summit packages. You’ll learn a whopping amount of information, and you’ll also realize what you’ll need to do to take care of your gut issues. Of course, if you get overloaded and throw up your hands in despair over all the details, then you’ll want to get to an IBS/SIBO doctor or gut expert to figure out your own process! Shivan Sarna promotes the top experts on her site, so you won’t have to research much at all to find someone who can help you!
Allison Siebecker, http://www.SIBOinfo.com & https://www.siboinfo.com/learning-more.html
Dr. Siebecker’s website is perhaps the most thorough as far as providing valuable information on IBS and SIBO that I’ve found (although Dr. Alex Rinehart’s is also chock full of great stuff too – see immediately below). She’s the one with practical stuff like the SIBO/IBS diet lists, and details on procedures, options, networks, doctors, and more – way more comprehensive than I could ever be. She is exceptionally gracious and giving of her expertise, and listening to her is very enlightening and uplifting. Her joy is evident.
The info on her website is free, although she asks for donations to help her keep giving out more great info, if you’re up for that.
What she does charge for are personal consultations in her private practice. If you want a compassionate, smart, capable doctor holding your hand, I think she’d be the one you’d enjoy most. You can do the whole process over the internet and phone if you don’t live close to Portland. To know more about this, please contact her clinic or check out her practice on siboinfo.com.
Dr. Allison Siebecker ND Lac, The NCNM Clinic, 3025 SW Corbett Ave, Portland OR 97201. Phone: (503) 552-1551
Dr. Alex Rinehart; https://info.dralexrinehart.com/articles
Here’s another source of fabulous information. If nothing else, go to his website and sign up for his blog and newsletters. Great articles give you clarity about different aspects of SIBO and IBS protocols.
He also has a private practice, and on his site offers a lot of gut products. I’ve ordered from his great selection several times. Just reading about the products listed in his store, you’ll learn an awfully huge amount! So take advantage of his amazing depth of information, expertise, and support, either personally or through his information.
Mark Pimentel MD,
Dr. Pimentel is a gastroenterologist in Los Angeles (West Hollywood), California, practicing at Cedars-Sinai Hospital and leads the Pimentel Laboratory there. He researches SIBO/IBS and is on the cutting edge of therapies to alleviate and heal it. He’s thoroughly convinced it can be cured, and his patients’ healing results is legendary.
He has recently come out with the first blood test for SIBO and it’s hitting the medical world by storm. And this is on top of his groundbreaking book, “A New IBS Solution: Bacteria, the Missing Link in Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome.” Read this and you’ll get a dynamic overview on how to approach IBS/SIBO, and a lot about motility and its vital role in healing SIBO. Check out the book; http://www.anewibssolution.com/index.htm.
Find out more about Dr. Pimentel and if you want a private appointment with him, you should contact him via this page online or call 310-423-3777; http://bio.csmc.edu/view/3817/Mark-Pimentel.aspx
Jay Davidson MD, https://drjaydavidson.com/about/
A Functional Medicine doctor, Jay says that parasites are the major underlying factor of IBS/SIBO. To attack parasites, he’s found a remedy and offers it on his website; Mimosa Prudica seed. You take 2 500mg caps twice a day for 90 days, then do follow-up sessions of 30 days twice a year.
The worst area is often the liver/bile duct area (duh!) where Giardia strongyloides larvae and flukes breed, creating blockages there – the infection is called strongyloidiasis. Besides strongyloides, there are 140+ species of parasites that cause these problems, including rapeworm, nematodes, and American (rope?) parasites.
Besides parasites, Dr Jay is an expert on Lyme’s disease. He and his team of other doctors are available for consultation.
Angela Pifer https://siboguru.com
Dr. Angela is a Functional Medicine doctor provides gut support on many levels, including some others don’t address such as Epstein Barr. She is available for consultation, and does not use antibiotics to heal SIBO and IBS.
Jason Hawrelak the “Probiotic Advisor” at ProbioticAdvisor.com
He specializes in probiotics, and his recommended SIBO/IBS list of probiotics is here, and also in the product section. Check out his list at; https://sibosurvivor.com/best-probiotics-sibo/ I include comments about this list in the supplement section below.
DigestiveWarrior.com has lots of information and access to products
Book; Besides Pimentels’ A New IBS Solution,” there is also;
The SIBO Diet Plan: Four Weeks to Relieve Symptoms and Manage SIBO 1st Edition by Kristy Regan (forward by Dr. Siebecker)
Amy Myers MD, https://store.amymyersmd.com/pages/about-amy
Dr Myers provides products for SIBO, books and healing programs with a personal and global mission, covers leaky gut, parasites, immune system (and autoimmune conditions) and much much more!
Dr. Datis Kharrazian, at https://drknews.com/ is perhaps the most famous Functional Medicine doctor around, and that’s why I include him in a list on SIBO/IBS when his books aren’t about that subject.
He works out of San Diego. Years ago, he helped a good friend of mine heal her SIBO. That was when I first heard the term, so he was far in advance of the wave of knowledge about these gut issues that is known today.
Dr. Kharrazian has written several outstanding books, one on the Thyroid that is now a medical classic, “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? When My Lab Tests Are Normal: A revolutionary breakthrough in understanding Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism.” This book was a turning point of understanding for me 5 years back when I read it.
The Dr. also has written one on building a fabulous, high-functioning brain at any age; “Why Isn’t My Brain Working?: A Revolutionary Understanding of Brain Decline and Effective Strategies to Recover Your Brain’s Health.”
Dr K does have a private practice that is restricted to chronic and challenging patients suffering from immune, endocrine, and neurological disorders. He is under such demand that he charges outrageous prices and easily gets them! While you may not be able to afford his personal touch, his books are awesome information.
Diets
Body Ecology with Donna Gates; http://www.bodyecology.com
Donna calls herself the “fairy godmother of gut health,” as she was talking about it before anyone else was. She brought Stevia into the US and has promoted
cultured/fermented foods for easy digestion before others focused on fermented foods and gut health.
Her website offers a large number of great pure products that help digestion. Her amazing breadth of nutritional wisdom is shown in her books “the Body Ecology Diet,” the “Baby Boomer Diet,” and the “Body Ecology Living Cookbook.”
The Weston A. Price Foundation at https://www.westonaprice.org/
Part-Paleo and part GAPs diet