SIBO and Bloating: A Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective

So one of the most common symptoms that I see clinically, and I think is also something that many healthcare practitioners see today, because many people have it today, is what is diagnosed as SIBO, so a small intestine bacterial overgrowth. And it's very interesting because I think this is just a history repeating itself. It's a symptom that had bothered people probably since the dawn of time, and historically it was called candida, now it's called SIBO, and in the future will be called something else. But in this video, I thought I would share from a Chinese medicine perspective, what it really is and some approaches to it. Hey, I'm Dr. Alex Hine, Chinese medicine doctor and acupuncturist, author of the health book, Master of the Day, which you can check out on Amazon. Now I've included two links below this video. The first is a free download, which is four daily rituals that can add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. And the second is, if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally, or via telemedicine, all the information on my clinic and how to reach me is below the video. So clinically, the people and the patients that I see with SIBO, tend to present with a few main symptoms as their primary symptoms, as well as symptoms that are kind of the branch manifestations of those. So the primary symptoms that people usually complain about are often bloating, food allergies, sometimes alternating bowels, like they can be hard and dry, or they can be loose and soft serve. A high percentage of my SIBO patients are on the cold side. So they're often prone to anemia, anxiety, just general pallor. They look pale, they look anemic. They are often thin. So some of my SIBO patients are more on the side of, if they're stressed, they lose weight easily. They lose their appetite easily. But the general constellation of symptoms is usually bloating, food sensitivities, as well as changes in bowel habits. That's the general cluster of symptoms. And beyond that, it can move into anxiety, depression, insomnia is very common, heart palpitations, things like that. So what is this from a Chinese medicine perspective? The thing that I see the most is that there seems to be a general constitutional type that has a genetic susceptibility to this kind of, I guess you'd call it small intestine issues, but really gas production. So these kind of people tend to be very sensitive to starches and sugars in their diet, which is why one of the main resources I recommend is Elaine Gochell's book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle. A lot of people, including the whole paleo movement, often began with Elaine Gochell's book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, and then that was then applied to GAPS and all these other elemental diet. These all came after the fact. But generally speaking, these people are, number one, there's a genetic susceptibility. So in Chinese medicine, we use the word constitution. There's a constitutional weakness, usually in the GI, or they develop that through prolonged stress or abuse, just abusing oneself. So number one, people are often predisposed to it. They are just yeasty types, I am sorry to say. And if you're a man, it may be primarily GI, maybe with some psychoemotional symptoms. If you're a woman, it could also lead to vaginal discharge, BV, yeast infections, things like that. So what is this in Chinese medicine? In Chinese medicine, a lot of the time, it's considered cold. So cold, you can think of as just a concept. When we talk about bloating, the specific symptom of bloating, which is very common, bloating that comes and goes is considered cold in Chinese medicine. It's considered a deficiency symptom, hypofunction, and the formulas that we use typically are used to warm up and increase the functioning of the GI, of the person's digestion, for example. So a lot of pungent herbs are used, like the medicinal grade cinnamon twig, dried ginger, and things like that. And one of the reasons it's so important to know the cold, which is, I guess you could call it the energetic aspect, if you believe in that or you like that terminology, is because a lot of these patients that I see will go to health practitioners who will then put them on a raw vegetable diet and they are having the worst pain and the worst symptoms they've ever had. Or maybe they've done a medical medium, I forget his name, Anthony's celery juice cleanse, destroys these people's GIs because in Chinese medicine, it's cold and it's hypofunctioning. And so it would be contraindicated to give them raw vegetables or celery, which is one of the coldest things. The kind of person who needs celery juice is the acid reflux, burning, indigestion, this kind of person who generates a lot of heat internally. If you're having celery juice and you're having loose stools already, or low appetite or bloating, you're worsening your symptoms. So important to know that it's often due to cold, but many people have a mixed picture as well, where if they have hard stools, there's some heat forming in the system, or they have some acne on their face or on their foreheads, very common in women. Now, the other hand, so you have not only the cold type, you have the mixed type, but the general picture is that is a constitutional weakness. This person is prone towards gas production and food sensitivities most of the time, but those can also be developed through stress or self-abuse. Now, in a final example here, another example of how this kind of pattern can develop is someone who has a constitutional predisposition, but then through abusing themselves, worsens the symptoms. I'm someone who's in this kind of cold deficient picture, always had weak digestion, no matter how healthy I ate. And it wasn't until I began working like 70 hours a week for about seven years that I ever developed really food intolerances. So if I drank coffee, I would start to regularly get acid reflux. And no matter how healthy I ate, I was always getting a little bit of indigestion. It just, it felt like food was never really sitting in my stomach properly. And after a while, I started having problems with wheat. Like if I ate wheat, I would get an elevated heart rate. My heart would beat rapidly for an hour as I was digesting it. If I had a pizza or something like that, something that was heavier food, and I've always had a weak digestion, but never ever had a reaction like that. So for me, it wasn't until I stopped that phase of my life, working 70 hours a week, where I could decrease that stress response and as that happened, the enzyme secretion sped up and some of those gut sensitivities healed up just by removing the stress and just working less than 40 hours a week for quite a while. So most often, I find clinically that it's very treatable, SIBO. Even if you've been to other alternative practitioners, I find Chinese formulas are, I mean, I'm in the field of extremely biased, but I find that it's the single most effective thing that I've seen. And often through several months of formulas, a person can often go back to eating those things that cause them problems. They can combine foods, they don't have as many sensitivities, or they can go away. So that is my two cents on SIBO and bloating. Very, very common symptoms today. And in general, these people tend to feel better on a low starch diet. So that's what I've got. Again, before you go, down below this video is a free PDF for daily rituals that can help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. As well as if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine, the link to my clinic and my email is right below. All right, you guys, check those out. And I have two related videos for you here. So. See you. Bye.