Mark Pimentel, MD, gastroenterologist at Cedars - Sinai Medical Center, one of the key leaders in research and treatment
of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth notes, «Methane is an important gas to assess during breath testing because it is nearly universally associated with a phenotype of constipation.
Although the
role of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is still not entirely clear, more and more doctors are diagnosing SIBO in their IBS patients, along with providing a prescription for a course of antibiotics.
When clients can't afford to have further diagnostic work done and everything up to this point is OK, we will sometimes try amoxicillin — it seems to work for some
cases of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and we don't see any problem with controlling the diarrhea with loperamide (Immodium AD TM) or diphenoxylate (Lomotil Rx) if it makes the patient or client more comfortable.
«Diagnosis and Management
of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth» Nutrition in Clinical Practice 2013; 28 (3): 289.299.