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Functional Medicine · Orange, CA

SIBO Treatment in Orange, CA

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth means microbes are fermenting food higher up than they should, which can bring bloating, gas, and stool changes. A breath test can support that question, and a positive result still has to match your symptoms. Diet changes are individual. This page does not list herbal antibiotic doses. For patients coming from Orange, the office is about 20 miles away, 30–45 minutes, by the 55 south to the 73 toward Mission Viejo.

Fermentation in the small intestine

The small intestine is built to absorb, not to host a heavy ferment. When bacteria there break down carbohydrates, gas can build under the ribs within an hour or two of eating. You may look pregnant by evening, belch, or swing between diarrhea and constipation.

That pattern is the concept behind SIBO. It is not a verdict you can make from bloating alone. Dr. Sani Kohen, D.C. and Dr. Tara Kohen, D.C. ask what you ate, how soon symptoms started, and whether an antibiotic, a stomach bug, or abdominal surgery came first.

Lactulose and glucose breath tests in plain language

SIBO breath testing measures gases in your breath after a sugar drink. Lactulose is not absorbed early, so it travels farther down the intestine. A rise can reflect the small bowel, and it can also reflect fermentation once the drink reaches the colon, which is why timing is part of the reading.

Glucose is absorbed higher up, so it mainly challenges the upper small intestine and can miss a problem farther down. Neither sugar is a better test for every person. FRI chooses with you, then reads the graph next to symptoms. A number without a story is not a plan.

A positive test is interpreted with symptoms

A positive breath test in someone who bloats after meals is a different situation from a positive test in someone who feels well. FRI does not treat the printout as the patient. Constipation, diarrhea, and upper abdominal swelling point the plan in different directions.

Stool testing answers a colon question, not this one. The gut health overview explains when GI-MAP is the better first step. If food reactions dominate the history, that is yet another page. Stacking tests without a reason is how people end up confused.

Diet changes stay individual

In Functional Medicine, some people feel better when fermentable carbohydrates are reduced for a while. Others get worse if the diet becomes so narrow that they under-eat. Nutrition and supplementation is built around what you tolerate and what the test showed. There is no herbal antibiotic dose on this page, and no brand protocol.

Functional medicine at FRI does not replace a primary physician, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, or mental health clinician. Weight loss you did not intend, bleeding, or vomiting needs medical care. A breath test does not rule those out.

What to expect when you are seen for SIBO

You can start with a complimentary 20-minute consultation. The office is out of network, accepts HSA and FSA payment, and provides a superbill. Visits run Monday–Thursday, 9–6.

If a breath test is ordered, you follow a prep diet and a collection schedule. Results are reviewed with your symptom timing. Any food change is revisited, not handed down as a permanent menu.

What the visit can cover

Spine and joint care may include adjustments, mobilization, McKenzie exercises, and DNS. Headaches that start in the neck are in scope. Sudden severe headaches are not. They belong in emergency care.

Perimenopause, migraines, and gut health are evaluated on their own terms, with labs only when the history makes a test useful. See the Orange chiropractor page for the full set of local links.

Before you leave Old Towne

No referral. Out of network. Superbill and HSA/FSA. Bring prior records. We coordinate with physicians at Chapman's orbit and elsewhere, and we do not replace them.

Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen are the chiropractors. The about page and the office page are the people and the place.

Old Towne, the Plaza, and the hills east of the 55

Old Towne Orange is walking, the Plaza, Chapman, and a lot of time in a chair between those walks. The Block and the streets west of the plaza are errands and traffic. Santiago Hills and the east side climb. People who live in the hills and work down in the flatlands stack a grade onto a commute. Knees notice the hills. Necks notice the 55. Lower back pain notices both, especially the seat time.

Students and staff around Chapman bring a different schedule: carrying a bag, sitting in lectures, and training when they can. That is not a football clinic. It is a reason to look at load instead of only at the spot that hurts. Shoulder pain and neck pain are common in that mix.

Down the 55 from Orange

Take the 55 south toward the 73 and Mission Viejo. About 20 miles and 30 to 45 minutes to 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. Parking is at the building. The clinic is open Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6. The drive back up the 55 in the afternoon is the expensive direction. Morning appointments are easier on the neck you came to have examined.

Call (949) 312-1754. If you are comparing us with a closer office on Tustin Avenue or Chapman, the difference is the length and the intent of the visit, not a secret technique. The 20-minute consultation lets you see that before you commit to a course of care.

Extra context on SIBO

On the days before a consult, write what you ate and the minute bloating started. An hour after fruit is a different clue than midnight discomfort after a large late dinner. Note prior antibiotics, food poisoning, and any abdominal surgery, because those details change how a breath test is valued. If constipation is the main issue, say whether gas is trapped or whether you simply do not go. Those are not the same mechanism. Bring old breath tests too, including ones that were called borderline, so the new graph is compared with the old one rather than treated as a first look.

Food changes work when they are narrow enough to teach you something and wide enough that you can live. A week of careful notes beats a month of a diet you resent. If a reduction in fermentable foods helps, FRI still plans the return of foods, not a permanent short menu. Supplements, if any, are discussed one at a time. Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation do not treat overgrowth, but they matter if back or rib pain is changing how you breathe and eat. A breath test is reread with symptoms, not treated as a score you must beat.

Questions patients ask

Which breath test is better, lactulose or glucose?

They look at different stretches of intestine. Lactulose travels farther, so the timing of a gas rise has to be read carefully, including the chance that the colon joined in. Glucose is absorbed sooner, so it speaks more to the upper small intestine and can miss a lower problem. FRI picks from your symptoms. Neither result is read in isolation.

Does a positive test mean I must treat it?

A positive result is interpreted with symptoms. If you bloat, hurt, and change stool pattern in a way that matches the graph, the finding is more useful. If you feel well, FRI will not build an aggressive plan around a number. Your gastroenterologist remains the right clinician for disease of the bowel itself.

Will you give me an herbal antibiotic dose?

No. This page does not list herbal antibiotic doses, and the visit does not copy a protocol from a forum. If antimicrobial support is discussed, it is individualized and coordinated with your physicians. Nutrition changes are similarly specific to you. There is no brand protocol and no promise that gas will be gone in a set number of days.

How is this different from a stool test?

A breath test asks about gases produced after a sugar challenge, which is the SIBO question. GI-MAP stool testing looks at organisms and markers in a stool sample, which is a different compartment. You can read both on the gut health page. FRI does not order them as a pair unless your history asks two questions.

Related care for Orange

SIBO is handled at the Mission Viejo clinic, not in a satellite office in Orange. The related pages below stay on that same visit and add the methods or neighboring problems that usually come up in the history.

  • Orange chiropractor

    How people from Orange reach 26400 La Alameda and what the three pillars cover.

  • SIBO clinical overview

    The non-geographic condition page, if you want the clinic-wide explanation without the drive.

  • Functional Medicine

    The pillar this problem sits in at Functional Restoration Institute.

  • Gut Health in this city

    Digestion problems rarely arrive as one tidy symptom. Bloating, stool changes, and food reactions can travel together or take turns. This page.

  • Leaky Gut in this city

    People say leaky gut when they mean the gut barrier might be letting more through than it should. The plainer name is.

  • Food Sensitivities in this city

    A food sensitivity panel that looks at IgG or IgA is not an allergy test. Allergy, the IgE kind, is a different.

  • Chronic Inflammation in this city

    Inflammation is a process your body uses, not a personality and not a mood. It can be useful while you heal and.

  • SIBO Breath Testing

    A SIBO breath test measures hydrogen and methane in the breath after you drink a substrate, either lactulose or glucose. A rise.

Talk with the doctors before you commit to care

The complimentary 20-minute consultation is at 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo. Call (949) 312-1754.

Functional Restoration Institute serves patients across Orange County from our Mission Viejo clinic, including Orange and surrounding Orange County communities.