SIBO test

[davina70]

Has anyone in the UK managed to get a SIBO test via NHS please or did they pay privately?

[Jillymo]

I was given an appointment via the NHS for sibo testing at the Reading Hospital in Berkshire. Due to health issues I was unable to attend. ☹

Not all hospitals carry out the procedure.

[Nackapan]

I think a breath test is available. Also a description of pale stools or othef symptoms to Gp shoukd get you one if other things rules out .

Stool samples show up many things .

NHS will test if symptoms warrant it .

Like everything else it's seeing thr Gp !!!

Or getting a gastro referral.

[Sleepybunny]

Hi,

I searched online for "UK guidelines SIBO" and "NHS SIBO" and found some interesting articles.

[davina70 in reply to Sleepybunny]

I have read a lot on the subject seems to be a lottery depending on where you live ..I can see me funding this myself !

[Littlelodge123]

I got one in Edinburgh

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

I was given an NHS SIBO breath test in 2017, requested by haematology when they were looking for the cause of my continually raised methylmalonic acid (MMA) despite frequent B12 injections .

SIBO was not ruled out completely: the result was inconclusive- either suggestive of SIBO or IBS ("quick transit").

My GP had already requested an initial MMA test - so had diagnosed me with functional B12 deficiency, confirmed by the testing lab on this MMA test in 2016, but she wanted SIBO ruled out. After the test, she gave me an antibiotics trial in case it did prove to be SIBO. A bad reaction to the antibiotics (constant headache and vertigo) but nothing else. So not SIBO. IBS suggestion was ignored, as not a fit and not the reason for the original breath test request.

Haematology in the end decided that raised MMA results (between 350 and 400 nmol/L : range 0 - 280 nmol/L) were simply "my normal".

I felt a very long way from normal.

The frequent B12 injections later reduced my MMA finally - it dropped into range at the 6th test after three years of raised results.

[DelMegJJ]

I have just had a breath test on the NHS but had to have a private appointment with a gastroenterologist before as it would have taken a long time to get an appointment with the NHS.

[davina70 in reply to DelMegJJ]

Many thanks I have been re referred to gastroenterologist if I don’t hear within a month I will go privately.

[classicvijay in reply to DelMegJJ]

I didn't get this quite right. Did you take the breath test with NHS based on a private GP request/letter? Or was the test done by a private GP?

[DelMegJJ]

it was an NHS test requested by a gastroenterologist I saw privately.