# Link between SIBO and fibromialgia (study)



## vanessa6801

I came across this article and I thought I might post it here. I do not suffer from fibromalgia myself but ongoing fatigue is one of the symptoms that ive had since ive developed ibs and im quite certain that there is a strong link between the 2. 
One of the authors of this study is mark pimentel, author of 'new ibs solution'. 
Link to article (full article is available as pdf) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1754959/

A link between irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia may be related to findings on lactulose breath testing

M Pimentel, D Wallace, D Hallegua, E Chow, Y Kong, S Park, and H Lin

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This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract

Objective: To compare the prevalence and test results for bacterial overgrowth between IBS and fibromyalgia.

Methods: Subjects with independent fibromyalgia and IBS were compared with controls in a double blind study. Participants completed a questionnaire, and a lactulose hydrogen breath test was used to determine the presence of SIBO. The prevalence of an abnormal breath test was compared between study participants. Hydrogen production on the breath test was compared between subjects with IBS and fibromyalgia. The somatic pain visual analogue score of subjects with fibromyalgia was compared with their degree of hydrogen production.

Results: 3/15 (20%) controls had an abnormal breath test compared with 93/111 (84%) subjects with IBS (p<0.01) and 42/42 (100%) with fibromyalgia (p<0.0001 vcontrols, p<0.05 v IBS). Subjects with fibromyalgia had higher hydrogen profiles (p<0.01), peak hydrogen (p<0.0001), and area under the curve (p<0.01) than subjects with IBS. This was not dependent on the higher prevalence of an abnormal breath test. The degree of somatic pain in fibromyalgia correlated significantly with the hydrogen level seen on the breath test (r= 0.42, p<0.01).

Conclusions: An abnormal lactulose breath test is more common in fibromyalgia than IBS. In contrast with IBS, the degree of abnormality on breath test is greater in subjects with fibromyalgia and correlates with somatic pain.


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## Rowe2

This makes so much sense! Thanks for sharing!


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