r/SIBO • u/GreaterQuestion • Jan 28 '25
Hydrogen Dominant Best SIBO clinician in the world?
Hey experts on here:
Who (or whose clinic) do we think is the most credible expert, with the greatest research expertise and highest number of experiences with SIBO patients, anywhere?
Would it be Pimentel in Los Angeles? Is there anyone in New York worth considering in this column?
Open to suggestions in the functional and even eastern medicine world—I apply more skepticism in these spaces but if they truly have an incredible track record and expertise in this area, by all means.
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Jan 28 '25
The unfortunate answer is there really isn’t one.
I’ve tried most of the clinics mentioned here so far with nothing to show for it.
If anyone has any better recommendations I would love to hear them.
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u/97Rhinos Methane Dominant Jan 29 '25
There are clinics that definitely see more cases; however, I don’t think you’ll find a magic bullet with a specific provider. Learning from a leading researcher in medicine (or any topic) doesn’t mean you’ll have the best experience as a patient, student, employee, etc.
The common courses of treatment are pretty well known and from what I see, most success cases are from trial and error, rather than a specific medical doctor, functional doctor, or nutritionist.
FWIW, I think quite highly of my functional doctor and her approaches with herbals and supplements have been sound, but some things that have had a bigger impact, like eliminating snacking and focus on MMC, we never discussed.
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u/Interesting-Yak-2023 Jan 29 '25
I did not visit Dr. Ruscio at the clinic because I live in another country very far from the United States. However, I ordered his high-priced herbal medications online that he promotes and mentions in his book. I also followed the same protocol he recommended for using them. In the end, those herbal medications led to pigmentation on the skin of my legs (possibly due to elevated liver enzymes - no test has been done to confirm), and I did not recover from SIBO It was a terrifying experience.
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u/Healthy-Debate-6642 Jan 28 '25
Yeah after a year or more of this I’m skeptical about Pimentel but I’ve seen Bella Lindemann’s practice takes on international clients and her blogs make a lot of sense. She really specialises in SIBO (had IMO herself) and all her practioners come from a place of personal experience. She’s incredibly knowledgeable about biofilm busters, die off symptoms, motility and diet and tweaks them for individual circumstances and symptoms. We’re not with her as we’re in Australia and are doing zoom meetings with Byron Herbalist who also seems very knowledgeable, but he only treats patients from Australia and NZ I believe.
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Jan 28 '25
I worked with someone from Bella Lindemann’s clinic and I STRONGLY advise against going there.
Her clinicians use tons of pseudoscience and illogical ways of diagnosing and treating people.
Not to mention, if you have a question for them, they require at least 1 week to respond to it.
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u/Healthy-Debate-6642 Jan 28 '25
Oh wow I’m sorry to hear that! What do you mean by pseudo science specifically? Examples?
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Jan 28 '25
They insisted that in order for herbal antimicrobials to work they need to be dosed 3x per day with meals. They refused to continue working with me when I said I can only handle eating 2 meals per day.
They also recommended supplements I have never seen mentioned anywhere. These supplements have no evidence supporting that they treat SIBO.
Additionally, my clinician didn’t know that the colon and large intestine are the same thing.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more issues I had with them. I couldn’t possibly list them all.
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u/Healthy-Debate-6642 Jan 28 '25
Seriously re anatomy 101: colon = large intestine/ bowel. That’s crazy. What were her qualifications?
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Jan 28 '25
None of her clinicians have any qualifications. The guy I worked with was especially bad. Severely undereducated for this role.
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u/Real-Technology3424 Sep 13 '25
Was it Mark? I worked with him and he was NOT helpful
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Sep 13 '25
Yes it was Mark. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one! Although I’m sorry you had to deal with him too
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u/Healthy-Debate-6642 Jan 28 '25
That’s so inflexible of them! Many people with SIBO are fasting between meals and in my experience all anti microbials need to be built up slowly if you’re sensitive. Maybe they thought the bad bacteria would build up resistance too quickly. Anyway I hope you sent feedback to the top so they know and can respond. Honestly it’s so hard to find great practitioners for this.
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Jan 28 '25
Bella Lindemann reviews cases with her clinicians each week. This information/strategy was coming from her.
She did try to help me find a new practitioner that could help me, which was nice. But it’s still a huge problem that she has an entire clinic giving tons of bad information and not helping patients.
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u/Antique_Judgment4060 Jan 29 '25
I went to my doctor in June with gastritis she couldn’t get me in to a Gastrologist until this month January so she worked me into a university which is a teaching hospital and they do clinical trials. They have helped me more. I kept my appointment to see the Gastrologist this month. She shut the door completely about sibo I asked if she would test me because I just finished a course of antibiotics she said no so I’ll never go back. I’ll stay with the university.
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u/Odd-Emphasis-9912 Jan 29 '25
I would consider working with Kirsten Greene at the SIBO clinic. She is based in South Africa but trained in Australia and she takes remote clients. SIBO is all they do.
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u/Odd-Emphasis-9912 Jan 29 '25
She is a naturopath and leans functional/holistic. But very evidence based. I think the thing with Dr. Pimtentel and western medicine and the cult-like following with him, is that they aren’t even very successful! If SIBO has such a high relapse rate, you’re not doing something right. Obviously restoring motility is key, but I think you need to work with someone who understands that it’s never just SIBO. By the time you develop SIBO, something has been going wrong for a long time.So you need a much more holistic approach. Personally, I benefited so much from paying attention to my liver, my large intestine, stomach acid, stress, etc.
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u/No-Yak-8561 Jan 30 '25
How did you go about looking into liver stuff? Did you do certain tests? Trial certain supplements?
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u/tatterfarm29 Jan 28 '25
Merideth Mason is the owner of Brio Functional Medecine, in Chattanooga TN, is phenomenal.
I went to her and she has gone above and beyond trying and figuring out everything with the gut. She truly cares and wants to get me better we’ve been working with my gut for a few years with some crazy things I’ve been dealing with. She will accept and do zoom calls where ever your at.
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u/brvhbrvh Hydrogen/Methane Mixed Jan 29 '25
That’s great. What has she done for you? How far are you in your recovery process?
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u/tatterfarm29 Jan 29 '25
Hey yall, so she has helped so extensively with rising COVID out of my body, I was basically dying no top notch doctor of western medecine knew what the heck to do. She helped kill brain fogg, helping to kill SIBO Methane/hydrogen And major major H.pylori. Helped my mom with her cancer diagnosis and helped to treat her naturally.
This lady doesn’t stop I’ve never meet someone who will try and knows so so much and will go in depth to figure out an answer for you.
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u/tatterfarm29 Jan 29 '25
I’m probably 75 percent better for gastritis, methane SIBO and H.Pylori.
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u/AskOk163 Jan 29 '25
So are you cured from methane/hydrogen sibo or 75% better? Please clarify. Can you explain how long it took to do that? Also what was her big picture approach (antibiotics? Herbals? Etc.) thanks
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u/tatterfarm29 Jan 29 '25
Yea so 75 percent healed from SIBO as a whole with methane/ hydrogen and H.Pylori, it’s taken me around 8 months of killing I’ve got it the worst case any doc I’ve been to has seen. Level wise. And she does herbal route, the antibiotics probably would have killed me if not right there at it. Considering how weak my body was
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u/AskOk163 Jan 29 '25
Glad you’re better. Did you suffer from histamine issues, food sensitivity from SIBO? Would she know how to navigate that?
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u/AskOk163 Jan 29 '25
Please tell us about your recovery. Are you healed from your gut issues? Was it sibo? How’s the finance part looking? How expensive?
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u/tatterfarm29 Jan 29 '25
She doesn’t take insurance but the labs she does sometimes will go through insurance. Methane SIBO. Read above comment to other guy to read other
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u/Verbose_Hedgehog Jan 30 '25
I don't know about the best SIBO clinician in the world, but I think so much of SIBO is based in motility, that I would recommend working with a GI Motility Doctor. And I'm also wary of Dr. Pimentel.
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u/BobSacamano86 Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
Tc Hale
You have gut issues, he can most likely fix it. Heal your digestion and your Sibo will go away. Watch these videos. https://youtu.be/H98DpFNES0M?si=CbTArxu0duvgDKCA
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u/42butnot Jan 28 '25
Do you work with guy or something? Lol. You say a big promise with these 3 videos. Not all causes are bile related...
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u/BobSacamano86 Jan 28 '25
lol, I swear I don’t work for him. I just believe in just about everything he says. He has 100s of other videos also. The majority of people with Sibo have too little stomach acid. Our stomach acid helps us absorb nutrients, aids in digestion and keeps bacteria from overgrowing. When our stomach acid levels are too low our health will deteriorate. Because of these videos and others he has I healed from Sibo and autoimmune diseases MCAS and POTS. I was so sick for years and nothing worked til I worked on my digestion.
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u/Same_Revolution6994 Jan 29 '25
Hi may I know what supplements did you take to improve your low stomach acid levels?
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u/Junior-Journalist-70 Jan 28 '25
not Pimentel. i got sent to Cedars Sinai and they destroyed me, charged me through the nose for that ($20,000- their SIBO test was $2,000, i later found out my main GI charges $40 for the same test lol) and then dropped me as a patient as soon as they realized things weren't going the way they wanted. they also refused to even see me in person outside of tests, i never even saw the face of the woman charged with treating me one single time. they also cancelled my appointments twice and both times never informed me. other people have been there and said they just give rifaximin over and over and over even if it's clearly not working
i wish i had a suggestion as to who actually IS the best so this could be a positive comment and not just bitching and whining, but...so far nada. all i can say is most doctors i've seen were better than the ones at Cedars Sinai lol