How SIBO and IBS Could Be the Root Cause of Your Interstitial Cystitis

Today, I want to talk briefly about the possible connection between endometriosis, SIBO, IBS, and UTIs.

Now, this could be a deep dive episode, but I'm going to give you some of the top lines and the most recent research, and then I've put a few links to more detailed episodes in the show notes, because I actually did a presentation on this a couple of years back.

Um, so there's a deeper dive there that you can listen to.

Now, people with endo have a 16 times higher odds of also having interstitial cystitis and a six times higher odds of also having an overactive bladder.

If you are not familiar with interstitial cystitis, it's also known as painful bladder syndrome, and it manifests as frequency, urgency, pressure on the bladder, pain in the bladder, and you can learn more about it in those other episodes that I've linked to, where we talk about, uh, IC in detail.

Now, we also have research suggesting up to 90% of those with endo may also have SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth, and SIBO is also linked with interstitial cystitis, with one study showing 81% of IC patients who also had IBS symptoms tested positive for SIBO.

To further confirm this connection, having IBS has also been shown to significantly increase the risk of IC development, and the latest research suggests that the majority of IBS, about 60 to 70% of cases, is caused by SIBO.

[laughs] So what could be behind this connection? Well, the two most common UTI-causing bacteria are E.

coli and Klebsiella, which also happen to be the leading hydrogen producers in hydrogen SIBO and two of the bacteria shown to be high in people with endometriosis.

So we've got the leading bacteria of UTIs are E. coli and Klebsiella.

The two key causes of hydrogen SIBO are E. coli and Klebsiella.

[laughs] And two of the highest overgrowth of bacteria found in people with endo are E. coli and Klebsiella.

So there's definitely something going on there.

Now, whilst an IC diagnosis excludes the presence of acute infections, some theories suggest that one cause of IC is chronic embedded UTIs hiding in biofilms.

Now, I just wanna say, because I feel like some people will hear this and be like, "Oh, God, what's chronic embedded UTIs? That sounds like a, you know, a woo woo wellness trend thing." No, no, no, it's real.

People...

Like, the NHS treat chronic embedded UTIs.

Like, you can go to the NHS and look it up, and what their treatment is is basically long-term antibiotics, but this is a real problem.

Biofilms are like mucosal barriers.

that hide and protect bacterial colonies, and this helps them to embed in the bladder wall and evade detection and treatment.

Additionally, research has shown that IC patients have microbiome dysbiosis, both in the bladder but also in the gut.

So one of the main ways that UTIs form in women is spreading after bowel movements into the urethra, or I should say in people, you know, with vaginas, is spreading after bowel movements into the urethra.

So it's possible that higher levels of hydrogen SIBO, and as a result, you know, the presence of E. coli and or Klebsiella may be contributing to UTI risk and this dysbiosis in the bladder through bowel movements.

So basically this E. coli and Klebsiella, it's in the gut because of SIBO, it moves through the gut, through the bowel movements, it spreads to urethra, it contaminates the bladder, and it causes chronic UTIs.

We don't have the research, like, directly correlating this, like, directly proving this, but it seems like a very likely s- scenario.