SIBO + dysbiosis
Bacteria in the wrong segment fermenting carbs the moment you eat — the bloat is the gas. Wrong bugs, wrong ratios after antibiotics, the pill, gastro, stress.
+ Symptom 04
Digestion · Bloat · Immune
A bad gut wrecks your hormones, metabolism and mood.
You wake with a flat stomach. By 6pm you're undoing the button. The list of foods you 'react to' keeps growing. You've cut gluten, dairy, FODMAPs — still bloated. Or you catch every cold the office gets, you're sick longer than everyone else, you've been told you have Hashimoto's or a lupus marker and the next sentence was 'we'll watch it.'
It's the same engine. 70% of the immune system lives in the gut. Chronic bloating, an expanding food list, autoimmune flags, recurring infections — all share a small set of upstream drivers (motility, microbiome, acid, barrier, vagal tone). We test the upstream system, not the symptom.
The Picture
If this is you,
it might sound like —
Read these the way you'd read a letter from someone who already knows. If three or more land hard, you're in the right place.
- I'm flat in the morning and pregnant by 6pm.
- The list of foods I 'react to' keeps growing.
- I'm constipated for days, then it all releases at once.
- Burping, reflux, fullness after a few bites.
- I catch every cold the office gets — and I'm sick longer.
- I have an autoimmune diagnosis but no plan.
- Joint aches, low-grade fevers, recurring UTIs or thrush.
- My skin and mood track my gut.
+ Key Drivers
What's actually going on.
An expanding list of trigger foods or recurring infections almost always means the gut underneath is broken — not that the foods or the bugs are the enemy. The drivers are testable, and they account for most chronic gut and immune presentations together.
Low stomach acid + enzyme insufficiency
The cascade starts at the top. Without acid, nothing further down works properly — reflux is often low acid, not high.
Slow motility
The migrating motor complex is meant to sweep the small intestine between meals. When it doesn't, food sits and ferments — constipation is often the headline.
Gut barrier dysfunction (leaky gut)
70% of the immune system lives in the gut. Loss of barrier = chronic immune activation, autoimmune flags, food reactivity, skin inflammation.
Histamine intolerance
Often a downstream of dysbiosis. Explains the wandering food list and the random reactions to wine, leftovers, fermented foods.
Stress + vagal tone collapse
Vagal tone collapses under chronic stress. Without it, digestion stalls before food even hits the stomach — and immune discrimination drops too.
+ Key Tests
How we find the cause — and the fix.
Cutting more foods narrows your life. 'We'll watch it' isn't a plan for autoimmune flags. Testing finds the real driver so the foods can come back in and the immune load can come down.
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GI-MAP · Stool DNA panelDNA-level read of every major pathogen, opportunistic bug, beneficial flora, gut barrier markers, secretory IgA, inflammation, parasites and digestion markers.
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SIBO · Breath testHydrogen, methane and hydrogen sulphide. Identifies which gas, which segment, which protocol — SIBO doesn't respond to generic gut work.
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OAT · Organic acidsYeast and bacterial metabolites in urine, plus mitochondrial and neurotransmitter markers. Picks up candida and bacterial overgrowth GI-MAP can miss.
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Bloods + autoimmune sweepFull thyroid (incl. antibodies), ANA, ENA, H. pylori antibody, coeliac screen, full iron, B12 (active), folate, vitamin D, inflammation (CRP, ESR), full immune panel.
+ Foundational Must-Haves
What you can start today.
Six daily moves that, alone, often resolve mild-to-moderate bloating inside 2-3 weeks and lower the immune load. The floor before any deeper testing or autoimmune protocol.
- Stop drinking with meals. Water dilutes stomach acid. Sip 30 minutes before, again 30 minutes after — not during.
- Chew until liquid. Most people swallow at chew 6-8. Aim for 20+. This single step fixes a lot of mild bloat and reflux.
- A 12-hour overnight fast. Lets the migrating motor complex sweep the small intestine clean — the most underrated motility intervention.
- Walk 10 minutes after dinner. Engages the vagus nerve, restarts motility, drops the post-dinner bloat. Same move helps blood sugar.
- Build the rhythm that makes a daily bowel movement happen on its own. Regular meal patterns, less snacking between meals, fibre from cooked vegetables, and enough sleep. Daily clearance is non-negotiable for gut, immune and hormone health — but the goal is to restore the system, not force it.
- Vitamin D3 + K2 to blood levels of 100-150 nmol/L. The single highest-leverage nutrient for autoimmune, gut barrier and immune resilience — the 'normal' GP range (50+) is well below optimal.
+ The Process with How It Heals
We test the upstream system.
Cutting more foods narrows your life and doesn't fix the cause. 'We'll watch it' on an autoimmune diagnosis isn't a plan. Both presentations share root causes — gut barrier, motility, microbiome, vagal tone, stress chemistry, vitamin D — and treating the upstream picture lowers the load on both sides at once.
Most clients are eating a meaningfully wider diet inside 3 months once the upstream picture is restored. Antibody trends typically improve and flares reduce inside 4-6 months. We work alongside your specialist, not against them.
+ From the women in front of us
What changed.
Selected from clients who started here — chronically bloated with growing food lists, recurring infections, autoimmune flags with no plan — and worked through the 22-week reset.
I'm eating things I haven't been able to in years. The food wasn't the problem.
K.L. · 34 · Toowong
My TPO antibodies dropped from 800 to 120 in six months. My GP said it 'doesn't usually work like that.'
T.G. · 38 · New Farm