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Bloating, IBS & Gut Issues — Find the Root Cause

Name: IBS, SIBO & Gut Health Specialist | Functional Medicine | PFoley Clinic
Creator: Paul Foley

You've been told it's IBS. You've tried the low-FODMAP diet. You're still suffering. There's usually a reason — and it can be found.

Paul Foley · BANT Registered · CNHC Registered · 15+ years clinical experience · #1 Rated Nutritionist 2025

DECODE YOUR GUT ↓ Already know enough? Book a call →

★★★★★ Trusted by hundreds of clients across the UK & Ireland who've found answers when standard medicine couldn't.

Paul Foley — Functional Medicine Practitioner

Does This Sound Like You?

You're managing it. But you're not living.

Bloating that makes you look and feel pregnant by evening
Unpredictable bowel habits — constipation, diarrhoea, or both on the same day
Pain and cramping that comes on after eating — almost every meal
Foods you used to tolerate that you can no longer eat
Told it's "just IBS" — with no explanation of why or what's actually causing it
Low-FODMAP diet helped a little — but didn't fix it
Fatigue that arrived alongside the gut symptoms
Brain fog, low mood, or anxiety you didn't have before the gut issues started
You've had colonoscopies, endoscopies, and been told everything looks normal
You've tried probiotics, digestive enzymes, elimination diets — still not resolved

"This wasn't weak digestion or stress. This was a system that had been pushed beyond its capacity — and no one had investigated why."

Why Standard Medicine Misses This

Your diagnosis explains your symptoms.
It doesn't explain what's driving them.

Standard gastroenterology is designed to rule out serious pathology — Crohn's disease, coeliac disease, bowel cancer. When those are excluded and symptoms persist, the diagnosis defaults to IBS — a label, not an explanation. IBS tells you what your symptoms are called. It doesn't tell you what's causing them.

In clinical practice, the most common underlying drivers of persistent gut dysfunction include SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), intestinal permeability, gut dysbiosis, impaired motility, and unresolved food reactions driven by immune activation — not simple food intolerance. These rarely show up on standard gastroenterology investigation. They require functional testing to identify.

The gut is also the foundation of systemic health. When gut function is compromised, the downstream effects are wide-ranging — fatigue, brain fog, mood disruption, skin conditions, immune dysregulation, and hormonal imbalance. Treating the gut in isolation misses this. A full picture requires investigating how the gut interacts with every other system.

Root Causes We Investigate

The underlying drivers that standard medicine misses.

SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)

Bacteria that belong in the large intestine have migrated upward. Every time you eat, they ferment your food — producing gas, bloating, and pain within hours of a meal. SIBO is missed by standard gastroenterology and requires breath testing to confirm.

Intestinal Permeability

When the gut lining is compromised, partially digested food particles and bacterial toxins pass into the bloodstream — triggering immune activation, systemic inflammation, and a cascade of symptoms that seem unrelated to the gut.

Gut Dysbiosis

An imbalance in the gut microbiome — too little diversity, overgrowth of specific species, or depletion of key strains — disrupts digestion, immune regulation, and even neurotransmitter production. Standard testing doesn't assess this.

Impaired Motility

When food moves too slowly through the gut, bacterial overgrowth becomes more likely. When it moves too quickly, nutrient absorption is compromised. Motility dysfunction is often the missing link between seemingly unrelated gut symptoms.

Immune-Driven Food Reactions

These are not the same as classical food allergies. They involve delayed immune responses to specific proteins — often gluten, dairy, or eggs — that create low-grade gut inflammation that persists until the trigger is removed and the gut lining is repaired.

Gut-Brain Axis Dysregulation

The gut and brain are in constant two-way communication via the vagus nerve. Chronic gut dysfunction dysregulates this axis — producing anxiety, low mood, cognitive fog, and stress sensitivity that are driven by gut inflammation, not psychology.

What Testing Can Reveal

Beyond ruling things out —
understanding what's actually happening.

Comprehensive stool analysis, SIBO breath testing, intestinal permeability markers, and immune food reaction panels go far beyond what standard gastroenterology investigates. They reveal not just what is present, but how the gut is functioning — which organisms are dominant, which are depleted, where inflammation is active, and whether the gut lining is intact.

Testing is ordered based on the clinical picture that emerges from a detailed case review — not applied as a standard package. The goal is to build a precise map of what's driving your specific presentation, so that the intervention is targeted, not generic.

What We Investigate

Comprehensive stool analysis (bacteria, yeast, parasites, inflammation markers)
SIBO breath testing
Organic acids panel
Food sensitivity panels
Intestinal permeability markers
Mycotoxin screening (where indicated)

What Standard Medicine Offers

Basic stool sample
Coeliac screen (IgA only)
H. pylori breath test
Colonoscopy if symptoms persist
No SIBO testing
No comprehensive microbiome analysis

Recovery

Can you recover from gut dysfunction? Yes.

Gut health recovery is real. The timeline depends on the severity and duration of the dysfunction, how many systems have been affected, and how promptly the root causes are identified. Many clients who come here have already spent months or years managing symptoms through diet alone — and for many, things have become more restrictive or less effective during that time. Early, correct intervention makes a significant difference to outcomes.

Recovery typically requires four things to happen in sequence: identification of the root cause(s), removal of triggers, targeted repair of the gut lining and microbiome, and restoration of normal gut-brain communication and motility. Attempting any one of these without the others — or in the wrong order — is why many people plateau or experience relapse. (The same principles apply to other complex conditions — for example, mould illness recovery also requires a specific sequence.)

How It Works

Three steps to clarity.

Step 01

Clarity Call

We listen to your full history. No time limits. No rushed assessment.

Step 02

Investigate

Targeted functional testing to find what's actually driving your symptoms.

Step 03

Recover

A personalised protocol built around your results — not a generic elimination diet.

Free Clinical Tool

DECODE YOUR GUT

7 questions. 2 minutes. We identify which gut dysfunction pattern your symptoms most closely match — and explain what that means clinically.

Question 1 of 7

Question 01 of 07

When does bloating typically hit?

Timing is one of the most useful clinical indicators. It often tells us where in the gut the dysfunction is occurring.

Question 02 of 07

What describes your bowel pattern most accurately?

Question 03 of 07

What makes your symptoms significantly worse?

Question 04 of 07

When did your gut issues begin, or significantly worsen?

The origin often shapes the underlying pattern — and the correct intervention pathway.

Question 05 of 07

Which of these do you experience alongside your gut symptoms?

Gut dysfunction rarely stays in the gut. What it drives beyond digestion tells us a great deal about the underlying pattern.

Question 06 of 07

Have you tried probiotics or standard gut protocols?

How your gut responds to standard interventions is clinically significant.

Question 07 of 07

How much does stress affect your gut symptoms?

This helps us understand the nervous system layer beneath the gut dysfunction.

YOUR GUT PATTERN

What this pattern means

What This Means For You

• Your symptoms are not random — they follow a pattern

• That pattern has specific underlying drivers

• Those drivers can be investigated and addressed properly

Most people at this stage have already tried probiotics, elimination diets, and standard gut protocols — without lasting results. That’s because the drivers haven’t been properly identified yet.

This is what we investigate properly.

A detailed case review, targeted functional testing, and a protocol built around your specific pattern — not a generic gut plan.

Start Your Case Review →

This tool is for indicative purposes only and does not constitute a clinical diagnosis. Results reflect pattern-matching based on your symptom profile and are not a substitute for professional assessment.

What We See Again and Again

The patterns that standard medicine misses.

Pattern 01

Gut + Fatigue + Thyroid

Gut dysfunction drives systemic inflammation that suppresses thyroid conversion — creating fatigue that responds to neither gut nor thyroid treatment alone. The systems interact. They must be treated together.

Pattern 02

SIBO After Antibiotics or Food Poisoning

A single course of antibiotics or a bout of food poisoning disrupts the gut microbiome and motility. SIBO follows. Years later, the patient has "IBS" with no clear trigger identified — because no one tested for SIBO.

Pattern 03

Gut-Driven Anxiety and Brain Fog

The gut produces over 90% of the body's serotonin. When gut function is compromised, this production is disrupted. Anxiety, low mood, and cognitive fog that began alongside gut symptoms are often gut-driven — not psychological.

"These aren't rare presentations. They are the most common patterns in persistent gut dysfunction — and they are almost always missed by standard investigation."

Frequently Asked

Questions about gut health

Why do my gut symptoms persist despite a clean diet?

Diet is foundational, but it's rarely the complete picture. Persistent symptoms despite a clean diet often point to underlying infections (SIBO, parasites), dysbiosis, intestinal permeability, or motility dysfunction — none of which diet alone can address. These require identification and targeted intervention.

What's the difference between IBS and a functional gut issue?

IBS is a label that describes symptoms but not causes — it's a classification used when no structural disease is found. A functional gut issue is the actual underlying dysfunction (SIBO, dysbiosis, motility problems) that produces IBS symptoms. Our investigation aims to identify the functional problem underneath the IBS label.

Can gut problems cause symptoms outside the gut?

Absolutely. The gut produces neurotransmitters, regulates immunity, and communicates with the brain via the vagus nerve. When gut function is compromised, this affects mood (anxiety, depression), cognition (brain fog, memory), energy (fatigue), skin health, immune function, and hormonal balance. These "non-gut" symptoms are often gut-driven.

What functional tests are used for gut health?

We use comprehensive stool analysis (assessing bacterial diversity, yeast, parasites, inflammation markers, and dysbiosis), SIBO breath testing, organic acids panels, food sensitivity testing, intestinal permeability markers, and mycotoxin screening where clinically indicated. Test selection is based on your specific presentation — we don't use a generic panel for everyone.

How long does it take to fix gut issues?

This depends on what we find and how long the dysfunction has been present. Early intervention (within the first few years) typically shows meaningful improvement within 3-6 months. Longer-standing dysbiosis, or those with multiple compounding factors, may take 6-12 months or longer. The key is correct identification and a properly sequenced protocol.

Do I need to come to the clinic in person?

No. We work entirely online with clients across the UK and Ireland. Consultations, case reviews, and protocol discussions all happen remotely. Functional testing is done through post — your samples are collected at home and sent to our laboratory partners.

Sound Familiar?

If this feels like your story — this is exactly what we work with.

DECODE YOUR GUT ↓ Or book a clarity call →

"Paul was very approachable and helped me make some realistic changes to my health and lifestyle. I'd been struggling with bloating for a long time and things are now much more comfortable. I'd happily recommend him to anyone looking to take their health more seriously."

— Fiona · Gut · Hashimoto's

Client Voices

What clients say

★★★★★

“

After digestive problems and no clear way forward from my GP, I consulted Paul and it was the best decision I made. Following his dietary approach and supplement protocol, I’m about 95% back to my usual self three months later. I don’t think I’d be at this point without his support.

— Patricia · Gut · Digestive

★★★★★

“

I had some histamine and low energy issues that turned out to be linked to a gut flora imbalance after food poisoning. Paul identified specific nutritional gaps and helped me bring my markers back into a better range. A useful reminder that these things take time.

— Richard · Gut · Histamine · Low energy

★★★★★

“

I’d been dealing with ongoing health issues that other practitioners hadn’t really got to the bottom of. Paul’s approach was much more thorough — the testing, the questionnaire, and the way he looked at the whole picture made a noticeable difference. My energy and general enthusiasm for life are a lot better after ten months working with him.

— Catherine · Hashimoto’s · Chronic fatigue · Anxiety

GUT

Sound Familiar?

You're not broken. You're not lazy.

There are root causes. There are answers. This is solvable.

Book a Clarity Call →

Or email paul@pfoleyclinic.com