So my brother has just about every possible symptom indicative of dysbiosis and/or SIBO, except one - no foul smelling gas (or any gas at all for that matter). His symptoms are severe bloating, severe brain fog, fatigue, lack of appetite, and constant gut pain, and they have been present for about 10 months now. We have no insurance so he can't afford to get a stool test or other lab test done to diagnose the disease precisely.

His illness is a mystery in many ways, but the most mysterious aspect of it is his lack of gas for years now, even before he began experiencing his current symptoms. One of the most obvious symptoms of dysbiosis is foul smelling gas, which from what I have read is hydrogen sulfide produced by pathogenic strains of sulfur metabolising bacteria, yet he doesn't have this symptom.

We believe he also has leaky gut as a consequence of consuming wheat products and other foods he was later found to be allergic to (eggs, peanuts, unfermented soy). So my hypothesis is that the pathogenic bacteria are producing the hydrogen sulfide gas, which he feels as severe bloating and abdominal distension, but instead of being released from the colon, the gas escapes through his leaky intestinal microvilli into his bloodstream, causing some of his other symptoms.

Is this phenomenon actually possible, and if so, what can be done to remedy it? Should he focus on treating his leaky gut first or the dysbiosis? Has anyone else here ever experienced bloating without flatulence?

We both discovered the Paleo diet about 3 months ago, and he has been trying to eat as congruently as possible with the most fundamental Paleo diet principles, although he only gave up nuts last week (I know they are considered a Paleo food by most people in this community, but he was eating them every day and it was skewing his Omega 6:3 ratio in an unhealthy direction and heavily contributing to his massive inflammation problem).

I know there are many questions about dysbiosis here, but I think this is a unique problem that has not been discussed, so we appreciate any and all advice.