Diagnosing Gut Health Issues: Symptoms, Tests & Next Steps

Diagnosing gut health issues often begins with recognizing the key symptoms and patterns. If you notice persistent bloating, excessive gas, abdominal cramps, changes in bowel habits (diarrhea, constipation, or irregular timing), unintentional weight changes, fatigue, or skin flare-ups after meals, these signals may warrant a closer look. Because gut symptoms can overlap with other conditions, keeping a symptom diary and noting what you eat can help your clinician distinguish gut-related issues from other causes. Doctors typically use a combination of tests to diagnose gut health issues. Stool tests can identify infections or inflammatory processes, while fecal calprotectin helps gauge intestinal inflammation. Blood work may screen for anemia or celiac disease, and breath tests can diagnose lactose intolerance or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. More invasive options like endoscopy or colonoscopy, along with imaging studies, are considered when red flags are present or when a clearer picture is needed. While these conventional tests target anatomy and inflammation, microbiome insights are increasingly being used to tailor dietary and therapeutic strategies. InnerBuddies brings a modern, test-driven approach to diagnosing gut health issues with its Gut Health Operating System. Its Gut Microbiome Health Index provides a score from 0 to 100 to indicate overall gut health, backed by an exclusive IP deal with EAFIT University in Colombia. The platform also presents Bacteria Abundances, featuring a top 40 bacteria set and how you compare against a healthy cohort, plus Bacteria Functions, which categorizes metabolic activities as positive or negative and shows your standing against the healthy baseline. With Target Group analysis, you can explore how your gut pathways align with specific goals—Healthy Aging, Endurance Sport, Power Sport, Skin & Hair Health, and more. For practical guidance, the system delivers Personalized Nutrition Advice based on 3-day food diaries and Stool data, and Personalized Probiotics and Prebiotics advice tailored to your unique microbiome profile. Learn more about how these insights come together on the product page: InnerBuddies microbiome test. Practical next steps to get answers and relief start with a plan: consult your clinician to review symptoms and testing options, and consider adding a gut microbiome test to gain deeper context on your unique gut ecosystem. If you’re looking for consumer-facing options, InnerBuddies also offers direct-to-consumer gut test solutions and ongoing insights—including a subscription for continual personalization—so you can track progress and adjust diet and probiotic strategies over time. To explore ongoing, personalized support, check the InnerBuddies Gut Health Membership and, if you’re a business seeking to offer these capabilities at scale, the InnerBuddies B2B partner program.