Your Platinum Gut Health Check

Sort the shared preparation first, then collect the four samples across a week or two. Only ever start or stop a medication on your practitioner's advice.

Shared preparation — applies across the tests

• Finish any antibiotics or antifungals at least 2–4 weeks before collecting (affects the stool & SIBO tests most).
• Stop probiotics about 7 days before, where your practitioner agrees.
• Keep eating your normal, varied diet throughout — this is needed for the food-intolerance test.

Food intolerance — any morning you're eating normally

A quick finger-prick. No fasting; in fact you need to have been eating the foods being tested.

Stool — on a collection day (Mon–Wed)

Collect whenever you're ready, then refrigerate and post promptly. Fits around the other tests.

SIBO breath — a fasting morning (Sun–Tue)

A 12-hour fast, then about 3 hours of timed breath samples at home.

Leaky gut — a separate fasting morning

An 8-hour fast, the sugar drink, then a 6-hour urine collection.

Keep SIBO and leaky gut on different days

Both use a lactulose drink and both need a fasting morning, so they must be done on separate days. Leave a gap between them.

Before you collect

• Antibiotics/antifungals finished 2–4 weeks ago; probiotics stopped ~7 days ago.
• Collect on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday so it isn't in transit over a weekend.
• Don't collect if you have active diarrhoea from a stomach bug, or while menstruating.
• Catch the stool so it doesn't touch toilet water or urine — for example on clean paper laid over the bowl.
• Fill each collection tube as labelled — scoop from a few different spots into the preservative tubes up to the fill line, and use the swab for the swab tube. Replace and tighten every cap.
• Label every tube with your name, date of birth and the date & time, then seal them in the specimen transport bag.

Refrigerate — never freeze

Once collected and labelled, keep your stool tubes in the fridge until you post them, then send the same day. Freezing damages the sample.

Before you post — quick check

• All tubes filled to the line, capped and labelled
• Refrigerated, sealed in the transport bag, posting on a Mon–Wed

Before your test morning

• 2–4 weeks: finished antibiotics/antifungals. 7 days: no laxatives or probiotics.
• The day before: eat only plain foods (plain chicken/fish, white rice, eggs, clear broth); then fast 12 hours (water only).
• 1 hour before / during: no smoking, sleeping, vigorous exercise or toothpaste. Do it on a Sun–Tue morning.
• Brush your teeth and tongue without toothpaste and rinse. Mix the lactulose solution and set it aside.
• Take your baseline breath sample (0 min) into the first tube before drinking, then drink the whole solution within 5 minutes and note the time.
• At each time below, take a sample: fill the bag with a normal exhale, press the tube onto the needle so it fills, remove within ~2 seconds, and bag it. Never open the tube caps.

Sample	After drinking the lactulose	Your time
1 — baseline	before drinking	—
2–7	30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 min	—

Before you collect

• Keep eating your normal, varied diet — including the foods you'd like tested. Do not fast for this one.
• Strictly avoid any food that has previously caused a serious reaction or anaphylaxis.
• Steroids, antihistamines and anti-inflammatories can affect the result — your practitioner may suggest pausing them ~4 weeks beforehand.
• Label the card in block letters (name, DOB, date) to match your request form, and unfold it without touching the circles.
• Wash your hands in warm water, dry, and wipe a fingertip with the alcohol wipe. Use a single-use lancet — press firmly and click.
• Wipe away the first drop, then let a hanging drop fall into each circle, filling every circle so it soaks through. Use the second lancet on another finger if needed, then plaster the site.

Air-dry for at least 3 hours

Prop the card up and let the blood spots dry completely for 3+ hours, away from moisture and sunlight, before you pack it.

Please check this first

Not suitable during pregnancy, or if you're diabetic with a fasting urine glucose over 6 mmol/L. Don't collect while menstruating.

Before you collect

• Fast from about 11 pm the night before — nothing but water for at least 8 hours.
• From the evening fast through the collection, avoid fructose (fruit, juice, honey, corn syrup) and mannitol (cauliflower, mushroom, snow peas, seaweed, watermelon, "sugar-free" gums/sweets).
• First thing, empty your bladder into the toilet and discard it — the timed collection starts after this.
• Add warm water to the brown bottle (~¾ full), shake, and drink it all. Note your start time. (30 kg or under: 2 teaspoons of the mixed solution.)
• For the next 6 hours, collect all urine into the 4-litre bag (don't tip out the preservative fluid).
• After 6 hours, note the finish time, read and record the total volume, then use the dropper to fill and label the sample tube (name, DOB, date, volume, start & finish times).

Each test comes with its own return packaging. Send each one back in its own kit as you finish it — don't hold samples waiting to post them together.

Send each kit as it's ready

• Stool — refrigerated, posted promptly on a collection day.
• SIBO — all breath tubes, posted the same day you collect.
• Food intolerance — once the card is fully air-dried (3+ hours).
• Leaky gut — the labelled urine tube (no need to freeze).
• For each kit, place the sealed sample(s) and the completed request form / checklist into that kit's specimen bag.
• Seal it in that kit's reply-paid envelope and post it via your nearest Australia Post outlet or express post box.
• Make sure every sample is labelled with your name, date of birth and collection date/time before it goes.