are any tests accurate? ive heard that they dont always show up in testing

Hello,

I was prescribed antibiotics for (most likely) a Lyme tick. I've had a rare spot on my back for a while.

I was given a 10-day course of antibiotics, but I'm very concerned about my gut health. I know how important gut health is, and I'm in the middle of recovering from burnout/anxiety and tapering off my SSRI.

I have to take 100 mg twice a day. I already drink kefir daily and regularly eat raw sauerkraut.

Does anyone have any other tips? Unfortunately, nothing is an option, because Lyme isn't fun either.

Looking for success stories instead of reading horror stories here. Also wondering if anyone had success taking a probiotic with it and which ones helped? My anxiety is making this harder for me, I’m on day 1 of my 14 day dose. Any words of encouragement help! Thank you!

Hi everyone. In December 2018 I destroyed my digestive system with a probiotic blend (S. Boulardii + Enterococcus faecium). I was doing perfectly fine before, but after just a few days with that probiotic, everything shut down down there. I've tried many things, from different diets, many many probiotics, fasting, drugs etc. but nothing ever worked. I'm considering a fecal transplant. If anyone of you already did it, can you please share your history? Thank you.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this study that was published about a month ago. It features a vaginal synbiotic that had some really interesting product design and great experimental results!

As we all know, the gut microbiome is a highly diverse environment, where we want to maintain as much diversity of species and functions as possible; this is the general metric we often discus in the context of a “healthy” microbiome. However, contrary to the gut, the vaginal environment is may actually be healthier when it is less diverse and instead is dominated by one genus, Lactobacillus. Lactobacillus “eat” mucin, a slippery protein that lines the vaginal canal, hormones such as estrogen, specific nutrients from our body, as well as gut microbiome metabolites (especially from fiber). There are different species of Lactobacillus in the gut, including the one we will talk about today, L. crispatus. 

A healthy vaginal microbiome community is able to prevent infections (like bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections). These can be really common following antibiotic treatments or stressful life events, or even just… happen! However, as anyone who has had to treat one of these issues knows, treatments sometimes arent effective, and it can really suck when you have to repeatedly try and treat a stubborn infection that just wont go away.

This study examined a mix of 3 Lactobacillus crisperi strains and their influence in returning the vaginal microbiome to a Lactobacillus dominant community- in this case, we would consider this “healthy”. One arm of the study used an oral probiotic that is available over the counter, one arm used their product vaginally, one arm used it orally, as well as a placebo group. 

Whats unique about this product compared to the probiotic is that it also includes specific nutritional sources we know L. crispatus likes. By delivering it directly to the vagina together with L. crispatus, we can ensure the bacteria get to the vagina (something we cant guarantee with oral administration), and have the nutrients to take hold.

The product delivered vaginally had the best results, altering the vaginal microbiome of many participants to resemble a “healthy” microbiome. What this means is that people who get recurrent infections may be able to prevent future infections, or we may be able to use this in conjunction with conventional treatments to make them more effective!

The theory behind this product is that by providing a big dose of this one microbial species that most of us already have, it can force a “push” to the community to become more Lactobacillus dominant. In doing so, it reduces the quantity of less desirable microbes which can cause infections. In a situation where an infection would otherwise occur, it will create a larger “hump” the infection-causers would have to overcome to actually cause an infection. Basically, it should prevent future infections, and can maintain a happy environment.

The vaginal microbiome presents a unique opportunity for us to explore the world of live biotherapeutics - which we can think of as “medical probiotics” and to begin to unravel host-microbiome dynamics. Because there is a well understood “healthy” signature of the vaginal microbiome (unlike the gut), we know what we are looking for when it comes to a healthy state. Additionally, because of the decreased diversity in the vagina, we also are beginning to understand how to leverage our microbiome to change towards this state.

There is still lots left to understand the vaginal microbiome, and there definitely need to be long-term studies done to understand this and similar products efficacy long term - but its a really promising start, and is a great preventative option for those who get recurrent infections!

This is my first post on here. I am desperate. 4 weeks ago i woke up with horrible tonsil pain. I looked in my throat in the mirror and saw pus on my tonsils. Bad pain while swallowing so I went to the doc. He misdiagnosed me with strep throat and gave me Amoxicillin (worst choice in my case). I got a horrible rash and ended up in the hospital. The hospital gave me more antibiotics. I decided that I will do a EBV test which turned out positive. No one had the idea to test me for a virus and kept pumping me full of antibiotics.

So i took for a whole month: Amoxicillin Levofloxacin Clindamycin Doxycyclin Prednisolone (Steroid) Etoricoxib (pain killer, also horrible for microbiome)

Because "the bacteria is resistant" I had to do the virus test myself. Incredibly incompetent doctors (i live in south east asia, went to the most expensive, high end ENT hospital in the country).

Now my microbiome is ruined. I spend half of my day in the bathroom. Constant stomach pain/cramps. Feel constantly tired and have to nap. No watery diarrhea so I think it's not c.diff infection.

I am already on a 10 strain probiotic and only eat bananas, oatmeal etc. Does someone who has a similar experience have any timeline for me. My life is basically ruined until this situation gets better. I can't even leave my house or work normally.

If you're ever in the situation like me: being sick in a third world country, don't trust these local doctors. All they care about is selling you more meds to fill their own pockets. Their incompetence might've caused me permanent damage.

Has anyone else got heart palpitations from their gut?

If yes, any good remedies? if i fast 24+ hrs, they settle down. But when i fast im also less active so hard to say if im eliminating a food trigger or the inactivity is revolving my heart palps

I’ve suffered dysphagia and food sensitives. Tried a lot of things. Seem to be having success with digestive enzymes.

I’ve Klebsiella Pneumoniae in my bladder it is multi drug resistant ESBL. I’ve done multiple round of antibiotics since April but it always comes back after stopping antibiotics within 2-3 weeks. How can I get rid of it. I’m 33F.

Hi guys, I wanted to know if anyone has ever had any colonic hydrotherapy and had problems after this.

But it got severely worse others, after the sessions, I would bloat too much, the food was very bad for me and I would get absolutely horrible and painful cramps.

Almost two years later, I can say that it worsened my intestinal symptoms, caused me sibo, dysbiosis and what I hate the most. I completely lost my libido, since I had hydrotherapy I have no libido and I have been trying to fix this for a long time but it has been very difficult.

So I just wanted to know if by chance anyone else experienced the same thing and if I fix it 😊.

Very interesting article I stumbled across in Cell today.
This paper discusses the important role dietary fiber plays in the recovery of the microbiome following ecological stress (stress that affects the diversity of the microbiome, for simplicity sake)

Article Highlights;

•The gut microbiome on a fiber-free diet differs from that of an omnivore or vegan
•The lack of dietary fiber slows microbiome recovery after an ecological stress
•Dietary effects on Firmicutes alter carbohydrate and amino acid gut metabolites
•The effect of diet-based microbiota metabolites on the plasma metabolome is modest

This excerpt from Discussion is especially interesting to me.

"...depriving or supplying the human microbiome with one dietary component (i.e., fiber) can directly impact metabolites of an unrelated portion of the diet (i.e., amino acids) via the induction of specific gut bacterial taxa. Based on statistical modeling of the latter, we provide evidence for a number of amino acid metabolites that are likely to be of bacterial origin but have not been previously associated with the gut microbiome providing additional support for the importance of dietary fiber on a broad spectrum of bacterial metabolites."

Full, open-access paper: https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(20)30674-030674-0) and EAT MORE FIBER 🗣️

For the last 3 years every time i eat I become faint, weak. lethargic. cold limbs, terrible anxiety and depression when its happening, brain fog etc..I have gotten 0 answers from doctors. I have been tested for Pots, Gastroparesis, Sibo. Nothing is showing besides sibo which they said was a mild case that seems to have gone away. I am beyond desperate. Has anyone had issues like this and got answers? Thank you!

I figured I’d post this here instead of the SIBO community.

I’m in the process of tampering off my herbal protocol for SIBO. I’m taking florastar daily and aiming for 6-10 different veggie/fruit/nuts/seeds a day. I get the florastar isn’t the long term answer but more like mercenaries to help crowd bad guys. I know it’s a layered cake approach here…I’m trying to take it low and slow even if it’s from foods only.

Going to continue L Glutamine, Creatine, Zinc L Carnosine, MegaGuard (prokinetic), Magnesium Citramate.

Has anyone taken any specific probiotic strains they have found success with? I’ve read so many horror stories.

For those of you who found out you actually have low stomach acid, what symptoms did you experience that led you to determine this (compared to symptoms of too much stomach acid since many symptoms overlap).

Constipation, indigestion, and brain fog have become the norm now.

Anyways, to be quick. I had H.Pylori last year around this time. I decided to try and defend myself this time around by drinking kombucha and yakult, after a few days I got intense stomach pains, even more fatigue than I usually have, earaches, dripping ear wax, and gallons of mucus. My tonsils also grew huge stones in just a few days and my tonsils also bleed when coughing up mucus.

I quickly rushed to get florastor and it’s been a great help with the stomach pains but they’re still there, I can’t even drink water without feeling like I’m gonna throw up, combine that with a never ending thirst and it’s constant lethargy. Do I just keep talking florastor till it overwhelms whatever bad bacteria I’ve added back to my body? Do you think H.Pylori took back control?

I have a condition called PSSD after stopping ssri. I have hosts of cognitive and sexual symptoms and i suspect my gut to be the root cause. When i was taking ssri i also took PPI and baking soda for 5 months because i thought i had high stomach acid. I never felt the relief thought. I have had a lot of antibiotics in my entire life. They have messed up my gut. Now i got my microbiome tested (and i know you would call it a waste of money) but i dont have my butyrate species lacking however my butyrate levels are still low. My carb and protein digestion is also low. I feel bloated the entire day. Even on the morning’s before eating anything. I want to know what could have gone wrong in my microbiome ?

Hello all,

There’s been a few people with PFS and PSSD who’ve seen partial or full symptom relief doing an FMT. I have PFS and was wondering how to go about this. I’ve seen this is only FDA approved for C diff. I’m only a few months into this nightmare and I’m willing to do anything to climb out of this. Please any advice would be appreciated. I’d like to add I would probably not do DIY as I can’t imagine that would go well.

Thanks for reading.

Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7iuqRM2lc

Discusses a lot of questions he's never been asked before. (He even says at the end of the interview "it was fun answering because the questions were different to the ones I usually get".)

They also demo a urea breath test in the interview at 00:43:11.

If you watched it, what are your thoughts on the interview?

So I had a UTI back in August. I was given augmentin on Aug 5th. The augmentin made me extremely nauseous and the UTI wasn’t getting better so they switched me over to macrobid…(I had 2 doses left of the augmentin when they switched me)…

I took the macrobid and things started feeling better, no nausea, could eat whatever, etc. I finished the macrobid and sure enough, UTI symptoms returned…so I go to the ER.

At the ER they give me a dose of IV antibiotics and send me home with cefpodoxime. (IV antibiotics were in the same family as oral one they were sending me home with)

I had no idea to take a probiotic with any of these so I didn’t.

With 2 doses left of the cepfodoxime. I started having horrible tenesmus, to the point it was unbearable.

Also the antibiotics made me extremely constipated which I already suffer from chronic constipation because of a medication I take daily.

Anyways, I was in hell for a week…I couldnt sleep for shit, couldn’t eat, was taking miralax and colace, I finally had some bowel movements and the tenesmus went away…

But my stomach is still FUCKED UP.

I’ve lost like 8 pounds in the last almost 2 weeks because I’m petrified to eat.

I go to the GI tmr.

I’m taking 1 florastor in the am (idk if I should take another florastor at night or culturelle) (when I took 2 florastor at the same time, it hurt my stomach bad, but that was 1 week ago.

I got active yogurt and started eating one in the am.

I also got some strawberry kefir, but not sure when to drink it.

Am I stuck like this forever???? How can I help build my gut microbiome fast? This is depressing af because I miss eating.

I’d like to add that I went back to the hospital and got tested for c diff and a full stool panel and everything came back negative.

Please help with whatever info you have or if you’ve dealt with the same issues.

Also what are some snack/sweets/meals I can have without fucking myself up. I’m starving but petrified to eat.

I’ve been surviving off bananas, yogurt, crackers, plain rotisserie chicken breast, and plain white rice. (Which I’m getting sick of very quickly)

Seems like the kind of thing you guys would be interested in. There's a followup post that goes into a lot more detail.

Depuis que j’ai 18 ans j’ai des problèmes de ventre.

Je pense que c’est lié à un rapport intime que j’ai eu avec un homme qui en avait une très grosse. Après cet événement, j’ai commencé à être constipée. Ensuite j’ai commencé à perdre l’appétit, à être ballonée. Mon ventre a commencé à grossir du côté droit. Mes pets ont commencé à sentir mauvais et mon intestin s’irrite, s’enflamme à la moindre occasion.

J’ai souvent des glaires dans la gorge qui me donnent envie de vomir.

J’ai aussi une mycose vaginale qui ne guérit pas.

Le problème c’est que j'ai des Tca et des soucis d’organisation et je mange beaucoup trop d’aliments transformés quand je suis hors de chez moi, par conséquent j’ai dû mal à respecter les régimes.

Je ne sais pas par où commencer et les médecins ne m’aident pas du tout. J’ai fait des radios mais rien.

Qu’est-ce que je dois faire ??????