Posted on 10/05/2014 7:55:31 AM PDT by Marie
After a lifetime of antibiotic use due to issues that had to be corrected surgically, my mother, daughter, and I had the worst intestinal problems. My daughter began her life with two straight years of antibiotics and has never had normal bowel function. I did great until I got hit with chronic sinus infections in my late 20's and my belly hasn't been the same since. Any hope of recovery was destroyed by yet another round and then another, and so on.
I know that a healthy gut flora is necessary for immunity, so we find ourselves trapped in a nasty cycle or more allergies, more sinus infections, more throat infections, more antibiotics, increasingly worse IBS, intolerances to more foods, etc.
Worse, good bacteria actually produce vitamins for us (Thiamine, Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid, Pyroxidine, Biotin, Folic Acid, Cobalamin) and, just by coincidence, there are a few of these that we are chronically low on, even with supplements. (Especially Thiamine. Nobody can get their Thiamine levels to normal. Even the teetotalers and the kids. One of our doctors is getting very alarmed by this.)
We all need to repopulate, but all of the store-bought stuff will only give you about 4 species. There are supposed to be closer to 400 species in a healthy gut. The regular stuff does not work. (And we've tried. Lord, how we've tried)
I'm looking for *the* *best* probiotics out there. I mean something with at least 100 species that doesn't arrive in the mail DOA.
I'm the guinea pig. First a week of colostrum, digestive enzymes, and L-Glutamine, followed by a week of the bacteria.
If anyone has any other suggestions, please add it to the list! We've got to fix this problem once and for all.
I'm so desperate that I'm considering Helminthic therapy and I wouldn't say 'no' to a fecal transplant. (I'll do ANYTHING at this point!)
You just sent me into a two-hour reading binge. Thank you. I’m learning so much.
Great tips. I didn’t even think about the sugars in the yogurt. I’m going to have to take that out.
Too many people have recommended sauerkraut for me to dismiss. Raw fermented. I’ll dig it up.
The problem is finding a good donor.
Thank you.
removing yogurt and adding raw sauerkraut. (found some on Amazon - not pasteurized)
Sauerkraut Test Divulges Shocking Probiotic Count
http://nourishingplot.com/2014/06/21/sauerkraut-test-divulges-shocking-probiotic-count/
I recently started making my own. It takes only about a week to ferment- shorter or longer per personal taste preference. I tried some from Trader Joe’s first, but at a cost of almost $5 for about a cup, a head of cabbage and some salt seemed more reasonable. I also started continuous brew Kombucha, another live cultured source. It is also very easy to make and start from a bottle of store bought Kombucha. I make mango flavored. I got a case of small bottles of mango juice from Costco I use as feeder for what I pull off from the continuous brew. I love the stuff. Along with those two sources, I also make yogurt from whole cream (with powdered milk to help thicken). It’s the only yogurt I’ve ever gotten my daughter to eat. She loves it.
My ex-husband will not take anything that he hasn’t researched to death. He’s been taking Nature’s Way Primadophilus Optima for a while. It stays in the refrigerator.
I’d probably go with my wife. Haven’t had the courage to bring it up.
Not too long ago, scientists finally discovered why peppermint is good for IBS. It soothes inflamed intestinal cells which allows them to normalize. And it is very cheap.
Get a few little bottles of peppermint extract sold on the spice rack at a grocery store, and each morning and evening stir up a half teaspoon of it in a cup of water and chug-a-lug it. Relief from IBS usually happens in just a few days.
The Japanese have a fine treatment for Clostridium difficile, which they have been using for years. They found out a non-pathogenic Clostridium, called Clostridium butyricum has the ability to interfere with the growth of Clostridium difficile by antagonizing its multiplication.
It is often used in Japanese hospitals for C. difficile prophylaxis amongst in-patients and, particularly, during administration of certain powerful antibiotics (i.e.: Levofloxacin) associated with opportunistic C. difficile infection.
The trick is that while you cannot take probiotic C. butyricum, you can feed that which you already have with its favorite food, called “guar gum”, which can be bought online. It likes guar gum far more than any other bacteria, and will show its appreciation by multiplying and displacing C. difficile.
Guar gum tends to bind with bile, so it can also significantly lower cholesterol levels, a major component in bile. But otherwise guar gum is a water soluble fiber that is not digested until it reaches the colon.
The only downside is that when C. butyricum consumes guar gum, it tends to produce gas. Oh well. Gas is a lot less problematic than a C. difficile infection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_butyricum
http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rkassen/Sijmen/Hartemink%20Schoustra%20et%20al.pdf
bkmk
Drink BUTTERMILK, not processed that has killed good bacteria. You may find it from people who sell raw milk?
OR use YOGURT< but it must be live cultures, and there are some good tips online, research types of yogurts good for use as pro biotics.
My husband has Crohns and has used Align which helps, it’s over the counter in pharmacy at Walmart or pharmacies.
He drinks buttermilk, and will eat yogurt. YOGURT must be the live cultured, beware certain manufactured processes, so research on internet as to the brands best for your needs.
Thank you for the Align recommendation, I will start to look into that.
I am still researching yogurts at this point, since there seems to be a lot of contradictory information floating about out there concerning which one(s) is (are) good for you or simply marketing hype. Still undecided about which way to go on that.
Look for unpasturized yogurt that has live cultures, because that is where the good bacteria is.
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