http://sciencenordic.com/gut-bacteria-s ... -239820761
I found this kind of incredible at first, but I suppose bacteria can find ways to get us to do all sorts of stuff. Can't argue with the outcomes of the science when it is squarely put on your lap.....we've altered enough bacteria to make everyone crazy at this point.
Gut bacteria sends signals to the brain to make us fat
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Gut bacteria sends signals to the brain to make us fat
To Succeed you have to Believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a Reality - Anita Roddick
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
Erica,
That article supports what I have long maintained — gut bacteria are totally untrustworthy. As I've always pointed out, they are in our gut for their own benefit, not ours, so anything they do is designed for their own welfare. They don't care how we look or how we feel, as long as we feed them well.
Of course many people naively believe that some of the little pests are actually beneficial (they like to believe that so that they don't feel like such fools for supporting the little bloodsuckers due to the fact that there's no way that we will ever completely get rid of them). Trust me, if they were actually beneficial they would be easy to get rid of (like money, for example). Instead, they're impossible to get rid of (like a tax collector).
Good things are always easy to lose and hard to regain. Freeloading parasites have the opposite attributes. 
Never trust a gut bacterium. The next time one of them tells you that he's there to help you, you can bet he's lying through his little teeth.
Tex
That article supports what I have long maintained — gut bacteria are totally untrustworthy. As I've always pointed out, they are in our gut for their own benefit, not ours, so anything they do is designed for their own welfare. They don't care how we look or how we feel, as long as we feed them well.
Of course many people naively believe that some of the little pests are actually beneficial (they like to believe that so that they don't feel like such fools for supporting the little bloodsuckers due to the fact that there's no way that we will ever completely get rid of them). Trust me, if they were actually beneficial they would be easy to get rid of (like money, for example). Instead, they're impossible to get rid of (like a tax collector).
Good things are always easy to lose and hard to regain. Freeloading parasites have the opposite attributes. Never trust a gut bacterium. The next time one of them tells you that he's there to help you, you can bet he's lying through his little teeth.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
I saw a t-shirt "I Hate My Guts". I would love to get it! My husband said no one will understand it, but you all would! I really don't wear t-shirts often but it made me laugh.
Marcia
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My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style. - M. Angelou
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My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style. - M. Angelou
Oh I've got to get that shirt Marcia K! I'll order it when I order that gluten meter 
. That will be my birthday present....
. That will be my birthday present....Martha E.
Philippians 4:13
Jul 2008 took Clindamycin for a Sinus infection that forever changed my life
Dec 2014 MC Dx
Jul 15, 2015 Elimination Diet
Aug 17, 2015 Enterolab Test
Dec 2015 Reflux
Sept 2016 IC
Philippians 4:13
Jul 2008 took Clindamycin for a Sinus infection that forever changed my life
Dec 2014 MC Dx
Jul 15, 2015 Elimination Diet
Aug 17, 2015 Enterolab Test
Dec 2015 Reflux
Sept 2016 IC
Hehehe, what a GREAT t-shirt, Marcia!!!!!! (Just like I love "The Potty People" logo here ... ) And Erica, I loved the article, what a treasure to find, thank you for sharing such out-of-the-box thinking!
Tex, I respect your feeling about gut bacteria! I've been on regular probiotics for periods of time, then gone off them feeling they might be contributing to the problem, and so on and so on. As someone else here reported, I had a comprehensive stool test done by Meridian Labs (ordered by my naturopath) and it showed that I had no Lactobacillus at all in my gut. The report thought that was significant overall to the MC and malabsorption problems I was having.
On my own (likely from here!) I researched l-Glutamine, ordered some, and began taking 5 mg 2x day in water. Shortly after that, my GI doctor told me about VSL3 probiotics, which are considered a "medical food". They have such a higher rate of "the little suckers"! My doctor had also told me that in severe cases of MC (actually, he later backtracked and told me it was only viable for people who 3 times had c. diff. they could not overcome) the "blue ribbon" treatment of choice was a fecal transplant.
In other words, a complete re-planting of someone else's healthy gut flora. To me, a fecal transplant seemed similar (though faster, way expensive, and not too likely to happen) to re-colonizing your gut via this special type of probiotics with the l-Glutamine to strengthen the intestinal wall. So that's what I've been doing the past 6 weeks or so, and whether that is helping or whether it's the Allegra (no way to thank you enough for that insight!), or the digestive enzymes or ??, my symptoms are MUCH better.
Any thoughts, anyone, on the viability of re-populating your gut in a GOOD way (especially when the way it was "wanting" to be populated hasn't been serving one well, ie, MC)? So hard to know what direction to take, except by trying things out on yourself. Even then, depending upon what's going on at the time, you might have different results than at another time.
~ Holly
Tex, I respect your feeling about gut bacteria! I've been on regular probiotics for periods of time, then gone off them feeling they might be contributing to the problem, and so on and so on. As someone else here reported, I had a comprehensive stool test done by Meridian Labs (ordered by my naturopath) and it showed that I had no Lactobacillus at all in my gut. The report thought that was significant overall to the MC and malabsorption problems I was having.
On my own (likely from here!) I researched l-Glutamine, ordered some, and began taking 5 mg 2x day in water. Shortly after that, my GI doctor told me about VSL3 probiotics, which are considered a "medical food". They have such a higher rate of "the little suckers"! My doctor had also told me that in severe cases of MC (actually, he later backtracked and told me it was only viable for people who 3 times had c. diff. they could not overcome) the "blue ribbon" treatment of choice was a fecal transplant.
In other words, a complete re-planting of someone else's healthy gut flora. To me, a fecal transplant seemed similar (though faster, way expensive, and not too likely to happen) to re-colonizing your gut via this special type of probiotics with the l-Glutamine to strengthen the intestinal wall. So that's what I've been doing the past 6 weeks or so, and whether that is helping or whether it's the Allegra (no way to thank you enough for that insight!), or the digestive enzymes or ??, my symptoms are MUCH better.
Any thoughts, anyone, on the viability of re-populating your gut in a GOOD way (especially when the way it was "wanting" to be populated hasn't been serving one well, ie, MC)? So hard to know what direction to take, except by trying things out on yourself. Even then, depending upon what's going on at the time, you might have different results than at another time.
~ Holly
2015 Hashimoto's, MTHFR
2016 LMC, Malabsorption
2017 Lymphocytic Dermatologic Vasculitis
"I strive to live in my heart, not in my head!"
2016 LMC, Malabsorption
2017 Lymphocytic Dermatologic Vasculitis
"I strive to live in my heart, not in my head!"
Holly,
We have at least several members who have tried fecal transplants, 1 or 2 of them tried multiple times, and so far none of them have seen any improvement in their MC symptoms. You can search the archives to find their stories. The procedure works for C diff infections, but it does not work for treating MC.
Here's why it does not work for MC (IMO). MC is not caused by a bacterial infection. The change in gut bacteria population shifts with MC is due to the poor digestion caused by the inflammation and by diet changes. It's not the other way around. IOW, population shifts in gut bacteria do not cause the inflammation that causes MC, so changing those population balances will not resolve the inflammation that causes MC. It's that simple.
Tex
We have at least several members who have tried fecal transplants, 1 or 2 of them tried multiple times, and so far none of them have seen any improvement in their MC symptoms. You can search the archives to find their stories. The procedure works for C diff infections, but it does not work for treating MC.
Here's why it does not work for MC (IMO). MC is not caused by a bacterial infection. The change in gut bacteria population shifts with MC is due to the poor digestion caused by the inflammation and by diet changes. It's not the other way around. IOW, population shifts in gut bacteria do not cause the inflammation that causes MC, so changing those population balances will not resolve the inflammation that causes MC. It's that simple.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
That is fascinating, Tex!! I'll have to re-read this many times to really "get it", but I will say this definitely goes along with 1) not much my doctor has told me has panned out; 2) the issues I know I have around this MC are indeed digestive, malabsorption types of issues, and 3) I BELIEVE YOU!!!
There is so much focus recently on the "leaky gut" syndrome ... in your opinion, is MC even a part of that conversation? Does MC have a totally different kind of inflammation from the conditions medicine and science are referring to when talking about "leaky gut"?
~ Holly
There is so much focus recently on the "leaky gut" syndrome ... in your opinion, is MC even a part of that conversation? Does MC have a totally different kind of inflammation from the conditions medicine and science are referring to when talking about "leaky gut"?
~ Holly
2015 Hashimoto's, MTHFR
2016 LMC, Malabsorption
2017 Lymphocytic Dermatologic Vasculitis
"I strive to live in my heart, not in my head!"
2016 LMC, Malabsorption
2017 Lymphocytic Dermatologic Vasculitis
"I strive to live in my heart, not in my head!"
Holly,
I need to clarify the following sentence from my last post because I was short on time and couldn't cover all the bases at the time.
In most cases, once the disease is initially triggered (IOW once the genes that predispose to the disease are triggered), the genes that predispose to gluten sensitivity are also triggered at the same time, and this causes increased intestinal permeability, aka leaky gut. The leaky gut allows certain partially-digested peptides from certain foods (always gliadin, but also in many cases peptides from other foods as well) to enter the blood stream and this causes the immune system to produce antibodies against those peptides because the immune system knows that they should not be in the blood stream. After that, eating those foods perpetuates the inflammation, which perpetuates the symptoms.
As further evidence that removing the initial trigger will not resolve the symptoms of MC consider the cases where MC is triggered by stopping a long-term smoking habit. This happens quite frequently, but resuming smoking will not eliminate the symptoms of MC because they will continue to be perpetuated by the food sensitivities that develop after the disease is triggered.
I hope this doesn't just confuse the issue.
If you read the book you will see that I believe that both celiac disease and MC are not actually diseases. Instead, they are both symptoms of another disease, gluten sensitivity.
Tex
I need to clarify the following sentence from my last post because I was short on time and couldn't cover all the bases at the time.
MC can be initially triggered by bacterial infections (and many, many other things), but the initial trigger is usually not the reason why the symptoms are perpetuated. The only initial triggers that continue to perpetuate the symptoms are the medications that can cause MC. They always have to be avoided in order to be able to control MC. But avoiding them may not be sufficient to stop the symptoms if food sensitivities develop before the medications are stopped.Tex wrote:MC is not caused by a bacterial infection.
In most cases, once the disease is initially triggered (IOW once the genes that predispose to the disease are triggered), the genes that predispose to gluten sensitivity are also triggered at the same time, and this causes increased intestinal permeability, aka leaky gut. The leaky gut allows certain partially-digested peptides from certain foods (always gliadin, but also in many cases peptides from other foods as well) to enter the blood stream and this causes the immune system to produce antibodies against those peptides because the immune system knows that they should not be in the blood stream. After that, eating those foods perpetuates the inflammation, which perpetuates the symptoms.
As further evidence that removing the initial trigger will not resolve the symptoms of MC consider the cases where MC is triggered by stopping a long-term smoking habit. This happens quite frequently, but resuming smoking will not eliminate the symptoms of MC because they will continue to be perpetuated by the food sensitivities that develop after the disease is triggered.
I hope this doesn't just confuse the issue.
If you read the book you will see that I believe that both celiac disease and MC are not actually diseases. Instead, they are both symptoms of another disease, gluten sensitivity.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
What a well-written post, thanks so much, Tex. This makes sense to me, all of it. Very helpful understanding MC within the context of the auto-immune and "leaky gut" responses. And I've ordered the book - it should be on the way!!
~ Holly
~ Holly
2015 Hashimoto's, MTHFR
2016 LMC, Malabsorption
2017 Lymphocytic Dermatologic Vasculitis
"I strive to live in my heart, not in my head!"
2016 LMC, Malabsorption
2017 Lymphocytic Dermatologic Vasculitis
"I strive to live in my heart, not in my head!"