• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Can Anyone Interpret my Stool Analysis?

Daffodil

Senior Member
Messages
5,875
hello. I have been on antibiotics for 3 1/2 years and it looks like maybe I have huge overgrowth of enterococcus species. if anyone has any comments on these results, I would appreciate it. the first one is from 2013 and the second one is from 2015. thanks!
 

Attachments

  • STOOL ANALYSIS 2013a.PDF
    108.7 KB · Views: 33
  • STOOL ANALYSIS 2015a.PDF
    296.9 KB · Views: 38

alicec

Senior Member
Messages
1,572
Location
Australia
Yes you do - 51% of total gut flora is pretty amazing. I am not familiar with the Red Labs test so I am not sure exactly what they mean by a reference of 0. It is a normal gut constituent but is usually present in low levels. In the uBiome community the average level is 0.81% of total.

Enterococcus overgrowth can be associated with various infections (UTI, bacteremia, diverticulitis, endocarditis, meningitis) and the genus is notoriously antibiotic resistant.

In your case growth of this genus seems to be largely at the expense of the rest of the Firmicutes phylum, most notably of the butyrate produces in the families Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae.

I do see that Clostridium cluster XIVa, at 11.73%, is listed under other. I don't know why this is listed separately from the Firmicutes families but in any case, it suggests your butyrate producing abilities haven't been totally wiped out. Members of this cluster are also important in maintaining the mucosal barrier so you do still have some capacity to maintain gut integrity. Still overall the Firmicutes phylum has been pretty devastated.

Bacteroidetes, which usually grow under any conditions, were almost non-existent in your first sample. You do have a reasonable level now, but overall, your gut looks much worse to me. It is very dysbiotic.