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Fourth ubiome report on ME/CFS Flare progression: Improvement!

Recap of this Journey
For new readers: I have had Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) three times in my life and recovered each time. As a result of work stress, I am currently in a ‘flare’, because it was sudden onset and I realized what it was on day one and took aggressive action it did not become established. Established usually means six months of tests ruling out all of the possible alternative causes for the symptoms!
The model foe ME/CFS that I use is a microbiome dysfunction. I reached this conclusion long before mainstream research started to investigate and confirm that it does appear to be that, Some recent literature:
Instead of the usual 6 months of testing for what is not there, I proceeded to get my ubiome done. I had two earlier ones done from when I was in remission. I have an actual base line to compare to. This makes interpreting data a lot simpler. It also mean that I could quickly confirm ‘my gut feeling’ that is was ME flaring.
My earlier posts on the progression are below
First, let us review my perceived changes
Following suggestions from my last microbiome results

I had an interesting experience with a morning bowel of barley (β-Glucan) with unpasteurized yogurt with beet sugar. The first two days, felt good, day 3 & 4 sore throat appeared. Missed a day and sore throat disappear. Back on barley and day 2, sore throat re-appear, more mild than before. Disappeared a couple of days later.
I am assuming that the barley and beet sugar feeds bacteria that are attacking other bacteria significantly. The wife was surprised when she tasted the beet sugar — it was not as sweet as cane sugar. I must admit to be confused by the sugar industry saying they are identical, and do find some support for them being different, like in this article.
Oats or barley for β-glucan
This study compares in the same experiment the β-glucan content of nine barley and 10 oat genotypes grown at two locations in each of two years (i.e., four environments) in North Dakota. Averaged across genotypes, total β-glucan content of barley and oat groat was similar.
Comparisons of β-Glucan Content of Barley and Oat , 1999
Symptom Changes
  • Night sweats have largely disappeared.
  • Longer periods of mild physical activity before warning signs of two much activity (hiccups — a family trait that my kids always have when they are over tired. Sweats (even on a cold morning with no jacket), lisp in speech appears. By longer, I mean has increased from about 11 minutes until just under 20 minutes.
    • I can handle a 20 minute drive fine and keep to that distance bound. When I have gone longer, suddenly a ton of bricks hits, no gradual tiring.
  • Longer periods of sleep at night and more sleep. In the past it was short periods only (90-120 minute) then I was awake for a while. Now, I may get up to 6 hrs in a stretch.
  • Much more refreshed at waking in the morning.
  • Weight loss — some 20 lbs. Little appetite.
  • Still experiencing some Multiple Chemical Sensitivity issues, minor — but my work location is toxic with them, so it’s working remotely or leave as the only viable options.
UBiome Results
In my last post I gave the history of my readings for Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia. There was a little improvement in two of them,. but they are still magnitudes below my past normals.
Other Good News
image-6.png

Serotonin has returned to normal range, but GABA is at around 4% of most people

Old News – Ubiome Edition
image-7.png

Still flat lining these
image-8.png

Graphic of my last post
image-9.png


Anti Inflammatory Polyamine is flat lining still
image-10.png

Anti Inflammatory Propionate is flat lining still
image-11.png

Anti Inflammatory butyrate is flat lining still
image-14.png

At the phylum level the “new kids” are going down, but Actinobacteria is still very elevated.

Dropping down to the Genus Level we see we see some of the specific disturbances
On the image below, the 2018 values are from remission, 2019 are during the flare.
image-15.png

Dropping down to the Genus Level we see we see some of the specific disturbances
image-16.png

Growth is reversing itself
image-17.png

First value is Healthy value
s
image-18.png

Alistipes drop by a factor of 3 and is now recovering


image-12.png

Above are the elusive bacteria reported by uBiome

In terms of the rare/elusive bacteria, we see many of them disappear as the flare progresses, and strangers appear. The strangers are disappearing and some old friends, like Caldicoprobacter are returning. The high Bacillus count was likely from taking Bacillus coagulans as a probiotic.
image-20.png

In terms of predicted function using KEGG Pathway database, we can see the dynamic shifts. Two OVER represented at the start, has collapsed with a little sign of recovering.

Old News – MicrobiomePrescription Edition
In terms of symptoms associated with bacteria, there was a significant drop in the number of Condition Matches. We must be careful not to read too much into that, because a microbiome in the process of changing (which we see above) will not match the patterns of people who are stable.
image-13.png

Bottom Line
The direction is improving. The improvement can be seen in both the microbiome and the symptoms moving closer to my pre-flare state. Recovery is fragile and in one sense, I am likely in the most dangerous time — significant symptom improvement and one could stop being diligent in keeping to a treatment plan. Over the decades, I have seen too many people make a good solid recovery and then crash because they pushed themselves too far in recovery.
My criteria is simple and objective: Microbiome must return to the older state, especially the levels of lactobacillus and bifidobacteria; but also for other genus that either waxed or waned during the flare. Being disciplined and objective is essential.
I am still “living in a plastic bubble” of restrictions. The bubble is slowly expanding.
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Comments

I get hiccups when my electrolytes are off--either too low or if I ate something salty and made them go too high.

My niece started hiccuping once and I asked her what salty food she just ate and she said chips. Yep.

I'm not sure how/why it works that way in my family but just thought I'd mention it in case it would give you any clues in your research.

Edit: Also, do you by chance check your bp when you get the sweats. One of the probiotics you recommended made my bp go up about 30-40 points to normal range :) but I got shivery with sweating. Odd.
 

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