I am posting this on behalf of my son:
I am suffering from extremely severe but also atypical ME with objective idiopathic abnormalities. I have been unable to stand or feed myself for 15 months and I simply cannot get to hospital for further investigation.
Three years ago an alternative healthcare practitioner gave me herbal antimicrobials. As a result I crashed from what was apparently prodromal ME into serious illness. The antimicrobials caused extremely foamy urine. When I stopped the antimicrobials the foamy urine declined but never went away. This has been tested for proteinuria numerous times (the usual cause of foamy urine), including a 24-hour collection (the gold standard test), but has always been negative.
A year after my initial crash I discovered I have elevated ALT ( a liver enzyme that should be 0-40). All known causes have been ruled out. After a month-long period when the foamy urine was considerably elevated, my ALT went from an average of about 100 to around 350. The foam declined and my ALT fell back to around 100.
I have found some anecdotal reports online of others experiencing the same problem. Diagnoses include ME, Lyme and Candida whilst others have no diagnosis. The common denominator is non-proteinuria foamy urine that was triggered by either herbal antimicrobials, prescription antiobiotics (e.g. Azithromycin) or certain probiotics with bactericidal activity against Gram-negative bacteria (I have also noticed that probiotics can worsen this symptom).
The common endpoint that I share with most of you is sympathetic cytotoxicity. In rare instances when this abates I improve extremely quickly. Eighteen months ago I had a Neutraval test that showed extremely elevated Taurine, apparently this is produced by the liver and is the form used in energy drinks. I wonder if this could be linked to the above and be the cause of my cytotoxicity? Does anyone have any ideas or advice?