Blastocystis Hominis or Flagyl - Which is worse?

[Learner1]

That's an alternative medicine view, which has not been proven as yet, but is a possibility

There are a lot of alternatives in medicine. And, in solving ME/CFS and related problems, there's precious little help offered by those entrenched in stovepipes of 20 year old allopathic medicine.

There's great promise in recent research, and there are several very intelligent, inquisitive, enlightened doctors synthesizing modern research into clinical practice.

I've seen great results with using some of this new knowledge, while people who sniff at it being alternative still suffer, waiting in vain for the new ideas to go through perfect random controlled placebo studies, which is absolutely impractical for complex systems with many variables (like the microbiome and digestive system).

And actually, there's quite a lot of research on the microbiome, intestinal integrity vs permeability and disease. Hundreds, if not thousands of studies... Here's a tiny sample of some of what's out there....

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23341423

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25157157

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3625019/

http://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)31590-2

Having a healthy, diverse microbiome, free of parasites, along with healthy intestinal walls, and a happy pancreas, gall bladder and liver might just be a pathway to health....

 

[Learner1]

And maybe its not so alternative... This article on gut health just popped up on WebMD... (Not exactly a bastion of radical thinking...)

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20170531/can-you-change-your-gut-bacteria

 

[Hip]

@Learner1, I am not disagreeing with what you are saying about experimental alternative medicine, but just pointing out that to say "intestinal permeability is at the root of a lot of disease" is going beyond the known facts. Normally it not a good idea to state something as fact, when it is only a supposition.

I posted a lot of supplements that can help reduce intestinal permeability here.

 

[Learner1]

I'm 100% convinced that almost nothing is an absolute fact in medicine. Everything has some shade of gray, other than life or death.

We are all genetically unique with a host of unique environmental factors, which is the flaw with double blind placebo trials. They're not done on widgets, but real human beings.

In fact, most drug trials only use data from men to support drug approval, leaving women out in the cold as far as knowing whether drugs will help in patients with a very different hormonal biochemistry. I saw a Harvard cardiologist make this point to a group of doctors, warning them that their patients might suffer with unintended consequences.

Back on topic...

The diagrams here show one example how intestinal permeability leads to disease:

http://www.glutensensitivity.net/VojdaniDiagrams.htm

 

[ljimbo423]

"intestinal permeability is at the root of a lot of disease" is going beyond the known facts.

I don't think something has to be a "known fact" to be true. That simply means in some cases, and I think intestinal hyper-permeability and disease is one, there isn't enough worldwide consensus, YET.

I think in time, with better testing and more studies, the link between leaky gut syndrome and disease will become clearer and clearer. I have heard many functional medicine doctors over the years, talk about how they have helped people reverse there autoimmune diseases and in some cases put them in complete remission, primarily by treating the gut.

These people know it works! To them it is a fact. I will take what works in real life over 1,000 studies every time. I ask this question in all sincerity- when does an idea or a concept become a scientific "fact". Where's the line that is crossed? How many countries have to agree?

@Prefect - I think looking into your gut as a cause of your brain symptoms could be very helpful, even though you don't have gut symptoms, you could still have a leaky gut causing your symptoms, based on my experience.

 

[Hip]

I don't think something has to be a "known fact" to be true.

I agree, but if you are going state something as fact, then it does need to be known. For example, you wouldn't want to state that "there is life on Jupiter's moon Europa" — which there may well be — unless this has been proven.

Individual observations on the effects of drugs or supplement are perfectly valid. If you have consistently observed on many occasions that drug X helps reduce your symptom Y, then you can state that as a fact — a fact that you have observed yourself.

I have heard many functional medicine doctors over the years, talk about how they have helped people reverse there autoimmune diseases and in some cases put them in complete remission, primarily by treating the gut.

These people know it works! To them it is a fact. I will take what works in real life over 1,000 studies every time.

Can you provide any links or references to this?

when does an idea or a concept become a scientific "fact". Where's the line that is crossed?

When you have amassed enough reliable empirical evidence to convince other scientists in your field.

 

[Learner1]

ljimbo423 said: ↑

I have heard many functional medicine doctors over the years, talk about how they have helped people reverse there autoimmune diseases and in some cases put them in complete remission, primarily by treating the gut.

These people know it works! To them it is a fact. I will take what works in real life over 1,000 studies every time.

Hip said

Can you provide any links or references to this?

Maybe you could ask some of these people:

http://drhyman.com/blog/2015/07/24/10-strategies-to-reverse-autoimmune-disease/

http://www.amymyersmd.com/2017/01/understanding-true-cause-autoimmune-disease/

http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2014/06...ween-reversing-autoimmune-disease-and-a-cure/

 

[Hip]

@Learner1, there is a difference between marketing websites promising reversal of diseases, and actual evidence of such reversal. I am interested in the evidence.

 

[CCC]

Ok folks. Here's the million dollar question. Did your ME improve after getting this eradicated? I'm not asking about GI symptom, I'm asking about your BRAIN!

Keep in mind I have close to NO gastrointestinal symptoms; all my symptoms are are sensory and neuropsychiatric.

And yes, my flare up happened a month after I met my girlfriend, who she admitted her doctor may have mentioned something about her having blasto because she goes to Italy a lot.

And I mean yes, Blasto can increase intestinal permeability, but so can H Pilory, which I have and am not eradicating either.

I have a decision to make.

In our case, probably yes. But antibiotics agree with my son, so the only cost of doing it was money. There was no downside.

We'd also started the Freddd protocol weeks before and seen amazing results from that, but I think we can attribute the following to treating Dientamoeba fragilis:

• digestive issues (cramps, IBS-C)
• poor absorption of nutrients from food (evidence = after treatment, getting food preferences that seemed to align with nutritional needs)
• reduced brain fog (and overall improved cognition, memory etc)
  
• overall baseline energy improved a bit.

Now Freddd's thing also improved cognitive function, but that was more in the realm of 'neurological brightening' - so it gave peaks, but treating the parasite seemed to raise the troughs.

My son is still housebound, though. And he still got PEM, which is starting to reduce only now with Bartonella treatment.

 

[Prefect]

Blastocystis hominis eradication protocols

Hip, on this post for the eradication protocols it mentioned 4 grams of garlic / day. Is that 4 grams of actual garlic or garlic pills. 4 grams of garlic is pretty much one garlic clove. So eating 1 garlic clove a day is as effective as Flagyl?!

 

[wonderoushope]

So what happens if you are allergic to doxycycline? Does this make it hard for treatment?