Antibiotics, mitochondria, fatty acid chain length and carnitine

[PDXhausted]

Question for those more researched in the area of SCFAs, MCT, and carnitine...

I know SCFAs are produced by certain beneficial bacteria in the gut, and butyric acid is also available in dairy foods. The mitochondria use these easily for energy, correct? But require carnitine to pull LCFA in? Correct me if I'm wrong here.

My situation is that I was declining rapidly last October/November. On an OAT test from last year, I showed high suberate (suggesting a need for carnitine) and high D-Lactate, as well as high oxidative stress markers amongst other things.

I got put on amoxicillin end of November and saw a pretty marked and immediate improvement for 6 weeks until it completely screwed up my gut and made me incapable of digesting dairy, amongst other problems. I quit the amoxicillin and tried regular probiotics which were making me quite hypoxic, though slightly improved my gut. I quit the probiotics and have been rapidly declining again. I switched to doxycycline briefly but that was giving me pretty bad anxiety/depression. So I'm trying to sort out what to do.

From my situation, I'm guessing that I have some sort of bacterial infection that are screwing with my mitochondria (I do have some Borrelia-specific antibodies as well as beta- and gamma-hemolytic strep strains on a CDSA). I would like to try and continue antibiotics since they were so helpful for a short time, but I need to sort out my gut as well.

My instinct is saying:
* The probiotics are increasing lactate, which I'm having trouble getting rid of
* The antibiotics killed off good bacteria, thereby reducing my SCFAs
* Since I'm no longer eating dairy, my diet is lacking in SCFAs
* The high suberate means I'm having trouble getting energy from other fats

So my tentative plan right now is:
* Try SBOs and resistant starch to attempt to repopulate gut
* Try carnitine again... I've tried a liquid carnitine and ALCAR with bad reactions in the past, but I think I need to experiment again. Maybe try the fumarate version.
* Try coconut oil for MCTs (I don't believe these require carnitine and can get into the mitochondria easier), though i have problems digesting coconut so not sure how the oil will settle)

Are there other dietary sources of SCFAs besides dairy? In all the years I've been sick, I've craved beef and dairy foods, and fat in general- which I'm guessing is for the carnitine and SCFAs amongst other things. Anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions? Or experience here?

 

[Martial]

You can take butyraid, butric acid supplements. It will help heal the gut and good for cellular function, mot sure how antibiotics made you feel better unless you had an infection going on, other options look great too! On another note if you decide to use the benefits of antibiotics but without the toxic profile and gut issues then look into herbal antibiotics like Olive leaf extract, quite healthy for the gut and very good natural anti bacterial, anti viral, anti fungul, and anti parasitic. If you wanted to go more into depth with the herbs I would suggest looking into Dr. Buhner, or Cowden.

Here are their sites

healinglyme.com

nutrimedix.com

Now although there is a focus on lyme and co infections the protocols can be used to generally arget any kind of underlying pathogen all the same, Buhner also has different protocols specific for viruses, fungus. parasitic, etc.. He himself suffered from Mono, and Chronic Fatigue for sometime before.

 

[PDXhausted]

Thanks @Martial I didn't realize there was a butyric acid supplement, I'll look into it. I actually am on Samento as well, though it doesn't seem to be impacting my CFS symptoms at all, it does seem to be helping my endometriosis. But its only been a couple weeks at a small dose, so I'll need to give it more time.

 

[jepps]

Saccharomyces boulardii also increases fecal short-chain fatty acids, says this study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16273644

You can take Saccharomyces boulardii during taking antibiotics, this will protect your gut Flora:
http://chriskresser.com/what-to-do-if-you-need-to-take-antibiotics