• 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 (FM), 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.

Coconut Oil Pulling - Helping my gut

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
I started "oil pulling" a week ago. Not sure what to expect but something surprising happened. My gut has almost completely stabilized and I'm feeling much better. I was at the point that nothing came out of me looking like what a healthy stool should look like. But after 1 week I'm seeing remarkable results.

Taking about 1 teaspoon of Jarrow Extra Virgin Coconut oil and swishing in the mouth for 15+ minutes then spitting out, rinsing and spitting that out. (Making sure not to spit into the drain as I've read it can clog that up). I'm careful not to swallow any.

Note that I have been having some Herx effects. Mostly a feeling of "dread" in the morning and harder to get up. This has mostly lifted the last 2 days and I'm starting to feel better with some optimistic thoughts returning. Other Herx effect is some watery stool once in the day (very small amount).

I'm assuming that I'm absorbing some of the oil through the skin inside my mouth and under the tongue. It must be the right amount (not too much or too little) for my gut. Whether I'm pulling any toxins out I'm skeptical about but open to that possibility.

Anyone else experience this with coconut oil?
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,334
Location
Southern California
@sregan - I think I tried oil pulling once years ago, I don't recall anything happening, but it was only once I believe.

However, I did take virgin coconut oil for candida several years ago and it was very effective. I had a very strong herx reaction and had to go slowly, but it worked. I started with a tablespoon or so and slowly worked up to 2 tablespoons a day, swallowing it. Coconut oil is high in caprylic and lauric acid, which are antifungal and also antiviral. I now use it to remove make-up! :rolleyes:

I'm really glad to hear you are having good results!
 
Messages
10,157
So you are calling 'watery stool once in the day' a herx effect. If you are having watery stool once a day then your gut has not 'completely stabilized'.

If you absorbing oil through your oral mucosa, it would have to go through the bloodstream, get processed by the liver etc. and then have an effect on your gut. Not sure a small amount of insoluble in water oil coconut oil would even be absorbed. Your body only deals with toxins via the lungs, the liver, the kidneys and to a small amount the skin.

My experience with coconut oil is that it's great to cook with, nothing else.
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
I don't see how swishing 1 tsp of oil around in your mouth and then spitting it out could possibly affect your gut. That doesn't make any sense unless you were swallowing it, and even then I don't think such a small amount would do anything. There are possible health benefits from ingesting coconut oil but it would need to be in larger quantities than 1 tsp per day. And it would need to be ingested, not swished and spat out.
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
So you are calling 'watery stool once in the day' a herx effect. If you are having watery stool once a day then your gut has not 'completely stabilized'.

If you absorbing oil through your oral mucosa, it would have to go through the bloodstream, get processed by the liver etc. and then have an effect on your gut. Not sure a small amount of insoluble in water oil coconut oil would even be absorbed. Your body only deals with toxins via the lungs, the liver, the kidneys and to a small amount the skin.

Kina,

The watery stool is not happening anymore. It was just there for the first 5-6 days.

And I believe the coconut oil is getting in under the tongue, as sublingual supplements do, bypassing the stomach and liver right into the veins under the tongue.

And I'm careful but it's possible a tiny amount might be going down my throat. But if so it's very tiny.
 
Last edited:

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
I don't see how swishing 1 tsp of oil around in your mouth and then spitting it out could possibly affect your gut. That doesn't make any sense unless you were swallowing it, and even then I don't think such a small amount would do anything. There are possible health benefits from ingesting coconut oil but it would need to be in larger quantities than 1 tsp per day. And it would need to be ingested, not swished and spat out.

TigerLilea,

I'm swishing it around and holding it in the mouth for about 15+ minutes. As I mention in my reply to Kina I believe it can be getting into my blood under the tongue.

But I can tell you nothing else has changed but the introduction of the oil pulling once per day. It's the only thing that could have effected such a change.
 
Messages
10,157
And I believe the coconut oil is getting in under the tongue, as subliminal supplements do, bypassing the stomach and liver right into the veins under the tongue.

I think you mean sublingual. I don't think fats can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream as they are poorly soluble in any aqueous environment and plasma which is the liquid portion of blood is 92 percent water.

Digestion breaks down fat globules in a series of steps to smaller and smaller droplets until they can be absorbed by the intestines. If it was getting into your blood, the globules would not get broken down. Think about what happens if you pour oil into water. The veins from the throat drain back into the heart if I remember correctly -- not the place to be accumulating fat globules.

I am glad you feel better though, no matter what the reason.
 

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
362
Location
United Kingdom
More than likely just a placebo effect.....

BTW I like coconut and coconut oil and do consume some of it but it is not very effective at doing much apart from supplying saturated fat which the body can use to repair the brain and nervous system. I think it is a myth that coconut is antifungal antibacteria and all that. The fats need to be broken down for it to have any effect and that is where problems begin for CFS sufferers. I have had some effect from lauricidin a coconut extract, it did have some antibacterial effects on mouth infections. I did have to melt it to have the effect in my mouth.
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
If the oil can't in any way be absorbed through the mouth then perhaps these effects are from the tiny amount I might be ingesting. Regardless, the facts are as I explained them. I was oil pulling just for oral health issues. What has happened to my gut is a complete surprise to me. I don't accept this is any type of "placebo".
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
@sregan - I think I tried oil pulling once years ago, I don't recall anything happening, but it was only once I believe.

However, I did take virgin coconut oil for candida several years ago and it was very effective. I had a very strong herx reaction and had to go slowly, but it worked. I started with a tablespoon or so and slowly worked up to 2 tablespoons a day, swallowing it. Coconut oil is high in caprylic and lauric acid, which are antifungal and also antiviral. I now use it to remove make-up! :rolleyes:

I'm really glad to hear you are having good results!

@Mary I'm wondering if this is what I'm experiencing. I'm sure I'm consuming at least a very small amount of residual oil in my mouth after the pulling. It's small enough not to cause a major herx but enough to experience what I have so far.
 
Messages
10,157
If the oil can't in any way be absorbed through the mouth then perhaps these effects are from the tiny amount I might be ingesting. Regardless, the facts are as I explained them. I was oil pulling just for oral health issues. What has happened to my gut is a complete surprise to me. I don't accept this is any type of "placebo".

I don't doubt that something is helping your gut. I don't know very much about gut bacteria etc but I wonder if the oil pulling has changed the flora in your mouth which has had some effect on your gut. You might find this interesting -- http://askthedentist.com/oral-microbiome/
 

ljimbo423

Senior Member
Messages
4,705
Location
United States, New Hampshire
I'm sure I'm consuming at least a very small amount of residual oil in my mouth after the pulling. It's small enough not to cause a major herx but enough to experience what I have so far.

I have tried to take coconut oil for the gut and experienced significant die off from just 1/16 th teaspoon or maybe a little less. I have done this several times and every time I need to stop the coconut oil and this stops the die off.
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
So here is an article that says we start digesting coconut oil in the mouth: http://bodyecology.com/articles/is-...t-oil-in-the-mouth-and-other-reader-questions

While it is true that we mostly digest fat in the small intestine, there are actually lipase enzymes in the mouth.

These enzymes are called lingual lipase.

Lingual lipase was first discovered in 1973. (1) It is released along with saliva. Recent reports tell us that it may help us detect how much fat is in food. (2)

In fact, the presence of lingual lipase helps to explain why the ancient practice of oil pulling is so effective! (3) When fat (like coconut oil) has been broken down in the mouth by lipase enzymes, the fatty acids released are extremely antimicrobial. (4)

Also mentioning that saliva is where these enzymes live. (And a half tsp of coco oil produces a lot of saliva for me)

Unless you chew your coconut oil before you swallow it, you will get the most antimicrobial benefits from eating coconut oil with food. This is because the release of lingual lipase enzymes (in the mouth) breaks down coconut oil into antimicrobial fatty acids.
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
Here's an update and some opinion...

I do believe that I was getting the coconut oil into my system just from keeping it in the oral cavity. My last post above is enough for me to believe that is possible.

The initial reaction from the possibly bad (gram negative, candida, whatever we want to call it) bacteria was to completely shut down. I've read where candida (and possibly other) bacteria will change form to suit the environment. What I was was a complete cessation of IBS symptoms. Everything coming out looked textbook perfect.

As I often do believing I have finally found my main issue and fix I started all things coconut. Seemed that actual coconut ingestion helps IBS sufferers quite a bit. If the oil in the mouth helps then the actual particles which will make it all the way through the digestive tract should do even more.

During this time I had a lot of energy and was working out with weights in the morning. (I have been working out with weights for years and I know when to stop. I had my gym membership canceled the previous September and was attempting to do what I could at home and just joined another gym before I started pulling). I felt really good after these workouts and felt amazing after for most of the day until about 3-4pm.

But I got to the point I was really not wanting to go so early any more. I knew the familiar feeling of my adrenals getting tapped out. I stopped going altogether.

I know from taking thyroid boosting supplements that they will crash my adrenals and quick! I read in several places that coconut oil can help boost and repair the thyroid which adds up for me. It explains why I felt so good and why my adrenals crashed.

With my crashed adrenals I suddenly started experiencing "seasonal allergies" for the first time and my gut seemed like it was destroyed again with persistent IBS (lot of mucus and watery output). I was really getting worried about it.

I read that 80% of people with seasonal allergies have some ISB issues. Reading again found that there is a cortisol - IBS connection. So my low cortisol could be causing both the allergies and IBS...

A week ago I start taking cortisol boosting supplements. My mainstays are 5mg pregnenolone sublingual in the AM with a Jarrow Pantethine 450mg (deciding what else to add... licorice and/or PABA maybe) and like magic the gut is looking good again and not experienced a bout of allergies so far (live in the Southeast and it looks like Spring at the moment with lots of blooms and the pine pollen is getting very thick).

It was a little shocking to me to see that cortisol could contribute to my gut issues. But I experienced it first hand.

So I plan to repair the adrenals and then slowly (Shames ladder style) boost the thyroid with a conservative schedule of oil pulling. Perhaps starting once a week at first while supporting the adrenals this time. I think If I can climb this ladder I should be doing really well.
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
Another Update...

I had another setback with more stress. I was not handling stress very well at all even with my cortisol boosting supplements. IBS was worse this week with more mucus and frequent visits to the bathroom.

I knew I needed to add some vitamin C to my protocol but was leery since it seemed to exasperate my IBS symptoms. I have some pharmaceutical grade C crystals I've used for making liposomal C. I added to that some Bioflavonoid to make the C more effective. Mixed about 300mg of the C crystals in some water and drank it down. Within 10 minutes felt a deep calm. The adrenals were calm. I've read that C is critical for making Cortisol. I apparently didn't have enough. I thought that I had finally found the missing piece here.

Was still having IBS issues though. I decided to try the same thing with Potassium. I had been taking 1/2 of the Enzymatic Methyl C per day in the AM. Not that much really but I've mad a rule that when I take MB12 I need to take Potassium also. So yesterday I took about 300mg of Potassium Gluconate power mixed with water twice with a little Magnesium Glycinate and Calcium. Felt much much better and this morning I was happy to see the stool was just about textbook in all categories.

I almost gave in and took some probiotics but I saw such promise with the Cortisol supps and now the potassium I wanted to wait and now very glad I did!

I have blogged about this on my blog here
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
Decided to try oil pulling again yesterday. This morning definitely saw improvement. I'm wondering about coconut oil pulling vs. coconut oil ingestion.

As for the straight oil pulling. It's put in the mouth and swished around for about 20 minutes then spit out. I had great results doing just this alone. After I decided that fibrous coconut traversing my GI tract might also do wonders is where I seemed to go downhill. Same experience I just had eating yogurt. Like a war in my GI.

The pulling I believe is being broken down, partially at least, by lingual lipase enzymes and being absorbed straight into the bloodstream. The effect on my GI is where I'm not sure.

I've read quite a bit about coconut oil boosting thyroid function but not sure how that might translate into GI improvement.

The other possibility is that the oil might be treating or suppressing a systemic infection (candida) of some type (but not really fighting it out with anything in the gut). Not sure if I wrote about it but I saw a very similar improvement when I was recently on a 5 day Z-Pak which is why I even considered this. So possibly an antibiotic effect from the coconut oil?

Would love to hear any feedback or ideas on this.
 

ljimbo423

Senior Member
Messages
4,705
Location
United States, New Hampshire
I have a bad die off reaction to very small amounts of CO too. I was tested for yeast/fungal overgrowth's and none were found, so it might be having an antibacterial effect.

Maybe the CO is having some mild antibacterial effects in the gut from oil pulling but when you take too much orally, you get significant die off?