Fixing Leaky Gut Helps ME/CFS, and Sometimes Achieves Full Remission

[ebethc]

He does. This was the 2nd time he had me do the SIBO test

any gut diagnostics beyond SIBO? I'm asking b/c I'm having a hard time getting gut tests and wondering if I should just pay cash and try to get the tests on my own...not that I have any cash, but I'll try to figure it out..

He also said last week that he has changed his tactics due to past failures with people, so at least he is dropping what doesn't work, and adding what does.

did he elaborate? would love to know any specifics re his thoughts and default tests, if you can share

 

[Henrik]

@Henrik

is carnivore literally meat-only? do you drink coffee ?

how long have you been doing this? do you take any digestive supplements? meat can be hard to digest... and it sounds very constipating...

are you going to try adding veggies back in at some point?

I have been at it for about 9 months. I have played around with different supplements, but as my stomach healed and my body adjusted I stopped taking them. I know some people really get benefit from betaine hcl or similar though. However, I do tend it to eat smaller portions and split it up over more meals than people who have a perfect gut. I have zero problems with constipation and that certainly used to be an issue with me.

Right now I eat steak, liver, kidney, bone marrow, oysters, scallops and bone broth. A lot of people eat dairy and eggs, but unfortunately I react negatively to both.

Veggies - I'm definitively open to eating small amount of veggies in the future, but so far reintroducing them hasn't worked out. I definitively think I have some form of underlying condition be it microbial imbalance, parasite infection or something else. I really don't know, but clearly I'd love to solve the root problem at some point.

Coffee - I quit coffee completely. This was actually one of the hardest part and I had to go from coffee to caffeine pills and then slowly wean myself of it. However, I think that for both the IBS and for the CFS crowd not drinking coffee is better as it is a gut irritant for a lot of people.

 

[Henrik]

I never tried a carnivore diet, but I can tell you that meat is the only food I still tolerate perfectly. Through the years I stopped tolerating all the other foods. I still eat selected ones I can tolerate better, but they give me all kind of issues. I guess I would get better too on a carnivore diet. But I don't think I could do it, it requires too much self discipline which I don't have (although I have always loved meat and when I was little it was all I wanted to eat: meat and salt ).

Aren't you a slam dunk candidate to try it then? I mean you have the perfect profile to try it

Just try it for 14 days. If it's not a fit you can go back to eating whatever you eat now and if it works well I can tell you it's easier than you think. I wake up each day thankful for the hell of the last decade is over. Once you see results it's way easier to stick with it.

 

[ellie84]

do you have to take any supplements (eg betaine hcl) to digest meat?

I don't take any supplement for digestion. Bare in mind, I don't know if I absorb nutrients properly from meat (I doubt it), I'm only saying it doesn't give me any symptom after eating it, actually my gut feels better.

Aren't you a slam dunk candidate to try it then? I mean you have the perfect profile to try it

Just try it for 14 days. If it's not a fit you can go back to eating whatever you eat now and if it works well I can tell you it's easier than you think. I wake up each day thankful for the hell of the last decade is over. Once you see results it's way easier to stick with it.

Maybe, but I have zero self discipline, I can't stick to whatever restriction for more than a few days.
Also, isn't a carnivore diet a ketogenic diet in the end? I also have impaired carbohydrate tolerance, I would probably go through nightmarish carbohydrates cravings, at least at the beginning. I remember trying to reduce carbohydrate intake at dinner, I would wake up in the middle of the night binging on every carbohydrate source available. Had to go back to carbohydrates at dinner. It would certainly be something I would do only under medical supervision.
By the way, I think this just goes to show that there is something very wrong with our digestion: it's not the meat or any other food, it's us. I used to be able to eat and digest everything with no problems, so there's definitely something wrong now.

 

[Henrik]

Maybe, but I have zero self discipline, I can't stick to whatever restriction for more than a few days.
Also, isn't a carnivore diet a ketogenic diet in the end? I also have impaired carbohydrate tolerance, I would probably go through nightmarish carbohydrates cravings, at least at the beginning. .

I think if you want to try it I think it would be easier to cut down gradually on the carbs so say 200g -> 100g -> 50g -> Keto -> Carnivore. That way you are getting gradually stricter, but it's not too abrupt. I agree that going from 200g of carbs to <10 can be difficult.

I agree with you "that there is something very wrong with our digestion" and I wish we could attack the root problem directly. However, until we find out what I think the Carnivore diet can be a temporary solution.

 

[ellie84]

Cutting down on carbs is something I wanted to do anyway, to see if I still get lethargic after lunch. Will try again someday, at the moment I eliminated wheat and I'll see how it goes.

I wish we could attack the root problem directly. However, until we find out what I think the Carnivore diet can be a temporary solution.

100% agree, at least you feel better now.

 

[Abha]

I agree with you "that there is something very wrong with our digestion" and I wish we could attack the root problem directly.

Hi Henrik and all,

I haven't been reading these threads much of late.Re our digestion and problems associated with that one of main problems seems to be "lectins" and chemicals like Glyphosate &Roundup that are involved in GMO production.

Dr.Steven Gundry MD.is an expert on" Lectins" and one can listen to him on youtube and read his books on the subject.His book" The Plant Paraodox",which was published two or three years ago,is excellent.I read it back then and I have begun reading it again.This is a must buy book for ME/CFS patients
Dr. Gundry's The Plant Paradox - Lectin Theory, Explained | Ep45

 

[ellie84]

Thank you. I didn't know about this particular diet, although I knew about the blood types diet, paleo diet etc.
He certainly is very articulate and fascinating to listen to. If I could manage to read something now I would probably read the book, seeing as it's available at the library. Though I'm afraid it ends there for me. Because after almost 4 years of first trying to use food as a cure and after reading quite a lot about nutrition (when I managed to), I came to the conclusion that food isn't the cure to anything. The only thing I believe now is that food can make you ill, but the solution to that isn't in the food itself but in yourself. Obviously I have no idea what the solution is, or else I wouldn't be here.
So I don't believe anymore any of these diets. I believe more in listening to your own body and carefully experimenting. My personal opinion, of course!

 

[Strawberry]

did he elaborate? would love to know any specifics re his thoughts and default tests, if you can share

I have no idea what his old treatments were, but this is what I will be on (from my notes)

4 weeks Rifaxamin
2 months lipitor (somehow it works - it isn't for cholesterol)
SBI protect gamaglbulin
Glutoshield
Interface plus
and a low carb low processed foods diet (which I've been doing for years)

Sorry I truly have no knowledge about anything listed above. Currently I'm on the lipitor and interface plus, but the rest of the stuff hasn't arrived yet and I'm not sure why. I guess he ordered the rifaxamin from Canada because it is massively cheaper. That is all I can add.

 

[ljimbo423]

2 months lipitor (somehow it works - it isn't for cholesterol)

There are many studies that show Lipitor and other statins work by modulating gut bacteria. Here is a link to one-

Atorvastatin Treatment Modulates the Gut Microbiota of the Hypercholesterolemic Patients.

 

[ebethc]

There are many studies that show Lipitor and other statins work by modulating gut bacteria. Here is a link to one-

Atorvastatin Treatment Modulates the Gut Microbiota of the Hypercholesterolemic Patients.

interesting...
"The anti-inflammation-associated bacteria (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Akkermansia muciniphila, and genus Oscillospira) were found in greater abundance, and proinflammatory species Desulfovibrio sp. was observed at decreased abundance in the drug-treated HP group compared with the untreated HP group."

I wonder how a diet higher in mono-unsaturated fat (vs the high arachidonic acid rich saturated fat) affects anti-inflammatory gut bacteria??

 

[knackers323]

@Henrik has the carnivore eliminated your fatigue and other cfs symptoms, or gut symptoms only?

 

[ljimbo423]

I wonder how a diet higher in mono-unsaturated fat (vs the high arachidonic acid rich saturated fat) affects anti-inflammatory gut bacteria??

This is a really good question and one I wish I new the answer to. Since I have a diet very high in monounsaturated fats like olive oil.

 

[ebethc]

This is a really good question and one I wish I new the answer to. Since I have a diet very high in monounsaturated fats like olive oil.

yeah.... I eat higher fat diet, but am a little concerned about eating too much saturated fat.... sometimes I eat a teaspoon or so of olive oil or brain octane (derived from coconut oil) and I feel calmer and I feel less pain... I haven't seen much on fats interacting w our microbiome, but if I find something, I'll send it on!

 

[Henrik]

@Henrik has the carnivore eliminated your fatigue and other cfs symptoms, or gut symptoms only?

My fatigue and CFS symptoms too. I guess the one caveat I should mention is that not everyone has the severe gut issues that I had. I know some people on this forum have severe CFS, but no apparent gut issues. For me there was always a correlation between my bloating and my fatigue.

But yeah for me the Carnivore has been like magic when it comes to fatigue. I'm not saying I'm 100%, but I can get work done, play tennis, go to the gym etc and as long as I keep it to under an hour I don't get PEM. I thought this was unthinkable since I at one point was barely able to walk two blocks to go shopping.

 

[uglevod]

So, anyone recovered via healing gut/suppressing LPS translocation, or its another temporary remission as always?

 

[acrosstheveil]

has anyone tried ornithine-alpha-ketoglutarate?

 

[hapl808]

has anyone tried ornithine-alpha-ketoglutarate?

I tried it, hoping it would help reduce my PEM headaches. Didn't really notice much change but only tried it a few times.

 

[BrightCandle]

I have over the past year definitely improved my gut function and coinciding with that is an improvement in my condition, potentially incidentally because I really cant prove causation I have done too many things in parallel. I have been doing a lot of probiotics of many different varieties but when I started doing inulin or fos powder that I started to get some digestion improvement. Then I added kefir, kombucha and kimchi and I am fairly certain the kefir helped, the other two commercially bought I am not convinced by, missing them doesn't matter.

Then last week I went on a big sibo and sifo killing spree based out of a book called super gut as well as making my own yoghurt on very particular variants of bacteria purposefully to clear my small intestine. It's been kind of bad, herx response to it all basically but learning I can take any probiotic and ferment milk with it and inulin to amp the bacteria dose up has been interesting and my intake now is 100s of billions CFUs daily and my guts are almost normal even if I feel poisoned by it all. Not sure if it's lasting benefits or just temporary and I am still very much playing and having issues with fermented milk from a yoghurt maker (keeps splitting) but there is something quite interesting about the approach on making yoghurt like things out of whatever bacteria you want in a 20 quid device.

 

[acrosstheveil]

i bought a fermentation container to make sauerkraut/kimchi. excited to start growing some powerful probiotics.