How can I heal my gut when it overreacts to every substance?

[Old Salt]

I feel like Im trapped: Every medical substance I swallow causes severe neurological symtoms just some seconds later. This also happens when I take harmless things like zinc or fish oil which are supposed to calm down the gut. Probiotics or kefir makes things worse big time: My toilet paper is full of blood when I try them and the feeling of inflammation gets worse. A stool test confirmed that I have an inflammation in the gut.

After all Ive read this could be leaky gut? But leaky gut sufferers dont often seem to have such strong reactions? When my CFS started my gut didnt feel that bad, it worsened only after trying probiotics and other natural stuff. Nevertheless my feeling is that my gut problems are an important factor in my disease.

But how can I heal my gut when even the softest substances cause severe neurological symptoms that dont go away afterwards? Even for leaky gut you have to be able to take glutamine and so on. No MD seems to understand this problem. My CFS specialist wants me to try Ivig but since I overreact to everything and get so much worse everytime Im scared.

 

[Old Salt]

I feel like Im trapped: Every medical substance I swallow causes severe neurological symtoms just some seconds later. This also happens when I take harmless things like zinc or fish oil which are supposed to calm down the gut. Probiotics or kefir makes things worse big time: My toilet paper is full of blood when I try them and the feeling of inflammation gets worse. A stool test confirmed that I have an inflammation in the gut.

After all Ive read this could be leaky gut? But leaky gut sufferers dont often seem to have such strong reactions? When my CFS started my gut didnt feel that bad, it worsened only after trying probiotics and other natural stuff. Nevertheless my feeling is that my gut problems are an important factor in my disease.

But how can I heal my gut when even the softest substances cause severe neurological symptoms that dont go away afterwards? Even for leaky gut you have to be able to take glutamine and so on. No MD seems to understand this problem. My CFS specialist wants me to try Ivig but since I overreact to everything and get so much worse everytime Im scared.

 

[Old Salt]

I know of what you speak. First, it has been my experience that when toxins from the gut pass over hemorrhoids, they can easily bleed, that's why it's fresh blood. Like me, you very well may have significant liver issues even though no typical symptoms and normal blood tests. It was only discovered by accident. Ultra-sound will show Hemangiomas on the liver. They told me I have sclerosis of the liver, but I never drank! I thought my food reactions were all due to leaky gut but know I know the liver is a major player in that regard. How many have a damaged liver and don't know it???

 

[GcMAF Australia]

Don Lewis found that about 60% of CFS people are intolerant of fructose which is found in fruits and vegies.
Next came glutein and lactose.
he also tests for about 60-80 foods
Changing the diet seems to give somerelief in a period.

 

[girlinthesnow]

Rifaximin helps to stop gut/brain toxicity but the best drug for reacting to all foods is sodium cromoglycate, Nalcrom. Developed as an anti-asthmatic drug, it works amazingly well for food allergies. It stops the release of inflammatory chemicals, ie. histamine, from mast cells most of which are located in the gut. The only nuisance is it needs to be 4 times a day, 30 mins to an hour before eating so it takes some discipline to get the full beneficial effect.

 

[Charles555nc]

I suggest taking 3 or 4 grams of sodium ascorbate (vitamin c). Its the salt form of vitamin C and I dont like the other forms, calcium ascorbate (too much calcium) and ascorbic acid (too much acid). And I was also hyper sensitive to most good antiviral supplements like "lysine, proline, glycine, selenium, melatonin, DHEA etc" until I kept taking 4 or 5 grams of vitamin c a day.

Cutting out gluten for the rest of my life also helped my digestion/hyperreactivity.

 

[Insomniac]

I take raw camel milk. If you google Prof Yagil, camel milk and food sensitivity/allergy you will find articles on it. It worked wonders for 6 months but now has stopped working sadly. Still even a 6 month reprieve from hellish gut reactions is better than nothing, which is why I suggest it. It's the only food supplement that doesn't hurt me.
I have constipation and pain as part of my gut reactions to most things.
There is a facebook forum on it although it has mainly autism, there are some people like us who have gut problems on it.

 

[lef07003]

I guess I shall post this here. I was one of those who got down to five foods due to ibs symptoms (always the c version)which isn't sustainable in the longer term and I've been working on adding food back in and also removing the stress around food thats developed since that only contributes to the hypersensitivity reaction. I am trying to pay more attention to what my body wants rather than trying to follow these rules or those rules etc. I have been eating SMALL amounts of goats milk yogurt (not homemade I want to make my own though). I have been off dairy for about a year . I have figured out I get tired within about 20 minutes of consuming it. Wouldn't that likely be too quickly for a food sensitivity? I was wondering if it could just be from the naturally occurring probiotics in the yogurt ? (Doesn't help I have had it towards the late afternoon which is a dip time for me anyways) can't decide if its an intolerance or maybe a little more of "die off" any thoughts?

 

[*GG*]

I guess I shall post this here. I was one of those who got down to five foods due to ibs symptoms (always the c version)which isn't sustainable in the longer term and I've been working on adding food back in and also removing the stress around food thats developed since that only contributes to the hypersensitivity reaction.

Not well versed in IBS, although I think I used to have it really bad, was just something I could deal with better than pain/fatigues/pain etc..

Is the c version, constipation?

GG

PS I guess you are not lactose intolerant, otherwise you would stay on dairy?

 

[Beyond]

Classical yogurt contains streptoccocus thermophilus and lactobacillus bulgaricus. Only the second survives in significative numbers to populate the gut (according to an ncbi I have read). Have you ever had an IgG test for casein and lactoglobulin? I was intolerant to both, no surprise.

 

[dannybex]

Prescript-Assist is a prebiotic/probiotic that has been shown in clinical studies to help with IBS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17692729

"​

Treatment was associated with a continued reduction in general ill feelings/nausea at 4 weeks (P < 0.007). At 52-week follow-up, ​

the rate of remissions was 81.5% to 100%."

​

 

[Creekee]

I guess I shall post this here. I was one of those who got down to five foods due to ibs symptoms (always the c version)which isn't sustainable in the longer term and I've been working on adding food back in and also removing the stress around food thats developed since that only contributes to the hypersensitivity reaction. I am trying to pay more attention to what my body wants rather than trying to follow these rules or those rules etc. I have been eating SMALL amounts of goats milk yogurt (not homemade I want to make my own though). I have been off dairy for about a year . I have figured out I get tired within about 20 minutes of consuming it. Wouldn't that likely be too quickly for a food sensitivity? I was wondering if it could just be from the naturally occurring probiotics in the yogurt ? (Doesn't help I have had it towards the late afternoon which is a dip time for me anyways) can't decide if its an intolerance or maybe a little more of "die off" any thoughts?

I've been making my own (cow's milk) yogurt in the crock pot. It's super simple; requires no cooking effort at all. I'm happy to send you the directions if you want to give it a try with goats milk. Would be interested to know if it works.

Fwiw, homemade yogurt has been the ONLY thing to help my gut heal. No probiotic ever helped at all. Expensive gastroenterologist didn't help. With the yogurt (two servings a day, religiously) I feel my gut is about 70% healed.

 

[lef07003]

giginues- yes constipation. funny even though im calling it ibs i just think of all these overlapping things as all part of one big dysfunction! it's definitely a flora issues for me but also motility (shots of b12 glutathione and nadh tend to give me a motility turn on that is short lived hence why i know this is all related). beyond- yes had igg testing in the way begining didn't show much, whey was in the sort of pay attention to zone. I know my current CFS doctor isn't a fan of the igg food allergy testing either but I know for some people it can be huge. I made drastic diet changes when I got really sick and once i cut dairy out long enough i realized how much better i felt without it but i have heard many that are intolerant can still tolerate homemade yogurt.... dannybex- funny you mentioned that probiotic have stumbled across it a lot myself recently. i am using vsl3 at the moment but i am interested in trying that next. Creekee- would love the recipe. Question: were you able to tolerate dairy prior to this?? This is exactly why i started to try to incorporate yogurt because i had heard the same thing many times from people but i can't tell if the reaction i am getting to it is intolerance symptoms....maybe it would be different if it was homemade?

 

[Valentijn]

giginues- yes constipation.

Do you take magnesium? I find it very helpful with keeping things moving, aside from when I'm crashing.

 

[maryb]

I have been eating SMALL amounts of goats milk yogurt (not homemade I want to make my own though). I have been off dairy for about a year . I have figured out I get tired within about 20 minutes of consuming it. Wouldn't that likely be too quickly for a food sensitivity? I was wondering if it could just be from the naturally occurring probiotics in the yogurt ? (Doesn't help I have had it towards the late afternoon which is a dip time for me anyways) can't decide if its an intolerance or maybe a little more of "die off" any thoughts?

I can get symptoms within 15mins -2hrs I know its whatever I've eaten - same symptoms. heaviness, tiredness, sometimes dizzy etc.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Prescript-Assist is a prebiotic/probiotic that has been shown in clinical studies to help with IBS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17692729

"​

Treatment was associated with a continued reduction in general ill feelings/nausea at 4 weeks (P < 0.007). At 52-week follow-up, ​

the rate of remissions was 81.5% to 100%."

​

Thanks, that's not one I'd heard of, will add it to my list to consider.

 

[undcvr]

One often overlooked and very important concept when it comes to leaky gut is the the concept of food intolerance, specifically to histamine containing food. This intolerance may include tyramines as well. Histamine in foods that we eat over stimulate our immune system. Histamine itself coses alot of autoimmune like conditions in the body. Lots of food contain histamine, in fact, you cannot avoid it and if u have CFS and a leaky gut you will be histamine intolerant bcos your body does not produce the probiotics or the enzyme to break down histamine.

It is also the reason why pple with CFS feel so much better when they fast. It allows the liver to stop being busy assimilating and filtering foods and detox and process the toxins that are already in the body. It also reduces the amounts of histamine we are taking in.

Heal the gut but definitely look into reducing histamine intake and breaking it down in general with probiotics or the histamine enzyme diamine oxidase.

Example: If you take lots of Benadryl, Vitamin C and Quercertin and are still experiencing allergic and or gastro-intestinal symptoms (eg sneezing, sinus) you are histamine intolerant. These supplements stop your mast cells from releasing Histamine but once the Histamine is out and circulating there is no enzyme to break them down. The only other place the Histamine can be coming from if not from your immune system is your food. Supplements that reduce histamine production from your immune system won't really work. The Histamine is coming from the foods you eat and not your immune system. It's about breaking down histamine not reducing its production.

Also it is not a myth that women who are pregnant notice their CFS symptoms gone. Pregnant women make up to like 400 times more DAO when compared to when they r not.

 

[Fogbuster]

@undcvr

Thanks for your interesting and easily digestible explanation on histamine intolerance.

I understand that the enzyme production usually needed to break down histamine is affected with leaky gut but that does not mean you will develop histamine intolerance. If you have SIBO or any form of overgrowth, you will most likely have leaky gut as a symptom, so that would mean nearly everyone would be affected by histamine, which I don't believe is the case.

I'm also in the same boat as bedman. It seems every thing I ingest seems to have some varying degree of impact on my cognitive function. Everything!

I have spent a considerable amount on testing, of which histamine intolerance came back negative.

I constantly have one nostril blocked, they interchange at their own accord.
I have been on the GAPS diet introduction and a couple other elimination diets and found no relief.

There is only one path I may go down, which a friend had great success with, called an elemental diet which completely eliminated his SIBO/IBS and reduced a hellavalot of food intolerances in just over 3 weeks and is now 2 months later eating grains.

It has only been approved in the medical field for crohns I believe so far, but some people with complex IBS are achieving pretty amazing results.

I would have to endure 2 weeks of this elemental diet/fast, but quite simply i cant carry on like this, so it seems the only way forward.

@bedman , if you want some help or more info on this let me know!

Peace to all
Jamie

 

[Beyond]

Well fogbuster if you get improvements don´t forget to post about it.

 

[leela]

@Fogbuster, which diet are you referring to? what is it comprised of? (if you don't mind giving us some more details )

also, it is normal for the nostrils to alternate. it's just that within that rotation there ought to be periods of both breathing freely as well.