Good/Bad Health News

Since my husband generously shared his cold germs with me, I've had a very sore throat, cough, sinus congestion, runny nose and headaches. I anticipate overcoming this congestion and breathing normally again. Nevertheless, I know the cold's progression by watching my husband's symptoms appear and subside. At least I didn't lose my voice like he does occasionally. That would be very uncharacteristic for me. LOL

Meanwhile I'm still taking my morning and bedtime cocktail of glutamine powder with turkey rhubarb tincture drops dissolved in a cup of water with which I take 1 or 2 mastic gum capsules to fight the H. Pylori bacteria and heal my stomach. I've heard that glutamine can also heal intestinal damage from celiac disease. I look forward to that benefit, because I frequently experience intestinal cramping pain. Occasional moments of freedom from cramping pain are rare and far between.

I can't really tell whether the Iodoquinol is killing my dientamoeba fragilis parasite. However, I've progressed through side effects of nausea, dizziness and headache. Now I'm in the chronic diarrhea phase, which could continue as long as I take Iodoquinol (3x daily for 20 days). Actually I prefer diarrhea to constipation (which pathogenic gut bugs often cause me), but either condition exacerbates hemorrhoids.

The GOOD NEWS is that I found (through a friend's recommendation) a reasonably priced, high dose probiotic which does NOT contain FOS (fructooligosaccharides). FOS is a 'prebiotic' which supposedly feeds the good bacteria in the intestines. However, FOS also causes bloating and flatulence. Any bloating causes me to have cramping intestinal pain, perhaps because my gut never completely healed from many years of undiagnosed celiac disease damage. Older adults often do not completely heal even after years of gluten abstinence.

Originally I worried that a probiotic which did not contain FOS would not be as effective at increasing good bacteria, because I've taken probiotics WITH FOS (and suffered the side effects) for years. I heard that people adjust to probiotics and don't feel the bloating, cramping pain after adjustment. However I've NEVER adjusted. Lower dose probiotics cause less bloating, but I still experience those side effects. Nevertheless, I assumed I had to endure those side effects in order to increase my good bacteria. Fortunately, I was wrong.

I asked both my new doc AND my old doc (via email) about the necessity of FOS in probiotics. Both said "not necessary". My new doc does not recommend taking any FOS, maybe because she appreciates the extent of my intestinal damage at this point and the severity of pain I experience from any bloating. I also read that we can consume enough prebiotics from higher fiber carbs in our diets without taking FOS. Foods like garlic, leeks, onions, asparagus, artichoke, berries, kale, bananas and legumes all have indigestible fiber which feed the probiotic (good bacteria). I GROW kale, onions and berries in my garden. I eat at least one of those foods daily.

After receiving encouraging advice from my doc, I ordered the new probiotic online. It offers 50 billion viable good bacteria per capsule. A bottle of 90 capsules costs $40. I will take a higher dose (2 capsules daily) after I treat the parasitic infection, because antiparasitic drugs can destroy good and bad microbial intestinal critters. After taking any antimicrobial drug I take a week of really high dose (127 billion viable cells) probiotic to restore all the good bacteria I may have lost in treatment. I know that some of the good bacteria survive, because taking high dose probiotics reduces the severity of drug induced diarrhea. Since I'm now suffering that diarrhea, I look forward to receiving and taking the new probiotic. I now take a lower dose (8-12 billion live cells) probiotic 2x daily, but that has FOS which increases my pain. I anxiously await the arrival of my new probiotics.

Eating wise I'm FINALLY learning to stop eating when I feel full and not have another bite until the next time I'm definitely hungry. After the Heidelberg capsule test, which showed my stomach produces a little stomach acid after 30 minutes, I can no longer could rationalize eating past full, because I don't digest the food. So now I just eat very slowly to wait for stomach to begin releasing acid. If I don't feel satisfied, when I feel full, I still quit eating, because I know after 1-3 hours, I will feel satisfied. If I overeat past full, I experience intense pain 1-3 hours later. Currently my stomach hurts after eating 'just enough'. I suspect that's a side effect from Iodoquinol, which lists 'stomach pain' as a common side effect.

Despite all my current symptoms and treatment reactions I feel more hopeful than I have in many years that I can eventually feel healthy and have healthy digestion. I know that low stomach acid caused my chronic intestinal infections. I know I can heal my stomach and intestinal inflammationthat caused chronic pain. After I heal the stomach lining (with glutamine) I can begin taking HCl supplements to improve my digestion. Because my stomach produces SOME of its own acid, the HCl may stimulate it to make more of its own acid eventually. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's a lighted sign that says "healthy digestion"!!! LOL