
Gut Wars: One Man's Adventure with Antibiotics and Ulcerative Colitis - accarmichael
http://www.ubiomeblog.com/gut-wars/
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jivardo_nucci
Looks like a candidate for a fecal transplant:

[http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-
upd...](http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-
updates/digestive-diseases/quick-inexpensive-90-percent-cure-rate)

Most facilities do it the fancy way (use a tube down the nose or up the rear),
run tests and, as usual, charge you and your donor out the a __! But I 've
read of DIY'ers who simply spun out the solids, held their nose and swilled
the goods(I suppose a real man would use a spoon) or took them in an enema:

[http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2013/05/29/why-diy-
fecal-...](http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2013/05/29/why-diy-fecal-
transplants-are-a-thing-and-the-fda-is-only-part-of-the-reason/)

[http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27503660](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27503660)

Either way it works.

"Compatible" donor? Healthy family member(s).

As the author of the article notes, probiotics can't possibly match the
variety of organisms that a typical human has in their gut.

Business proposal: a repository where people deposit feces prior to taking
strong antibiotics, so that, should they find themselves consequently absent
intestinal flora and fauna, those could easily be restored. Kind of a new
twist on the old curse "Eat shit and die!"

~~~
noonespecial
Talk about making a "back up". The possible vowel deficient start-up names for
this alone are amusing me greatly.

------
Shivetya
I can sympathize with him. While my issues didn't get as far as his, my issue
resulted from taking Cipro which killed all the good bacteria in my gut making
room for something else to move in. Sadly what moved in was related to dogs
feces as I have a pair and you don't have to see it to get contaminated.

End result, new drugs to wipe out the bad then a few months with specific
medications and kefir and related food products to rebuild the bacteria in my
gut. It is no fun planning any drive, even to work, where the primary issue is
knowing who is open and has public bathrooms

~~~
partisan
Reading this makes me feel really fortunate. I had a bout with colitis, but
the doctor prescribed me Cipro and it went away with no other side effects.

As an aside, even talking to the doctor made me immediately feel better. Being
a pessimist, I assumed the worst and was already planning out my will. This
doctor, who looked like Gene Simmons, asked me how many days off I wanted from
work, and told me "You gotta take it easy, bro" with a jerky boys accent, he
completely snapped me out of whatever I was going through with his amazing
personality.

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JoshTko
I think a key component often missing in these discussions is creating a
habitat where good gut bacteria can thrive. This article identifies having
fiber a critical to maintaining good gut bacteria.
[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fiber-famished-
gut...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fiber-famished-gut-microbes-
linked-to-poor-health1/)

------
tapia
I'm always happy to read this kind of articles. I have a history with C.
ulcerosa myself (now under control) and since it begun my gut just hasn't been
the same. I am pretty sure my microbiota was left in a very bad shape after
some hard periods, and since then I have tried to bring it back to balance...
but it seems a hard task. I haven't tried probiotic supplements, like
described in the article, but just tried to include probiotic-rich food in my
diet, like yogurt and sauerkraut, and also prebiotics like bananas and honey.
So it would be just great to get exactly the combination of probiotics-
supplements that one needs, based on this kind of uBiome test, and then just
wait until you have a balanced microbiota again. But for what the article
describes, we would have to wait a bit until the real effects of each
particular probiotics-combination are understood.

~~~
sunsu
I recommend General Biotics:
[http://www.generalbiotics.com](http://www.generalbiotics.com)

David frequents HN (which is how I found it) and he even took the time to
personally answer questions for me via email.

There is no probiotic on the market like it and it is based on real science.

~~~
tapia
Wow, thanks! It looks very interesting. I had never heard of it :)

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stevebot
Any recommendations for probiotics? I've tried a couple with no luck myself.

~~~
d357r0y3r
Sauerkraut is a good option if you like actual food.

~~~
stevebot
I love Sauerkraut on a good sausage. Do you actually eat it on it's own?

~~~
cdcarter
A beet/cabbage mixture sauerkraut is DELICIOUS to eat on it's own.

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junto
Since this isn't the first time UC has come up on HN (are programmers more
prevalent maybe?), may I ask for a quick show of hands of people that have UC
or had UC and if you've managed to beat it then how?

Me, I've had UC since 2012. I take Pentasa 2mg granulated mesalazine per day.
I am an ex-smoker and internalize stress. My UC is definitely exacerbated by
poor sleep and high stress. Antibiotics were also what started me off on this
horrible disease. I'd love to get rid of it.

------
mullingitover
Wouldn't this be a great case for fecal transplant? I have to wonder how
effective oral probiotics can really be, give that the oral route includes an
acid bath on the way to the intestines. Seems that a fecal transplant would
get the desired results near-instantly.

------
a8da6b0c91d
The obvious importance of gut bacteria is the health-news flavor of the month,
but I don't know. There are definitely two sides to this debate. On the other
side some very smart people with nothing to sell (probiotics/prebiotics/tests)
argue for a relatively sterile gut. They say feeding gut bacteria with
fermentable fibers/starches in general generates LPS and other stressful
toxins.

Some lab experiments definitely bear out this idea. Animals with sterilized
guts fed sterile diets live way longer, and are stronger/healthier.

Like I said I don't know, but I advise extreme caution on this stuff where
there's any tangential connection to probiotics/prebiotics/tests.

~~~
ubiologist
Disclosure: I work for a microbiome biotech company. I have no connection to
ubiome.

I'm sure this commenter means well but this person is severely misinformed.
Any person with even a minimal understanding of our gut microbiome would never
argue for a relatively sterile gut. We rely on out gut bacteria to digest
foods and there is a healthy, normal exchange of metabolites between the
microbes and our bodies. Microbes digest foods such as fiber and starches into
(for example) short-chain fatty acids that have been shown to have beneficial
effects on our bodies. They also prime our immune system so that we are better
prepared to combat invasion of potential pathogens. LPS is a necessary
component of all gram negative bacteria. Many of our commensal bacteria are
gram negatives. The problem with LPS is when it gets to places where it
shouldn't be (e.g. crossing our gut epithelial barrier).

Some labs utilize germ-free mice to investigate the causative role of the
microbiome on the host. While these animal models can serve as great systems
in which to investigate certain hypotheses, every germ-free model researcher
would no doubt agree that the immune system of germ-free animals is completely
different and severely compromised compared to a normal, conventional animal.
They, in fact, do NOT live longer and are NOT stronger/healthier.

I felt that the above comment needed to be rectified before people starting
actually believing it.

~~~
a8da6b0c91d
Let me boil down your essential claims:

1) Bacteria in the gut make stuff you need and helpfully digest things for
you.

2) Endotoxin is only a problem when it crosses the gut.

3) By various magic bacteria in the gut strengthen the immune system.

Well #1 just isn't really true. There aren't any identified compounds that are
at all hard to get from food that you need gut bacteria to make for you. Maybe
some vitamin K and that's about it, but a serving of liver or some other foods
will more than cover your vitamin K dose.

#2 is a silly argument because endotoxin is _constantly_ crossing the gut
barrier. LPS endotoxin is a continuous stress on the liver to detoxify.
Whether it's a real problem in an otherwise healthy individual or not is a
separate question, but the argument presented here is totally specious. It is
quite plainly a continuous stream of toxic material the organs work to clear.

As for #3, that's the big totally open question I guess. You see the claim
made but nobody ever really breaks it down in detail in terms the experimental
physiology proving the idea. It's usually some eye-roll-worthy trials.

The fact that the sterile rats can't survive outside the lab environment is
not the point. No kidding they have under-trained immune systems. The point is
that absent the chronic stress of bacteria load they do in fact live longer
and are in fact stronger in the literal definition of strong. This guy is
being deliberately hand-wavy.

~~~
Klinky
Look you're being just as hand wavy, and your sterile gut idea is a bit of
spherical cow. We will never be able to sterilize our environment to the point
where we can easily maintain a sterile gut. No one fully understands the human
microbiome, including you.

Are there any case studies of people maintaining a sterilized gut and living
healthier lives? Therapies like fecal transplant or helimintic therapy
actively introduce third parties into your gut with positive outcomes. Which
at least suggests that bacterial balance in the gut is important for some
people.

