Lyme and Leaky Gut

Hi Jenny-

I have not been officially dx with leaky gut but I strongly suspect I have it.

Almost 7 years ago, early into my second pregnancy, I had an emergency appendectomy. They bombed me with 5 days worth of heavy IV abx while in the hospital, followed with 2 weeks of oral abx at home. I took anti-fungals a couple of times and ate yogurt about once a day. But that was about it for trying to get my good gut flora back. I really had no idea how much work it would take to do this.

I had a rough pregnancy in terms of moodiness, nausea, and achiness. I was so miserable I cried on almost a daily basis. It was a night and day difference from my first pregnancy. I also gained 60 lbs even though I was not over eating. And on top of that, I had a very difficult time losing the weight after baby was born. Again, all drastically different from my first.

Fast forward to the past 6 months. In Dec, I was diagnosed with lyme and have been in treatment since. But about a month ago, I came to the realization something else was going on. Despite my thyroid being supported, I still could not lose the 30 lbs I put on since having lyme. And I just didn't think I was feeling as good as I should be this far into treatment.

I started looking into leaky gut and it all started making sense. I think the downward spiral started after the appendectomy. It took 5 years, but my immune system finally went under, and lyme played a big part in that. Some of my earliest lyme symptoms were autoimmune related including food sensitivities and hive like rashes that lasted for weeks. Joints that would swell up and become red and very painful.

So over the last month, I started the bone broth, gelatin, aloe vera, licorice, enzymes, and amino acids. I also bumped up my probotics and anti-fungals. I tried raw dairy, but my stomach was just not healed enough for this yet. It's too bad because I really liked the prospect of the probiotics from it.

I still have more oral abx to take in my protocol. I don't see my LLMD again until the end of Aug. Ideally, I would like to be completely off abx altogether to heal my gut, but based on my latest herx with Flagyl, it seems I am not done killing the bacteria yet :(

I am curious, what have you done to take care of your gut? Which supplements have you tried? I know it is a lot of hard work to get the gut back in order, so kudos to you! I am already extremely tired of the bone broth chicken soup 2x a day every day. I don't know how much more of this I can take!

What does your ND think of oral abx and leaky gut?

Thanks for your replies, Jimbo and Lymie Mom!

Well, let me start with saying that my Lyme probably coincided with my first trip to the ER for food allergies. I went into anaphalctic shock and it was really scary. Suddenly foods I'd eaten my whole life sent me into an allergic reaction. I quickly learned to carry benedryl with me and used it often. My food allergies persisted for about 12 years and I basically learned to deal with them and limited my diet around them.

A few years ago after a stressful time in my life, I went to a class at a farm for a weekend and contracted some kind of bacterium that I can't spell. I was so sick. I went to my MD at that time and they did all the poop tests and stuff and found it and I went on several, heavy duty courses of antibiotics (multiple kinds) for about 6 weeks. That was the beginning of the end was gaining about a pound PER DAY! I still couldn't eat anything without extrutiating pain, severe bloating and nausea and of course, the constant diarrhea. Lordy, bad stuff. I had gone back to the MD several times and they just gave me more, different antibotics and at a point told me I was going to have to doing invasive, scary testing on my gut and I was not even closely ok with that.

I started with my ND at that point and she put me on prescription strength probiotics several times per day, all kinds of supplements that I honestly couldn't tell you what all was in them, but lots of licorice root stuff and gluthione (I think that's the name of it?) in most of them. In addition I started the Fast Metabolism Diet mostly to stop the weight gain, quite honestly, because I couldn't afford to keep on buying new clothes! LOL When I started with my ND my inflammation markers were off the charts, my liver, kidneys, thyroid, were all tanking. I was in pretty sad shape.

I will be honest, for me, the FMD fixed my gut just as much if not more than the stuff my ND was doing for me. I love almost 40 lbs in 4 months, was feeling great, looked great and was at the top of my game, a place I had not been in YEARS. FMD taught me a whole lot about food, quality of food, food interactions and pairing, etc. It's kind of tough to get going on the diet because there are a lot of rules and restrictions but after a month, I had it down.

I started having gut issues again, so started changing my diet again and was much better informed and also at the point of healing that I could immediately tell how anything I'd eaten affected me. I went to paleo and completely grain free, sugar free, limited fruits, nothing with yeast, no caffeine, no diary, etc.

I tried bone broth but couldn't do it, it just wouldn't go down the hatch. I've stuck with all of my supplements, aloe being the one that when I started it, I noticed a difference right away. I put chia seeds in just about anything I can, did prescription strength garlic for quite some time but my body stopped tolerating it and switched to oregano oil. I'm on nystatin daily and diflucan once per week. I take pribiotics three times per day, stay far away from dairy except for ghee or goat butter (the only things dairy related that I found that I just can't subsitute non-dairy to my liking). I do a calium bentonite cleanse at least once per week - I mix it with a pack of emergen-C right before I got to bed and let it do it's magic. I have tried upping it but because I trend towards anemia (have my whole life) my iron levels go down too much. My ND prescribed Berbemycin for me, which I've been on for the whole time she's been treating me. I also got somethin called hista-x from from her that is a benedryl type medication specifically for your gut. I took that for a while with every meal and now only take whenever I'm trynig something new or from a restaurant that I don't know what is in it. I helped me incredibly! I also take enzymes with every single thing I ever eat, even if it's an apple. I didn't eat anything that I had not prepared myself, from raw, organic ingredients for over a year, but have gone out to eat a few times in the last few months to eat with friends and didn't suffer any ill effects.

I wish I had more info on the supplements she's had me on, but due to the lyme have had to change over to Lyme directed supplements except for some that are dual purpose or absolutely necessary becausse Ijust couldn't afford all of them.

I hope this helps and thanks again for your replies! Check out the Fast Metabolism Diet. There are plenty of choices on there that you can substitute for things you can't or won't eat, but it does take dedication and creativity to be able to eat every day and lots of planning and preparation. Totally worth it though.

Let me know if you have any more questions!
Jenny

Lymie mom,

Is there a way I can e-mail you? I have it as a PDF. I haven't had the energy to go back on the diet but need to as Lyme has caused me to gain back about 30 lbs in the last 5 months! I had lyme, but not actively ill with it, when I was on it before and it woked great. It supports your adrenals (one of my main issues), thyroid, is easy on your gut and does so much more in healing and support than you would think a "diet" would do. It was also very awesome in getting my blood sugar levels in order as I have a tendancy towards hypoglacemia and when my ND tested my 3 month blood sugar levels she was blown away that they were practically straight! No dips or anything!

I'd love to send it to you as even if you choose not to do the diet, she's got great information on the chemistry and science behind different foods. It's a pretty easy read and there is a cheap app for I-phones that is really helpful, but they don't have one for androids for some reason.

In my opinion the diet is not really to loose weight, although that does happen, but it works to heal your body and support your components for them to get back into balance and the weight loss is really just an after affect, does that make sense?

Hope that helps!

Jenny

Jennysetter,

If you could email me that as well I would greatly appreciate it.

Lymiemom,

To enable your email, got to "my profile" and then "edit profile". You should be able to do it from there.

Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to add that my ND ran a blood test for food allergies through US Bio Tech. I was quite surprised at some of the things I was allergic to! Also, things like onions, which make me very ill for days, I have no allergy, but intolerance. That test result paper was my bible for about 6 months on eating and was very helpful. So between cutting out the things that I now knew I had allergies to and adding hista-x to my meals, my tummy was able to calm down and heal.

The test was expensive, but at that point I was so ill I didn't care. It proved to be totally worth every penny! I hope to re-run the test possibly next year if I can come up with the funds, so I can see if I can start eating more normally yet. I'm assuming I have to get this Lyme in check, first, though, so that my immune system is more accurate, though.

Have a good one!
Jenny

I think one of the most important supplements to take with leaky gut is L-glutamine on an empty stomach in the morning. I take it every morning and I know it is helping me. It is a tasteless powder that I mix with a glass of water. It is really helpful and not that expensive.