Issues with digestion, questions about HCL

Hi everybody,

So, for many years before Lyme symptoms began, at least all of my adult life, I had digestion issues. I would have to go to the bathroom a lot, often directly after a meal. In later years I would have a bit of incontinence, where I would have to occasionally go clean myself in the bathroom, like there was some leakage. It would always be a bright yellow color, which I now assume is fat.

However, once I went on my low carb diet, my digestion got Much Better. After taking high levels of ABX my digestion continued to improve or remained better. I had always heard the opposite. I was finally regular, with ideal, solid BM's.

However, lately, my digestion has been much worse: light yellow floating stool with an oily sheen in the toilet. No diarrhea, but obvious poor digestion, especially with fat. I often have undigested food in my stool like nuts or vegetables.

My LLMD prescribed betaine HCL. I take a pill with the beginning of a meal, sometimes two or three, but everything remains the same.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Could my poor digestion be a cause of some of my neuro/joint symptoms? Can this cause me to not adequately absorb my meds/herbs? Should I change my hcl dose or try a different digestive enzyme? Have my ABX finally taken a toll on my gut health?

I do take Theralac probiotics and kefir daily.

Thank you!!

Traveler said...


Do you have any gall bladder issues? Do you have your gall bladder? I no longer have mine, so I have to take both (3 with every meal) and Quercetin (2 with every meal) to keep my intestines happier and working better, as well as a few other herbs for intestinal cramping.

With the undigested food in your stool, that points to leaky gut. Has your doctor talked to you about this at all?

No to both. However, before I knew I had lyme/co I went to a GP who unrelatedly said I had "Gilbert's Syndrome," which is an overabundance of bilirubin, which I remember being a form of bile. However, post-lyme treatment liver/blood tests have shown my bilirubin levels at normal again. Perhaps if I were to test now they would have gone back up after 8 months of finally being normal.