GI Map Results

Surprisingly I only had a few abnormalities but I guess they match up with what I'm dealing with.

Positive for enterobacter spp. I'm not sure what this means, I couldn't find much on it other than making you susceptible to other infections but I don't think I have any other ones than Lyme and possibly Bartonella. So that was kind of a wash. If anyone knows about that let me know.

High firmicutes. These are apparently the bad bacteria that make you fat. Awesome. I have endless problems with easy weight gain and difficulty losing. I haven't found much online that details how to lower them other than more fiber potentially, and that's not an option due to slow transition time in the gut leading to fermentation of fiber. It says a high-fat diet is particularly bad for it because it turns fat to, well, fat. Potentially polyphenols help raise the bacteroidetes which oppose it and are the "slimming" bacteria. But yeah, no consensus as to how to significantly lower these. Beans seem to help somehow.

And last was low secretory IgA. Which leads to a lot of food intolerances and gut issues. Yeah I definitely have this one. I don't know how to increase it either. I can't find much of anything on this other than it's bad lol.

If anyone happens to have info on any of these I'd welcome it. The results don't really tell me anything I don't already know, I'd just like to know how to fix it. I'm seeing my naturopath about it next week but I don't have much confidence in her after she prescribed two things I reacted very negatively to (not a herx) and one that doesn't do anything. She was also thinking of taking me off all thyroid meds which is just insane because my thyroid is the pits and I would tank.

That's good to hear. I am miffed that I avoided antibiotics to avoid the stomach issues yet here my gut is f*ed up worse than I ever imagined. I am always snacking even though at this point i hate food because everything i eat is so boring!

What is your protocol Quin?

jb1994 said...
What is your protocol Quin?

Antibiotics night and morning. Sometimes I will take probiotics mid-morning or lunchtime. I generally won't eat until mid-afternoon. Of course, the first thing I eat, I get diarrhea. Once that is out, usually I can eat dinner without too many problems. Then wait a few hours and take antibiotics before bed.

jb1994 said...
Quin, which antibiotics? I would honestly love diarrhea at this point lol.

If you get desperate and absolutely need things to move, my two comments in the following thread offer two solutions (Salt Water Flush and Intestinal Formula #1) that I'm certain would work...if your sensitive GI tract can tolerate them.

Constipation Help!!!
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4019168

The Salt Water Flush will be cheaper, faster-acting, and seemingly more "explosive." The Intestinal Formula #1 is an herbal product and would cost more, act a bit slower, and be less volatile. There's also an Intestinal Formula #3 that's listed as being "Soft and Easy." But, of course, you'll know what's best.

Good luck with your Naturopath next week. I hope she's able to offer some helpful solutions, based on your GI-MAP results. I just reviewed my GI-MAP and GI Pathogen Plus tests from early 2017 and would be interested in seeing current comparison tests. After getting steamrolled by a cold for two weeks, I'm another week into my stomach and intestines giving me grief. Whatever it is, I wish it would pass -- literally and figuratively.

Hey, Astro. Good question. Both tests were ordered by the same provider, in order to overlay them and hopefully not miss anything.

Here's a sample report of each:

GI-MAP: https://bit.ly/2tluwy5
GIP Panel*: https://bit.ly/2aq7a9v

*It seems that DRG Laboratory is now Ascenda Biosciences and the GI Pathogen Plus Panel is called the GIP Panel.

My GI-MAP showed:

- C. difficile, Toxin B: Positive
- Bifidobacterium spp: Low
- Lactobacillus spp: Low
- Proteus spp: High
- Proteus mirabilis: High
- Elastase-1: Low
- Secretory IgA: Low

My GI Pathogen Plus Profile showed negative for C. Diff. However, it showed me as either "Susceptible" to antibiotic resistance or "Resistant" for a few classes of antibiotics.

My "GI Pathogen Plus Profile" results

I'm not sure what to make of the possible antibiotic resistance that's listed. The provider that ordered both tests was actually interested in the "Bacteria and Toxins by PCR" section at the top of the page. The other tests came along for the ride. He doesn't interpret them.

I'd also be willing to bet you're not eating enough to be gaining weight.

Though I'd heard the term "Fleet Enema" before, I didn't know what it was. Well, I knew it was an enema. But, I just Googled it and see that it's a saline enema. (Similar to the Salt Water Flush I mentioned above...just the other end.) Was it effective? I definitely agree that it's better OUT than IN.

Good luck at the Chiropractor tomorrow. They often have a variety of remedies and ideas.

Quin said...

jb1994 said...
Quin, which antibiotics? I would honestly love diarrhea at this point lol.

Any of the fast-acting antibiotics. Amoxicillin, clarithromycin, minocycline, rifampin, all caused diarrhea. Valproate didn't, but valproate has a unique mechanism of action that takes several weeks to kill the bacteria. Intestinal bacteria refresh themselves much faster than that, and so aren't affected.

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Just want to be clear because you mentioned Valproate with the abx -
Valproate is not an antibiotic - but an anti-seizure med that is used for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

Girlie said...
Just want to be clear because you mentioned Valproate with the abx -
Valproate is not an antibiotic - but an anti-seizure med that is used for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

Valproate has antimicrobial effects (which is why I am taking it)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12755481
http://ptfarm.pl/pub/file/acta_poloniae/2012/6/1368.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc1855103/

Artemisinin has a similar putative mechanism of action (would you consider that an antibiotic?)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00743/full

Quin said...

Girlie said...
Just want to be clear because you mentioned Valproate with the abx -
Valproate is not an antibiotic - but an anti-seizure med that is used for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

Valproate has antimicrobial effects (which is why I am taking it)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12755481
http://ptfarm.pl/pub/file/acta_poloniae/2012/6/1368.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc1855103/

Artemisinin has a similar putative mechanism of action (would you consider that an antibiotic?)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00743/full

I'm not arguing against it having some antibiotic properties....(I haven't researched it) - but it's still not considered an antibiotic....just wanted that to be clear....that's all.

I don't know if I'd consider Artemisinin an antibiotic....I've taken it for Babesia for it's anti-malarial/parasitic properties... but perhaps it has antibiotic properties.........

jb1994 said...
Quin - I'm writing those down. I'd take diarrhea over this but I'll probably regret saying that. I actually took valproate for a few months and didn't notice much change either way but that was a year ago.

Be aware that valproate alone will likely not fully eliminate the infection. It just roots out the dormant, round body, form of b. burgdorferi, but has little effect on active spirochetes, and is best used in combination with other drugs. For artemisinin, a similar effect was noted in vitro:

said...
The antimalarial drug artemisinin showed higher activity (24% residual viable cells) against the round bodies of B. burgdorferi.
..
The MIC value of artemisinin was quite high at 50∼100 μg/ml for growing B. burgdorferi, indicating that artemisinin is much less active against growing organisms, despite its high activity against the non-growing round bodies of B. burgdorferi persisters.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00743/full

Many antibiotics gave me diarrhea, but minocycline caused the smelliest yellow-green crap. Eww.