Intestinal Bartonella

females and males have pretty much the same number of hormones - just different balances of each
of course women have more pronounced cycles of the hormones that regulate fertility during the monthly cycle
oestrogen, progesterone, etc but these are only 2 hormones

humans have many many hormones - over 50 of them

the main ones i see mentioned in the context of lyme etc are

-thyroid hormones - ( hashimotos or just general thyroid hormone dysregulation is v common in lyme)

-insulin / metabolic hormones - insulin resistance / metabolic disease can be a problem in lyme - esp in people who are already at risk - eg due to pre-existing condition, obesity, diet etc

-sex hormones - eg testosterone ( in both men and women) and others

in general hormones are produced in complex cascades of biological processes - many of which are adversely impacted - and imbalanced - by things like inflammation, toxins, nutritional deficiencies, gut issues, being chronically ill. being physically inactive etc

but its very hard if not impossible to guess which you may be suffering from - so they would need to be tested.
and whatever plan to correct them taken from there

for me it is mainly thyroid that is the issue - i have hashimotos ( auto-immune thyroid disease) triggered by bartonella - so since immune function is in part governed by thyroid status - it was important to take steps to correct the levels of thyroid hormones in the body to ensure i have the best possible chance of recovery

each of the hormones are a complex topic in themselves and require a deep dive to get to the bottom of and some trial and error to arrive at the best way to manage in each individual

ref the high B6 - many gut organisms in the natural flora in the microbiome produce b vitamins as a by-product of their metabolism - that's where we get most of our b-vitamins from. so the high B6 could be Bartonella (there are some sources that suggest it can make B6 also -and as Quin mentions there are numerous reports of bart sufferers having high B6 - but since gut microbes are also known to make B6 - in the context of someone who has a lot of gut issues and in particular SIBO - the B6 may just be a by product of the bacterial overgrowing in the small intestine.
this could also be what's happening in the other bart sufferers also - in that bart often leads to inflamed gut and dysbiosis/ sibo - so this overgrowth of bacteria could also be the source of B6 in those who are bart infected.

Quin said...
This is true, but generally if it's SIBO with many different bacteria, the bacteria will produce a variety of B vitamins. The high B6, but not B12, seems to be a hallmark of bartonella.

i follow your reasoning - and that could be what's going on - but often, in dysbiosis, one species is found to be disproportionately dominant - eg in the recent dysbiosis driven by COVID-19 study i posted about - which showed a bloom of a particular species disproportionate to all others.