Posted 9/21/2023 7:19 PM (GMT 0)
there are actually 2 issues
1st protection from C-Diff
probiotics - particularly the probiotic yeast saccharomyces boulardi has been demonstrated to significantly reduce your chance of getting C-Diff while on or shortly after coming off abx
2nd - restoring the microbiome
this is a much misunderstood topic - and despite what we are told over and over by functional medicine doctors - many of whom are not actually doctors or have PhD's in anything - in the most recent high quality studies using gold standard methods of physical aspiration from inside the gut (not stool) and performing sequencing on that - taking probiotics alongside antibiotics has actually been demonstrated to dramatically extend the time taken to recover the microbiome to its pre abx state.
in addition the very few species of bacteria available today as probiotics represent somewhere between 0.1 and 1% of the species in a normal gut microbiome - so they are simply a drop in the ocean
of course the probiotic manufacturers do not advertise this - they like to give you the idea that you can wipe out your gut microbiome with abx then simply take their product and hey presto - you are back to where you were again - and through relentless advertising and self promotion this "fact" has entered the public consciousness.
in reality it is much, much more complex than this - its an entire ecosystem in there - one that effected by what you eat - but also by the entire environment in which it exists - ie your body and its lifestyle - and the outside world
no one knowns how to cultivate the vast majority of these microbes in the lab in order to study them - and therefore no one knows what the majority of them do - let alone how to give them as a probiotic - in fact until the last year or so more than 50% of species were completely unknown - they were the dark matter in the gut - no names - no functions - no information of what they were doing.
in reality what you put into your gut is the biggest predictor of microbial diversity - diversity in the diet equals diversity in the gut microbiome - especially when it comes to different types of fibre and starches and polyphenols. simply put - there are no pills or probiotics that can substitute for a lack of diversity in the diet
in lyme and co - the gut is inflamed - the whole system is inflamed - an inflamed gut biases the microbiome towards more inflammatory and pathogenic gut bacteria. this inflammation and reactivity often limits wheat we can eat and may cause us to have restricted diets. blood flow to the gut is likely inhibited - the gut brain axis is likely disturbed and as a result the microbiome is likely disturbed also
in this context its probably just a matter of eating as healthily as you can / your gut will tolerate while you go through treatment - and focus on rebuilding your microbiome afterwards