Healing the Gut Tribe-February - Page 9

[bluets]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

I don't know how to tell with most supplements how much you really need, but vitamin C and magnesium will both cause diarrhea if you take more than you need, so that's how I can tell with those two.

Leg cramps tend to signal either a calcium deficiency or a magnesium deficiency. Since most people are more deficient in magnesium than calcium, I'd try a magnesium supplement first. Maybe figure out what your bowel tolerance dose is and then make your daily dose a bit less than that.

it will likely take a few weeks of daily doses to re-saturate your tissues. after that, you may be able to back off a daily dose (that is, not take a daily dose - more like on an as needed basis).

[PapayaVagina]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

I would recommend Solaray BabyLife--it's a dairy-free bifidus infantis only probiotic (an EBF baby should only get bifidus infantis). Get it from www.iherb.com if you can't find it locally, or get a bifidus infantis only probiotic from www.customprobiotics.com. They are very pricey initially but long-term are much cheaper than other probiotics as you can give high doses (50+ billion CFU's) for the same price as 6-12 billion CFU's a day of the HFS ones. If you call and tell them it is for an infant they'll sell you 25 grams instead of 50. If I had to do all this gut healing over again I would have started my DD on those as soon as I realized she had gut issues (at 3 months old) and maybe she wouldn't be allergic to so many foods now. (I didn't find a dairy-free probiotic until she was 8 months old, and although it helped her, I think super strong probiotics at a younger age would have done a lot more for her.)

Other than that, an elimination diet is a good bet IMO...you could just eliminate the top 8 allergens before doing a TED if you want as it'd probably be a bit easier on you. Anything you can do to help heal your gut will help as well--do you have any symptoms of yeast overgrowth or gut problems yourself?

Great! I will get some right away. I think that my local HFS has the Solaray. I am always battling yeast it seems but haven't had any issues postpartum, which is shocking since I had gargantuan amounts of antibiotics due to a uterine infection postpartum. No gut problems. I did start taking a probiotic that I just happened to have around until I get the better stuff

Is this and diet the only thing that I can do while she is exclusively breastfed? I looked through the sticky but all of the links for MDC don't work anymore . I'm wondering about cod liver oil for myself? I have a loooooong history of food allergies including oral allergy syndrome and allergies to sulfites and msg and of course am wanting to try and give dd the best chance that I can to avoid those.

Are there any pain relievers that I can give her that will not cause problems with her gut? Homeopathy just isn't helping for her most of the time for her teething issues (it is always the first thing that I grab but sometimes she just needs more).

[bluets]

Originally Posted by PapayaVagina

I looked through the sticky but all of the links for MDC don't work anymore .

what do you mean they don't work? i just checked them all and they work for me.

[PapayaVagina]

Originally Posted by bluets

what do you mean they don't work? i just checked them all and they work for me.

I can't get any of the MDC links to work for me. The others one do but none here on MDC

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by PapayaVagina

I can't get any of the MDC links to work for me. The others one do but none here on MDC

They're working for me too...were you logged in when you tried to access the links? If not that's probably the problem.

[PapayaVagina]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

They're working for me too...were you logged in when you tried to access the links? If not that's probably the problem.

Yeah I was. They didn't work for me all that day when I tried several times but all of a sudden are working for me this morning off and on. Weird. Yay! Now I can look up all of the great stuff in there

[mum2be]

Called the guy at Custom Probiotics. He said they were all human derived

Also, he told me NOT to give dd her probiotics by sticking my finger in the jar and letting her suck them off. He said that was a definite "no-no!" My ND told me that's how I should give them to her. So that's good to know.

Looks like I will be ordering 2 bottles from him tomorrow. I really hope these help because they are SOOOOO expensive.

For all of you who take these, how long does 50 grams last if both myself and dd are taking them?

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by mum2be

Called the guy at Custom Probiotics. He said they were all human derived

Also, he told me NOT to give dd her probiotics by sticking my finger in the jar and letting her suck them off. He said that was a definite "no-no!" My ND told me that's how I should give them to her. So that's good to know.

Looks like I will be ordering 2 bottles from him tomorrow. I really hope these help because they are SOOOOO expensive.

For all of you who take these, how long does 50 grams last if both myself and dd are taking them?

Was it the sucking them off a finger he had a problem with or sticking your finger in the jar? I give them to my DD by measuring them out onto a spoon and then sticking my finger in the powder on the spoon.

What did he recommend for your DD?

How long they'll last depend on the dosage. I give my DD 100 billion CFU's a day (4 baby scoops) and 50 grams would last roughly 4 months.

[mum2be]

caedmyn-he recommended the B.infatis blend for dd and myself, as well as the capsules for me to alternate. I guess it must be sticking my finger in the jar that isn't good, because he said I could either give it to her in water or put it on my boob So if it's just the finger problem, I would guess he would have a problem with the boob too...kwim?



Soooo.....I have LOTS of questions as I've been doing a ton of reading lately. If I get too annoying just let me know

-After looking at the custom probiotics, I came across this on the pecanbread.com website:

Elaine wote:"I would only go for 3 billion a day to start with - divide the doze: am. and pm." [This means 1.5 billion dose to be given twice a day].

Start slowly with the acidophilus. You don't want more than 3 billion divided over a day when you first start. As your child gets used to this amount of probiotic, you may gradually increase it up to 9 billion cfu per day.

So that would be pretty much impossible with the custom probiotics, right? I'm already taking about 9 billion cfu per day (probably more actually). I'm thinking about getting into the SCD, as my diet now is probably not all that good for me because of how restricted it is.

If the stool sample I sent to the labs on Monday comes back saying I have a bacteria problem that is causing my leaky gut, will the SCD be good for me?

I've read conflicting things on MDC about eating your allergens while tryign to heal the gut. Some say that it's okay because it's not the allergens that are causing the leaky gut, and as long as the gut is healing, the allergies will go away. But eating them doesn't hinder the process? You see, some of my allergens and the ones dd reacts to are on the SCD.

So here is my plan as of yet. Could you tell me if this is good or not?:

-get IgG testing done to see what my allergens are (had IgE testing done 9 months ago, so I think it's time to see what's up now)
-get a mineral supplement
-Custom Probiotics for me and dd
-get nutrient elemental test done at Metametric Labs as well as an amino acid profile

Does that sound like a good start?

I hate to start taking supplement after supplement until I'm consuming like 40+ pills a day. I'd rather get my nutrients through my diet, but my diet would have to be slightly more expanded to do that So right now I take about 8 different supplements.

What books would you recommend I get? Breaking the vicious cycle? what else?

Okay, enough for now. My head feels like it's going to EXPLODE from all this reading...

[APmomma]

diverticulitis??

So after dealing with all of my son's gut issues and finally getting to a place where he seems to be doing well, I end up in the ER with diverticulitis. I am on an antibiotic but I cut the dose in half because I want to give my little guy a break! Could his issues be at all related to this?? I am wondering if this happened to me because of the limited diet I have been on due to his issues. They were shocked at the ER because I am only 26 years old and the dr said it usually happens in older people.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this??

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by mum2be

caedmyn-he recommended the B.infatis blend for dd and myself, as well as the capsules for me to alternate. I guess it must be sticking my finger in the jar that isn't good, because he said I could either give it to her in water or put it on my boob So if it's just the finger problem, I would guess he would have a problem with the boob too...kwim?



Soooo.....I have LOTS of questions as I've been doing a ton of reading lately. If I get too annoying just let me know

-After looking at the custom probiotics, I came across this on the pecanbread.com website:


So that would be pretty much impossible with the custom probiotics, right? I'm already taking about 9 billion cfu per day (probably more actually). I'm thinking about getting into the SCD, as my diet now is probably not all that good for me because of how restricted it is.

If the stool sample I sent to the labs on Monday comes back saying I have a bacteria problem that is causing my leaky gut, will the SCD be good for me?

I've read conflicting things on MDC about eating your allergens while tryign to heal the gut. Some say that it's okay because it's not the allergens that are causing the leaky gut, and as long as the gut is healing, the allergies will go away. But eating them doesn't hinder the process? You see, some of my allergens and the ones dd reacts to are on the SCD.

So here is my plan as of yet. Could you tell me if this is good or not?:

-get IgG testing done to see what my allergens are (had IgE testing done 9 months ago, so I think it's time to see what's up now)
-get a mineral supplement
-Custom Probiotics for me and dd
-get nutrient elemental test done at Metametric Labs as well as an amino acid profile

Does that sound like a good start?

I hate to start taking supplement after supplement until I'm consuming like 40+ pills a day. I'd rather get my nutrients through my diet, but my diet would have to be slightly more expanded to do that So right now I take about 8 different supplements.

What books would you recommend I get? Breaking the vicious cycle? what else?

Okay, enough for now. My head feels like it's going to EXPLODE from all this reading...

The guy at custom probiotics recommended that I take the probiotics I'm giving DD, too, because they can/may pass through BM...but I don't see the point of spending extra money on probiotics so I can take them, too, when I can just give them to DD directly. So DD gets the custom probiotics and I do lacto-fermented foods and beverages.

IMO Elaine's advice on probiotics for the SCD isn't all that great. There's nothing wrong with starting at a lower dose of probiotics to ensure that you don't overwhelm your system with too much too soon, but 12 billion CFU's as a maximum dose is a pretty small amount. My DD gets 100 billion CFU's a day (not that they've helped any, but that's a different story!).

From reading people's stories on these thread, it seems like the SCD has really only helped people whose primary issues were digestive, like IBS. That's not to say it couldn't help you if you don't have major digestive issues, but I don't know how likely it is. Also, since your DD is very sensitive to so many foods, I personally would be very cautious about using any nuts or dairy on the SCD. I did the SCD for about three months--it didn't help DD at all, and she now reacts to nuts although I don't think she did at the time I was doing the SCD. I feel like she wouldn't react to nuts now if I hadn't eaten so many on the SCD. I can only think of one person on the HTG threads that healed while eating known allergens. For everyone else, it seems like significant healing doesn't take place until the allergens are eliminated (or in the case of JaneS' DS, rotated in a rotation diet).

I don't know how accurate IgG allergy testing is--I seem to recall reading that it's only around 70% accurate, and tends to reflect what you commonly eat more than things you actually react to. But I don't know if that information is correct or not. The probiotics and multi-mineral supplements sound like good ideas. What do you plan to do with the information from amino acid and nutrient elemental tests? If you're not already doing this, you might want to look into eating really nutrient dense foods like cod liver oil, liver, and bone broths, and doing something for liver support.

Two books I would recommend: Adelle Davis' Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit (more than you ever wanted to know about nutrition and disease), and Gale Force's Rebuild from Depression if she's still sending out electronic copies for previewing.

Okay, that's all I can think of right at the moment...HTH!

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by APmomma

So after dealing with all of my son's gut issues and finally getting to a place where he seems to be doing well, I end up in the ER with diverticulitis. I am on an antibiotic but I cut the dose in half because I want to give my little guy a break! Could his issues be at all related to this?? I am wondering if this happened to me because of the limited diet I have been on due to his issues. They were shocked at the ER because I am only 26 years old and the dr said it usually happens in older people.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this??

The diverticulitis is probably related to your son's issues sort of indirectly...as in, they're both indicators of general gut problems, if that makes sense. IMO the diverticulitis probably isn't related to your limited diet (unless the diet has caused big changes in your nutrient status) but just happened to show up now. My dad has diverticulitis...and he's had digestive issues for many years, so I'm sure the digestive issues eventually led to the diverticulitis. JMO, but if you're going to take the antibiotic you should probably take the full dose as they do recommend specific doses for a reason. I don't know that half the dose is really going to affect your DS much less than the full dose, anyway. You can just up both of your probiotic consumption to try to counteract the effects of the antibiotics.

[SAmama]

Hey mamas! I posted here before, but I mostly lurk and learn. Now I have a question. We are working on healing our guts (mine and dd's and dh's while we are at it) but I do have a hard time finding a probiotic that doesn't make dd's eczema flare up. The problem seems to be the fillers - maltodextrine or rice starch (we don't do wheat, corn or rice). That is if the probiotic itself isn't grown on dairy or soy Caedmyn, do you know what fillers custom probiotics have? I cannot access their website from here (China). I think I would want to get them, but I cannot spend the money if I just end up giving them away again. Also, why do you think are they not making a difference for your dd?
Do you have a phone number for them? And, last question, I would order it and have it sent to my MIL and then she would send it to us. Is that a possibility or does it need to be kept cool?
Thanks!

[Panserbjorne]

Custom's are initially grown on dairy and then cultured away from it. We are super sensitive to dairy and can only tolerate a couple of his strains. He doesn't culture infantis himself, and we reacted.

Caedmyn is right. Elaine wasn't all that up on the finer points of gut healing (supplements) I think it's fine to start higher.

We were able to heal while consuming IgG allergens to the point where they no longer react to those foods. I never attempted IgE allergens.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by SAmama

Hey mamas! I posted here before, but I mostly lurk and learn. Now I have a question. We are working on healing our guts (mine and dd's and dh's while we are at it) but I do have a hard time finding a probiotic that doesn't make dd's eczema flare up. The problem seems to be the fillers - maltodextrine or rice starch (we don't do wheat, corn or rice). That is if the probiotic itself isn't grown on dairy or soy Caedmyn, do you know what fillers custom probiotics have? I cannot access their website from here (China). I think I would want to get them, but I cannot spend the money if I just end up giving them away again. Also, why do you think are they not making a difference for your dd?
Do you have a phone number for them? And, last question, I would order it and have it sent to my MIL and then she would send it to us. Is that a possibility or does it need to be kept cool?
Thanks!

My DD used to have blood in her stools and that stopped within a week or two after I started giving her probiotics (I used a HFS brand at the time). So probiotics have helped her some, but I was hoping a super high dose with custom probiotics would help more, but I haven't seen any more improvement. But I'm still going to get them for her as I can give her a high dose of those for the same price as about 1/4 of the dose of a HFS brand.

They have no fillers. Here's the phone number:
[phone] I belive they do ship internationally but you would need to call and find out how it works. In the States they just send them 2nd day air and they are not refrigerated but I don't know how long they can go without being refrigerated.

[mum2be]

Originally Posted by firefaery

Custom's are initially grown on dairy and then cultured away from it. We are super sensitive to dairy and can only tolerate a couple of his strains. He doesn't culture infantis himself, and we reacted.

so if my dd reacts to dairy and would be taking the infantis, would she react to those??

[APmomma]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

The diverticulitis is probably related to your son's issues sort of indirectly...as in, they're both indicators of general gut problems, if that makes sense. IMO the diverticulitis probably isn't related to your limited diet (unless the diet has caused big changes in your nutrient status) but just happened to show up now. My dad has diverticulitis...and he's had digestive issues for many years, so I'm sure the digestive issues eventually led to the diverticulitis. JMO, but if you're going to take the antibiotic you should probably take the full dose as they do recommend specific doses for a reason. I don't know that half the dose is really going to affect your DS much less than the full dose, anyway. You can just up both of your probiotic consumption to try to counteract the effects of the antibiotics.

I have upped the probiotics but my son is really suffering. He was up every 45 minutes last night with abdominal discomfort. I feel so bad for him. I don't know what to do. If I stop the antibiotic, I am risking my own health-I do not want that stomach pain to come back or end up with surgery, but if I continue it, I have to watch my son suffer when we JUST got to a place where he was feeling really comfortable. If I call the ped, they are going to tell me to supplement until the meds are done. I just don't know what the heck to do here.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by APmomma

I have upped the probiotics but my son is really suffering. He was up every 45 minutes last night with abdominal discomfort. I feel so bad for him. I don't know what to do. If I stop the antibiotic, I am risking my own health-I do not want that stomach pain to come back or end up with surgery, but if I continue it, I have to watch my son suffer when we JUST got to a place where he was feeling really comfortable. If I call the ped, they are going to tell me to supplement until the meds are done. I just don't know what the heck to do here.

When did you up the probiotics? Probiotics can cause discomfort if you up the dose too quickly. Also, have you made any other dietary changes since you started the antibiotics that could be affecting him?

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by mum2be

so if my dd reacts to dairy and would be taking the infantis, would she react to those??

Only if she is extremely sensitive. My DD reacts to dairy and is fine with "dairy-free" probiotics like the custom probiotics or BabyLife. Firefaery's DS had a pretty severe reaction to ghee IIRC, which is generally well-tolerated by people who dairy allergies/intolerances, so he is very sensitive.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

Only if she is extremely sensitive. My DD reacts to dairy and is fine with "dairy-free" probiotics like the custom probiotics or BabyLife. Firefaery's DS had a pretty severe reaction to ghee IIRC, which is generally well-tolerated by people who dairy allergies/intolerances, so he is very sensitive.

Yup-we're very sensitive over here! He reacts if *I* take homeopathics. We have to special order. BUT the point is that some strains are cultured differently than others...if you can't tolerate one of theirs it doesn't mean that you wouldn't be able to tolerate others.