The case of the curious gut infection
A lovely woman in her 50s had suffered a series of severe lung infections that she had great difficulty managing without antibiotics. After a couple of years of dietary changes and regular herbal medicines, this had largely resolved and she then only experienced infrequent lung infections. These were managed successfully with herbs and nutrients.
Over the years, her health had remained relatively stable but, in the last six months, she had developed frequent and persistent gut infections — with nausea, minimal vomiting, severe diarrhoea and general malaise. These “attacks” lasted several weeks at a time (often after an initial dose of the fl u) and she seemed to get one infection after another. She had taken antibiotics a couple of times but with little symptom change and felt she had not corrected the underlying problem.
Her medical faecal examination showed no parasites, ova or cysts and major pathogens were not detected.
Her story was particularly interesting as there is research on the gut-lung axis, recognising that any alterations in the intestinal microbiome may have a profound eff ect on lung infections — and vice versa. The “crosstalk” between these two major organ systems had an obvious relevance to her previous (and current) symptoms.
To attempt to manage her gut, she had severely restricted her diet, eating only plain mashed potato, white toast, cooked apples and drinking clear fruit teas (for several weeks). This helped but she was now very anxious about introducing any other foods – and when she did, the severe diarrhoea was almost instantaneous. Her choices in foods were not necessarily the best, as her blood sugar was becoming unstable and she was craving sweets, so discussing diet was critical.
While this very restricted diet may have been managing her symptoms, it was not correcting the problem. The lack of protein and fibre was becoming critical (she was type O blood, which has a higher requirement for protein). She was advised to eat small amounts of easily digested protein, such as lightly cooked wild fish, while taking a protein-digesting enzyme at the end of each meal, and to gradually add in more low-reactive foods (asparagus, broccoli, oats etc). It was recommended she increase her prebiotic fi bres such as slippery elm and aloe vera to initiate gut-lining repair, as well as organic coconut kefi r for probiotics (avoiding dairy). She was also given an old remedy for diarrhoea — cooked apple and carob powder to be eaten regularly.
These measures did improve her symptoms markedly but as this had been going on for a long time, it was essential to determine the underlying causes. A faecal microbiology test with DNA analysis of the microbiome and included secondary metabolites, such as neurotransmitters and hormones, was recommended.
She waited until her diarrhoea had settled and the dietary suggestions were working, then ordered the recommended test. The results were very interesting.
While her overall measures were within normal range (a positive reflection of the dietary and herbal treatments she had been doing for many years) and there were no major pathogens, there were a couple of major (unexpected) issues. Her microbial diversity was lower than normal, but the main problem with her microbiome showed that while her Bifi dobacteria were on the higher end of normal range, the Lactobacillus component (a major probiotic for gut health) was undetectable. This was most unusual — partly because nearly all the probiotic formulas for many years have used Lactobacillus acidophilus as the primary probiotic (creating an imbalance with excessive acidophilus being more common).
She had been taking coconut kef r (irregularly) and while kefir has a wide range of probiotics including Lactobacilli, in this case, higher doses from specifi c supplementation were needed.
The recommendations then focused on increasing her prebiotic intake further to feed and support the growth of the correct microbiome (including Lactobacilli), and to repair the gut membrane integrity. Finding a probiotic formula with a high level of a variety of Lactobacilli and low levels of Bifi dobacteria to supplement (diffi cult to fi nd) was also advised. The appropriate supplement was found and on starting this program, her symptoms improved dramatically. Over time, the reduction in symptoms is persisting and she is continuing to feel much healthier and is very happy.
