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Showing posts from March, 2021

BNR17: the Mother Lion of Microbes

Hazards have been lurking where I never expected them. A chipped fuse on a pressure cooker last week, and last night, navy bean soup and probiotics.  The new fuse on my pressure cooker held out despite my apprehensions: it looked a little different from the old one and maybe it was cheap junk that would blow out and let hot soup spray me while I washed the dishes. But the fuse held and I had a wonderful dinner of navy bean soup. Later, though, I was thirsty and my potassium was low.  Then the trouble started at 4:00 this morning. I woke up hot and jittery with diarrhea and spent a rough day at work. I've also been having what feels like  sleep paralysis , but while I'm wide awake. The problem has to be bacteria--beans are full of prebiotics that bacteria love to eat. Dr. Davis said based on some similar reactions to SIBO yogurt, I'm probably having a die-off reaction from BNR17, one of the ingredients in SIBO yogurt and in the Synbiotic 365 I started taking a few months ago

Quarantined Again

 March found me back in quarantine, as it did last year. This time, it wasn't a bad cold, but a three-week case of diarrhea. Pepto Bismol, Candibactin BR, black seeds (nigella), NAC, thyroid medication and probiotics did nothing; a jar of kimchi made it a lot worse. So I went to urgent care, where the doctor prescribed a stool test for C. difficile and other nasties that will make you extremely ill. C. diff is so toxic that my employer advised me to stay home until results were in. Of course, I didn't want to infect others, so I quarantined myself...again. I'm even working on my computer in the sunshine as I did last year. I forgot that it's hard to see the screen.   Photo from pixabay.com All the test results were negative, so I'm still trying to figure out why I have diarrhea. Hypotheses include too much B vitamins and too much gut bacteria. It all started shortly after beginning a new probiotic and re-starting thyroid medication (25 mg). As I mentioned, I took