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. BNR17 has a strong antimicrobial effect. I knew die-off reactions from antibiotics and botanicals could be bad, but I thought probiotics were innocent babies. Heck, BNR17 is fed to innocent babies via breast milk. But we need to be careful with it.

BNR17: like a personal pack of lions. Photo from Pixabay.

BNR17 doesn't directly make you sick, it kills other bacteria (presumably ones that aren't supposed to be there) and the die-off of those bacteria can make you sick. Maybe the navy beans brought some bad bacteria out of spore mode and BNR17, the mother lion of gut bacteria, annihilated them.

Knowing this (or at least suspecting it), I'll be ready this weekend with activated charcoal if BNR17 goes on another rampage.

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