[miek]

I just wrote my story in a comment. The was same was true for me when I traveled to Japan. I couldn't go near gluten for 3 years. I went to a digestive disease research center and was cured in a couple of visits with special antibiotics that target the digestive tract. If you haven't tried that route, it may be worth looking into.

[a_f]

Do you mind sharing where and how you determined the antibiotic regime/dosage you used? If allowed. Did you just look up the general regime for those drugs or did you tailor it? How did you go about repopulating your gut flora post treatment - ensuring that you didn't reintroduce bad bacteria?

[miek]

The doctor decided the dosage. Regarding repopulating gut flora: That is such a poorly understood topic. The more you read, the more you scratch your head.

After my first treatment, I made yogurt with special starters that contained specific strains of bacteria based on those suggested by the SCD (Simple Carbohydrate Diet). The next time I took a round of antibiotics, which was after symptoms returned a year later, I didn't do anything special to repopulate flora. My symptoms did not return for 1.5 years.

I tend to believe that eating probiotic-containing foods is generally a good thing. It's best if you ferment your own foods, because the bacteria counts are typically much higher compared with store-bought products. Sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, water kefir, ginger bug, and others are incredibly simple to make.

That said, the various common strains of bacteria are debated and their effect on existing flora is not yet well understood. It's possible that some fermented foods could be bad for some people. Hopefully one day the medical community will have a good grasp on how to effectively prescribe fecal transplants!

[a_f]

I honestly believe that fecal transplants are the way forward; using the macro (a healthy fecal culture) to solve the micro (which strains are good vs bad). There has been evidence to suggest that both body weight and athleticism are impacted by gut flora. Thanks