Is there any good research for dealing with biofilms inside the body? I know Acne and dental plaque are well known as is some links with arterial diseases, but I have not heard of much outside of that.
very anecdotal/personal and speculative. I was a SIBO sufferer for years. GP didn't really have a clue what it is. I thought candida, tried diet, remedies - with very moderate temporary success. Got actually diagnosed with SIBO - by breath test - only few months back. The GE was very pessimistic and skeptical about my prospects of getting rid of it. First round of antibiotic (Xifaxan) - very mild improvement (may be 30% based on a major symptom - gas generation). I pressed the GE for another round of some other antibiotic. With one more lecture on low chances to cure, he gave me another, a wide spectrum one - amoxicillin. This time it hardly budged a needle.
So, what to do? I remembered reading some research which connected the cases of low antibiotic efficiency with bacteria organization into biofilms. Given that both - Xifaxan, which acts mainly in the internal space of the intestine, and the amoxicillin, which acts from the blood, ie. from the inside of intestinal wall, didn't work well, it suggested to me that the bacteria is probably biofilmed upon and inside the mucous layer. So basically i needed to scrub clean the surface of my intestines. High skilled yoga practitioners do self-cleaning by chewing on a length of cloth and passing it that way through the body - well, now i understood why they would do it :) Not having yoga skills and thinking engineering way - i needed something like a laxative which would be sucking the water through and off the intestinal walls (i.e. washing the biofilms/colonies off the walls and down) and would start doing it right in the upper small intestine (the breath test shown that i had the bacterial overgrowth starting in the upper small intestine). The first Google search brought it right away - salt water flush. Once i saw it, i didn't even have the patience to go to store for the recommended pink Himalayan salt as it was pretty obvious that salt(ie. NaCl) itself is the key here as the salt acts exactly the way i needed. I just rushed to the kitchen (i got so tired of SIBO for all those years) and used the regular one. 3 hours later the effect on the SIBO was stronger than that from a round of antibiotic. That week i repeated it 4 more times (with the recommended pink Hymalayan salt as actually it tastes better :). For several weeks after - 1-2 times/week. Last week didn't have to do it at all. SIBO is known to have high return rate, and i'm absolutely not bothered by it as the procedure can easily be repeated if/when it becomes needed and not that bacteria can develop resistance to it.
Don't have anything near this bad, but anecdotally I've felt alot better/cleaner less 'clogged' stomach wise after drinking lemon water (like 1oz lemon juice+water, no sugar) regularly and eating pickles - I had a similar 'cleaning the gut' theory.
oh, yes, acidic stuff, like vinegar dressed salads and straight supplementation with HCl (stomach acid), have helped me to somewhat soothe the condition during those years. From what i read, my understanding is that in normally healthy gut the "good" bacteria do maintain slightly acidic environment which prevents the "bad" bacteria overpopulation and biofilm formation.
So, what to do? I remembered reading some research which connected the cases of low antibiotic efficiency with bacteria organization into biofilms. Given that both - Xifaxan, which acts mainly in the internal space of the intestine, and the amoxicillin, which acts from the blood, ie. from the inside of intestinal wall, didn't work well, it suggested to me that the bacteria is probably biofilmed upon and inside the mucous layer. So basically i needed to scrub clean the surface of my intestines. High skilled yoga practitioners do self-cleaning by chewing on a length of cloth and passing it that way through the body - well, now i understood why they would do it :) Not having yoga skills and thinking engineering way - i needed something like a laxative which would be sucking the water through and off the intestinal walls (i.e. washing the biofilms/colonies off the walls and down) and would start doing it right in the upper small intestine (the breath test shown that i had the bacterial overgrowth starting in the upper small intestine). The first Google search brought it right away - salt water flush. Once i saw it, i didn't even have the patience to go to store for the recommended pink Himalayan salt as it was pretty obvious that salt(ie. NaCl) itself is the key here as the salt acts exactly the way i needed. I just rushed to the kitchen (i got so tired of SIBO for all those years) and used the regular one. 3 hours later the effect on the SIBO was stronger than that from a round of antibiotic. That week i repeated it 4 more times (with the recommended pink Hymalayan salt as actually it tastes better :). For several weeks after - 1-2 times/week. Last week didn't have to do it at all. SIBO is known to have high return rate, and i'm absolutely not bothered by it as the procedure can easily be repeated if/when it becomes needed and not that bacteria can develop resistance to it.