@yerrag
PCR will allow you to see the anaerobic bacteria present in the stool as well as test for some fungi and parasites that you may miss with traditional methods. Its basically comparing a color picture to black and white. Its not perfect, still in 2D but a step better. Most bacteria in the colon, if I’m not mistaken are anaerobic in nature.
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Ssperate from my response from yerrag, I would like to weigh in on the hairloss issue and mention that I think it is mainly a bacterial endotoxin issue, especially for guys losing hair at a young age. Although n=1, I’ve tracked my meal timing and my bowel habits and found that if I eat something that disagrees with me, such as a starch, when it reaches a particular spot in my colon (which I can feel), I get hot flashes, rashes, the scalp itch, cold hands and feet, disturbed mood and i sweat profusely from under my arms. Not too mention mild bloating and discomfort as well. This happens only at one particular spot in my colon and a little longer than 24 hours after the offending meal. The symptoms are consistent with histamine, adrenaline and serotonin. When nothing offending is in that area I usually feel great and have no itch or scalp hairloss. If I put this in peats context and then I add in the stool test results of klebsiella overgrowth as mentioned in the response to yerrag, I think a latent intestinal infection makes alot of sense as a root cause. The infective process will chronically elevate cortisol, estrogen, serotonin, prolactin, histamine and adrenaline while turning off androgens and thyroid function. If I’m not mistaken PCOS in women is associated with a higher endotoxin load and is considered an analogous situation to male pattern baldness.
Besides this, in reality the only things that seem to realistically go wrong with the human body or could be considered the main insults are (besides something like blunt force trauma such as getting hit by a car):
1) infection
2) nutrient deficiency
3) toxic exposure
4) Chronic stress
If 1-3 are non-issues I would say #4 would be not as big an issue overall leaving infection, toxic exposure and nutrient deficiency as the main issues to tackle with most peoples health. Solutions: eliminate infections, provide adequate nutrients, stop exposing yourself to as many toxins as you can.
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Having gone through years of latent chronic bacterial infection, and only recently learning of it, I appreciate very much your sharing of your experience and observations as they are very useful, with you having experienced the journey and discovering valuable lessons first-hand from it.
You nailed the four points spot on. In and of themselves, each point has its own set of challenges. Two of them together makes it more complicated, and all together is a real big mess. This is what makes healing very difficult, especially when one is healing oneself. One has to have very good troubleshooting skills, patience, and has to have discipline, as well as time. But the alternative is even more difficult - finding a suitable doctor to work with you. And if you do find one, it would be costly.
I'll see if I could get a stool test, with culture, sensitivity, and PCR. It would be interesting to find out what I carry. I know long ago, in grade school, a tape worm came out of me during recess. Glad no one saw it, else I would have been a laughing stock (perhaps I'm stronger because of it, who knows?) Am pretty sure there are many smaller critters in my gut, for good or for bad. Maybe it's by now become a good healthy mix, with good balance. If not, then it would be something to work on. It's easier once I know what I'm up against, instead of groping in the dark.
In my koi hobby, I learn a few things about the bacteria in a fish pond. There are aerobes and anaerobes, and there are obligate and facultative anaerobes. And among the anaerobes, there are those that ferment, and those that lead to putrefaction. And there are bacteria I put in the pond to remove algae, which is also bacteria. To remove the algae from the pond, the good bacteria kill the algae by competitive exclusion, which means it eats the food the algae feeds on, leaving the algae to die from being deprived of food. And then there's bacteria that converts fish waste, ammonia, into nitrites, and then another bacteria that converts nitrites into nitrates, in the process converting a toxic substance, ammonia, into something much less toxic, nitrates. And since nitrates can accumulate over time, one can end up with a pond that has a high concentration of nitrates, which isn't ideal for the koi's development. So one can change the media in which a facultative anaerobe works in, such that the facultative anaerobe is forced to act as an anaerobe, in an anoxic (very little oxygen) environment, such that it's forced to break down nitrates in order to obtain the oxygen, thus releasing nitrogen into the air, and freeing the pond of nitrates.
The world of bacteria in our gut is also as interesting, if not more. You mentioned that it's the gram-negative bacteria that produces endotoxins, not the gram-positive. So it made me wonder if I should look at the probiotics being sold to see if there's anything that's gram-negative there. I imagine there wouldn't be. They're mostly the lactobacillus type, and they're fermentative anaerobes. So I imagine they wouldn't be producing endotoxins. So can they be considered rightly to be good bacteria? Or maybe because they ferment and produce lactic acid, too much of them wouldn't be good either?
This forum is very much divided in opinion regarding the idea of a sterile gut, and I know both you and I agree that it would be hard to maintain a really sterile gut. And we see it more as a "relatively" sterile gut that would be helpful, but that's just a very imperfect way of describing it subject to many interpretations. I see a healthy microbiome to be one entity in our gut that collectively strengthens our immunity where we are in a symbiotic relationship with. And I see the microbiome as consisting of as many kinds of bacteria, with the idea that the more kinds of bacteria, the wider our arsenal to deal with invaders that have gone past the mucous linings and wanting to enter the body. So, for me, there really is no bad bacteria ( ala Lavoisier vs Pasteur) as long as any bacteria doesn't dominate over the others. And this is what I consider balance. However, our gut is a limited space and domicile, and so it's important that the bacteria don't become too much that it overwhelms the gut. So, this is where I think taking antibiotics help. A wide-spectrum antibiotic will trim down the population of bacteria across the board, such that what's left behind is enough for the gut and the microbiome to interact in a mutually beneficial way. This is what I consider a "relatively" sterile gut.
What's your take on what a relatively sterile gut is?