Slow Digestion Is Good? A Symptom Of Antibiotics

lvysaur

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I recently took antibiotics for the first time (amoxicillin) and the effect has been extremely positive.

One of the main improvements was hunger. My hunger is much deeper and more consistent.

Another thing I noticed is that my bowel frequency decreased. Instead of once a day, it became once every 2-3 days.

This got me thinking: Antibiotics kill bacteria, and bacteria produce gas, so less bacteria = less gut motility. Less gut motility = food stays in the same place for longer = more complete digestion = less food for bacteria

It's a positive feedback loop.

I make this post because it has been 5 weeks since I ended my 1 week course of antibiotics, and I still feel those effects from time to time.
 
T

TheBeard

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Hi Ivysaur,

Thanks for your feedback on antibiotics, that's a topic that I'm very interested in.
Your theory makes sense and matches statements Haidut has made, and goes against the main medical dogma that says there needs to be great motility so I would say it's true.

The only comment I would have made is: I would have personnaly at least doubled that antibiotic course duration to make sure any resistant/pathogenic bacteria is completely knocked out and doesn't surface upon stopping.

I always at least double the antibiotic duration recomandation for that reason, and also because SIBO is way harder to kill than peripheric tissue bacteria that these antibiotics are designed to kill.
 

gaze

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Generally, having a bowel movement once every 2-3 days is a bad sign. It could theoretically be ok cause it could be a sign of lowered serotonin, but once serotonin is lowered you need to start relying on thyroid, coffee, mushrooms/carrots to have bowel movements frequently, at the very least once a day
 

nikotrope

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Personally, I started to have slower digestion when I stopped foods that were irritating, probably by not being fully digested. I don't think it's because of fewer bacteria but just less inflammation and less serotonin.

I still have one movement a day (down from 2-3 per day). Once every 2-3 days seems too low.
 

yerrag

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Those are not good signs in my book.

Longer transit times for food means more opportunity for bacteria to multiply in the gut. Hunger shouldn't happen in between meals, or even in a day fast, when blood sugar is well-regulated such that the blood sugar stays within a good range, on a certain normal value, throughout the day.

I took doxy for two weeks daily at 100 mg, followed by co-amoxiclav at 625mg/day for a week, then followed by 7 weeks of Zithromax at 3 x500mg/week. At the end of it, I still maintained a daily rate of bowel movement, even at times increasing to twice a day. The improvement I saw was that I was getting ghost wipes very often. It made me realize that my therapeutic magnesium therapy that I had done before was paying off. I'm not relying on serotoninin to drive bowel movement. I'm relying on peristalsis to move bowels. The peristalsis is driven by the regular contraction and expansion gut muscles that cause the movement of fecal matter through the large intestines on to the anus. The magnesium gives me energy for that.

I don't know though why you would feel hungry after the antibiotics. Perhaps the antibiotics improved the rate of assimilation of digested macronutrients and this is increased rate of sugar assimilation is overwhelming your body's ability to absorb and metabolize the blood sugar? This could lead to blood sugar increasing and causing an insulin response that lowers your blood sugar to the point that it will make you feel hungry. You may have to adjust your food intake. Like adding some more fat to slow down digestion of carbs, or add protein to provide additional potassium to improve blood sugar absorption. Or increase ratio of complex carbs to simple sugar. Or add some carbs with fiber such as brown rice instead of white etc. Note that I'm not advocating replacing sugar with fats. The use of some fats is to slow down the digestion of carbs.
 

yerrag

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@Ivysaur

When you use antibiotics, you lower gut bacteria and you lower the serotogenic activity in the gut.

Peripheral activity

The majority of serotonin (95%) is produced and used in the enteric tract.¹³ In this capacity, it plays two roles: the autacoid of πΣ*, and an enteric hormone of the ENS. As an autacoid, it prolongs the general duration of πΣ activity by delaying the release of NA from sympathetic nerve fibers.¹⁴ As an enteric hormone, it regulates the motricity of the bowel, the rate of absorption of glucose from the small intestine, and delays the activity of insulin.¹³ This peripheral activity supports the central role of serotonin as an analogue of πΣ for the diffusion of glucose. This endocrine activity dovetails with that of its role as an autacoid. As an autacoid, it improves the local efficiency of parasympathetic activity to stimulate the rate of function of the annexal glands: (1) Exocrine pancreas: secretion of enzymes that break down carbohydrates, (2) Endocrine pancreas: (a) Glucagon: formation of glucose as glycogen, (b) Insulin: penetration of glucose into cells, (3) Liver: storage of glycogen.¹³ As a peripheral hormone, enteric serotonin has complimentary actions. Within the small intestines, it affects the rate of absorption of glucose and general motricity of the intestines.¹³, ¹⁵ Globally, it acts to delays the activity of insulin to favor central consumption of glucose, of which central serotonin facilitates its diffusion.

*parasympathetic system

Read The Theory of Endobiogeny Online by Kamyar M. Hedayat and Jean-Claude Lapraz | Books p.154
 
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You are producing less poop, because you trimmed down the amount of bacterial mass, thus reducing their capacity to replicate from baseline and to produce bulk. I believe this is a positive thing.
 

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