I’ve been told I have a lot of this stuff in my gut. My naturopath says it’s very difficult to get rid of. Wondering if anyone else has dealt with it. Apparently it’s a parasite of some description. It was discovered through a very expensive poo test. I also found out that my gut is low on diversity. Woe is me. 🙂

This is a controversial issue in medical circles, however I believe this bug does not cause disease and doesn’t need to be “gotten rid of”. It should not be treated with antibiotics. The reason it is being found more in people’s guts these days is only because new tests can detect it more easily. As for your low diversity, Michael Mosely’s book offers lots of advice on how to improve that :-).

Have you had a gastroenterologist/ other doctor diagnose this, or advise whether treatment is required? Expensive tests are only useful if the results are correctly interpreted.

yes I have suffered from eczema on my hands and recently saw a naturopath who found blastocystis hominis am currently taking 3 types of anitibiotics for 10 days

Anyone have or herd of eczema dyshidrotic?? I suffer from sever dyshidrotic eczema on my hands

There is growing evidence that dysbiosis is linked to a variety of inflammatory skin conditions. There was an episode of trust me i’m a doctor which discussed it. Take a look at the BBC Trust Me website

Hi Jay165: I have several skin conditions linked to a faulty skin barrier/ inflammation (but not dishydrosis). Did far too much geeky research!

I don’t have any known food allergies, mild dust allergy, mild other topical allergies, hayfever and asthma in close family.

For me intake of oily fish/ long chain omega-3s/ vitamin D is relevant to overall skin health and hydration. I eat and supplement *with GP approval*.

Jay165: but my biggest breakthrough was identifying and eliminating ingredients in cosmetics/ personal hygiene/ home hygiene products that triggered or worsened flare ups. Consider water itself, bubbles/ residues, the briefest contact even rinsed well.

I avoid:

Over wetting or soaking the skin, as weakens the barrier function (gloves when doing all chores, severely limit length or frequency of showers, not always washing hands!).

Cut out all anionic surfactants (in most foaming products, but hidden in aqueous cream, some hair dyes, toothpaste). Shampoo bubbles were the trigger for my large elbow patch of atopic eczema! Now use Simple Refreshing Facial Wash for body and hands (carry a mini tube). Conditioner only wash rather than shampoo hair.

Drying alcohol and fragrances where possible (known irritants/ allergens).

Hi Jay165 good suggestions made here. Obvious question – have you seen a dermatologist? You might find this interesting as well:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/45yhBTSM3x9H6lDZqmHNzCy/could-enzymes-called-endolysins-ease-eczema-symptoms-and-offer-an-alternative-to-antibiotics

BW

Graham

Hi guys thank you for your reply’s yes I have seen 4 dermatologists and they said they could not help me and gave me steroid cream diprosone ov which I applied heavily for three years. I have stopped now and am seeing a naturopath. am now taking the 3 antibotics to rid the blastocystis hominis before I start to reset my stomach. I have also an appointment with Dr. Antony Wettstein at the CDD coming up soon. Most people I have talked to with this eczema say changing my diet with less stress is the best way which I have done with no result. Has anyone been able to buy the seaweed tablets dr pia was referring to in the my clever guts book?

I only use natural products. soap and shampoo moo goo

The Moo Goo products are not that natural. The cleansing agents are made by chemical reaction, they do not exist in nature.

True soap is highly alkaline: decimates the skin’s acid mantle and removes structural lipids. The saponified oils bear little resemblance to their parent oils. I would not even use that on healthy skin.

The shampoo is much better ingredients wise, depending on the pH and fragrant oil. But the blurb makes me wince.

Applying olive oil nightly may well have contributed to their test subject’s scalp problems. The main fatty acid (oleic acid) is the prime irritant in seborrhoeic dermatitis (greasy dandruff)! There are studies suggesting olive oil damages the skin barrier when applied topically.

Hi Tanya, have a look at http://www.badbugs.org. I was diagnosed with blastocystis homini last year and was successfully treated a couple of months ago with antibiotics. It is a nasty bug and quite difficult to get rid of, so the treatment is quite aggressive. But finally the symptoms are gone. Good luck!

I started being ill with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2011. My GP was not interested and so I spent a couple of years researching the condition. This took me to have a Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis which showed that I had a Blastocystis hominis infection which is known to be associated with chronic fatigue (which I think I picked up when on holiday in Switzerland) and dysbiosis. Again the GP wasn’t interested and after much research on line I took 1 tablespoon of diatomaceous earth daily for a year ( I didn’t want to take antibiotics because my gut bacteria were already messed up). I then had another stool analysis and found that the Blastocystis hominis had been eradicated but that my gut bacteria was still in a mess. That started me researching about the gut biome and how to improve it.

Hi Pearsey: Can you expand on what you mean by Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis? And are you fine now?? Regards Graham

Hi Graham, I had the comprehensive digestive stool analysis and parasitologist test (CDSAP)done privately by Genova Diagnostics via Smart Nutrition. You need to collect 3 poo samples over three days plus a sample for the parasitologist test. The results are quite complicated to understand but you are given a summary of the findings which are easier to understand but then I have a nursing background so maybe that helped. The results indicate the state of your digestive system, the amount and type of the gut bacteria. Although after reading the The Clever Guts book I now realise there are a lot more types than I was given in the results (5) but it did show that I had a very low amount of beneficial bacteria. The parasitologist test revealed the Blastocystis hominis. It is an expensive test but set me on the road to recovery, I now feel 99% cured – at my worst I had less energy than my 90 year old father. But it has taken 3 years of trial and error to get to this stage. The first step was to take the diamotaceous earth. For the past 2 years I have repeated the CDSAP annually which has shown that the Blastocystis hominis had been eradicated but that my gut bacteria is still messed up. Which is why I have read the Clever Guts book. I have also discovered that I am intolerant to gluten, potato and tomato and so have cut them out of my diet; I eat a primal diet: make my own yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut; take prebiotic and probiotic supplements and also sublingual B12 tablet twice a week. Sorry for the long reply but as you can see my road to recovery has been long.

Hi Pearsey how did you find out that you were intolerant to gluten, potato and tomato

Hi Pearsey: that’s interesting. I’m wondering based on what you say just how good the Genova report is and what its scientific basis is? Do they analysis the 16S rna of the entire bacterial genome ?

And of course the reporting and analysis is as important as the mapping?

Anyway the risk of cutting out more and more foods is that you serially reduce the diversity of the microbiota. I guess the logical thing to do in your case would be to follow the reset that Michael suggests towards the end of his book. I can also highly recommend The Diet Myth by Tim Spector

Good luck

Graham

Well I am a bit embarrassed to say this but I had one of those electrode intolerance tests done at a local health shop. I know they get terrible reviews but I felt desperate. It felt like mumbo jumbo but a few foods were identified, interestingly not wheat, and so I started omitting and then eating them again. I had already cut gluten out of my diet. When I reintroduced gluten I started to get terrible wind and bloating again, eating potato and tomato give me brain fog and fatigue about three hours after I have eaten them. I can’t recommend the intolerance test because I don’t understand how or even if it works but it encouraged me to find out my food intolerances and avoiding these foods has certainly improved my health.

Hi Graham, you are obviously much more clued up on this subject than me as I don’t understand your question. The 1st report identified: Benificial bacteria: Lactobacillus species – no growth
E Coli 4+
Bifedobacterium 2+
Additional Bacteria: gamma haemolytic Streptococcus 3+
Klebsiella pneumonia 1+

I think I did the reset in 2014 – 2015 when I ate a paleo diet which meant I avoided all the foods that are listed in the reset section of the book. My diet now is very nutritious but I didn’t understand about prebiotic foods and so have now started eating more of these foods.

Hi Pearsey you might want to take a look at this:

Anyway, Michael’s book is superb in my view and following it will take you a very long way. If all is then fine-and-dandy you are sorted. If not then the logical next step is to get your microbiome properly, scientifically, analysed together with the appropriate dietary and lifestyle advice..

All the best

Graham

Hi Pearsey, I searched the forum and found your posts. I have just come across ‘the clever guts diet’ book and hoping to help and recommend this for my sister who has been suffering from chronic fatigue since 2014. She has done a lot of testing and tried many things but has had no huge improvement. She has been bedridden for most of the time with very little energy, however recently has put on a huge amount of weight (approx 20kg within a year) and now has other health associated issues. Can you let me know how you have managed to get on top of your chronic fatigue and if the diets have helped you? Thanks!

Hi Sister4,
My first steps to recovering from Chronic Fatigue started after I read Dr. Sarah Myhill’s book on treating CFS. I followed many of her recommendations. She advised eating a paleo diet as her patients seemed to improve when on it. So for a year I ate a strict paleo diet and then slowly started reintroducing different foods. I also started eating probiotic food like homemade kefir, sauerkraut and yogurt. I also started taking a probiotic supplement which contained many different bacteria including soil bacteria. Dr Mosley also recommends prebiotic foods and I now take Inulin every day. I can now eat most food except raw tomato which gives me brain fog and fatigue about 2 hours after eating it and gluten which gives me digestive problems. However, I still avoid high carbohydrate foods like potatoes, rice and of course bread and pasta and eat very little processed food. When I first went on the Paleo diet I lost 13lbs in weight, which was a lot for me as I am only 4ft 10’ tall. Now my weight is steady at 7st 11lbs.
However, the problem with CFS is that it is probably caused by many different things and so what works for one person may not work for another. I believe my CFS was caused by Blastocystis Hominis (which I think I got in Switzerland as I started being ill a month after the holiday). This severely affected my gut bacteria and so changing my diet (along with taking Diatomaceous Earth to eradicate the parasite) was instrumental in me getting better. All I can say is that if nothing else has helped your sister then it is worth giving the clever guts diet a try. Once you get your head round the new way of eating you will realise that it a very nutritious and satisfying diet. I can’t see me ever returning to my old way of eating.

Hi Pearsey,
Thanks so much for the additional information. With your change in diet approximately how long did it take to see an improvement in your energy levels? Did you increase your movement activities gradually – I will try and get Dr Sarah Myhill’s book and see her what her recommendations are. Realise everyone is affected differently and will improve with different remedies also but its good to know someone who has been in a similar situation and had success following these recommendations. Are you back to your normal routine now? Hopefully my sister is open to the idea and will herself communicate through the forum for some support when trying this program. Could she get in touch with you also? Really appreciate your reply so thank you.

Hi Sister4
It is hard to remember the exact details but I think I started to feel an improvement after a couple of months and felt better after about a year. I did not increase my activities gradually but found that I was able to do more as my health improved. I know that some of the medical profession thinks that graded exercise helps a sufferer of CFS to get better but when I was ill I found that trying to do a little bit more each week just set me back and made my fatigue worse. I would pace myself and would make sure that I allowed plenty of rest time.
I am back to a normal routine now. I do not have as much energy as before I was ill but I am 8 years older and now 62 so that is understandable! I can look after (with my husband’s help) my two toddler grandchildren two days a week. I can go on a 6 mile walk with the dog. I can meet up with my friends and spend 3 hours chatting. I don’t think I could work full time (luckily I could take early retirement when I became ill) as I still need days when I am not as busy.
I would be very happy to discuss things with your sister when she feels up to it.