Antibiotics & Probiotics

[Barefoot TJ]

Yes, it's me again Margaret.



Some of you may remember that I have been dealing with some weird inflammation-type symptoms for about a year and a half now, ever since I started taking Minocycline/Minocine antibiotics for Rosacea. I will never be that vain again! I'd rather have my baboon's ass red-face (as my precious hubby calls it; yes, he’s sweet!) than to go through what I've had to deal with for so long.



Although the antibiotic I took was a Tetracycline antibiotic and not Quinolone/Floroquinolone antibiotic, I reacted to them as if they were Quinolones. Quinolones are known for causing tendon and fascia ruptures and tears in athletes.



In the beginning, after taking the antibiotics for two weeks, I was in so much pain; my feet felt like the tissue was tearing from the bone with each step. I also developed a burning sensation in my arches that felt like a bad sunburn, inflammation and burning in my left wrist and arm into my chest, extremely tight calves, and the PF I developed from walking around on the balls of my feet after cryosurgery worsened. (The MRI and x-rays showed no rupture or tears. The Ortho thought perhaps it was just severe inflammation I was dealing with.)



After stopping the antibiotics, I started to improve but still dealt with these symptoms daily, and it seemed I would never get better.



After researching and reading and researching and reading I decided to try combating the pain I was having from taking the antibiotics by taking super high-doses of probiotics. About four to five months ago, I took 200 million flora probiotics per day for seven days (in powder form), then 100 million every day since. Within three to four months, the pain and all of those symptoms were gone.



Now I have been taking antibiotics again, a different Tetracycline called Doxycycline (known to be mild to me in the past) due to having surgery this past Friday, and seven days later, I am starting to have the sun burning sensation in my right foot again, and my left wrist is hurting. I had been taking 100 probiotics daily, but it seems the antibiotics, understandably, are wiping them out, even though I have been taking them at least two hours “after” taking the antibiotics as Dr. Mike suggested. So today, I started on the seven day regiment of 200 million again. I will let you all know how this pans out.



I was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this. Please share. I’m frustrated. I mean it’s enough that I have to deal with the MN, then recovery from the surgery for MN, but now this! When I thought I had put it behind me!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

About the probiotics, you

About the probiotics, you want to make sure you only purchase "living" probiotics. Probiotics are living organisms. They must be kept refrigerated in order to be kept alive, in order to have their full potency/efficacy. Go to your local herb shop and get them out of the fridge. When you buy the junk off the shelf at the pharmacy or your grocery store, it's ineffective because most of the organisms are dead by the time they get to you. The powder form of probiotics is the most effective. There just isn't enough in a serving of yogurt to even matter.

When I was having the sun burning feeling in my right foot's arch afte taking antibiotics, after all those many months of dealing with that, the only thing that got rid of it was the probiotics. It also helped to resolve my PF I had been dealing with after the cryosurgery where I was walking around on my heels for months after recovering.

I took the seven-day course of 200 billion:

Then I have been taking 100 billion (2 of these each day) per day since:

 

[jldeleon]

I love probiotics.  I can

I love probiotics. I can never remember to take them though, cuz they are in the fridge (I have top opening fridge) so I never notice them. I write myself a note, but then I get used to seeing the note, which results in not noticing it. They are expensive, so that's another reason to get the powder form as well. And don't do what I do, and buy a $50 bottle and then leave it in the 90 degree sun for an hour. BTW, it only takes about 30 minutes outside of the refrigerator for those suckers to die. I will try that brand you bought T.J.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

The pain always reminded me

The pain always reminded me to take them. Pain is a good reminder and never let me down.

What kind were you buying that were not powder that were so expensive? I find the powder kind (the kind I take) to be kind of expensive. Maybe not to others, just depends on what you are wanting to spend.

 

[jldeleon]

I don't remember, I got it

I don't remember, I got it from my naturopath, but he retired.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

What was it, if not powder?

What was it, if not powder?

 

[jldeleon]

Ohhhhhh, I get it...it was in

Ohhhhhh, I get it...it was in capsule form. Still powder. Just got to avoid the weird taste that way.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

For those reading and

For those reading and wondering, the powder kinda has this weird sweet taste, but it's really not bad at all. The seven-day course comes as seven packets with powder in them. You can either pour them on your tongue, like I do, or you can mix them in whatever you drink. The capsules are easy to swallow and have no taste.

Again, high-dose "live" probiotics are the best way to go.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Also, I wanted to add that

Also, I wanted to add that when I am on the probiotics, without the use of antibiotics (from the surgeries), my hair stopped shedding nearly 100%. (I used to shed a lot after having my first child.) I'm "regular." And my face is a little less red. (Remember, the whole reason I took the antibiotics in the first place was for baboon-ass face, er uh, rosacea.) Once this course of antibiotics gets out of my system, and the probiotics take over, I look forward to feeling so much better.

 

[jimwb]

TJ,How do probiotics help PF

TJ,

How do probiotics help PF and is it something that you need to keep taking indefinitely or do they build up in your digestive system after a while?

Jim

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Those are good questions. 

Those are good questions. All I know is my PF wasn't healing, no matter what I did, until after I had been on the probiotics for three to four months. The sunburn feeling was the first to subside, then the stepping pain that comes with PF. Now that I am back on antibiotics and trying to walk on two feet that recently had surgery, I can expect the PF problem will be reintroduced. I can already feel the sunburn feeling coming back, I'm sure due to the antibiotics. I am hopeful that it will resolve with continued probiotic use.

Oh, and I've said this before. When I took the antibiotics is when the PF got insane, and I couldn't walk. Then the sunburn feeling set in. I believe that when the antibiotics strip us of our good bacteria, it's like they remove the oil from us. The probiotics put it back. When I was having trouble walking through that time. I felt the fibers in my feet. My feet felt so hard, so dried up, like the tissues were being pulled from the bones. It felt like I had no lubrication in my feet. I don't know how else to describe it.

If you can cure your leaky gut, as most Americans probably have, then you wouldn't need probiotics. But as long as we keep drinking and eating dairy and wheat and other foods that cause inflammation then we will always need to balance our gut with good bacteria from probiotics. It's very difficult for people to do, since it takes a lot of time and research to figure out what causes their leaky gut. People are too busy for that, they don't want to change lifestyle or diet, and they just want a quick fix. I know I do. But I'm learning that being lazy will bite me in the hiney later.

 

[NickW]

Barefoot TJ wroteeople are

People are too busy for that, they don't want to change lifestyle or diet, and they just want a quick fix.

So I agreed with most of what you said until this part here. :smile: I think it's because I was lumped into this as I am a person, therefore part of the collective people. I really do want to eat healthy, but because I don't like most foods, when you start taking away some of the few things that I do eat my list of foods really dwindles. I wish I could like alot of the "healthy" stuff but alot of it makes me gag. I am a very meat and potatoes kind of guy and don't like most veggies. After a year in Afghanistan of eating one meal a day and eating whatever was served, whether I liked it or not, I now will not force myself to eat foods I don't like, no thanks. Now, I keep trying to find recipes from people that are healthy and more along the whole foods and not processed that I'll eat but that proves to be very difficult, at least when trying to keep enough variety in our meals to keep my wife happy. I was really hoping in that thread a while back about recipes that there would be more actual recipes in it.

***Edit*** Why did I get three smileys? I typed what it told me to?

 

[Barefoot TJ]

You know what I meant. 

You know what I meant. People, as in most people. And I was also disappointed that there weren't more recipes in that thread.

 

[jldeleon]

NickW wrote:Barefoot TJ

People are too busy for that, they don't want to change lifestyle or diet, and they just want a quick fix.

So I agreed with most of what you said until this part here :bigsmile: . I think it's because I was lumped into this as I am a person, therefore part of the collective people. I really do want to eat healthy, but because I don't like most foods, when you start taking away some of the few things that I do eat my list of foods really dwindles. I wish I could like alot of the "healthy" stuff but alot of it makes me gag. I am a very meat and potatoes kind of guy and don't like most veggies. After a year in Afghanistan of eating one meal a day and eating whatever was served, whether I liked it or not, I now will not force myself to eat foods I don't like, no thanks. Now, I keep trying to find recipes from people that are healthy and more along the whole foods and not processed that I'll eat but that proves to be very difficult, at least when trying to keep enough variety in our meals to keep my wife happy. I was really hoping in that thread a while back about recipes that there would be more actual recipes in it.

***Edit*** Why did I get three smileys? I typed what it told me to?

Nick,

There are three smiley faces because you are TOO happy! :tongue:

Maybe they can make your green veggie powder you drink, meat and potato flavored. : ) Actually...I grew up on a farm with the whole meat and potatoes thing too. Steak, hamburgers, pork chops, potatoes, potatoes, potatoes and corn -which isn't even a vegetable. Lot's of wheat flour, breads, pastas, cheeses, etc.

And now...I don't eat red meat (mainly fish/shellfish), I rarely eat potatoes (once or twice a week as opposed to every day), I decreased my wheat intake by about 80% (which pasta is also made out of) and replaced most of it with brown rice products, and I have also decreased about 90% of my dairy intake. I was a cheese-a-holic. For real. I now just sprinkle parmasan, etc. on stuff, or use those cheese flavored sprinkles, or if I NEED chunks of cheese -like for my homemade pizzas- I will use "cheese" made of almonds or pea protein.

So if I can do it, so can you.

Luckily, since tastes are learned, they can be un-learned and re-learned. Though it is a laborious process needing a lot of time and patience. But completely possible.

Taste is learned, and luckily can be unlearned and relearned. You could even re-teach your tastebuds to like vegetables if you REALLY wanted to.

:sick:

 

[palouserider]

I agree, you can change your

I agree, you can change your tastebuds. I've done it in babysteps over several years and am not done by a long shot (still really don't want to give up cheese, even if I DID find it was bad for me). I can honestly say that I don't like donuts and most cakes any more. Given the sugar addiction I had into my 30's that's pretty amazing.

I understand the frustration about the recipes. I have found, though, that if you learn the principles of how to cook and then make your own you'll be much happier. I rarely like recipes the way I find them, maybe that's just me.

 

[NickW]

PR, I do most of the cooking

PR, I do most of the cooking in my household and I alter reciepes too. I do not agree that you can change your taste buds. They do change as you get older, but you cannot change them. I used to love sweets but as I get older I find I don't care for them much. I used to hate okra, but now as I get older I kinda like them. I have never liked spiniach, brussel sprouts, and black eyed peas (but I like the band), but no amount of trying to force myself to eat them will ever make it any better for me. I will always gag at the very smallest bite. Can you learn to force yourself to eat stuff you don't like? Yes. I don't confuse "learning to eat" something with "changing my flavor buds". I learned very quickly in Afghanistan that I needed to eat whatever food I was able to get my hands on otherwise I may go without for a day, two, or even longer. Did that mean that I learned to like it or learned to think that it tasted any better? A resounding hell no. I think it made me hate some foods more. I swore when I left there that I would never eat something I don't like ever again. I do eat some things that I don't like occaisionally, but only out of consideration and not wanting to be rude to whomever cooked dinner.