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“All disease begins in the gut.” – Hippocrates

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Probiotic Retention Enema

Caution: When I first tried probiotics, 9 months ago, a small amount (10% of a therapeutic dose) caused me extreme D, fever, abdominal pain, chills, and uncontrollable shaking. TAKE IT SLOWLY. I suggest not trying probiotics until at least three months after you've started the SCD. I slowly increased my dosage over a 6 month period, 1/4 tsp every two weeks, sometimes less. It's very likely that probiotic therapy will work for you, but you have to introduce them slowly.

I've had the book Listen to your Gut, for 11 months now, and am slowly trying Jini Patel Thompson's suggestions (the one's that are SCD or mostly friendly) along with the SCD. Her book is reviewed on my reading list.

For the last two weeks I have been trying her Wild Oregano Protocol. Wild Oregano is a natural antibiotic and anti-fungal. Her protocol is a mix of natural antibiotic and probiotic therapies to rid your system of over infestations of yeast, and to shift the bacterial ecology of your gut.

Yesterday, I tried her probiotic retention enema, after a particularly bad gut day (I must have eaten something that really irritated my system). I took the enema at 1:30p after a BM (so my system was cleared out), but didn't bother with the warm water enemas she suggests (given the amount of liquid D I had, my system was pretty clean already) as they most likely just cleanse the lower colon. I had no trouble retaining the mixture for the full 2 hours, but experienced one bout of liquid D that evening (some Herxhimer reaction, no doubt), and my mood darkened significantly. I became tired and irritable.

This morning I woke up and didn't have the urge to go. That was enjoyable. My mood today has been light and fun. This afternoon, 24 hours after the enema, I had my first completely normal, formed, slow and pleasurable poo in 19 months*. --Thanks Jini. Read another probiotic retention enema success story from the Crohn's Boy blog here.

The probiotics I take from Natren are not SCD friendly, per se. My theory is that the probiotic bacteria will use the non-SCD friendly medium you ingest as food. They should consume it all, so that it won't interfere with the SCD. The Healing Crow (great SCD learning on that site) confirmed this for me with an email from Elaine Gottschall, herself--read it here. That said, the benefits of proven, probiotic therapy in conjunction with the SCD likely outweigh the small amount of non-SCD legal substance in the growing medium.

*The SCD has made a dramatic improvement in my health. It has taken me down from 8-24 trips to the bathroom to 1-2 trips per day. I've regained my energy and stamina, but my system is still, after almost a year on the SCD, not totally normal. My stools are loose, and my colon is still sensitive, indicating that I still have some inflammation. Some people, like me, will need to combine therapies with the SCD to reach full healing.

Onward to Health.

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