FYI Live Well, Fit and Happy- Dr Fart Tube’s Guide: Part 1- The Microbiome

[Flatus Tube]

I mentioned a while back I would create a thread of useful mind boosting supplements. In typical ADHD fashion, I haven’t done it yet.

I’ve spent the past month studying the microbiome (‘good bacteria’) as part of my mission to be as happy and healthy as possible. And fuck me, it’s seriously important. I’ve always been interested in the gut flora and keeping it healthy, but now have an understanding of really how important it is. I will move on to the other information about vitamins and supplements when I can, but looking at this thread first would maximise any further nutritional support anyway…

I can’t include all of the information here but I’ll document some of the most important bits. We really can feel mentally a lot better and physically much healthier by taking care of your good bacteria.

The microbiome has a major influence on our immune system and inflammation in our bodies, including modulating and even triggering autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, cancers and dementia (and many more).

An unhealthy microbiome can increase anxiety and depression via the gut brain axis (vagus nerve) and via inflammation of the brain, and can also make people put on extra fat leading to obesity. The are several reports of depression, fatigue, anxiety, ADHD symptoms etc being vastly improved after a microbiome boosting lifestyle change. Our gut makes more serotonin than our brains!

A healthy microbiome is needed for digestion of foods and production of essential fatty acids and vitamins. An unhealthy microbiome releases bad things into our body that reduce our immune system, make us feel tired/ depressed/ more anxious, gain body fat and increase our risk of cancer, diabetes, dementia, autoimmune disease, infections and many more.

It’s relatively easy to get your microbiome healthy. Eating a variety of healthy foods ensuring lots of fibre, minimising sugar, avoiding artificial sweeteners, less carbs/ more good fats, filtering water etc all help.

But I would suggest considering…

- get some Inulin powder (a prebiotic) and have a teaspoon twice a day dissolved in a drink (dissolves best in water 40C or higher). Prebiotics are food for the good bacteria and have the best evidence for health benefits.

- take a good pro-biotic with a broad range of bacteria. I take Bio-Kult original. Amazon have a good deal at the moment.

- eat pro-biotic foods regularly such as Kefir (there are many dairy free options now), kimchi, decent sour kraut, live yoghurts…

- have as wide a variety of healthy foods as you can to boost diversity of your little bowel dwelling friends.

The book Brain Maker by Dr David Perlmutter is very good, but I don’t agree with his view of autism specifically.

Here are a couple of decent TEDx talks.








If anyone is interested please feel free to ask questions, or take the piss. To ensure a bit of humour here is South Park and a scene from their microbiome episode (which is fucking awesome and a spoof of the original David Lynch Dune).

 

[ZeroK]

Excellent Advice FT. Hopefully our fellow members also get their blood pressure checked. Hypertension usually has no symptoms but is a major cause of premature death. Checking ur blood pressure is easy and sometimes fun.

 

[Flatus Tube]

Excellent Advice FT. Hopefully our fellow members also get their blood pressure checked. Hypertension usually has no symptoms but is a major cause of premature death. Checking ur blood pressure is easy and sometimes fun.View attachment 611180

Ha ha.
I once had my blood pressure checked by an attractive young nurse with sizeable boobs, who accidentally placed one of her boobs directly into my hand as she leant over (similar to the above picture). She blushed more than me 😂.

 

[King0o0Asshat]

Our gut makes more serotonin than our brains!

I had no idea. That's mind blowing. I've gone in and out of "health nut" phases throughout my life, but I've never dug into gut health like this before. I'll leave this open in a tab. I'll probably forget about it and close the tab when shit gets cluttered, but if I don't, and actually follow through with this information, thank you.

 

[Ellzibette]

Can you just start doing this if you have out of control GERD? The thought of eating mass amounts of yogurt is kind of difficult.

 

[Flatus Tube]

Can you just start doing this if you have out of control GERD? The thought of eating mass amounts of yogurt is kind of difficult.

Yes. Just try having it earlier in the day so it’s further from bed time when you lie down. But you may need to trial and error the times depending on your symptoms. The other option is oat kefir which is less fat and protein and less likely to increase GORD (UK spelling 😂).

If you start with just Inulin powder and a pro-biotic capsule you may/ should hopefully find your reflux improves anyway, and can expand the dietary options later.

I get night time reflux, but I’m weaning off my Pantoprazole as PPIs fuck the microbiome, and haven’t had any worsening symptoms despite my lower dose of PPI. Antacid liquids like Gaviscon are less damaging than PPIs so can be an alternative if needed.

 

[Ellzibette]

Yes. Just try having it earlier in the day so it’s further from bed time when you lie down. But you may need to trial and error the times depending on your symptoms. The other option is oat kefir which is less fat and protein and less likely to increase GORD (UK spelling 😂).

If you start with just Inulin powder and a pro-biotic capsule you may/ should hopefully find your reflux improves anyway, and can expand the dietary options later.

I get night time reflux, but I’m weaning off my Pantoprazole as PPIs fuck the microbiome, and haven’t had any worsening symptoms despite my lower dose of PPI. Antacid liquids like Gaviscon are less damaging than PPIs so can be an alternative if needed.

I basically live off tums.

 

[-ToGGaF-]

Very important people. I made changes to my diet years ago to promote good gut bacteria and alot of things did improve. I felt mentally and physically sharper. Just don't get an STD because the anti biotics are like huge bombs that wipe out all your good gut flora.

 

[WhatIsLife64]

Thanks for this great info. I too had no idea the stomach makes more serotonin than our brains. Actually didn't realize it made any at all!
Knowing serotonin is necessary for happiness, I will definitely look into this exciting new information.

 

[kesha13]

Thank you @Flatus Tube
I have a question. Do antibiotics kill the 'good' gut bacteria?
I haven't been prescribed them for years, but the last course I had (for an ear infection), really upset my stomach. I could shit through the eye of a needle💩
Took longer to recover from those side effects than from the initial infection.

 

[Flatus Tube]

Thank you @Flatus Tube
I have a question. Do antibiotics kill the 'good' gut bacteria?
I haven't been prescribed them for years, but the last course I had (for an ear infection), really upset my stomach. I could shit through the eye of a needle💩
Took longer to recover from those side effects than from the initial infection.

Yes, sadly they fuck up the microbiome big time. I’ve had shed loads of antibiotics over my life, thanks to being on high level asthma treatment and I used to get chest infections regularly. However, since I’ve been in recovery from addiction for over two years I do mindful practice, exercise regularly as well as all the nutritional support and hardly ever feel stress anymore. So I don’t get unwell like I used to.

You can still recover the microbiome with the above advice. It can take a week to a few weeks depending on the course of antibiotics taken. So it’s not the end of the world.

If you need to take antibiotics for a valid reason, taking probiotic capsules 2 times a day a couple of hours away from the antibiotic can help.

 

[Bill Murray]

Ha ha.
I once had my blood pressure checked by an attractive young nurse with sizeable boobs, who accidentally placed one of her boobs directly into my hand as she leant over (similar to the above picture). She blushed more than me 😂.

While in hospital I had a few nurses who were VERY flirty and either rubbed their titties or ass on me or when taking BP, starting an IV, etc. would position my arm so I got to cop a feel. It was much appreciated and often the highlight of my day.

Oh and thankyou for the post. I have a very healthy micro-biome, if anyone would like a sample of my turd so you can self-administer a fecal transplant to your guts just send a self-addressed/stamped empty coke bottle to:

Bill Murray​

P.O. Box 2600, Station P​

Calgary, Alberta T2P 0P0​

​

 

[kesha13]

Yes, sadly they fuck up the microbiome big time. I’ve had shed loads of antibiotics over my life, thanks to being on high level asthma treatment and I used to get chest infections regularly. However, since I’ve been in recovery from addiction for over two years I do mindful practice, exercise regularly as well as all the nutritional support and hardly ever feel stress anymore. So I don’t get unwell like I used to.

You can still recover the microbiome with the above advice. It can take a week to a few weeks depending on the course of antibiotics taken. So it’s not the end of the world.

Antibiotics always make me wary. And the bacteria they kill become immune and mutate into superbugs harder to control, I try to avoid them if possible.

Something my bf says is that those yogurt drinks, like Yakult, don't work because the stomach acid and the body's digestion kills the bacteria before they reach the gut. I don't know if I believe that. Sure, some won't make it, but I bet lots more do.
He heard it from a man in the pub

 

[Flatus Tube]

Antibiotics always make me wary. And the bacteria they kill become immune and mutate into superbugs harder to control, I try to avoid them if possible.

Something my bf says is that those yogurt drinks, like Yakult, don't work because the stomach acid and the body's digestion kills the bacteria before they reach the gut. I don't know if I believe that. Sure, some won't make it, but I bet lots more do.
He heard it from a man in the pub

They do work. The beneficial bacteria are resistant to the acid environment. In fact, a lot of them benefit our body due to the acid they produce themselves (preventing bad bacteria and fungi growth and even bowel cancer has been linked to less acidic bowels). Lactobacillus types (like in the Yakult drinks and yoghurts) produce lactic acid. That’s also why they can be used to preserve foods and pickle them (eg sour kraut, kimchi, even Tabasco hot sauce uses fermented peppers).

 

[PinkE]

I have a Polish stomach, I can eat whatever and sleep like a baby

 

[Opiatenthusiast]

That's wild you posted this info Flatus.. I'm currently waiting for Tuesday to roll around to make an appointment for my 24yr old daughter to see a GI.. Everything you mentioned as far as the shitty side effects from not having a decent micro-biome is apparent w her, so thank you for your informative post.. She's trying to drink this GoodBelly juice, but is feeling like shit the past few days.. Have you heard anything about this drink by chance??

 

[Rick James]

Thank you @Flatus Tube
I have a question. Do antibiotics kill the 'good' gut bacteria?
I haven't been prescribed them for years, but the last course I had (for an ear infection), really upset my stomach. I could shit through the eye of a needle💩
Took longer to recover from those side effects than from the initial infection.

I just pictured diarrhea, so thin it could fit through the eye of a needle, coming out of your anus. Good thing i don’t know what you look like, or it would be even more clear of an image.

 

[Flatus Tube]

That's wild you posted this info Flatus.. I'm currently waiting for Tuesday to roll around to make an appointment for my 24yr old daughter to see a GI.. Everything you mentioned as far as the shitty side effects from not having a decent micro-biome is apparent w her, so thank you for your informative post.. She's trying to drink this GoodBelly juice, but is feeling like shit the past few days.. Have you heard anything about this drink by chance??

I’ve not seen Good Belly juice in the UK, so had a look at their website. It looks good. It contains Lactobacillus Plantarum which is one of the most important good bacteria to boost. Adding a broad pro-biotic capsule daily like Bio-Kult (which I think is available on your side of the pond) will help further as it contains 14 different strains of gut bugs and get some Inulin to feed them all. Any form of kefir would also be beneficial (either dairy based or non-dairy).

It’s normal to get increased bowel activity for the first week or so such as more flatus (farts), poop and the feeling of the bowels moving. In people with IBS, they sometimes get a little bit more bowel pain, but this settles quickly and it’s worth persevering.

The author of Brain Maker also talks about eliminating gluten from the diet as it can cause several problems for many people even if they don’t have true Coeliac Disease. So a 1-month trial with a gluten free diet could also help.

 

[Sweet Death]

I have a Polish stomach, I can eat whatever and sleep like a baby

Same, I rarely get indigestion, but the whole gut biome makes a lot of sense

 

[mrln]

so what do you think of probiotics then and what do you recommend?