Gut issues and inflammation

[4horses]

Does anyone have any suggestions on treatments? Probiotics? Any treatments outside the box?

I’m working with my GI doctor. Just finished a 7 day course of antibiotics for an infection but my GI tract still feels inflamed. Lots of intestinal pain.

As of right now, it is considered IBS but they want to do further testing to rule out IBD. It’s been over a month since this started and I’ve dropped 5 lbs.

I want to get back in the saddle and feel good. Lately when I ride I’m exhausted afterwards and usually we just plod around the arena. I haven’t felt good enough to go anywhere. They can’t get me in for further testing until January 10th.

Nothing showed on bloodwork and fecal tests. Calprotectin can back borderline.

[Scribbler]

I like the Florastor probiotics which help recovery from e coli infections

I’d also suggest some elimination diet strategies, eat very bland for a week or two. Drink a lot of water, cut out coffee. Have a good all around vitaminin mineral pill. Don’t eat takeout food. For me, yogurt dry toast and bananas helps recovery from gut issues but obviously if you have gluten or dairy sensitivity that’s not a great diet

I feel like all my gut issues food poisoning or stomach flu etc have come from eating out. Not home cooked food

I think you stay irritated after the infection is gone, and also the antibiotics mess the gut bacteria and leave you with digestion issues.

[Critter]

GI issues just suck…unless you’ve lived it, it’s hard to tell people what it’s like living with constant cramping, bloating, trips to the bathroom, indigestion…you name it.

I have CVID enteropathy…kind of like Crohns but not the exact same. It’s due to my immune deficiency and that I have no IgA, which is what protects the lining of the GI system.

I spent more than 12 years on budesonide…which is supposed to be used a short term steroid treatment. Until it also started to lose effectiveness and my symptoms were getting worse again. My doc tried for years to get me to do Remicade but I was really nervous as I tend to have bad reactions to some drugs (I was on IVIG and got aseptic meningitis 3x).

While you wait for more testing…and hopefully better treatment options, one thing I found I (and some other friends with similar issues) ended up doing with our diet was FODMAPs. I had actually self regulated to eating that without even knowing it was a formal plan…mostly because those were the foods that didn’t trigger symptoms as much.

I also found that doing yogurt or some other more natural probiotic makes a big difference. I go with yogurt…but not the crappy high sugar ones. Greek yogurt with lower sugar and higher protein. A friend does kefir. I used to hate yogurt…but I eat it almost every day…and it makes a difference for me.

I finally ended up starting Entyvio at the beginning of the year…my doc wanted me off steroids, and they weren’t working anyway. I did a bunch of reading and Entyvio is gut selective, so it seemed to be the best options for me. OMG I wish I started it sooner!! I am actually off steroids since July 4 (in 12 years the longest I could get off the steroid was about 5 days). I’ve had very minimal side effects so far and my GI symptoms are much better! I go for a endoscopy Monday so they can see if the scope looks better given the symptoms are so much better. Had to fight the insurance a bit, so they want some documentation to keep me on the drug.

Good luck…the fatigue might be a function of the inflammation and if you are losing weight, you are not getting enough nutrients/calories absorbed.

[FjordBCRF]

What does your diet look like? I know quite a few people who ended up eliminating gluten/wheat which made a huge difference in gut comfort. Have you looked into anything like that?

My gut is sugar sensitive so these days, I stay much farther away from anything with added sugar in it as well.

[Words_of_Wisdom]

Unorthodox but what helped me the most was making sure I wasn’t overly taxing my GI tract. Raw fiber (salads and such) can be really hard to digest.
Replacing salad with cooked vegetables at lunch or dinner really helped me. My body just could not tolerate a smoothie for breakfast, salad for lunch, and another high-fiber meal at dinner.

[just_shoot_me]

I just finished reading Heal Your Gut, Save Your Brain by Partha Nandi, M.D. He’s a gastroenterologist. There’s a lot of information in it about gut microbiome. I’m doing a few things mentioned in the book but just started 2 days ago. It’s geared toward stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s but I’m looking at it strictly from a diet/nutrition/lowering inflammation place.

[PaddockWood]

I’m curious to know your history too. Did this start suddenly? I will occasionally have an attack where the food I combined has me laying down due to extreme bloating, pain. Just every now and then. So wierd. As long as I eat really clean and yes yogurt and other good gut food I’m all good. I even read that
balsamic vinegar is good for your gut so I use that a lot on salads and roasted veggies in the oven.

My other idea is my newest horse. He came to me a big ole hot mess of all kinds of issues. Abscessed teeth, fecal egg count of 2100, skin conditions etc. He had lots of gas, bloating, loosed stools etc.
And he didn’t want to be touched or groomed either.

In January of this year I watched webinars by several DVMs about leaky gut and remembered Lindsey McLean back 25 years ago talking about it in horses and she was poo poo’d. Well, the human and vet communities now recognize it is real - at least some do.

I watched a webinar w Bill Vandegrift DVM talking about leaky gut in horses and I put my guy on a supplement specifically for it and after 9 months finally was able to stop it - $300/mo. I tried to stop it a couple times along the way but all his symptoms would return.
Just recently stopped it again and he’s remaining feeling well with no symptoms. His gas, touchiness about grooming, loose stools etc are all gone. He would also rest one hind leg and then the other regularly. Gone.

Leaky gut is where the intestinal tight junctions become loose and particles leave the walls out in to the body and cause all sorts of issues.

Just a thought.