Category Archives: Blog: Microbiome on drugs

Microbiome Awareness Conversation from Seminar

SUMMARY:  Sharing more Microbiome Awareness conversation from the May 26 seminar, so that all can benefit, even those unable to attend!  Learn great microbiome support tips!  Amaze yourself with how much you actually learned and know!  Comment if I don’t touch on your thoughts; lets continue the conversation! 

Background and more on our bio

Dana Grau and I spoke at the Microbiome Awareness Seminar.  We explained what the microbiome is and included discussion of diet and lifestyle impact to the microbiome which affects its health.  70+ percent our immunity resides in the health of the microbiome and that microbial community then plays a key role in determining your health:

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What to do if taking ANTIBIOTICS, MICROBIOME

Summary:  Antibiotics carpet bomb the microbiome. Here’s important things to do if you must take an antibiotic as noted in this article by Dr. Robynne Chutkan, MD and gastroenterologist,  see bio below. I’ve adapted the list to include the How-To-Do details.  Realize that the gist of the steps below you should ALWAYS be doing, not just during times you take antibiotics.  But be particularly diligent and persistent following these steps if you must take an antibiotic in order to try to counteract the antibiotics, microbiome, nuke!  For even more guidance on what to do before and after taking antibiotics, Dr. Mark Hyman’s recommendations from his article, Here’s the Downside of Antibiotics Your Doctor Might Not Tell You,  has been added.  Last,  the studies looking at antibiotics and Culturelle, VSL #3, and Saccharomyces boulardii or Florastor(®), as well as their precautions, are included.

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Heartburn drugs, dementia, Alzheimer’s risk for all? T2D, is it the canary in the coal mine!?!

   Fire in the gut is fire in the brain — Dementia, Alzheimer’s.  SUMMARY:  A recent study found risk of dementia in PPI users aged 75 and over.  Previous studies had found that Histamine H2 antagonists (H2RAs) also have adverse cognitive impact in the elderly but the mechanism differed… it was due to anticholinergic effects; I wrote about that here. Can the heartburn drugs, dementia, Alzheimer’s risk associations be extended to younger ages?

What may be possible mechanisms?  This post lists the PubMed studies finding that heartburn drugs put fire in the gut; they 

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Do microbiomes on drugs look healthy? Biologics & PPI

Summary:  I’ve wondered literally for years now, ever since I first learned of the microbiome, do microbiomes on drugs look healthy?  I call it the “drugged microbiome,” and I (foolishly perhaps) expect the drugged microbiome to look like a “healthy microbiome”  since this is where 80 to 85% of our immune status resides.  We already know that ~60 drugs are known to be affected by the microbiome  though researchers suspect the real number is much higher.  My question turns this on it’s head and asks, 

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16S rRNA challenges healthy vaginal microbiome; ferments & coconut oil rock!

SUMMARY:   Incredulously, the latest 16S rRNA research now challenges what was thought for years to be a ‘protective,’ ‘normal,’ and healthy vaginal microbiome. Our many microbiomes ideally are “inherited” and originate from our passage through the vagina, and yet it seems a ‘healthy’ and ‘normal’ vaginal microbiome has been elusive; in fact, many women have a compromised vaginal microbiome and many are asymptomatic, or perhaps not… 

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