antibiotic intolerance - f/u reply to Patty

[Guest guest]

Hi Patty,

Mark Bushauer wrote:

I think my friend Lee will be able to answer your question

about the

herbs, diet and first reaction better than I can.

.... Mark was being generous and modest, since he understands these

things extremely well, and went on to make a very good explanation.

However, since he brought my name into this, I'll add a few

comments/suggestions to what you wrote:

....Several months ago I tried the olive

> oil and garlic. One day I swallowed a whole clove. The next 2 days I tried

> chopping it. I got a lot of gas.

What else did you eat with it? Garlic contains powerful antiviral,

antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitical compounds. It is as good

as or better than some antibiotics, for certain kinds of microbes.

Luckily for us, it works much better against the " bad " microbes and

fungi that we don't want in our guts, and spares the " good " ones that we

need for health. Thus, it helps to improve the balance of intestinal

flora. Gas is most often produced by the " bad " bacteria, so regular

consumption of garlic will, over time, tend to reduce gas production,

not increase it. There are literally hundreds of types (400 or more, up

to 600 plus - it varies between individuals) of microbes in our

intestines, so it is hard to know what causes a particular bout of gas.

Do NOT swallow a whole clove - that could have been why you had gas, and

maybe other problems, too. You need to crush it up finely, and to let

some of it mix with saliva and pass over the tongue before swallowing

it. This way, the stomach knows it's coming and can produce the

necessary enzymes in preparation, to digest it. If you swallow a whole

clove, the odds are good that one or more larger undigested chunks will

pass into the intestine, which should only receive fully pre-digested

foods (final digestion occurs in the intestine, with the addition of

further enzymes and bile acids). Chunks of undigested matter create all

kinds of problems in the intestines, and might have caused gas when some

strains of microbes over-fed on the insufficiently-digested pieces.

Chemically, uncrushed garlic is different from crushed! For example,

one of the most important components, allicin, does not even exist in

the garlic, until the cell walls are broken and crushed, releasing an

enzymatic reaction. Thus, the chemical effect of undigested garlic

(unbroken cells) in the intestine is ..???? who knows???

I would also consider what foods you ate it with or after - some people

have trouble digesting foods like garlic in combination with certain

other foods. Try eating it alone, or before or after different foods, to

find out how you best digest it. I'd also make sure to crush it well,

either before eating or with your teeth, and pass it over at least the

back of your tongue (I know, it burns, but " no pain, no gain " !) and not

give up too soon on garlic.

Garlic's very potent strength and the variety of effects it has in the

body often triggers unpleasant short-term symptoms, but these should

pass within a few days or a week. When I first started eating garlic,

it literally gave me a fever, because of the amount of stored toxins it

was chelating out of my tissues! Now I am grateful every day that it

exists, and that I kept taking it. I no longer have any trouble taking

it, and receive greatly noticeable (even measurable) benefits from it.

One day I tried the horseradish and

> turned beet red! I never tried the ginger.

These are both powerful healers for the digestive tract, as well as

antibacterials and indirectly immune-boosters. The garlic is, too, but

it has even more widespread and important effects on blood chemistry

and blood circulation, cellular chemistry, etc...

As a rosacean, though, I'd advise backing off on anything that makes

your face beet-red. Our facial cappilaries don't need the extra practice

dilating!

I decided to wait till my

> internist (he specializes in gastroenterology) did all those tests to make

> sure I didn't have an ulcer or worse.

If you have an ulcer, hold off on the garlic temporarily. Possibly the

best ulcer remedies are:

(1) Raw, fresh cabbage juice. Drink a full quart or more every day (a

glassfull or more every few hours) for two weeks. This nearly always

gets rid of ulcers, due to some very interesting chemistry.

(2) Hot (cayenne) pepper. This one at first sounds ridiculous, I know,

but it can and often does work: it actually kills the bacterial strains

that are now known to play the critical role in ulcers. It also

encourages ample blood flow into the stomach lining, which helps them

heal.

Aloe vera is also supposed to be good for ulcers, too, but I haven't

seen any " proof " or research reports of this myself, so this is heresay.

I am currently in a very calm, quiet

> period where my stomach has stopped bothering me. I have steered away from

> acidic foods though. I have to see what happens when I try them again.

Unless you know for sure that you have a true ulcer, do not hesitate to

give a fair try to the garlic, ginger, hot pepper, or horseradish. Drop

any that trigger a flush, and cut back on or drop any that repeatedly

give digestive problems. These foods are not " acidic " in the sense of

stomach acid. Their spicy-hot flavour is due to the rapid expansion of

local blood supply, triggered by substances like capsaicin, not because

of true acidity, as measured by PH. They are actually good for the

digestive tract, and often HEAL " sensitive " stomachs!

Up

> until these 2 major rosacea flares, I never really had stomach problems.

This suggests a link with rosacea, and you are not the first person on

this board to report this. If the stomach problems are a result of a

" rosacea-reaction " , perhaps something in the parasympathetic nervous

system, and not due to some direct/independent cause (like an ulcer,

imbalance of enzyme production or stomach acid, etc...), then you are in

medical mystery-land. Unfortunately, while theories can be postulated,

no one yet fully understands this. Like the rest of us, you will

probably have to endure a long period of trial-and-error to try to

remedy this, until some researcher makes a breakthrough.

> Since I am in a calm, relatively pain free period, I'm afraid to rock the

> boat. ... I have added an acidopholus capsule a day (in addition to my efa's).

....conservative and probably a wise approach. Try one thing at a time,

and if things are good, don't unnecessarily rock the boat. This is

especially important if your stomach condition is in some way a

manifestation of rosacea.

.. It just seems so strange to me that I was on a very

> healthy diet for 2 years previous to my rosacea getting so bad. By the way,

> why couldn't the blood vessels in my stomach be doing the same thing as they

> are in my face and eyes? And wouldn't that make my stomach very sensitive

> to things - much like my face is hypersensitive to everything?

This is what I was referring to above: a lot of people seem to have

symptoms that occur elsewhere in or on the body, especially in the

digestive tract, that mirror the rosacea symptoms in some respects, or

come and go along with them. Since no one yet really knows what causes

rosacea, we are all in the realm of speculation here. There are

commonalities in the nervous systems and vascular systems at work here,

so your theory is certainly possible. If that is the case, then some of

the digestive remedies we talk about might not help, and might even

aggravate the symptoms.

> I'll let you know what my doctor says and I'll let you know how every thing

> progresses. You are so kind to want to help and give so generously of your

> time to us. I greatly appreciate your thoughts and ideas, Mark.

I second that. Mark has been a real Godsend to a lot of us here, myself

included!

I just got

> discouraged when the garlic and horseradish bothered me and am afraid to

> make my condition worse. Is it normal to feel digestive upset with the

> regimen first?

Some people have a little bit of stomach upset when eating garlic. It

is rarely serious, and does not last long. Doctors say it is harmless.

Sometimes it depends on what it is eaten with. Try taking it with the

olive oil - many of the active compounds in garlic are fat-soluble (will

dissolve in the oil), so the oil may help with efficient digestion.

Ginger has some water-soluble compounds, so the oil may make less

difference with the ginger. Almost no one gets any digestive upset from

ginger, though: usually it CALMS the stomach, instead. It also helps

against motion sickness, because of this calming effect on the stomach.

Hope some of this helps you.

-Lee (the one in Hong Kong)