Gut Ecology

Enzymes:

If you have CF or have a child with CF, you are likely very familiar with digestive enzymes. So I won't talk about the use of enzymes here. What I will say is that my oldest son and I have both stopped needing prescription digestive enzymes. He stopped taking them in May 2006 and I stopped a couple of months later in July 2006. Also: It just so happens that digestive enzymes make an effective anti-viral treatment. So I personally wonder if one reason for needing enzymes is an unidentified overload of virii in the system -- not like a cold exactly. We all carry millions and millions of microbes, including infectious germs, the "good bugs" in the gut that we require in order to digest food properly, and other miscellany. I think there is a creep factor with CF: I think things slowly build until one day it reaches some threshold and all hell breaks loose. But if you can effectively treat the "creep" factor and not wait until all hell breaks loose, you can be actually healthy and not merely "not actively sick", if that makes sense.

Probiotics:

About half the weight of poop is composed of good bugs (probiotics). The gut cannot do its job without the millions of good bugs in it. Elephants and other animals also require a healthy variety of micro-organisms to aid in digestion of their food. Organic yogurt and some other things (like kefir) are generally better sources of pro-biotics than acidophilus milk or acidophilus pills. Organic yogurt usually has 5 or 6 strains of pro-biotics rather than the one or two typically found in other yogurts, acidophilus milk, and acidophilus pills. So it helps to more rapidly re-establish a healthy diversity of micro-organisms in the gut. There are other options in pro-biotic supplements out there. I haven't mentioned them here because I have never used them. For someone seriously ill, using a better probiotic supplement may be necessary.

Glyconutrients:

Glyconutrients are a combination of 8 simple sugars. My understanding is that it is thought that these simple sugars are building blocks similar to the way amino acids are building blocks for proteins. They have a good track record for helping to heal gut issues. At one time, my son took 1/4 teaspoon per day for around 6 months. I have taken much higher doses for a much longer time (I think over two years now) because I was so much sicker than he was. I started with 1/4 teaspoon at first and worked my way up. They made me very tired at first and sometimes caused diarrhea. I had to rebuild my strength slowly in order to be strong enough for more. My experience is that it takes time and energy to assimilate them into the body and they also seem to promote a purging of toxins. I imagine that as enough good building blocks come in, the body uses those to first fill in gaps and then begins replacing bad things with good things.

Coconut Oil:

As noted above, I stopped taking digestive enzymes in July 2006. It just so happens that I began taking coconut oil supplements in late June 2006. The year before, I had had coconut oil recommended to me for helping generally with gut issues. But I had not found it previously in spite of intermittently looking for it. Then I happened to trip across it one day. My son also takes coconut oil and also indicates that it helps his gut. I was told by a credible source that coconut oil is good for promoting healthy gut flora.

Sea Salt:

This also helps immensely with creating the right gut ecology for us. Taking fairly large amounts of sea salt as a supplement has done a lot to help us rebuild the mucus lining which is usually inadequate in people with CF. Since mucus lines both the respiratory system and the gut, we have found this benefits both of the major systems which are usually so adversely affected by CF. Taking sea salt went a long way to getting my son off of digestive enzymes with little other intervention. (I required more intervention in part because I was so sick for so long. So I had much more to do to repair my body.)

Yeast:

Yeast is a predatory organism which often grows wild when the delicate balance of gut ecology is damaged. It very often grows out of control in response to anti-biotics killing off the pro-biotics in the gut. If you have a vaginal yeast infection, it generally indicates that the gut is very seriously overgrown with yeast. There are products for killing off yeast. These can have their place in an overall regimen for repairing the gut but will not really cure the problem. This problem will not completely clear up unless a healthy gut ecology is restored.