# tests from Great smokies



## dicky tummy (Feb 1, 2002)

HelloI am not sure whether I am doing this right as I have just joined.About 16 months ago I suffered severe food posioning (samonella) and my stools never went back to normal being always loose and itchy bottom. After three months I took some bulking agent but did not take enough water and I ended up with a small bowel obstruction that was'nt diagnosed for four days ( I was in severe pain and vomiting up fecal fluid). In desperation we paid to go privately and was operated on straight away, they found a adhesion from my previous appendix removal 6 years ago and cut it away, no bowel was cut and there was no damage. I was on an IV drip of antibiotics for seven days in hospital. After leaving hospital I thought everything would get back to normal but now one year on I still have loose stools which are funny shapes, terrible nausea and a constant feeling of wanting to go. I have every test under the sun and nothing found and told it was IBS. two weeks ago I took things into my own hands and sent samples of stool off to Great Smokies. They came back last week saying I had no parasites but that I had too much Proteus, pseudomonas and klebsiella bad bacteria all 4+ and also I had no lactobacillus. My dysbiosis risk was moderate at 12. My question is, have I found out my problem and could these imbalances be what has caused all my trouble after the operation. I can not go back to my doctors because they told me not to come back unless I was seriously ill and they do not believe that bad bacteria such as the ones I have will cause my problems.Please help me! what do I do are there any herbs etc that will help me that I can buy myself.


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## Guest (Feb 3, 2002)

Probiotic bacteria can be bought at most health food stores. I don't know what brands may be available to you where you live. (Lactobacillus is one of many species of probiotic bacteria) Yogurt can also be a source of these bacteria.There is not a lot of good information as to what exactly to do with the information from the Great Smokies tests.IBS often starts from a bout of food poisoning and sometimes things never go back to normal (IBS has a low remission rate) but most people find somethings over time that helps.Peppermint can help if you have spasms.Ginger can help with nausea and some people find it helpful for their IBS.K.


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## dicky tummy (Feb 1, 2002)

HelloThank you for your reply, I have found a source for the good bacteria but having spoken to great smokies they tell me I need 20 billion three times a day for seven days and I also need to use any plant extract containing Berberine to try and quell the bad stuff down to try and let the lacobacillus get a hold.I am a bit confused though. My docs say this is all rubbish and we have these bacterias in us all the time (bad ones) and they do not cause problems. However to my simple mind there is (as shown on the results) a reference range which would be considered normal e.g. between 1 - 2, my results showed a proliferation of three bad bacterias which was double the average of a healthy person at 4+. Now surely if the average healthy person has say between 1-2 and a person with IBS symptoms has 4+ and no lactobacillus species there must be a relationship between the two (symptoms + results). The only other conclusion is that Great Smokies and their research Drs are wrong in which case their whole diagnostic system is flawed and we are all wasting our time.Or is it a case that any person healthy or otherwise will have test results that show these abnormalities which again would indicate that these sort of tests are basically flawed and one should not pay to much attention to them.I read somewhere recently that some recent research shows a link between bacterial overgrowth and IBS which can be treated with antibiotics. The tests did not work for everybody because many did not have a bacterial overgrowth however I wonder how many people suffering with IBS do actually have some physical cause that as yet has not been diagnosed, or is this just wishful thinking?.Thanks again and I look forward to your reply.


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