r/Microbiome

Hi everyone,

I'm 28 man, I’ve been struggling with frustrating digestive issues for about 3–4 years now. My main symptom is constant bloating—in the morning it’s only slight, but as the day goes on, it gets progressively worse. My bowel movements are completely unpredictable; I rotate between constipation, diarrhea, or firm, sticky stools that adhere to the toilet bowl. There are days when my stool is normal, but that's a rare exception. On top of that, I experience frequent abdominal gurgling and rumbling, as if gas and liquids are mixing together and creating blockages in my intestines, interrupting normal digestion.

I’ve noticed that certain foods significantly worsen the bloating and overall symptoms: sweets, milk, alcohol, highly processed carbs, and creatine monohydrate (though creatine HCl doesn't cause as much trouble). Coffee also disagrees with me, though that was an issue even before these broader gastrointestinal problems started. Interestingly, I've noticed similar symptoms in most of the people close to me—family and friends. It feels as though we caught something from each other, and since no one has recovered spontaneously, I doubt it's a standard short-term infection that the body clears on its own. My working hypothesis is that it might be a chronic bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infection that triggered severe intestinal dysbiosis.

As for diagnostic tests: about 2.5 years ago, I had a gastroscopy that revealed chronic (+) active (+) antral gastritis, negative for dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia. I wasn't treated for Helicobacter pylori back then. A recent home test came back negative, but I'm planning to do a urea breath test soon to rule it out for sure.

I’ve tried several remedies with limited success:

• Drinking kefir regularly and occasionally sauerkraut juice didn't bring any noticeable improvement.
• A low-carb diet reduced my symptoms by about 30%, but I couldn't maintain my caloric intake and kept dropping weight, so I had to stop.
• I tried Betaine HCl for 1–2 weeks, but it seemed to make me feel worse.
• I took a multi-strain probiotic (Best Biotic) for 1.5 months alongside digestive enzymes (Aliness) for the first two weeks. I stopped the enzymes because they seemed to worsen my constipation, and the probiotic alone didn't change much.
• For the past 3 days, I’ve been taking microencapsulated sodium butyrate (300 mg, twice daily) and plan to add a probiotic later once my body adjusts.

Has anyone dealt with a similar set of symptoms or found a way through this?

I feel like I’m on a never-ending journey to find a good probiotic. I’ve tried several over the years, and some have worked…until they didn’t. So then I switch to a new one.

I’m currently taking Seed probiotic, only 1 pill. I’m on day 6 and experiencing stomach cramps. I’m starting to think Seed may not be for me. 😅

Before that, I was taking VSL#3 for a few months, and it worked well for me at first. My stomach seemed to be doing better overall. But again, I started having more bad than good stomach days. Which is when I switched to Seed.

Anyway, I know everyone reacts differently to probiotics, but I would love to know what has worked well for you.

Also, for context, I regularly get constipated, have gas and bloating, and just overall sensitivity to things. I also get diarrhea occasionally (normally follows a few days of constipation).

So I made my second batch of 36 hour luvelle yog maker fermented lactose free milk L reut, gasseri, rhamanos, 12 strain bottle from a brand I was told to add.

I am extremely bloated this batch. Maybe I added too much of the last two?

Had anyone even had any improvement from these fancy home made yogurts. The homeopath told me to try it.

3 weeks in and nothing.

I’m gonna try an Ibs rx. I have tried EVERY rx , supp, diet, gut hypno, fasting etc nothing works for this non stop bloat and constip. I really wanna die. I’m a balloon.

Hi, gut experts.

I get some improvement with my very long standing ME/CFS, when I eat B Subtillis. I ferment it in dairy and make yogurt. I try to eat approx 1/4 - 1/2 cup of it per day.

The improvement is not huge but it is something; the inflammation is lowered a bit.

None of the other bacteria I have tried, helps - or if it does, it fizzles out.

My question is: do you think that if I start somehow eating much more B Subtillis, I would get more improvement? I could drink that Kombucha that has B Subtillis in it. It would be a different strain so not sure if that will matter or not...

Thank you

I'm having a hard time figuring out what's happening with my microbiome. The typical pattern is that I will eat a meal with a trigger food. About 12 hours later, fatigue and constipation start to set in. That lasts another 36 hours or so until the fatigue lets up and I'm back to my normal BM frequency of one per day.

The problem is that I can't make any sense of the trigger foods. Perhaps the worst one is cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, and brussel sprouts. I also get it from wheat. And I get it from rice, which seems weird because it should be a fairly neutral food.

I seem to do very well on fruit and meat.

I am visiting a clinic in Europe to participate in two weeks of FMT treatment, along with a partner. We are documenting our experience to share with others and objectively account for how it affects our health. I will post here when we are done, but are there any questions or preferences people have before we publish?

This is a clinic which performs Enema based FMT using microbes provided from the Taymount Clinic. This journey was inspired by the book INVISIBLE KINGDOM.

I am 29 y/o female who has consistently been taking MiraLAX and Florastor before and after treatment and I am 3 days out and still having gnawing pain and bloating at this point I don’t think if it’s true weight gain or not. My doctors don’t seem concerned and mention my stress. CT scan results said moderate stool burden throughout colon but nothing about excess adipose tissue or anything else. No gas. No obstruction. I have constipation and diarhea while taking Senna-S, stool softeners and MiraLAX before, during and after treatment. I mention this and my GI doctors says just keep taking MiraLAX it’s going to be like this for a while.

Four years ago, I was on several types of antibiotics for a total of a month for a sinus infection. This has left my stomach with permanent distention. Within the first 8 months, my gut was able to heal a bit, and the distention became significantly less severe. However, there has been no improvement since then, and the distention and bloating still persists. I never had any stomach related issues prior to this as well. After putting this issue off for too long, I want to tackle it. I recently spoke with a dietician who recommended I start with doing a food log and describing foods that make my stomach more bloated, before doing an elimination diet. Has anyone had any success in healing their gut in similar situations to this? Any recommendations for supplements I should take or practices I should start doing?

been dealing with inconsistent energy and random bloating for a while now. nothing extreme but enough that it was annoying day to day. diet is pretty decent, sleep is okay, but something still felt off with digestion and appetite control.

a few weeks ago i started adding akkermansia to my routine. specifically been using the one that also has some support for natural glp-1 signaling. not expecting miracles, just wanted to see if it would help with the bloating and the constant urge to snack.

so far the bloating has calmed down a bit and i’m not thinking about food every two hours like before. energy feels a little more stable too but it’s still early. taking it in the morning with food.

how long did it take for you to notice clear changes when you added akkermansia?

did you keep the same dose the whole time or adjust it after a few weeks?

Has anyone had an allergic reaction to HOME-MADE kefir? I’ve been drinking kefir for many years and decided to start making it myself to save money and to get better-quality probiotics. At about the same time I start getting gigantic red welts on my body. Very itchy, in clusters of 3-4 and they go away 4-5 days later. It might also be insect bites since I walk around outside a lot and moved areas, but wanted to check in if anyone has experienced it from kefir. Clusters of 3-5 huge red welts that are super itchy but completely disappear within a week tops. Thanks!

I'm retired now but from my earliest memories up until 2018 I had intestinal issues. A ton of food items would trigger stomach cramps. As a kid you didn't know what was happening except you were reluctant to do road trips and would need to keep an eye out for bathrooms.

As I got older I would avoid most foods while flying to avoid issues. At one point I think lactose was my issue and tried various supplements but it didn't seem to help much and some foods didn't fit the dairy profile.

I never visited doctors since the gut is a tough thing to deal with, medications can cause other issues and I ended up with a diet that sort of worked for me and allowed me to do some travel and live life. Also most people don't want to spend a lot of time getting tested and visited doctors if they don't have to.

Anyhow, to my point, somewhere around 2018/2019 things changed and I went from frequently having stomach cramps from many foods to now dealing with constipation. For me the stomach cramps were preferable. Now I'm frequently taking Miralax.

Several life changes happened in the 2018/2019 although I don't know if any of them were the trigger for the change.

1. Started my blood pressure medication

2. Had my first upper/lower endoscopes

3. Took VSL#3 for nearly a year

4. Started my path on removing diet soda from my diet.

Anyone else ever had a transition like this? Going from almost one extreme to the other?

My understanding is that probiotics don't last long term if you stop them. My BP medication isn't supposed to have any effect. I suppose the diet soda didn't help but I didn't drink that stuff as a kid and I had the cramps throughout my childhood.

Besides my gastroenterologist do people sign up for any studies or other tests? I have no interest in testing medication but blood or other testing would be ok. I have been tested for celiac disease.

Asking for a drunk and leaky friend