First, an update on yesterday’s post where comment input from John Brisson and Allan Folz has motivated Karl Seddon and I to modify the Elixa Probiotic experiment.

I’ll let Karl explain:

I’m thinking I should send some more uBiome tests your way.

My main interest with the uBiome testing method is how to get the sample representative of the microbiota as a whole. Nobody really knows how representative the flora of a stool sample is of the flora of the large intestine. Many people don’t even realise that there is a significant assumption involved in the thought process here. I.e., the assumption that a stool sample will contain a microbial population that mirrors that of the large intestine. After all, uBiome is not sampling biopsies of large intestine. There is some question as to whether certain bacteria will slough off, die, and mix with the soon-to-be-poop within the large intestine as easily as other bacteria. Similarly, bacteria based deep within the mucus layers may not proliferate much within the actual food bolus that moves throughout the lumen of the large intestine (and becomes poop).

Anyway, that’s just academic because it’s the best method out there and I think it will suffice to indicate variation of the microbiota, whether or not the quantitative results are exactly representative of the ratios among different genera and species of the gut.

The kit says just to swab your used toilet paper but I think that it would be superior to swab 3-4 sites of the dump in question, if possible!

I think that a good ‘control’ in this case would be one that establishes the amount of variance that the microbiota can experience from day to day due to normal day-to-day variables. I.e., without any probiotic / prebiotic / antibiotic intervention in between those days. If we take too few datapoints we are at risk of getting a low resolution sampling of a rapidly varying output and thus drawing a potentially meaningless conclusion by interpolating those points. For example, If you sampled the voltage of a 50Hz supply on 3 separate DAYS, then you would plot your graph and get practically a straight line and completely miss the fact that the voltage is actually varying from min to max 50 times a second!

Anyhoo, I don’t think this will be a considerable concern for the type of testing we are doing here.

I propose that you perform TWO tests on two separate days (both of which will be before beginning Elixa). This will then give a good indication of how much variance can be expected just from normal processes (and of the accuracy of their microbiome assaying techniques). Then I think another TWO samples taken during the course: One on day 3 or 4 of the course and the other on day 9 or 10. And then a further two for a yet-to-be-decided length of time after the course is finished.

Assuming multiple swab sites are performed, the only other variable of great significance will be the diet variation. The food log will be a good way to account for that, but… as we do not yet know which foods correlate precisely with which species population variations, having a reasonably consistent diet would be a good idea. In terms of realistic advice, I’d say just to avoid taking any samples the day after some dramatically different meal e.g. a night of 15 tequila shots and deep-fried pizza, hehe. Unless of course that is your usual diet, in which case by all means go ahead!! 😀

…Well, as it turns out, tequila shots and deep-fried pizza was going to be my next dietary experiment, but now he’s gone and spoiled it.

Alright, now onto Stephanie’s experience with Elixa Probiotic.

Karl,

Thanks again for your help!

Thought I would give you an update on my progress. I wrote to you in the middle of doing a 24 day run of Elixa. I had previously done several 6 days with modest improvements but I had a feeling that an extended run might help. I have been symptom free now for about a month which for me has been like a trip to heaven! No itching or patches and best of all no fungal infection on my scalp. We lived in Mexico for 6 years and the last 2 I was tormented by the itching on my scalp. I also had serious itching around my eyes, neck and near my arm pits and hands. I’m not taking any other supplements other than liquid iodine.

I’m going to order another 24 pack to have on hand, just in case. The cost of thus treatment is a fraction of what I spend on other supplements or the other high end probiotics.

Nothing short of a miracle! Please feel free to share this with anyone who needs help or share my email with anyone else who suffers from eczema.

Keep up the good work!!

Stephanie

Well that’s good news. While it seems that for most people, a 3-6 day course every now & then is sufficient, some people don’t see that benefit, or even experience an initial negative reaction (very rare in the feedback received thus far). While I know this smacks of ‘oh, you just need to buy more, more often!’ keep in mind that Elixa Probiotic is designed for “most people,” and it’s designed to be a high-dose, intermittent thing, as you feel it. One reason I embrace it. I’d feel like a money-grubbing whore if I told you that you have to buy this every month, all months, and be sure to click my link.

Given, as Stephanie alludes to, that you can spend years and thousands of dollars chasing a problem that never gets resolved, this is just one data point that suggests that for some few people out there, a more mega dose for longer, and at a higher frequency, might be the way to go.