Many people finding this topic at Lumigrate.com about SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth will be learning of it for the first time -- becoming 'aware', in other words.  Others will have been 'aware' already, and have sought out via searching on the Internet -- doing research -- to become 'educated' about it.  Some might be quite educated about it and are going back to the Internet to see what might be NEW.  

In any case, thank YOU for being here, and congratulations on your putting your health and that of those you love and influence as #1 priority at this moment for your time and energy resource.  Money's the other resource, and this is provided for $0 at Lumigrate, so that all can have access. If you're wishing to have assistance, contact me (go to the About tab or the blog tab, the pinned post about Mardy Poppins has the contact information updated.) 

Once a person is adequately educated, after awareness level, then a person can form opinion. After that's the 'take action' part.  Proactive consumers are what Lumigrate's all about. YOU creating a complement of sources of assistance surrounding YOU as shown in our "Lumigrate YOU! Model", shown below. 

Some people who find this topic will be interested because of relatively minor symptoms compared to others.  And the symptoms are wide-ranging and often not what you might expect to see having to do with the digestive system.  You'll understand why after going over this topic.  I suggest ALL PEOPLE look this over to be at least 'familiar', because SIBO is a factor in so many cases.  Human and otherwise, I suspect, so think about your beloved pets, too.  They are depending on YOU to be an effective advocate for their well-being.  I'm here to assist you with that, and care deeply about my YOUsers at Lumigrate. 

I like to hear about people being proactive before they're in a full blown health crisis, "nipping things in the bud" and catching things before they get to where a person is debilitated.  A snowball effect occurs where the person can't work as usual, it affects their income, and their resources of time, energy, money become drained.  

Also, people who are turning over stones about their illness symptom solutions have 'been through it all' and they can be 'fatigued' or 'drained' (of time, energy, money = "resources" as I said before) and resistant to yet another new wave that is the next big thing.  This is a very common complaint with those who I've known of studied so far regarding SIBO treatment, and I can report that they were encouraged by the results they were getting for relatively little money, time, and energy compared to other things we've learned to try in the past.

These were people who 'had it' with going to providers, and were very knowledgeable with treatments and protocols out there for chronic fatigue, Lyme, autism, MS, etc., and were DIY-ers.  I'm going to present things here so that people know you can go about it that way, but the roots of SIBO research and development, plus treatment stem from the work of 'bona fide' research in the United States and there are drugs available by prescription AND more on the way (of course).   

The Grand Pooh Bah of SIBO is 

At the following link (www.youtube.com/watch) you will find this to get started with: 
 

Published on Sep 9, 2015

 

In this episode of Revolution Health Radio (RHR) we discuss “SIBO Update—An Interview with Dr. Mark Pimentel.” Dr. Pimentel, associate professor of medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses some unanswered questions about small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Find out how he defines SIBO and what is on the horizon for testing and treatment.

In this episode, we cover:

What is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth?
Testing for SIBO
The future of SIBO treatment

READ FULL ARTICLE: http://chriskresser.com/sibo-update-a... (available Thursday 9/10/15)

 

I encourage people to be knowledgeable about how many 'trolls' are on the Internet putting comments on things that are going against the mainstream, and then many others have taken to thinking that's how they should act.  But it's important to glean any good information from comments (and discard the junk / trolls / bullies / idiots), and one comment I wanted to include here for YOUsers to see is this:

 

"Can Dr. Pimentel explain how he came about being a paid consultant for Silex, among other pharmaceutical companies? This is the company that sells Xifaxin. Those of us who are ill with IBS appreciate his research, but it is funded by Silex and that is a direct conflict of interest, given that is #1 treatment is Xifaxin."

---

 

For what it's worth, something to think about the funding --- always follow the money, as they say!  But I did want to start off with the type of provider from mainstream research and funding and treatment such as Dr. Pimentel. And then we'll offer other information from more outside the box (which I prefer to not call 'alternative', because I think it makes it beta and then puts this mainstream stuff as alpha.  I'd rather it be seen equal, and as a choice AND something ideally integrated, such as with integrative medical model and focusing on functional medicine (getting to the underlying causes and hopefully root cause). 

---

An excerpt from what you'll find at the link provided, above, to get the readable, transcribed interview, is this: (I hope this encourage YOU to take a trip on the link and going to Chris' website and seeing this overall thread, the comments there (which are different than what you get at YouTube, too), and look around his website overall and consider the big resource I'm suggesting to YOU.  (Note, I'm adding BOLDING, below, knowing what my YOUsers might want to have 'pop' out at them when scanning over this/ reading. I also make shorter paragraphs for tired / unwell brains to better read). 

What is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth?

 

Mark Pimentel, MD:  I think the term SIBO is evolving in a sense because initially we used the term small intestinal bacterial overgrowth based on breath testing, and I think breath testing has a lot of merit, but SIBO does not equal SIBO does not equal SIBO, and I think both from a breath testing standpoint and even a microbiology standpoint we know there are different forms.  

But essentially the bottom line is that it’s an overcolonization of specific bacteria, usually the colon bacteria, into the small intestine, where they don’t belong.  Ruminating animals, for example, like cows and sheep and horses, they have a lot of bacteria through their small bowel in order to help them absorb and digest grass, which they don’t have enzymes for.  Humans don’t need that.  

Our small bowel is almost sterile — on purpose — because we’re sophisticated, we can digest many different things, and we have all the enzymes for that.  And when all this bacteria builds up in the small bowel, then you get this bloating, gas and distention, and a lot of changes in bowel function.

But the reason I started by saying, “SIBO is not SIBO,” is because as we move forward, we’re seeing that if you have methane-type of organisms in the small bowel, you’re getting constipated, and if you have hydrogen type, you get more of the loose bowel movements or mixed IBS.  

And it’s going to get even more complicated because we think that the type of bugs may be associated with different diseases.  Maybe fibromyalgia has a different type of overgrowth than, say, just simple IBS.  So those complexities are emerging.

I really like Chris Kresser, L.Ac. as an expert to have on the team surrounding YOU! (I'm referring to the Lumigrate YOU! Model, take out a sheet of paper and draw out who you have around you for information and advise regarding your health.)  His background includes that he became ill while traveling in Indonesia and saw Dr Pimentel early on, as you'll hear at the link if you go listen to this hour-long interview.

His 'about' information shows he did the basics of higher education at University and then to become an acupuncture provider, but mostly he clearly resonated with functional and integrative medicine, with looking for the underlying root causes.  I find his style of interviewing easy to listen to and he makes much of his information free and easy to access. He no longer takes new patients and has shifted to having another clinician in his practice for patient care, and he's working to educate other providers about what he's done to successfully assist consumers to reverse symptoms. 

In this interview with Dr. P, they both speak very clearly, very slowly, are respectful of each other and share a 'groove', I'd call it, and verbalize respecting what they learn from their patients along the way. I hope YOU find the interview of value.  Remember, write down notes of where you found this topic and come back to it in your study time, and devote your time and energy to delving into this. 

My Background and a Pep Talk

My background also includes a health collapse in my twenties. I wasn't traveling in Indonesia, I was about a decade living in Fort Collins, Colorado.  I did the basics of higher education to earn a university degree, in occupational therapy, which is all about function. I also worked in health education at the university in my early-to-mid 30s, just prior to being accepted into the O.T. program.  I became an OTR in early 1997, and always had more of an education bent to my treatment than typical OTs.  

I found for my personal well-being, the more holistic, traditional and innovative providers and techniques which insurance-based medicine did not support were what aided me the most in my overall health journey.  By 2005 I saw I could no longer work in skilled nursing, by 2006 I had the same frustrations with home health, and by 2007 I was leaving outpatient therapy work in order to do full-time education via what would become Lumigrate.com.  Lumigrate launched in March of 2009, after a year of startup within a functional and integrative medicine clinic. 

I simply have had the benefit of being in a position to spend a lot of time learning more and more about what causes chronic conditions, even when I was working in mainstream medicine. And, I'm simply built a certain way -- in terms of how I assess things.  I was singled out in OT school, in a good way, on occasion, because of it.  Only 1% of therapists have the type of personality that I have per Myers-Briggs testing, and luckily I'm affable enough to be more friendly and outgoing than the typical person with that type of personality.  

Still, I'm 'not for everyone', and I've also had to learn as much as anyone about how to work with myself and others in situations to have it be the best for all involved. But mostly, I'm able to cypher through a case and find things others have not thought of. I work with those I feel are a good fit, and naturally encourage YOU to do the same thing with ALL the sources of assistance for well-being you utilize. 

I eventually could see my symptoms started at the beginning of my life, not when I'd initially thought was the point I went from well to unwell.  I would resonate with the models various experts collaborating with Lumigrate provided for showing how one goes from wellness to illness -- a barrel that fills and overflows, an elevator that gets weighted down and struggles then can break and crash if you don't get things unloaded off of it in time. 

        "Load Theory Model" / Elevator Model ©2012 Lumigrate

So at mid 50's in age at this point in time, and having been forty years proactively addressing symptoms through diet, once recognizing I had serious symptoms as a teenager, I've looked for the underlying causes and solutions for 'our problems', and have long known it to be environmentally caused, complex, and too difficult for most people to figure out on their own.  

Even the diets that are very helpful are too difficult for most people, so most people are operating at a lower functional level than they would otherwise. And the good news is, the diets that ultimately help people the most aren't all that difficult to learn at this point, the information has shifted and the things that don't work so well are no longer in the way of consumers if they know how to step and find the most beneficial information today. 

The reality is that Americans and others in the western world are established into their patterns of what they will and won't take on when it comes to their wellness or their symptoms of being sub-well. They want something they can take by mouth -- supplements and various pain pills whether prescription or over the counter are a case in point.  While I strongly believe that your diet is also extremely important, and you'll get out of 'it' what you put into 'it' when it comes to diet (and exercise, and lifestyle overall), many people are not feeling well enough to even deal with changing their diet. So where do you start? 

SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth theory and solutions have impressed me as not only getting close to, or at the root cause, which is ideal, but the treatments suggested by protocols and experts and others learning about SIBO and teaching about it (and thus being experts at some level). And from there, I feel like experts I'd identified relatively recently on topics on Lumigrate about diet, nutrition, and wellness offer good solutions to consider for diet and nutrition, allowing YOU to figure out what YOU wish to do about that aspect. 

This topic is going to be as much a lesson to Lumigrate's YOUsers utilizing the information we offer for no cost on the Internet, and which I utilize when 'tutorning' or 'mentoring' those learners in finding the next step on the path of information about illness/wellness for their individual 'work' about HOW information comes about to be available for consideration, as it is about SIBO / small intestine bacterial overgrowth.  How things progress today is very different than it was in the past prior to the advent of the Internet. But it is also very much the same, too. 

CONDITIONS SIBO MAY CONTRIBUTE TO:

(From source sited below, where this list is shown a second time)

SIBO has wide ranging implications and may be a cause or a major factor in all of the following diseases:

acne rosacea, acne vulgaris, acromegaly, anemia, autism,

celiac disease, CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), cystic fibrosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Crohn's, colitis (see under 'I' for inflammatory bowel disease / IBD, IBS / irritable bowel syndrome)

diabetes, diverticulitis,

erosive esophagitis,

fibromyalgia,

gastroparesis, GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease),

H. pylori infection, hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), hypothyroid/hashimoto's throiditis,

IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), interstitial cystitis,

lactose intolerance, liver cirrhosis, Lyme disease,

malabsorption syndrome, muscular dystrophy (myotonic type 1),

NASH/ NAFLD (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis / non-alcoholic fatty liver disease),

obesity,

pancreatitis, parasites, Parkinson's, prostatitis (chronic),

rheumatoid arthritis and

scleroderma (systemic sclerosis).

Please note, this does NOT mean that SIBO causes all these diseases, it just means that it may be a contributing factor or may accompany these conditions.

Other clues that SIBO may be a problem include having better bowel movements after taking antibiotics and having bowel problems get worse when taking probiotics or fiber. If bowel problems began after using opiates for pain, this is another clue that SIBO may be a factor.

Your Wellness Level or For Those YOU Are Responsible For IS UP to YOU

Get information and assistance from a team YOU create, from paradigms and sources YOU want to use. The Lumigrate YOU! Model

This is representative of the team of providers -- not education sources, just providers -- that was available at the integrative medicine center that Lumigrate was instrumental in creating and getting underway in 2008/9 in Grand Junction.  Like many new things, many divergences occurred and the team at the center was a totally different group without two years, and I've operated independently since.  So just get ideas from this. Get out a piece of paper, draw your current model and then perhaps another version of what you'd ideally like to have. 

IF YOU are SICK AND TIRED OF TRYING NEW THINGS OR LEARNING, PLEASE DON'T TURN AWAY. I know the 'fatigue factor', I've hit it myself at times. I understand where people who are chronically ill / unwell are at or are coming from, because I've lived this! I also understand how the allopathic medical providers feel as I worked as one for many years, and I understand the 'outside the box' clinics too, having helped start an integrative medical center in 2008/9.

I know what we wanted to accomplish and how that shifted, and what caused the shift -- costs, pressures from other providers and the consumers, and many other things. PROGRESS IS SLOW sometimes, but I encourage people working on movement towards their ideals and goals. 

Maybe you've had benefit from things in the past, only to have it be temporary. So then look to the Lumigrate onion model, below -- you were successfully getting to underlying problems but not to THE ROOT. Could this information be THE ROOT that we all were missing and thus few were resolved / cured / permanently reversed? I think it's entirely possible.                                                            © 2012  Lumigrate

IF YOU'RE INCLINED TO SPEND YOUR TIME CONCERNED WITH ISSUES OF OTHERS, OF SOCIETY, AND LEARNING AND TALKING ABOUT THAT BUT NOT DOING WHAT YOU CAN DO THAT DIRECTLY AFFECTS YOUR HOME, YOUR CAR, YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT, CAR, YARD, GARAGE, DOG, CAT, KID, or other SIGNIFICANT OTHER, CHANGE. YOU can only be effective on what YOU can control. That's a massively important concept. 

STOP, please, and think about the above information before going on. Consider if this is for you, then proceed or not. I hope you proceed, but we're not for everyone. I go into that, below. 

 Today, I look at this picture compared to when I first grabbed it to use someday in some way on Lumigrate (with blessings / permission, naturally). Today looking at the same photo, I "notice" the exposures from the grass that the woman in the sandals and bare legs and arms has compared to the woman in the middle in boots, leggings, sleeves.

A Preface Regarding Facebook

With the advent and popularity of Facebook in the last decade, for those it rippled out to include, combined with the level of knowledge-able people today heavily utilizing Facebook in a robust way, for thousands of days now, it's only accelerated how things shifted. It's actually a return to the traditional, old ways -- you figure things out with those around you who have similar motivations. Picture the native, indigenous people of your area long ago -- they handed information down but would also have new situations to figure out. They'd put heads together, try things, tell each other and amend, and maybe go talk to another group of people or another outside their group. Bring that to their enclave. And so it would go.  

Somewhere a hundred or two hundred years ago we went to this 'modern medicine' stuff, based on the invention of the 'pathogen' and microsopes, and gave our power away or let it be taken from us. We came to rely upon 'bona fide' research done by institutions with people with much education. There's a reason it became the 'mainstream' -- it was incredible! But eventually it ran it's course. Corruption took over the majority of institutions doing research or governing over things, or creating products. As people figured this out, a return to traditional ways occurred BUT using the Internet, and in particular Facebook in a good many cases. SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth is no exception.

My experience with SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth information is a case in point. A case I think will be of value for Lumigrate YOUsers.  I'll distill this down and make it neutralized enough for political purposes, as the 'politics of Facebook comes into play.  I will bring into it the cover story of the local paper that appeared just after this topic was initially created going in one direction, and having to be reworked due to how 'green' some of the information and new provider source I'd initially used was. Green is good, though. So I've woven it with more conventional, established sources.  I'll also provide for those with no background about Lumigrate, the foundational concepts and graphics to represent them, to follow.

The first thing to know is that Lumigrate is not about what the 'norm is'. The average person wanting to spend a little time because they're interested in health is not the information consumer I think is going to make a change in their wellness level by finding a topic at Lumigrate. Those who ARE READY TO MAKE IT A PRIORITY OR HAVE BEEN are who I want to work with or otherwise provide topics for if finding them online or otherwise.  Don't expect to get through it in one sitting. Plan to come back. Look at this as taking a seminar, or possibly a semester-long class. Ultimately it's often a multi-year endeavor, learning, doing, getting better and then learning more, doing more and differently -- round and round. 

One of the people who utilizes my assistance for 1:1 guidance on continued learning and application of concepts to functioning in the home, work, etc., is not on Facebook, though they are a very competent Internet shopper and user for information. I essentially keep them up on developments in groups they'd participate in on Facebook if IF they were using it, which they're not 'into'.  They're 'not cut out for' what you do to be effective on Facebook, they are one of the many ones who are 'extra sensitive'. Another person I have been advising about information is very capable on the Internet but rarely goes online. It's just not his thing. Easily overwhelmed, I try to give an overview until I can tell they're 'maxed out' and then have identified two action or show-and-tell steps to focus on. And progress occurs. Slowly. 

I planned and started creating Lumigrate before I learned of Facebook, and in 2008 saw how it was a key in the outcome of the presidential election in the US. If it weren't for Lumigrate, no telling what I'd do in terms of social media. My experiences because of using Facebook to build information on Lumigrate, and make connections for those to use it as well, lead me to currently look forward to the day it doesn't have to be a mainstay.  Computers are just not 'my thing', nothing about technology is, but they're important tools and you simply are at a deficit if you don't use them. 

Facebook became the 'next new thing' and I was curious how much it was going to impact consumers of health information. It has beein more incredible than I foresaw, in helpfulness, and as time went on I saw people harmed by it. I've been harmed by it in some places and cases, and benefitted overall -- there is more good in the world than not, I believe. Or light trumps dark, right wins out over wrong, etc.

Facebook is basically similar to being at elementary or junior or high school -- people get in groups, there are the inevitable things with people who collect together in groups. I elaborate on all this because people reading this topic might find their way to information that directs them to Facebook groups if it appeals to them. In the group where I encountered the person coming up with SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth information initially, there recently was a woman who said she'd found her way to the group from a topic she found on the Internet at Lumigrate. Hence the groundwork about Facebook here.

Since it appears to me that SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth will be 'raised up on the flagpole with the spotlight on it' by mainstream in the next few years as their patents turn into products and follow up research is completed, until then this is cutting edge and therefore support online might be where the majority of people find those to help them. I will help mentor or facilitate learning directions to certain people but it's by far not the majority. And I want everyone to do this safely. Get fully educated and get the assistance you need if needed before taking actions. 

Overall, at the end of the day, our 'community' that binds us, in the case of health, is what the various groups and people share. We all are working on our wellness / illness level and trying to either figure out how to change or situation, or we're wanting to get attention for what we have. Sometimes that can be both. But overall there are two major groupings -- problem solvers with team players, and and those wanting 'support', prayers, etc.  

I focus on the former, but recognize there is always a place for complaining, wanting support, and spiritual input. So I've made my way since 2008 -- seven years now -- navigating through a lot of troublemakers, supporters, complainers, team players, pray-ers, and mostly "Share-ers" on Facebook. And in the live world. Some people call it the 'real world', but I think Facebook connections are real.  

That's a clue I've found when talking to people in terms of which group they'll be in relative to making trouble or further the ball of solutions and help for people ... if they value their Internet as much as their live relationships.  I've many times been communicating with someone through Facebook about things to do with our work and they'll tell me they have to get back to work. "Do you think I was taking a break from work to work communicating with you?"

I will think and sometimes point out.  These are the same types of people who will answer their phones and interrupt your time if in person when their phone rings. Let them go to voicemail or text you, I'm the live one now standing here waiting. It's a complex world. It's all very messed up, like a domino effect. Keep that in mind, and keep after what your end goals and desires are in light of disruption, disrepect, etc.

Or else you'll likely give up on something that's going to potentially help you due to unhealthy behaviors and habits. If a person running a group has you wondering, or someone with a friend status on Facebook, don't overreact. Many people who have the need for information about SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth will have an amped up brain and their behaviors flow from that.

It makes it more challenging for any person wishing to reverse symptoms, and a goofy setup for interactions with others who are potentially also impaired and have amped up or otherwise malfunctioning brains affecting behaviors. The brain / gut connection comes into play with SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth. 

On Facebook, some are truly re-searchers. Some are truly give-ers. Some are take-ers. Some are both. Ultimately who sticks to me and Lumigrate are work-ers. Those who want a quid-pro-quo, an exchange, can get somewhere if they wish to include me on their "YOU! team", and I feel it's a good thing for me as well.

Lumigrate's information is not for everybody, I not only recognize that, it is by design. It's not intended to be 'easy', it's intended for people who want to learn and will find it of value and at 'their level'.

For this topic, I'm going to use a lot of information from where I live and what I'm experiencing and have experienced as I was learning and up to the present, and ask the YOUser to take it in and then think about doing similarly considering what they can come up with in the area YOU live, in the home YOU live in.

Few who read this will live in central western Colorado, and will have to 'do the translation' to their area. Make it an 'experience', this is really important stuff right now, in my opinion, no matter where you live.  I believe that by my being in this relatively 'dry' area, not thought of as messed up like 'the middle' of the US (the midwest) or other more populated places are. My having this much from here to report, I hope it will be a great starting point for ANYONE.  

I am hoping that on this topic about SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth, to paint the picture and "connect the dots" for YOUsers (those using Lumigrate, aka readers, etc.) that what you can learn about occurs in a well, a sewer line, a rut in the desert is also occurring in the gut --  your impossible-to-see small intestine.

I hope to string this together in a way that it's effective for you.  I'm using some 'story tools', such as a dog that I got to work with who made incredible progress and rapidly, plus sharing my experience so far with my gut and what I have going on around me YOU might look for too.  AND I'll provide resources you find online, both conventional and non.  

For further information on things that were my stepping stones to finding SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth, I link to those topics at Lumigrate for those wishing to go further or to see more. 

The basic trail for me to get to SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth has as the last major step prior to encountering the acronym and description of SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth, a very nonconventional research group I was invited to join in late summer 2014.

I now will reveal here that I had tried the protocol by the group leader from early January until May of this year. I had concerns about others trying it, hence I didn't reveal that except privately. SIBO brought the explanation of why the problem occurred that I and everyone was having, and a new protocol from someone who'd had similar concerns to mine offers solutions.

I, however, cannot provide links here to that protocol or website resource, they wish for that to be only given out by me to those who I am communicating with individually. It's a really exciting protocol and I knew it from first read over, and REALLY knew it when I'd had to work through a lot of kinks to get to the agreement I've related here. So please contact me via Facebook or the information at the About tab OR in the Mardy Poppins is what I'm about in 2015 blog topic pinned to the top of the blog tab at Lumigrate.  (To be clear, don't use the contact us, I have had trouble updating that and it might not be correct -- that might change and it'll be correct again but I always keep the About and Blog parts up). 

I've noticed some people who utilize Facebook and are aware of Lumigrate might not fully or even halfway correctly understand how I work and what Lumigrate is about and how I use it.  I put information here that I find I need to help those I'm helping learn, and then if anyone else wants to use it, it's there -- free as can be. No email signup required, even. Totally free use. 

I have opted to spend my Facebook time in certain ways that has shifted from when I began back when creating what was later named Lumigrate. It's an invaluable tool overall, but it is not for everyone. I'd advise it for certain people and against it for others. But in the case of SIBO, it's an example of how I benefitted from the time spent in a Facebook group about environmental causes of the chronically unwell state we share.

Changing Paradigms And Basics to Start

We share this as people -- all people on Earth (essentially), as well as our dogs, cats, large animals, wild animals, plants, bees, bats, bugs -- and most everything living on Earth (essentially). 

Lumigrate is about 'integrative medicine' -- whole-istic a.k.a holistic, bringing mind, body, and spirit together is the nutshell of what integrative medicine is about.  'Grate' in Lumigrate is from that word.  Functional medicine, or getting to the underlying causes, and potentially to root or core is the extension of integrative medicine. This is represented in our onion model, below. 

Why progress takes the time it does, and why we're only now covering SIBO at Lumigrate is another story. When it comes to SIBO / small intestine bacterial overgrowth, I predict this is a particularly massively important component to wellness / illness information. Others I respect share my opinion.  It appears to me that the research so far, and patents that I've seen evidence of in passing when studying, with future results being new targeted products beyond what people are using today, and ongoing research -- round and round it'll go.

"Mark my words and the date", I've said to people -- "I remember the day that Mardy Popped In and it was the first I heard of this, or the bacteria running amok that she called THE Stuff"..... You'll be surprised in the future you'd not always know about this, as it's going to be 'that big' in the future. That's my prediction. It is going to be a revolution in health care even inside the box of convention.  "Outside the box" of convention, people can get there sooner than later -- So that is now. That is here! I'm glad YOU found this topic. 

Information from Both Sides of the Fence - Substantiating the Other

I want to provide information from "both sides of the fence" about SIBO / small intestine bacterial overgrowth.  My previous topics at Lumigrate about SIBO have included information from Modern Herbal Medicine dot com; it's a website I really like and encourage taking a trip on the link provided to see the site / website. Lumigrate dot com being about functional medicine and integrative medicine, with the cornerstone of that foundation being the proactive patient building a capable team surrounding them to assist with health education, services, product provision, etc., herbal certainly is the 'sweet spot' of the palate of things to chose from. 

You're going to find that I eventually will suggest some very different types of information for learning, and providers to glean information from, because I've been on this journey and that was the pathway I took, as did others. It was essentially a paradigm shift and I think it's a good way to present to people.   

The afore-mentioned protocol and website that I can privately direct people to is an example of how things 'roll' today -- a conventional system's program and website wouldn't put something out when it was 'green', they'd wait until they'd retested and re-researched, but twenty years can pass from the start until a product and protocol comes out to providers to use. I'll help you also find that type of information, but you more than likely can do that without my help on Lumigrate topics or through me privately.  

People in the public sector who are doing research and developing protocols do their versions of testing and changing and re-testing and roll the way they roll. They are thinking more of the people whose lives can be changed sooner than later and know what it's like to be aided by something they learn about from other non-professionals who have rolled up their sleeves, done their homework, and made discoveries.  Lorenzo's Oil is the famous movie -- this happens every day, increasingly, with the increasing numbers of very affected children. Dogs. Cats. Adults. Horses. Cows. Plants. .... 

Those 'in the trenches', which I consider myself in many regards, don't have the same expectations and motivations. They interact very differently than the professionals I started out working with when founding Lumigrate's content. Overall not better or worse, it's just different reasons and level of 'passion' about it. Overall, we all share one thing in common: a desire to see people get better, or if they're okay now, staying that way and not going through so many of us have with health challenges. 

Initially this topic was based around that new information and protocol, because from all my experience, it was looking very much like something that Lumigrate's YOUsers would want to know about, and I certainly wanted anyone I'm working with who might benefit from knowing about SIBO (which is truly just about everyone ... seriously) to encounter it. But there were concerns by the content creator about Lumigrate's linking and sending people their way, so I worked to remove that content and was finding things to replace it with, when the Sunday paper arrived.  

Mainstream Media Covering Smelly Gases

The Daily Sentinel for Grand Junction, Colorado had TWO cover stories about gases in the area being generated from various sources and in many areas.  It was the perfect solution! 

I realize MOST PEOPLE finding this information are not in western Colorado, but I will encourage everyone to do this:

Take out a map and look at the area, it's just east of the Utah/Colorado border where the Colorado River valley goes through -- Interstate 70 uses that valley in this area so it's easy to find if you can hop visually on I-70. 

Look at the links to the stories if you're piqued by what I provide here as summary. What I found most interesting were these aspects, partly because health department workers described a symptom I'd had when my health symptoms got worse for a while in the last five years (like you had a coin in your mouth taste or a low voltage battery), and when I touched with bare hands a 'feather' of airborn strands of what I term 'THE Stuff" on Lumigrate to simplify this complex information, I'd felt that 'low voltage buzz' feel and reported that to my teacher about THE Stuff.

"You shouldn't touch that, Mardy, but since you did --- what did it feel like?"  "That's what other people have said, too", was his response. This was around the time he said good naturedly, "Now that you're at this point figuring this out, I bet I'm going to get a call from you every day for a while".  Which was the case for a week or so, many more messages than usual through Facebook and certainly more participation in the group he leads with me inputting my experiences from western Colorado.  

The fracking water disposal site was the focus of one of the stories, located south of the Kannah Creek Road south of Grand Junction and Whitewater, north of the Delta County / Mesa County line. Apparently there is also waste dumped in the area from portable toilets, but residents say it's a different odor from that and the one that's bothering them is from the petroleum industry fracturing processes wastewater.  

I knew from being in the Facebook group about "THE Stuff" messing with the environment and our gut biome, that things were thought by members of the group to be mixing in our drains and coming up into the homes, as well as other -- many other -- sources. Clearly, a big pond or reservoir or lake or sea, or a rut in the desert, or drain in a pipe under the sink can be putting out whatever amount of gas. It's just easier to figure and suspect if it's a larger source. Particularly if associated with an industry which has it's controversies and concerns overall about the impacts on environment. Important to be aware and concerned about them, but don't forget to think about the sink.

I'm not here to talk about how to solve our energy issues, or aruge over whose fault it is that our water and wastewater is not as good as it could be or ANY of that big picture stuff.  I'm just here to pass the information along and suggest we each have to focus on solving the issues which affect our health which we can do something about ASAP -- as well as the longer game, bigger picture.

If you can't do something about the air, lower your exposures by what you can influence. Which is a LOT of other things. Can't do something about the water, lower your exposures by what you can influence otherwise. What does that dog and all it's fur bring with it that's getting into the car, house, etcetera. TONS to delve into from this topic, and that's why YOU were pre-pared, above for the time commitment that comes with the type of information I provide.  

There's something in driving rehabilitation I learned --- 'potholism'.  If you put your attention on the pot hole, you'll more likely hit it and just have gotten the result you wanted to avoid. Focus on the solutions and your 'out' and you'll more than likely miss the pothole and the situation you wanted to avoid. So do this where you live when you realize you're planted in a place that has toxins. Few of us are fortunate enough to be in relatively low exposure anymore. 

On a side note, interesting to me was Mesa County Health Department has two employees' olfaction capabilities certified every year. In telling someone about that they said 'that's like at a winery, there'll be someone who is 'the nose' there.  Ironically, I knew someone from the petroleum industry who had a nose for wine or anything, he could tell you the exact spices in a complex spice mix, or wine. Amazing! They have a fancy gadget that sucks in the air and helps figure out what's in the air in terms of gases. 

Also of interest to me was the areas they talked about having reports of sulphur smell.  They didn't include the spot I'd noticed it, which wasn't far from where I was living when I had the taste / feel in my mouth of metal or low voltage plus a massive weight gain and reversal of improved symptoms to being digress. I'd made a lot of progress and was really doing quite well at the time. I'm back reversing those symptoms this year because of information I got into which was on the pathway to finding out about SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth. 

Links for The Daily Sentinel articles from the front page of the last Sunday in October, 2015. There are two, and both have photographs, maps, images and many embellishments to what I have transferred to include here so please take a trip on the link and go see the sites I suggest from Lumigrate.  I am going to only provide part of the longer article and in both will bold the parts I want to 'pop' for Lumigrate YOUsers. :

1. Marking Acrid Smells of Industrial Operations is a 'Moveable Target'

 www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/marking-acrid-smells-of-industrial-operations-is-a

---

By Amy Hamilton 
Saturday, October 24, 2015

Neighbors have described it any number of ways: “metallic,” “sulphur,” “an unbearable stench,” even “fiberglass on fire.”

The acrid air is carried on swirling winds in the sagebrush-hearty valleys on the south side of Grand Mesa, an expansive desert dotted with homes tucked into the undulating hills or perched above washes.

Residents on Bridgeport Road, off Kannah Creek Road, and in Whitewater report that a pungent air wakes them from deep sleep, burns their noses and throats, causes their eyes to water and prompts coughing fits. Some have vomited or felt their chests tighten. Most everyone wonders what the exposure means for their health.

Mesa County has been gathering complaints like these since mid-May 2014, a reported symptom of bad bacteria in outdoor ponds that hold cleaned hydraulic fracturing water at the Deer Creek facility off U.S. Highway 50 near the Delta County line. The operation started accepting the produced water in August 2012, yet there were no complaints in the beginning. Despite numerous complaints, the facility owned by Alanco Energy Services has never fallen out of compliance for odors or air quality, according to the limits of its permits.

To be certain, measuring the presence of odors that arrive suddenly over wide swaths of desert is a tricky task for officials and has created deep fissures of frustration among residents who feel their quality of life is compromised.

Smells seem to have backed off somewhat lately, likely because of cooler temperatures, and because operators may be getting a better handle on anaerobic conditions in their two ponds on eight acres.

But residents report they still smell the telltale caustic air when a bad wind blows their way.

Thomas and Kathleen Panter, who live the closest — about a half-mile from the Deer Creek facility — might be the most affected. When it’s bad, which is usually at night on the heels of a hot summer day, the biting odor causes them to retreat into their 700-square-foot yurt. While the bulk of complaints to the county dissipated after the weather turned cooler in late August and September, the Panters grudgingly hosted their unwanted guest most recently again on the night of Oct. 14. When Kathleen returned home from an out-of-town trip, she stepped out of the car and gagged. The sharp smell permeated the air around their place and invites itself inside each night.

“If you ever want to have a picnic or a barbecue ruined, come to my place,” Thomas Panter said from his home, only half-jokingly. “You can’t ignore it. We’ll be sitting here in the evening reading, all of a sudden, ‘Oh, phew!’ This stuff, you can’t get away from it.”

    (MARDY NOTE I JUST HAD TO INTERJECT HE CALLED IT THE STUFF....)

Because odor is one of the conditions that the pit operators must control, Alanco must address it or risk losing its county-issued conditional use permit.

According to a log kept by the county, company officials have consistently worked to quell the smell with varying degrees of peroxide, bleach, the use of bubblers, and chemical and biological treatments.

Alanco Chief Executive Officer John Carlson said his company has worked diligently to control odors, and he pointed out that tests have shown the company has not violated any emission or odor standard.

“I think we have made every effort to be a good neighbor,” Carlson said. “We are concerned when people complain.”

However, Carlson questioned why residents assume Deer Creek is causing smells five miles away or farther, when there may be other sources in those areas polluting the air.

Even during the 15-month snapshot between May 2014 and August 2015 when Alanco was treating its ponds, the complaints rolled in. Now, some folks claim they can smell Deer Creek from as far away as 32 Road or on Orchard Mesa, which is 5 to 10 or more miles away.

For Deer Creek’s odors to spread that far “means we’d be flat on our backs near the pond,” said Melissa Salter, an environmental health specialist at the Mesa County Health Department.

The Health Department’s two odor-certified investigators, Salter and Tom Orr, have visited the Deer Creek site or other areas where people have complained 14 times since complaints started rolling in. Eight of those visits have included tests with the agency’s odor-sniffing device, called a nasal ranger. The contraption looks like a cross between a hair dryer and a radar gun, but it can be calibrated to record smells based on varied dilution levels.

Salter and Orr visited at times when people said the smells were the worst, from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. They showed up in the morning, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. While tests have shown that some odors were present, the ratio of odors to clean air has never risen to the level of determining that Deer Creek is out of compliance for odors.

“There’s been several times we’ve been at the (Deer Creek) site at the same time we received complaints,” Salter said. “We say, ‘Hey, look, we’re standing right here.’ They (residents) think that it may be going over our heads.”

Salter said the Health Department has to be careful in its determination of assigning smell to one area. “Just because someone smells something at Kannah Creek, we can’t associate that with Deer Creek,” she said.

Salter said she’s smelled odors similar to those found at Deer Creek — a sulfite gas odor associated with anaerobic bacteria — in north Grand Junction.

And just because something smells bad doesn’t mean it’s bad for your health, Salter said.

Salter explained it like this: Most people think skunks smell bad, but smelling the odors they give off is not bad for your health. Carbon monoxide, however, has no smell, but ingesting enough of it is fatal. “Everybody who operates these facilities operates with permits, which is permission to pollute,” she said. “The permits have thresholds of what they are allowed to pollute. We’re not saying there’s not smells. We’re saying they never exceeded the limits.”

To be sure, trying to pin down where and when the odors exist is a moveable target. Salter admitted that officials cannot be onsite all the time, and they may be there when the smells are most offensive. Even residents report that sometimes the shifting winds can bring on the smell as fast as it disappears.

However, even county health officials at least once noted a strange effect after being at Deer Creek for 2 1/2 hours on the afternoon of Oct. 21, 2014.

“Of note, the three of us, after spending 2 1/2 hours downwind of the ponds, experienced a sensation akin to having a penny in the mouth or a very weak battery on the tongue as we left,” according to the county’s log.

When a county official explained the complaints to Jennifer Mattox, who is an inspector and enforcement agent for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for oil and gas, she dismissed the idea the smell could travel miles.

“She suggested looking closer to the complainant’s location, as odor from the Deer Creek facility would have to ‘knock your socks off’ at the plant to be as strong as described five miles away,” according to an Oct. 7, 2014, posting in the county’s log.

County officials suggest residents in the area of 32 Road may be smelling the Clifton Sanitation District at 3217 D Road. Smells on Kannah Creek could be from some oil and gas activity there or, as has been suggested, a hog farm in the area.

But residents insist they know what they smell.

The Panters said they can tell the difference between waste dumped in the area managed by Goodwin Septic Tank Service. The company stores waste from portable toilets and grease traps near the Deer Creek pits.

The smell from Goodwin’s operation doesn’t permeate their home like the chemical smell from Deer Creek, the Panters said.

---

 

2. One Stop Waste Drop

 www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/onestop-waste-drop

---

By Amy Hamilton 
Saturday, October 24, 2015

Deer Creek’s operations — and their fight to squash odors that have plagued neighbors for more than a year — is a test run for a much larger plan to locate waste pits in the area.

The current two ponds on eight acres off U.S. Highway 50, which accept cleaned hydraulic fracturing water, are a pilot project for Alanco Energy Services. Their next project is proposed to be 10 times as big, according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.

Complete buildout of the 80-acre Indian Mesa development, slated for a 160-acre swath about three miles northwest of the Deer Creek Facility, is predicted by the company to be “a unique one-stop shop” for naturally occurring radioactive material and oil and gas disposal in western Colorado, according to a release from Alanco.

While Alanco has been moving forward with some of the permitting requirements for the 12-pond facility, the company’s financial picture indicates it has been bleeding money from the start, in part from costly mitigation efforts at Deer Creek and a continuing slowdown in the oil and gas industry. There’s no assurances Alanco could pay for or raise money to start construction, according to their required Sept. 30 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Alanco Chief Executive Officer John Carlson said the company has permits to start construction on the site, but he couldn’t say when that construction would begin.

“Hopefully, one day that will be a land farm,” Carlson said by phone last week. “I can’t say there’s a specific time to do that.” Mesa County commissioners in April 2014 approved a conditional use permit for a first phase of the Indian Mesa project at 4720 and 4730 U.S. Highway 50. The permit includes the same six conditions that were required for the Deer Creek facility, including terms that operators comply with state health standards, provide financial assurance so the state could pay to clean up the mess in the event the operator walked away, and follow air quality and water quality requirements.

However, Alanco hasn’t yet applied for a license from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said spokeswoman Jeannine Natterman. The company would have to apply for a license before moving forward, she said.

In referring to Deer Creek, Natterman said it’s not common for ponds that hold hydraulic fracturing water to go anaerobic, leading to smells, “but those problems do occur. It’s a pilot project because Alanco hasn’t figured out how to fix the problem yet.”

“The alternative to facilities like these is illegal dumping,” she added. “We would prefer that not to happen. These facilities have protections. It’s much preferable to having nothing.”

.... The conclusion of this article:

FROM DEER CREEK TO INDIAN MESA

A complete review of operations at Deer Creek and the response from Mesa County and the state currently is being compiled for the public, said Linda Dannenberger, the county’s planning division director. The report will be released in connection with a public hearing tentatively slated for early November, she said.

“Honestly, I think people need to read all the information in context,” she said. “We’ve been doing more than we ever wanted to do with this. I do understand that it’s taken (Alanco) a long time; they’ve gone through a lot of different of treatments. What I’ve also tried to tell the public is, let the science do its work.”

Asked whether Alanco should be allowed to build another facility after its track record among neighbors with Deer Creek, Dannenberger said, “I can understand that kind of concern from someone.”

In general, Dannenberger said neighbors should feel proud that their concerns and complaints over odors at Deer Creek have been heard and those comments have helped to make changes at the facility. Neighbors have long questioned why county commissioners haven’t canceled the conditional use permit for Deer Creek because of the overwhelming complaints of odors. Dannenberger said commissioners currently can’t comment on Deer Creek until the upcoming public hearing, to be fair to the process.

“I have to applaud them for their concern,” Dannenberger said about Deer Creek’s neighbors. “I think people should take an interest in their area. They’ve been effective. I’m not saying it’s perfect, we’re still addressing it. At least it’s progressing in a positive direction. We’re asking for data (from Alanco) on a regular basis.”

As the odors persist, neighbors who moved out to the rural area to get away from other people make a point to regularly meet and continue to press Mesa County to affect change.

Local groups like Citizens for Clean Air and the Western Colorado Congress have jumped in to help residents navigate their next steps. Residents currently are circulating a petition opposing the Deer Creek facility on the grounds that all county residents should be concerned about the odorous air.

Fourteen years ago, Gwen and Justin Russell built their log cabin on 40 acres along Bridgeport Road. A view off the front porch includes the Deer Creek facility, though it’s more than two miles away. Off their backyard is an entrance to what is now the protected and highly scenic Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, home to scores of petroglyphs and shimmering creeks that dump into the Gunnison River. Gwen Russell chuckles at the “disconnect” of the kinds of uses the government allows on land in such close proximity.

“I always thought I was buying a good place,” she said, looking out as a coyote cruised through the sagebrush a quarter-mile out.

The rural setting, which offers regular sightings of antelope, white-tailed rabbits and bald eagles, has been a good place to raise the couple’s now-grown children, Russell said. Yet nearly the past two years have been spoiled with on-and-off again odors from Deer Creek as the sharp smells settle and linger around her home.

“It gets to feel like I’m one voice,” she said. “What else can I do?”

I'm going to ALSO really bolster things with sprinkles from the conventional, mainstream research and publication routes. I hope these facets provide 'grate' starting points for continued education independenty from there if YOU feel this is of interest and value to your process. We cover all the bases, so to speak, that way.  So far in the first days this topic has been up, I know of one person who I made aware of it who showed it to not only a conventional medical person, but a specialist working in a conventional, allopathic, insurance-based establishment where this was NEWS / new.  

It's new to us all at some point, the thing is that Lumigrate's foundational YOU! Model, shown below, works so well because it is indeed the patient / consumer who has the most motivation to be finding solutions beyond what they've already been presented with by their usual providers. Hence those usual providers can expect to have a lot of stuff brought to them by those proactive patients. And so I'm attempting to present this in a way the consumer and 'that provider', as well as the more outside the box and progressive providers, can find benefit from the time spent here. I hope I am successful in that, because I profoundly believe this is significantly important, and never before in history 'critical to know'. 

Why would I say that? You'll have the opportunity to learn that later, in depth. In a nutshell, for those just wanting a quick overview here at the top of the topic, we have a mix of stuff in our intestines right now that is acquired over our lifetimes if we've not gotten them cleaned out, and it's similar to what's acumulating all over Earth. In general, what you see in the earth (dirt) on Earth is an example of what's going on in our intestines. Easy to overlook as it bio-accumulated and changed slowly ... in both what we can see on the ground and sense or know from our bodily symptoms. 

I use my photograph here of what was on the earth / dirt  on Earth on a recent walk.  In another photo I took after this rut dried out, I show the dog foot prints in this intentionally to help you see how this gets in us -- in our pets' guts too, and we all become affected systemically in terms of a 'home system'. 

September, 2015, BLM land 'in the desert' off of 25 Road and The Desert. Photo taken by Mardy Ross.

This will appear almost white when it dries, and becomes this green and toxic-appearing to me within hours of when it gets water from rain. This is the area of the desert I went to walk in the spring after one of my first telephone conversations with my teacher about THE Stuff, and getting some of the information he reserves for if he thinks people are ready to hear it. "I need to go on a longer walk than usual today" I said to someone.

And my gut drew me to this area, and I saw a rut like this when getting back into my car AFTER the walk. Had I seen it getting on my way before clearning my head, I've told people I might have gone over 'the edge'.  It, to me, was a life-changing moment just like when you heard JFK was shot, the 9/11 situation had occurred, or a death of a loved one that shocked you.  

UP CLOSE it looked like this to my camera, at least

 

Picture from looking down being at about 5-1/2 feet above the ground 

Image-ine / imagine if you will, that a person puts a cover over this little gas-making area and you can monitor what's coming from it and add that to your fund of knowledge as a 'dot' to 'connect'.  Imagein there are things like this all over the place in this valley, at least where this type of soil is, where there were things to make it so water collects. Connect the dots.  Think. Don't just keep reading and expecting your answers you'll want to focus on coming from what's written here. Maybe you'll glean and compare here. This is just a tool, the one I offer. 

DOG FOOT PRINTS --- it walked through this and then what. Think about the exposures. It gets airborn, on their fur, in their mouths and noses. The dog gets in the car, and that then translates to airborn and exposures from there.  Then into the house, if they're allowed in the house. 

Combine that with the above box's contents relative to the newspaper -- mainstream, conventional newspaper -- article.  Consider the source. If they've put that much out in a conventional, mainstream-owned and controlled source, imagine what they'd be able to tell us if they were Independent! The power of an ethical press reporter is only as big as the editor and what they're all allowed to publish... Remember this. If you don't know who owns the media and how that affects what we're told in mainstream, learn it. I covered it at Lumigrate in the last two years, so there are tools here for you. There's a search bar. An About Tab, and the pinned blog about me as Mardy Poppins in 2015 'at your service' if it's appropriate fit for advise about learning. Both tell you how to get ahold of me and are updated (Contact Us requires assistance and isn't always updated.) 

An isolated downburst in the area, can create these rapidly. Sometimes longer, slower rains occur.

What the road this was on looked like -- and the dog. 

 

The next photo is NOT in this area of the country / USA,  but to show the earth / dirt of the Earth and our exposures --- happy feet being experienced by one of the Lumigrate experts who shared this awesome photograph of them dancing at an outdoor concert and I thought this was a great place to insert this.  Continue on, below that to see pictures of what MY FEET ended up looking like, with leg lesions with desert earth on Earth as the backdrop. 

Lesions that I got on my leg, below the knee --- I was doing a lot of walking in this soil for exercise and enjoyment, but also had gotten a lot of exposure in general around the house. The first lesions I got were on my feet where, in shoes I'd worn sans socks on a hot day to go out and do some pruning, apparently had GSB smashed up against the skin and it was able to work it's way in and 'do it's thing' to cause a lesion. With the dog frequently at knee area, is that another reason for the lesions at the knee? It's hard to tell, but there is fascinating information from 1990-ish Newsweek story about chronic fatigue and research showing people and pets seemed to have a correlation with their wellness level. It was studied. And here we are 25 years later still going round trying to FIGURE IT OUT and HEAL and find a wellness level we're satisfied with. 

Close up, below, of what you see in the lower right corner, above. 

One of the many dogs I had to hang onto and have fun with and love with as a child, early 1960s. 

 

Lesions on right foot, which came on at the exact same time and healed differently --  the first of 2015 -- along with one at the identical location on the left, having to do with the shoes that pushed in that spot where the foot articulates, I think, and not wearing socks and being covered for protection when going out to prune and do yard work one day. 

 

 

 Right eye symptom, summer 2013. Details to be added. Check back!

 

 

 

Just BELOW the finger, see the strand going from the right of the pole -- across the canal. A strand... This was within five miles of where the desert photographs were taken and about one month later.  Strands were visible all over the desert area at the time of the photographs. Increasing as the summer went on and it seemed starting in mid summer. Is this to do with what's going on with any standing water in small or massive ways? 

Internally we have similar stuff getting into us and creating gases that have been creating problems for us (which is a key concept in SIBO as you'll learn here or may already know if you're familiar) and causing the myriad of symptoms that the majority of people today have in one way or another. (And other animals too, think about pets and livestock, etc.)  I think everyone's noticed that 'everyone has something', and more numbers have more significant health problems. We're getting sicker. 

Simultaneously, and interconnectedly, our environment -- the Earth -- is getting sicker too. The media in summer of 2015 was sprinkling stories out but not really focusing much on the algae blooms. I had my radar up about it. It's a massive issue and in areas that didn't previously have problems. It's all connected!

Water and wastewater is an industry that is separate but also interconnected, and they have an expression 'there's only one water'.  Extend that thinking knowing how much water is in a person, and there is only one. It's all connected. So it's very important people understand that their body right now might be cuspy for having a crisis that in the past wouldn't have occurred. There's a lot of chemistry going on.

And that's a problem, because typically 'we're not very good at chemistry'. Our education system has never done a great job in the US with history, in my opinion.  If you're lucky enough to have an ability plus education about it, you'll have an advantage with your 'survival skills'.  Truly, it is just that, a survival skill at this point. (More I've provided in the past two years at Lumigrate in the forums as well, so learn from the tools available if you wish.)

And this is what the experienced learner, researcher, provider of information that developed one of the resources I suggest in this topic cited as a major concern with being 'featured' in my topic at Lumigrate because of the reach we have today on the Internet.  People in the US (and beyond) tend to think 'a little is good so more must be better', or 'the kitchen sink approach worked for me with another problem so that's how I do things'.  

So consider yourself forewarned here. DO THE WORK TO PROPERLY LEARN THE INFORMATION BEFORE TAKING ACTION. 

This is still drafty, check back until you see any notes from me about drafty-ness no longer here!

Let's Get Started - SIBO OVERVIEW

Here's the first of three pages of an introductory topic you'll find at Modern Herbal Medicine dot com at the following link (note, I've added bolding to make words pop for our tired or brain-weary YOUsers, or those otherwise inefficient with learning, many of whom likely have SIBO .....  )

www.modernherbalmedicine.com/articles/small-intestinal-bacterial-overgrowth-(sibo).html 

There’s a lot of talk these days about the importance of friendly bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract. Intestinal microflora, also called friendly flora or probiotics, play a role in regulating the immune system and keeping the colon healthy. However, most of the bacteria in your intestines should be in your colon or large intestines, not your small intestines.

When abnormally large numbers of bacteria (even friendly bacteria) start growing in the small intestines, they actually cause problems with your health. Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition where abnormally large numbers of bacteria are present in the small intestines.

These bacteria feed off of sugars and starches in the diet (both refined sugars and natural sugars) and produce methane and hydrogen gas. They also inhibit the enzymes in the small intestines that breakdown starches into simple for absorption. This can result in abdominal bloating, belching and/or flatulence (intestinal gas), especially when you eat grains and other complex carbohydrates. The gases produced by these bacteria can also cause abdominal pain, intestinal cramping, and IBS with constipation and/or diarrhea.

Gas pressure in the small intestines can push upwards against the stomach, contributing to the development of a hiatal hernia and causing heartburn, acid reflux, GERD and nausea.

SIBO increase a hormone called zonulin causing an increase in small intestinal permeability (a.k.a. leaky gut syndrome), which results in the intestines absorbing large molecules they shouldn’t. The bacteria also like to gobble up essential nutrients like fats, iron and vitamin B-12. The nutrient deficiencies from SIBO along with the absorption of large protein molecules can cause problems with the immune system, and can contribute to allergies, asthma and autoimmune disorders, and a general decline in health.

SIBO has wide ranging implications and may be a cause or a major factor in all of the following diseases:

acne rosacea, acne vulgaris, acromegaly, anemia, autism,

celiac disease, CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), cystic fibrosis, chronic fatigue syndrome,

diabetes, diverticulitis,

erosive esophagitis,

fibromyalgia,

gastroparesis, GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease),

H. pylori infection, hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), hypothyroid/hashimoto's throiditis,

IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), interstitial cystitis,

lactose intolerance, liver cirrhosis, lyme disease,

malabsorption syndrome, muscular dystrophy (myotonic type 1),

NASH/ NAFLD (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis/non-alcoholic fatty liver disease),

obesity,

pancreatitis, parasites, Parkinson's, prostatitis (chronic),

rheumatoid arthritis and

scleroderma (systemic sclerosis).

Please note, this does NOT mean that SIBO causes all these diseases, it just means that it may be a contributing factor or may accompany these conditions.

Other clues that SIBO may be a problem include having better bowel movements after taking antibiotics and having bowel problems get worse when taking probiotics or fiber. If bowel problems began after using opiates for pain, this is another clue that SIBO may be a factor.

Do You Have SIBO?

Experts in SIBO have estimated that about 35-50% of the general public has this problem. Unfortunately, it is not widely understood and hence, is not properly diagnosed. Many people who have SIBO think they have a Candida or yeast infection. However, while yeast overgrowth can occur with or without SIBO, Candida is often overdiagnosed and SIBO is underdiagnosed. Fortunately, the protocols are similar, but the treatment is different enough that people with SIBO may not respond well to a Candida or yeast program and be discouraged by the lack of results.

Medical diagnosis of SIBO is difficult because it is hard to get a culture from the small intestines. There are tests involving collecting breath samples from patients that drink either glucose or lactulose. The lactulose test is the most accurate. These tests must be ordered by a physician.

However, you can also assess this condition fairly accurately by symptoms. If you have an auto-immune disorder, pain in multiple joints, chronic allergies, chronic skin conditions, chronic fatigue or depression or general malaise (just don’t feel good) you may have leaky gut. When you have symptoms of leaky gut coupled with chronic diarrhea or constipation, regular abdominal pain, IBS, bloating or belching after meals, GERD and/or regular indigestion, you may have SIBO.

What Causes SIBO?

There are several major factors that contribute to the development of SIBO. The first is a lack of hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the stomach. HCl helps the body digest proteins, but it also helps to kill bacteria in the food we eat and prevent them from colonizing the small intestines.

A second factor is a lack of intestinal motility. In between meals migrating motor complexes (MMCs) sweep down the intestines, helping to flush bacteria. These movements of the small intestine are what are responsible for what we call hunger pains, the “rumblings” we feel in our gut when we haven’t eaten in a while. These MMCs may be damaged by surgery, intestinal scarring, various diseases, intestinal infections and by certain drugs. Medications that can inhibit these intestinal movements include antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, antacids and opiates (pain killers) like morphine.

Stress can be a factor in both low hydrochloric acid and the lack of intestinal motility as the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the fight or flight response) inhibits both digestive secretion and intestinal motility. When we are relaxed, the parasympathetic nervous system is more active and digestion and intestinal motility is enhanced. Unfortunately, many people in our society are eating on the run and do not take time to relax, chew their food thoroughly and enjoy their meals.

A final factor in SIBO is a malfunctiong ileocecal valve. This valve is between the small and large intestines and is designed to prevent backflow (that is, to keep material in the large intestine from migrating back into the small intestine. When this valve is not shutting properly, intestinal bacteria migrate from the colon into the small intestine causing gas, bloating and general weakness and malaise. 

This article continues on pages 2 and 3.

...... so I suggest YOUsers go to the link provided at the top of this valuable introductory information I've chosen and continue on to page 2 (and 3). 

Now for a more conventional batch of information: 

A good place to start for YOUsers to learn about SIBO from a more allopathic source is one I found by Searching on Cedars Sinai, due to their leadership in the research and development of products. I selected this from Digestive Health Institute dot org (at the following link)(Note: Again, I've BOLDED some additional words to make the 'pop' for Lumigrate YOUsers who might be total beginners at Lumigrate, about IBS, about SIBO, etc.):

digestivehealthinstitute.org/2012/09/18/antibiotics-for-my-ibs/

IBS is linked to bacteria in our gut

The idea that antibiotics may be helpful for IBS is based largely on the work of Dr. Mark Pimentel, the Director of the Gastrointestinal motility Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Pimentel’s book, A New IBS Solution, documents his team’s research linking an overgrowth of bacteria in the gut to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).  The book and subsequent journal publications provide solid evidence that a technique called hydrogen breath-testing can be used to determine if too many bacteria in the small intestine may be causing a patient’s IBS symptoms. The condition is called SIBO for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

SIBO is also a factor in other digestive health conditions including celiac and Crohn’s disease, and may also be involved in systemic conditions including rosacea, asthma, scleroderma, ankylosing spondylitis (a serious autoimmune condition like arthritis), and fibromyalgia. This article also has relevance to chronic acid reflux based on evidence in my new book, Fast Tract Digestion Heartburn linking acid reflux to SIBO (Could antibiotics help people with heartburn?).

Hydrogen breath-testing can detect SIBO because gut bacteria (but not human beings) produce hydrogen gas when they ferment carbohydrates. The hydrogen is absorbed into the blood and exhaled in the breath.  Excessive breath hydrogen (the patient blows in a tube and the samples are analyzed at the lab), detected soon after taking a drink of lactulose (a sugar that can’t be digested by humans, but can be fermented by bacteria) is indicative of SIBO.

Dr. Pimentel’s recommended treatment approach for IBS patients diagnosed with SIBO is referred to as the “Cedars-Sinai Protocol”. Once tests are given so celiac disease, thyroid malfunction, and other conditions that could give the same symptoms can be ruled out, the patient is offered a ten day course of antibiotics. The antibiotic most recommended is rifaximin (brand name Xifaxan produced by Salix), which is FDA approved for traveler’s diarrhea caused by certain strains of E. coli and to reduce the risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy recurrence (the worsening of brain function when the liver can’t remove toxins from the blood). A second antibiotic, neomycin, is sometime recommended as well.

The treatment strategy has a good chance of gaining FDA approval as the treatment of SIBO itself, with antibiotics is not new. Several antibiotics including metronidazole, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, amoxicillin-clavulanate, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, cephalexin and norfloxacin have been used for SIBO in the past. A short term study involving ten SIBO patients indicated that norfloxacin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid could be effective in the treatment of bacterial overgrowth-related diarrhea^[2]. Metronidazole (Flagyl), which has potent activity against several bacteria associated with SIBO such as Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium difficile, has also been used successfully for treating SIBO^[3].

YOUsers should take the link provided above this set of information if this was resonating for you, and you wish to continue on with more detail from the source site.

Some Background from Me

Many people are concerned about using "patented medications", man-made medications you might call them. I'm preferring to call them that because in the case of fenbendazole that is very much a part of the information leading from this topic, it was patented but that expired and it's now able to be made by other companies and can't be called patented anymore.  

Many seek more natural, traditional ways ("traditional" meaning from the old days, "conventional" means what is most common now which is therefore not a fixed thing, and so I refer to it as "allopathic" medicine or "organized, insurance-based medicine", etc..  

I suggest the reader go back above the line, immediately above, and look closely at that last sentence I plucked and placed from the referenced website ... Clostridium difficile has been used to successfully treat SIBO! That's as wild as learning about 'fecal transplants' to restore the colon's bacteria to that of a healthy person. I'll never forget hearing about THAT the first time. And so fun, the faces of people I educate in person who hear about it first in that moment, too! But these are really things being done! It's a big time for medicine and health / wellness. So SIBO information and treatment protocols you'll be ushered to learning about, hopefully, will fit into the context of all of this. Yes, we have a mess on our hands with what's happened, and it's a massive situation to rectify. 

Not only do we have the establishment doing research and development to look to, such as Cedars Sinai, we have the people who have been coming up with their own protocols, studying in various ways together and typically utilizing the Internet as a tool.

Facebook has grown to have very abundant groups in a wide variety of subjects, and Lumigrate has increasingly lead people to information about them because they're adding such a rich dimension to the palate of provisions out there about various wellness topics. 

In this forum about environmental illness (and wellness, I titled it both ways intentionally), you will see a topic about cyanobacteria / algae and environmental illness (chronic fatigue) which I created much earlier in the year 2015.  In the fall of 2014, a year ago in other words, I was starting to tune in, but not fully understand, the significance of what I was seeing in a group that was, at that time, focused on 'cyanobacteria'. It was one of the places on the Internet talking about fenbendazole as a medication for remediating the 'interlopers', as I affectionately call them, from the intestine and out from there to other parts of the body the medication effects.

(Note, most stays in the intestines. It is thought that some brands which have carriers in them help it get past the blood-brain barrier in small amounts and naturally these are all things being done by people using the medication 'off label' since it's a long-time livestock medicine. When one looks on the Internet for fenbendazole, it's staggering the numbers of products. When one looks at just the Safeguard brand online, the combination products struck me the most combined with the versions for this specific type of animal. It's almost like they're making it be one product for 'everything'/'everyone' on your property. Except the people. That's because there are other things for people. Same old "game".)

The afore-mentioned group, at that time, had gotten some really smart people together who were avid researchers and some very experienced with figuring out things to try for environmental illness symptoms. At Christmastime I recognized the significance of it due to the work of someone in the group whose research uncovered a patent trail for medications similar to fenbendazole. That was the start of official winter season. It was a massive momentum I was observing through my monitor. I felt like I had a front row seat and had gotten in line early on so had a very good seat, to medical history in the making. I 'tuned in'.

In going in-person to look at the two primary products in that protocol, I became convinced at the farm supply store due to the reaction of the clerk I happened to have help me, that this was something to have on Lumigrate. And so, as they say, it began.....  I chose to create a topic, a 'story' about the Facebook group, and put it in the forum about Internet as a tool for medical information.

It's clear from the start that I provide a synoopsis of a lot of information that went on in the period of time I've worked on the topic (over nine months at this point), that it's a bunch of laypeople who are extremely dedicated to their research and trialing of new things and sharing what they find. I simply provide the 'highlights'. And by doing this, I was having to learn it more than I would have otherwise. I saw the problems that occurred. And that was because there was not yet an awareness in that group of people -- who were with a protocol many were grabbing and running with -- about SIBO, and about hydrogen sulfide gas in the intestines.

But they got to that. It created divergence in the group and then there were more 'chiefs' out there to go around and see what they were saying to their 'indians' rather than having a lot of chiefs in one place communing as chiefs with a larger group of indians they could impress.  That's how social media works, and that's how the live world works too. It creates more work for me in order to find interesting, helpful information and sources for YOUsers and provide suggestions for learning and doing. Some didn't get so into it as others, and so it's a great reminder for YOU to do thorough learning and decide what YOU think is the best information source to be following. Which is basically a foundation of my work. 

I also saw the benefits and lives being reported as changing for the better. I wish to credit and express my gratitude here for the whole experience as it was one of the major 'stones' on my path of learning if you look at the Lumigrate landing page graphic that represents the 'path to health and well-being' that's part of our logo. 

 This is a version of our landing page created for a long-ago fibromyalgia activist who invited me and others to submit things that showed 'hope' for healing, so the graphics artist added HOPE into the grassy area of our regular landing page graphic.  (Credit to Son of Mann, Greg Mann for this and the YOU! Model).

The Stepping Stones to SIBO

By the spring season, 2015, there had been a divergence of the key people in the group, and it was handled diplomatically but concerned me a great deal. Not only did it made my work harder, as now there wasn't one robust place to get information to put on Lumigrate about all this stuff we were learning together, with the allowance of the group's 'owner'/teacher for me to harvest things from there to utilize what was presented. His stated desire was to get the information out to as many people as possible, and Lumigrate has the ability to reach who it reaches.

I was concerned that the way the fenbendazole and reishi protocol worked had a ways to go as an ultimate protocol to distribute.  As it was presented at that time to those in the group seeking assistance, the creators advise was being buffered and balanced in a positive way by other experienced group members who also were giving their suggestions to those 'in their footsteps' of experience with this paradigm-shifting protocol I'd happened along to find.

I was so concerned about people not doing their homework about the protocol if they learned I'd felt it was safe enough to try that I didn't say on Lumigrate or in the Facebook group or anywhere except privately that I was trying the protocol.  I made sure to tell all the primary people in the group who were embellishing the protocol or had originally created it what I was doing, and I believe I can see my input and experiences having created shifts.

I was getting private suggestions from someone which had lead to my feeling that it was needed to have a major revision of the protocol and getting the motility and health of the intestines to a certain place before starting was important.  Taking the product that offsets the effects of the fenbendazole first for a time, that seemed to make more sense to me. And since this was ultimately the biggest problem, over and over again, some went on to look into why and came back with the hydrogen sulfide and SIBO information. Or that is how I recall it currently to relate to YOUsers here at this time.  

This is how thing progress. As a consumer you can benefit from understanding and that these people are eager to help others and so they put protocols out and then are testing them in groups before putting them on the Internet.  Since I put the fenben/reishi protocol on Lumigrate (with their permission and involvement), and it was preliminary and in testing, I made it very clear how much a work in progress things were in the way I covered it at Lumigrate, including which forum I put it in. 

I had also been pleasantly surprised at the results, despite having high expectations based on the glowing information many had experienced and reported, or witnessed in their children and reported. Given that many are dying, becoming more debilitated daily, and the summer algae season and heat / humidity were going to be a factor in the progression of problems from what ultimate the cause of unwellness is from, I opted to do things sooner than later in what appeared on Lumigrate. I had felt it right to ASAP tell YOUsers about geoengineering when I became aware in 2013, and I felt the same was true about this. 

Diet discussions were a big part of my fascination with that protocol and step in the path to SIBO and where this topic is here today. These experienced 'autism moms' were familiar with the usual diets that I'd been familiar with. They were discussing how they could back off the restrictions on foods and their children were not having the kind of reactions they'd had previously. People have to be desperate, sometimes, to stop consuming or serving wheat and / or dairy, so I was certainly intrigued with something that didn't have the difficult diet to deal with. I want people to get proactive and help their wellness, and giving up certain things is so unacceptable to some, they reject what's good for them. 

One of the new major things I'd learned in the afore-mentioned group was about FtsZ protein, and inhibitors thereof, which fenbendazole was. Pretty soon the woman who had brought FtsZ to the table for learning there, prior to departing the group in the spring, was posting about on Facebook to continue her focus on the hydrogen sulfide gas, which is the center of SIBO (small intestine bacteria overgrowth) information.

This gal was in a phase with her symptoms that I remembered, looking six months pregnant because you're just full of gas.... and then, as I remember from those old days before I started getting symptoms remediated through the variety of things (circa 1990), it would seem a baffling miracle when I'd wake up the next day my usual size six, 130 pound, 5 foot 7 inch self!  With no passing of gas --  "Where did it go?" I remembered thinking.  Not long after that I was thought to have the symptoms of M.S., and had the workup that included four MRIs and one lumbar puncture / spinal tap. And inconclusive, baffling findings where I then diverged to an MD who didn't take insurance and therefore was liberated and able to find the IgG food allergies / reactions.

Changing my diet almost immediately and dramatically reversed symptoms. But I'd had that time with the banging of the MRI machine, prior to when they padded what you were on. Incredibly painful to be motionless for half an hour with back of head on a hard surface, not allowed to raise it for blood flow to the scalp, I had my moment of no atheists in a foxhole or MRI machine. I'd vowed that if it wasn't MS I'd do whatever needed to be done. So it wasn't (yet) MS, so I gave up my favorite foods, one day, cold turkey as soon as I knew my body was reacting from them.

That was 1994/5, I was in occupational therapy / allopathic medical school program at the time. So I emerged from education in an allopathic program seeing the need for getting 'outside the box' to really help people.  Problem is, the salaries are in the system/ box. Eventually, I learned how corrupt the organized, medical system is (overall, not every business or provider, naturally, there are those out there doing honest and good work, or trying to in a crazy corrupt situation) and made the choice to create Lumigrate and work, to the best of my ability, finding the truth, and providing it at Lumigrate -- free of charge to the YOUsers and not keeping anything from FREE access that only those with money will get.  By having me assist, it's perhaps easier and better, but anything I know unless there are reasons to not reveal something, are there for YOUsers. We didn't intend this at first, we charged for videos and people accused me of trying to rip off sick people. So, I changed it to $0.  Our  history in a nutshell.

As for my personal health history which might apply here, I also remember in the early 1980s eating an apple at my then- in-law's house and being by the fireplace and being glad for that because I did have flatulance.... 'why would an apple do that?'  (See the fructose information about SIBO, there are answers provided by SIBO information which is why I'm really wanting people to learn about SIBO!).  

This is just after the massive (13 of them) cystic acne had started literally overnight one day in the early summer of 1980, then intermittent fatigue, and then I'd gained 25 pounds.  Again, cystic acne, a symptom of SIBO. When you've never had to watch what you eat because of being lean and not getting fat on your, and you're early 20s and have a sudden change like that, amidst the other factors, it's clearly a problem. Also, look at SIBO information, that's a symptom -- as is weight loss. Not that it's the ONLY thing that can cause it. I'd learned that a new EMF (electromagnetic) source should be suspected if there is sudden massive weight gain that stops suddenly after about 40-50 pounds. Environmental illness and medicine has a lot of 'interplay' and symbiotic relationships which allow people to figure things out today, if they get on the right path of information. Back then, nowhere I turned could help me.  

And the symptom list was long and the usual -- migraines, menstrual cramps, horrendous periods, fatigue. One migraine lasted 10 days. Ergotamine made a rebound headache so I didn't have an effective drug until one came out in the late 1990s. Cardiac, blood pressure, and the abilities of the 'good people' doctors I found that took insurance tried medications that would help one thing and make something else worse.  I don't suggest people do more than recognize the similarities and focus on that you get to reversing these things, not focusing on them and how they impact you. 

Overall I got through it, and learned a lot in the process. Which is to the advantage of Lumigrate YOUsers.  Same as the little protocol doings I did related to fenbendazole and reishi which allowed me to see that the SIBO information was invaluable and the next step.  My appreciation to the people involved in that reaching my attention.  

Thankfully the gal with the current belly bloat when on the protocol (and before) honed in on that aspect; I didn't get that with the protocol, and hadn't had that symptom for a time. However, a small amount of fenbendazole had me feeling for three weeks like I could eat and nothing was uncomfortable but it was like it just was going into a place not in me --- nothing was coming out! No poo, no pain, nothing like feeling 'constipated'.  Disconcerting. 

She continued her research and has focused on SIBO and hydrogen sulfate since. I have a separate forum for things about Facebook and overrall Internet activist information, because I so credit 'us' with the new advancements in the last generation (20 years) for chronic condition information and reversing symptoms through things that really help. I'll provide a link here so YOUsers can route to that information if it suits your fancy. I very much credit these comrades and encourage the visit to the forum area dedicated to their research.  ___________________________________________

About Autism.  We All Have It. You. Me. My Cat. Your Dog. ..... It's Overall Unwellness Our Nervous Systems Reflect

So that leads me to talk a bit about autism and autism moms.  They're like mama bears who have banded together. They're not apt to take in someone who is not an autism mom. I was only the autism mom to a cat which I figured out had autism.  I think I understand their plight better because of it. But it's like being an occupational therapist treading water in a pond with other medical providers, there's a tendency by people to get into their 'groups' and 'tribes' or 'clans'.  But their motivation to solve the problems with their children can be astounding. And we have them to thank for much progress that we now have in terms of knowledge. Robin Goffe, The Worm Whisperer in Utah, for example.  Many are expert-level about autism, these moms with kids with problems. 

Then there are those moms who are with kids with problems who somehow have not figure out their kid has autism. Or their husband. Or themselves. We all have the symptoms. Virtually everyone today, and I share elsewhere my mother found this out looking at third graders for about a decade in our rural Colorado mountain school.

 I've found it ironic that people who I now would consider to have a lot of symptoms of this chronic condition 'stuff' we all have manifesting in various ways to be unaware of what autism really is.  They think of the most pervasive developmental disordered person they're aware of and think THAT is autism.  No. We ALL have it, to one degree or another. That is my opinion after years of thinking and learning. Others have joined me, and it was with their seeing things similarly or being ahead of me in ways, I was able to 'get there' and see things this way. Our cats have it. Our dogs have it. It's pervasive!

Nobody is immune, some experts say -- I'll say that I hope there is someone who is without symptoms today.  My mother, an education professional of high regard in our community long ago, screened every third grader for many years in our elementary school for what is described below at a Huntington Post article as sensory processing disorder (was called sensory integration dysfunction previously). Only one student, a girl in my class, was without evidence on the screening of an impacted neurological system. I've estimated my mother to have screened between 750 and 1,000 students.

There was a regime change in administration of the school and the new principal wouldn't tolerate her doing that and the therapy in class with those students who were the most impaired which she chose to teach rather than the 'higher' and 'average' student groups. That woman, I am told, was the model for the mayor character on the Comedy Central show South Park. Yes, the co-creator of the show was a decade younger than I and went to our school! I hope that helps bring this information home to you -- everyone was somehow messed up and the whole community as a result was too. Comically, if you had the right way of looking at it.

However, I was there, it was and still is tragic on many fronts. I most appreciate how my career brought me to where my mother's career was, at the same age -- mid 50s. I hope the information reaches members of that community (where I haven't lived since I was 18 but maintain connections), and all communities afflicted by THE Stuff that makes us have this chronic stuff! Which means every community. Every person, pet, and beyond, really. 

Just this week one of my schoolmates who was born to a family a few miles downstream from mine, of almost my age, died and it seems very plausible to me that it was because of what this topic is about. The family was very transparent that it was a suicide. I hope that they might find this topic and information, or others who have wondered about why someone did something that surprised them. Think about how much of a mix we have in our intestines, plus what we're breathing in and getting through topical exposures to our skin and we're just accidents waiting to happen.  

Think how little it takes with the gas they use at the dentist to make someone loopy, and realize we're with little gas-making factories in our intestine area now instead of the healthy intestinal workings we're designed to have. Ever notice how nothing is going easily or 'right' anymore? Cash drawers without cash in them at a major department store at opening time last Sunday, and then at a fast food place it took longer than it would have taken to make breakfast and coffee at home! "The whole world is really messed up, you're right" my companion said to me.  THE IMPLICATIONS OF SIBO / Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth are massive! How many people can be helped NOW from receiving this information.... massively important! 

I happened upon a website, once I was underway with the information provided at the neighboring topic here in the Lumigrate.com forums about algae, cyanobacteria, and chronic illness, which lead to my becoming aware of SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth).  Which lead to another unfolding of things that felt like it was a "meant-to-be" dovetail in terms of supporting what is provided, above, while continuing on to provide different and new information.  The proverbial "cascade". "Ripple effect." And I might say here: "And so it began....." 

SIBO -- small intestine bacterial overgrowth -- I think, is the new big frontier for people with complex chronic conditions. It appears that patents have been obtained, research has been underway and findings back enough to get more research underway, and in the near future we're going to have a whole 'new leaf' turning over in the mainstream. YOU learning of it hear just means you're on the cutting edge when it's not yet that well known. 

I think it is going to prove monumental for people who find out about it who identify with the following 'labels' and version of chronic unwellness you see in the grey blockquote box below.

The pathway to learning of SIBO (small intestine bacteria overgrowth), for me, is lined with many other things you'll find in this forum, so I encourage YOU looking at other topics in this environmental wellness / environmental illness forum and 'peeling the onion' of your outward symptoms, the underlying conditions and then getting to the root causes, or some will believe there is 'a root cause', potentially.

My work ultimately has evolved from the cornerstone of the YOU! model and teaching people how to take the power of the central role of their wellness, how to peel the onion of their surface symptoms, underlying conditions and symptoms, and get down to the root causes or potentially THE root cause (singular). All the while considering 'load theory', which was the second theory presented at Lumigrate, the initial 'full barrel syndrome' model is ultimately the same thing. 

  What would YOU label these boxes if YOU were the elevator? SIBO is perhaps one of the bigger boxes, it appears to me. But this is up to each of us to decide.

                    Graphics ©Lumigrate, 2010 (YOU Model), 2012 Onion and Elevator Model

Full Barrel Syndrome was produced in 2008 and was included in the video by that title with our 2009 launch, and deserves mention here. 

"Load theory" and the elevator model, "full barrel syndrome" model, cyanobacteria, algae, mold, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Lyme, GSB / giant sulphur bacteria (and the work of Steve Beddingfield, who is credited by so many who are reversing symptoms with helping us make the leap to seeing we all have one root cause of the myriad of disorders and symptoms, ultimately) are all on the path leading up to SIBO at Lumigrate.com .  

What exactly that 'root cause' is, and what to do about it, created divergence among those learning together on Facebook. Some were less long with the information Steve Beddingfiled was providing that 'set us free' to new levels of understanding but also new levels of problem-solving.  That's part of the process of how things evolve -- those who develop a theory, put it  out there, find that it works, they can get to being proprietary about the information and go on to get compensated for their efforts. There are many ways to do that.

They also can get stuck in their old rut and be less apt to see the new information presented that will make their information better. And if you've done that as part of a collaboration then it takes real, true 'team players' to see how to navigate that.  Ultimately it just reminds me of Almost Famous or any other information about bands.  "Creative differences", respect for the past, for each other but then also layers that are to do with ego or whatever.

Some have begun calling chronic fatigue syndrome in adults 'adult autism'. This is going to be a difficult connection of dots for some people and an 'aha' and easy one for others, I think. It will just depend on where you've been so far with health information and what paradigm you're in. 

Many people I know don't have the same understanding about autism as I have, and I just have my way of looking at it and sharing that. YOU decide how YOU think about it.  The allopathic community does the same, as a group, etc. Many others don't really know the first thing. Or they only know what they have been exposed to through conventional education and working 'in the system', which I've found reminds me of the expression about being under a rock. So I really hope people like the way I present 'autism' here. 

Autism From My Perspective

Near the end of his life, my father (born 1921, died 2010 with life-long health issues and progressive neurological being cause of death) found out he 'probably' had autism. He'd get vague wording from providers wanting us or him to have the input without committing to a label at that point in time. I can see it in my friends, their spouses, my self, my dog as a child, the cat I euthanized two and a half years ago. The statistics out there about how many people have what forms of this complex chronic stuff is therefore drastically wrong and under-reporting. Please keep that in mind with ANY statistics coming from mainstream data collection.

From this link (www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/children-sensory-issues_n_1506341.html), this synopsis: 

It usually happens in the preschool years. You notice that your toddler seems to have an unusual aversion to noise or light. A teacher observes that, compared to other kids her age, your daughter is clumsy and has difficulty with fine motor skills like wielding a pencil. You've noticed that she is very, very picky about shoes, which are often deemed too tight, and clothes that are “too scratchy.”

More baffling -- and alarming -- to parents are their children’s meltdowns over things like their faces getting splashed or being dressed. Or a child might crash into walls (and people), touch everything or put inedible items, including rocks and paint, into his mouth.

These behaviors are all signs of problems with what’s known as sensory processing, found in children who have difficulty integrating information from their senses. In its extreme form, when it interferes seriously with a child's functioning, it's called Sensory Processing Disorder, or SPD, although it's not recognized by the psychiatrists' bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

Sensory issues are associated with autism because they are common in children and adults on the autism spectrum, though most children with SPD are not on the spectrum. They can also be found in those with ADHD, OCD and other developmental delays -- or with no other diagnosis at all. In fact, a 2009 study suggests that one in every six children has sensory issues that impede their daily functioning, socialization and learning.

What parents often notice first is odd behavior and wild, inexplicable mood swings. For instance, a first-grader may do fine in a quiet setting with a calm adult. But place that child in a grocery store filled with an overload of visual and auditory stimulation and you might have the makings of an extreme meltdown.

"These kids' tantrums are so intense, so prolonged, so impossible to stop once they've started, you just can't ignore it," notes Nancy Peske, whose son Cole, now 13, was diagnosed at 3 with SPD and developmental delays. Peske is coauthor with occupational therapist Lindsey Biel, who worked with Cole, of "Raising a Sensory Smart Child."

Another response to being overwhelmed is to flee. If a child dashes out across the playground or parking lot, oblivious to the danger, Peske says that's a big red flag that he may be heading away from something upsetting, which may not be apparent to the rest of us, or toward an environment or sensation that will calm his system. This "fight-or-flight response is why someone with SPD will shut down, escape the situation quickly, or become aggressive when in sensory overload," she says. "They're actually having a neurological 'panic' response to everyday sensations the rest of us take for granted."

Children, teens and adults with SPD experience either over-sensitivity (hypersensitivity) or under-sensitivity (hyposensitivity) to an impairing or overwhelming degree. The theory behind SPD is based on the work of occupational therapist Dr. A. Jean Ayres. In the 1970s, Dr. Ayres introduced the idea that certain people's brains can't do what most people take for granted: process all the information coming in through seven -- not the traditional five -- senses to provide a clear picture of what's happening both internally and externally.

Along with touch, hearing, taste, smell and sight, Dr. Ayres added the "internal" senses of body awareness (proprioceptive) and movement (vestibular). When the brain can't synthesize all this information coming in simultaneously, "It's like a traffic jam in your head," Peske says, "with conflicting signals quickly coming from all directions, so that you don't know how to make sense of it all."

What are these two "extra" senses in Dr. Ayres' work?

Proprioceptive receptors are located in the joints and ligaments, allowing for motor control and posture. The proprioceptive system tells the brain where the body is in relation to other objects and how to move. Those who are hyposensitive crave input; they love jumping, bumping and crashing activities, as well as deep pressure such as that provided by tight bear hugs. If they're hypersensitive, they have difficulty understanding where their body is in relation to other objects and may bump into things and appear clumsy; because they have trouble sensing the amount of force they're applying, they may rip the paper when erasing, pinch too hard or slam objects down.

The vestibular receptors, located in the inner ear; tell the brain where the body is in space by providing the information related to movement and head position. These are key elements of balance and coordination, among other things. Those with hyposensitivity are in constant motion; crave fast, spinning and/or intense movement; and love being tossed in the air and jumping on furniture and trampolines. Those who are hypersensitive may be fearful of activities that require good balance, including climbing on playground equipment, riding a bike, or balancing on one foot, especially with eyes closed. They, too, may appear clumsy.

To help parents determine if their child's behavior indicates possible SPD, Peske and Biel have created a detailed sensory checklist that covers responses to all types of input, from walking barefoot to smelling objects that aren't food, as well as questions involving fine and gross motor function, such as using scissors (fine) and catching a ball (gross). The SPD Foundation also offers a litany of "red flags." 

The list for infants and toddlers includes a resistance to cuddling, to the point of arching away when held, which may be attributed to feeling actual pain when being touched. By preschool, over-stimulated children's anxiety may lead to frequent or long temper tantrums. Grade-schoolers who are hyposensitive may display "negative behaviors" including what looks like hyperactivity, when in fact they're seeking input.

Peske sums up the way sensory issues can affect kids this way: "If you're a child who is oversensitive to certain sensations, you are not only likely to be anxious or irritable, even angry or fearful, you're likely to be called 'picky' and 'oversensitive.' If you rush away because you're anxious or you're over-stimulated and not using your executive function well because your body has such a powerful need to get away, you're 'impulsive.' If you have trouble with planning and executing your movements due to poor body awareness and poor organization in the motor areas of the brain, you're 'clumsy.' Because you're distracted by your sensory issues and trying to make sense of it all, you may be developmentally delayed in some ways, making you a bit 'immature' or young for your age."

Amid this confusion, there may be relief for more than a few parents in recognizing what may be causing otherwise inexplicable behavior -- and in the potential for kids to get help in the form of specialized occupational therapy and what are called sensory gyms.

"When I describe sensory issues to parents whose kids have it," Peske says, "the usual reaction is 'Oh, my gosh, that's it!' They've been trying to put a finger on 'it' for many months, even years! The sense of relief that they finally know what 'it' is is humongous."

I liked the above article because I've had that book for many years (The Sensory Smart Child) and they refer to occupational therapy heavily, which is what my college degree is in. I had many years experience in the field in a variety of settings.

I always gravitated to this information in college, however. And now am seeing why -- we all have some degree of it!  So whether or not you want a label for your child, your spouse, your friend, your neighbor or self, or pet (cats and dogs have it), know that these are the things that would be considered 'autism'.  Others I've written about above call it 'Our Disease', or 'Our One Disease".  IT IS A PARADIGM SHIFT!

Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)

I hope you'll not feel like you're bleeding from the ears from getting into 'chemistry a bit here', but it is necessary. If you look this over to be familiar with knowing it's here, generally, then you can perhaps come back to it if it's difficult initially.  Some learning this information I've talked about above have said they had to participate and process every day for months before understanding it enough to feel they were 'getting it'. I hope that by putting it together on a topic like this it will be faster and easier than that for YOUsers of Lumigrate. I think SIBO / small intestine bacteria overgrowth and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are some of the most important things to be really learning now. And taking action on! 

For starters, think about a big, sudden, "acute" exposure to a gas, where you know it has occurred and you have emergency responders perhaps .... versus a chronic exposure. I remember fondly the day I visited a friend and there'd been a major propane leak in her basement. The only reason she didn't have an explosion was the gas concentration was SO HIGH in the house, it didn't combust when she turned on the ceiling fan and grabbed the cordless phone to dial 911 (before going outside).  I had not yet learned before that evening that gas could be too concentrated to combust. In other words, a less concentrated amount was more dangerous. 

Think about the 'factory' of your intestines for making this gas. and what you're learning here about bacteria normally only being in the large and not small intestine in ideal, healthy individuals. Then proceed to look at this information about what's generally out there to learn about H2S exposure, which is for acute events, not chronic.

Use your 'thinking cap', damaged as it might be from the effects of SIBO. What a catch 22, we have! 

Symptoms Associated with Hydrogen Sulfide

According to the CDC website, link:

www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mmg/mmg.asp

Patient Information Sheet

This handout provides information and follow-up instructions for persons who have been exposed to hydrogen sulfide.

Print this handout only. 19k

What is hydrogen sulfide?

Hydrogen sulfide is an extremely rapidly acting, highly toxic, colorless gas with a rotten-egg odor. It is produced naturally by decaying organic matter and is released from sewage sludge, liquid manure, sulfur hot springs, and natural gas. It is used in several industries and is a by-product of many industrial processes such as oil refining, mining, and rayon manufacturing.

What immediate health effects can be caused by exposure to hydrogen sulfide?

Even in small amounts, hydrogen sulfide has a strong rotten-egg odor. However, with continued exposure and at high levels, the poison may deaden a person's sense of smell. If the rotten egg odor is no longer noticeable, it may not necessarily mean that exposure has stopped.

After a serious exposure, symptoms usually begin immediately. At low levels, hydrogen sulfide causes irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. Moderate levels can cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, as well as coughing and difficulty in breathing. Higher levels can cause shock, convulsions, coma, and death. Generally, the more serious the exposure, the more severe the symptoms.

Can hydrogen sulfide poisoning be treated?

There is no proven antidote for hydrogen sulfide poisoning, but the effects of hydrogen sulfide can be treated and some exposed persons get well. Persons who have had serious exposures may need to be hospitalized.

Are any future health effects likely to occur?

A single small exposure from which a person recovers quickly is not likely to cause delayed or long-term effects. Moderate exposure can cause residual damage and a serious exposure that causes coma or convulsions may damage the brain and heart.

What tests can be done if a person has been exposed to hydrogen sulfide?

Specific tests for the presence of hydrogen sulfide in blood and urine generally are not useful to the doctor. If a severe exposure has occurred, blood and urine analyses and other tests may show whether the brain, nerves, heart, or kidneys have been injured. If hydrogen sulfide was inhaled, blood tests and a chest x-ray may be necessary to determine if the lungs have been injured. Testing is not needed in every case.

Excerpts from the overall information that's not part of the handy patient information handout they provide for those seeking medical attention from acute exposure (versus chronic, ongoing exposure from their intestinal factory):

Synonyms include dihydrogen sulfide, sulfur hydride, sulfurated hydrogen, hydrosulfuric acid, "sewer gas," "swamp gas," hepatic acid, sour gas, and "stink damp."

• Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless, highly flammable and explosive gas produced naturally by decaying organic matter and by certain industrial processes. Hydrogen sulfide has a characteristic rotten-egg odor; however, olfactory fatigue may occur and consequently it may not provide adequate warning of hazardous concentrations.
• Hydrogen sulfide is well absorbed through the lungs; cutaneous absorption is minimal. Exposure by any route can cause systemic effects.

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....

.....

.....

Health Effects

• Hydrogen sulfide is a mucous membrane and respiratory tract irritant; pulmonary edema, which may be immediate or delayed, can occur after exposure to high concentrations.
• Symptoms of acute exposure include nausea, headaches, delirium, disturbed equilibrium, tremors, convulsions, and skin and eye irritation.
• Inhalation of high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide can produce extremely rapid unconsciousness and death. Exposure to the liquified gas can cause frostbite injury.

Acute Exposure

Hydrogen sulfide's can cause inhibition of the cytochrome oxidase enzyme system resulting in lack of oxygen use in the cells. Anaerobic metabolism causes accumulation of lactic acid leading to an acid-base imbalance. The nervous system and cardiac tissues are particularly vulnerable to the disruption of oxidative metabolism and death is often the result of respiratory arrest. Hydrogen sulfide also irritates skin, eyes, mucous membranes, and the respiratory tract. Pulmonary effects may not be apparent for up to 72 hours after exposure.

Children do not always respond to chemicals in the same way that adults do. Different protocols for managing their care may be needed.

CNS

CNS injury is immediate and significant after exposure to hydrogen sulfide. At high concentrations, only a few breaths can lead to immediate loss of consciousness, coma, respiratory paralysis, seizures, and death. CNS stimulation may precede CNS depression. Stimulation manifests as excitation, rapid breathing, and headache; depression manifests as impaired gait, dizziness, and coma, possibly progressing to respiratory paralysis and death. In addition, decreased ability to smell hydrogen sulfide occurs at concentrations greater than 100 ppm.

Respiratory

Inhaled hydrogen sulfide initially affects the nose and throat. Low concentrations (50 ppm) can rapidly produce irritation of the nose, throat, and lower respiratory tract. Pulmonary manifestations include cough, shortness of breath, and bronchial or lung hemorrhage. Higher concentrations can provoke bronchitis and cause accumulation of fluid in the lungs, which may be immediate or delayed for up to 72 hours. Lack of oxygen may result in blue skin color.

Children may be more vulnerable to corrosive agents than adults because of the relatively smaller diameter of their airways. Children may also be more vulnerable to gas exposure because of increased minute ventilation per kg and failure to evacuate an area promptly when exposed.

Cardiovascular

High-dose exposures may cause insufficient cardiac output, irregular heartbeat, and conduction abnormalities.

Renal

Transient renal effects include blood, casts, and protein in the urine. Renal failure as a direct result of hydrogen sulfide toxicity has not been described, although it may occur secondary to cardiovascular compromise.

Gastrointestinal

Symptoms may include nausea and vomiting.

Dermal

Prolonged or massive exposure may cause burning, itching, redness, and painful inflammation of the skin. Exposure to the liquified gas can cause frostbite injury.

Ocular

Eye irritation may result in inflammation (i.e., keratoconjunctivitis) and clouding of the eye surface. Symptoms include blurred vision, sensitivity to light, and spasmodic blinking or involuntary closing of the eyelid.

Potential Sequelae

Inflammation of the bronchi can be a late development. Survivors of severe exposure may develop psychological disturbances and permanent damage to the brain and heart. The cornea may be permanently scarred.

Chronic Exposure 

Hydrogen sulfide does not accumulate in the body. Nevertheless, repeated or prolonged exposure has been reported to cause

low blood pressure,

headache,

nausea,

loss of appetite,

weight loss,

ataxia,

eye-membrane inflammation, and

chronic cough.

Neurologic symptoms, including psychological disorders, have been associated with chronic exposure.

Chronic exposure may be more serious for children because of their potential longer latency period.

---

 

 My Background and Experience

Going down the list, above, this has been my personal health history experience with these symptoms:

Low blood pressure - 90/60 was my new normal at the height of my chronic illness debility

Headache - chronic headaches plagued me for many years. My father too. He took a day off once when I was a teenager because it was the first day in years and decades he didn't have some degree of headache or another.

Nausea/ Loss of Appetite - I realized I felt better when not eating for long periods (until the blood sugar was too low). But I didn't have nausea, heartburn, or otherwise feel worse after eating that I could identify. 

Weight loss: I was ashamed of how skinny I was as a child and of being teased when my pants wouldn't stay up

Ataxia - incoordination -- see my information, above, about autism and sensory processing problems. My mother finding that all students in my school even in the 1970s had motor planning problems. 

Eye membrane problems. This was my favorite  part of this list in some ways. I started getting very red eyes when I visited my family of origin's house. It would be resolved within an hour after leaving. My afore-mentioned father was deteriorating in place -- that's different than aging in place. Finally one day I walked in and smelled the natural gas, it turned out it was a fireplace insert stove.  In 2013 I had a similar redness in one eye when at my house and it was diagnosed and treated as allergic conjunctivitis with $100+ drops which didn't resolve the symptoms. I went on to have someone look at a drop of my blood with a dark field microscope and suggest I take an herbal supplement that was an antibiotic, antifungal. That 'got the red out'. I couldn't quite understand the connection. Maybe now I do. 

Psychological Disorders due to neurological system - I was diagnosed in the late 1980s with what today is called chronic fatigue, in the late 1990s with what was then being called fibromyalgia. They'd always try to make 'depression' and 'anxiety' be part of things but it wasn't that I didn't want to go do things, I was too low energy overall and with muscles to do the work of moving to go and do. I wasn't anxious so much as I felt like my engine was running too fast in my neurological system. These things all improved the more I reversed my overall symptoms. And by the way, when I did the protocol I referred to which had the problems that lead to smarties finding the SIBO information.

 

STOP HERE, PLEASE, AND PUT AS MUCH TIME INTO THINKING ABOUT HOW THIS INFORMATION APPLIES TO YOU AS I HAVE SHARED ABOUT ME!

My Professional Background Highlights

I'm with the years of experience now doing health education with a variety of types of people, and know that learning is very difficult for people whose brains are affected by 'the stuff' we are dealing with. "Everyone has it", ultimately, which means our teachers and writers and providers of information and advisement do as well. 

Twenty years ago I was working at a desk in the student health center at Colorado State University (with 20-25,000 students at that time) with no computer and a basic hookswitch telephone, and taking $8/student to sign those up (in a notebook with pen and paper) who had gotten into trouble at Colorado State Univeristy for alcohol or other drug possession / use, and getting their "attitude" about having to give their money for such a punishment.

I'd tell them I'd taken the longer version of the class (to become certified as a "peer health educator"  for their drug and alcohol program) and found it very interesting and helpful, and if they felt it wasn't worth $8 when they were done to come back and I'd ask and see if there was something that could be done to compensate them.  I never had anyone return.

This was when I was finally done with preliminary coursework at the university and ready to apply to the occupational therapy program, which lead to my working as an occupational therapist after graduating fully 18 years after beginning my academic endeavors there as a recent high school graduate.  Significant brain-related dysfunction later to be diagnosed as 'learning disabilities' had kept me from doing many things I was good at if I'd just had adjustments  made, tools provided, special education provided, therapies, etc. I slipped through the proverbial cracks.

So finally on my way as a 'professional' at age 36, I got experience working in a variety of situations from teaching first-time and experienced medically impaired drivers how to be safer drivers, to teaching people and their teams transitioning to hospice and palliative care services to be safer in their homes in that 'home stretch of life' as I call it at Lumigrate forum topics. And I'm here to tell you, this information is some of the more challenging I've been presented with to teach! 

Here's Why This is Difficult to Present -- Please Be Aware And Be a Good Learner: 

If you don't provide enough detail and information, you can't get 'buy-in', and without that, nobody gets to reversing their symptoms, which is clearly occurring in people who are getting on the trail of this type of information.

It's difficult to take complex, scientific information and make it palate-able to any one type of learner. Making something that will be easily used by the majority of seekers is naturally the aim of health education and I provide things for the niche of the market I see.

(I might note here that many facets of the supplements talked about in this protocol are also seen in the information at Lumigrate I have provided about "pyroluria", a condition I covered in the environmental illness / wellness forum at Lumigrate.com in 2014. I was similarly blown away by how the information is off the beaten path and not well known, such as this SIBO information coming up in 2015, but simultaneously seemingly known by a LOT of off-the-mainstream providers of information and consultation.  That's because there is simply an overwhelming amount of online resources today. Many of them good, many not, and the rest in between! I just try to point out some that I think are valid that YOUsers might not otherwise find. )

The Diet to Reverse SIBO Symptoms

The diet advise of Dr Mark Pimental, the pioneer SIBO researcher at Cedars Sinai, is a good place for anyone to start figuring what they're going to do relative to their wellness if they think SIBO is 'about them' or those they're working to aid in their wellness, such as children, spouses, clients, and potentially pets.  

"Germents", the byproducts and toxins of dysbiosis of the intestines / gut is a term I found fun and interesting and helpful, when learning about SIBO.  If anyone's interested in how wine's made, the fermentation in wine production and hydrogen sulfide, with various steps and chemical synthesis that's involved in fermentation is a point of reference.  Those who are familiar with those identified as 'autistic' often know the toxic overload that these people have is from the key role this plays in gut dysbiosis, toxic overload and the resulting symptoms, including behavioral symptoms. 

Gadgets are 'toys' to some, and 'tools' to others. Many people really gravitate to gadgets, and gadgets are recommended in some of the protocols for reducing particle size of nutrients, similar to how juicing is also shown to benefit.

BREAD is a key concern or point of interest and some of the more cutting edge people in my opinion arefocusing on yeasts, transulferation pathways, and methylation cycles.  Natural yeast, ancient breadmaking, sourdough bread making techniques are recommended for study in a protocol I was fortunate to learn a great deal from but wasn't able to offer to Lumigrate YOUsers after discussing with the developer. Much of this portion of that particular protocol I reviewed reminded me of other things I've liked enough to put on Lumigrate, such as diet and addictions specialist Pam Killeen, and her 'bringing it to basics of square meals' and details about sourdough and why that was her recommendation for those who could consume it without incident.  I've gotten onto the thread of einkorn wheat and the jovial company's book of baking, where they recommend similarly as well, the old yeasts before our science messed with the recipe.  Like with the famous Coka Cola story, if the recipe's not broken, why mess with it?

Pure Water is was also something we've had on Lumigrate that was included in the protocol I reviewed and got more confidence about what I have provided for YOUsers at Lumigrate when seeing others doing the same or similar.  Ozone is tricky to use, but it's a very proven method to disinfect / kill / neutralize known pathogens and work on their resultant toxins to degrade them in the substance being processed. 

Ozonators can be used to safely clean produce and reduce mycotoxins in dry foods such as flour and coffee.  That is, if the person using the equipment can be safe with it. That's a big if, according to my experience so far and is influencing how I provide the information. Hence my saying repeatedly here I have concerns about people with cognitive impairment (from SIBO or otherwise) learning 'enough to be dangerous'. Having oversight or hiring professionals is what I've been reinforcing with those I speak with.  

Having prefaced things that way, I can't imagine being without an ozonator and I've only been using one for part of a year. Below is one of the photographs used on Lumigrate about ozonation, taken by me with the ozonator I purchased in May 2015 and produce from The Produce Peddler of Mack, Colorado, taken summer 2015:

 © 

My concerns about ozonation, per my experience working with this machine with three people who purchased one after I and Lumigrate's information made them aware.

Ideally I can help people in person or remotely to understand things well enough before they take action steps.  I'm simply an information guide, and learning mentor.  For others, this brings me to my suggestion of asking someone to assist and be a study buddy, always a good idea. In this case a "water buddy" and you learn it together and help each other, using someone near to you physically so it's easy to get together -- they don't have to be interested in SIBO or anything, just about how to purify water. Pure, safe water should be a concern of every one.

Hopefully two heads are better than one. Find someone who's not as unwell in the brain if you have significant impairment for learning and applying new information. Or find someone who is unwell but in different ways than you are, and who can benefit from the ways you're more well / stronger / more able than they. I flashed to my study budy in pre-OT classes such as physiology, who had similar learning disabilities to mine overall but I was able to understand many things better and I'd then act them out for her and it helped me learn it by teaching. Win / win! (She however had a slightly lower GPA than mine, I thought equally good letters of reference from her volunteering with special needs situations and I was stunned when she sadly said 'nope' when I saw her after getting my 'fat envelope' that told me I was one of the few selected to be accepted. In those years one in six was accepted, and the average GPA for my group was 3.74.) 

Purchase your water already safe and pure, by having it delivered or obtain it in the community and BIY (bring it yourself). Again, find the information at About tab or the pinned blog tab about how to contact me if you're curious about this aspect of things, it's an area I particularly enjoy working on with people. 

Cleaners - disinfectant-resistant bacteria require cleaning methods worthy of their mite, and this is an important thing to be looking for when figuring out how to lower your exposures that lead to SIBO, and reversing symptoms. It's important people think systemically and understand the interrelationship of body systems when facing the symptoms of this kind of illness, and I realized that ultimately it boils down to cleaning, a great deal!  Many facets and habits to change and then keep up on forever. This is not going to be a short term thing and then you go back to how life was before, folks. 

Your drains, how many of us think about what's coming up from our drains and are in the habit or knowing how this is affecting our wellness / illness, for example. My THANKS TO ALL involved in my learning and having the resource of Lumigrate to help further the play, advance the ball, get the ripple effect out further, etc.

Lumigrate has already provided this information in more detail, actually, at the topic / link about "THE Stuff" : www.lumigrate.com/forum/stuff-interloping-and-overwhelming-everything-examples-and-ideas-remediation-our-immediate-env 

as well as at this specific topic / link about cleaning: www.lumigrate.com/forum/cleaning-your-environment-and-doing-laundry-light-new-information-toxins-and-earths-environmen

and these are both located via the blog tab, where there are topics about only the most essential focus of information at the time at Lumigrate -- a topic titled there about emerging research that I hope all mothers and others (meaning everyone) considers learning about and taking action on is basically a directory of all the topics at Lumigrate which a thorough learner would want to find about THE Stuff causing our problems.

So YOU can easily tell others rather than being dependent upon links and bookmarks. So YOU can find your way back to learn more very easily, and anyone new as a YOUser to Lumigrate who pokes around to see what the blog is about will find THE MOST IMPORTANT things in the forums highlighted. 

Probiotics are something to be very aware of when studying SIBO.  This is a whole different way of looking at many things.  I recommend as a consumer you think about the money now involved in the probiotics market, whether it be in the dairy case or the supplements part of your local health food store.  If they only see 'loss of revenue' and not the shift of providing what's going to be sought after by those working to treat SIBO, then they're going to not be so keen on staff education about probiotics. So consider this when turning to whomever you turn to. Probiotics may contribute to SIBO. 

As people study about SIBO, looking into fermented foods and quality yogurt (such as home made) and kefir can be considered, and some protocols say they can potentially be added after some time on the SIBO protocol.  I think dairy ends up becoming another whole 'rabbit hole' to study, and will just refer to that here and let people find the other topics that might shed light at Lumigrate or elsewhere. 

Fiber is not recommended for people with SIBO issues by these leading experts in the field at this time, again that's consistent with what was provided in my earlier information here, hence my liking protocols that would include that information and saying it is of your attention. 

Previous or Other Topics at Lumigrate Which Feature SIBO

 Live and learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy

One Radio Network synched up perfectly with Lumigrate on this day! They had an expert about poo and the microbiome that was fascinating! He's from Texas, West Texas to be specific, near Big Bend National Park. He goes to Africa with a team of colleagues and studies indigenous people who are hunting and gathering the way they always have throughout time (mostly, though near the end he revealed they trade and sometimes buy grain, his example was with corn and consuming it in a binge and what happened with the poo at that time and after).  

He calls 'microbiome' the 'new black' ... in otherwords, the new very popular thing that's seen 'everywhere' now.  In my having gotten this SIBO information 'under my belt' this year, I was wishing I could slip ideas into host Patrick Timpone's mind to ask of him or to say to direct the conversation in a certain way.  I thought about how they both would benefit from learning what I've had the good fortune to learn in the last year, which I've related above at this primary topic about SIBO in the Environmental Illness / Wellness forum at Lumigrate.com. 

At the VERY end of this hour and 37 minute interview, Patrick Timpone suggests to his guest that he study the work of Stephanie Seneff of MIT.  He'd not heard of her.  I'd gotten to following Dr. Seneff's work and then becoming a Facebook friend and seeing what she shares on Facebook because of my going through OneRadioNetwork.com's website once I learned of it and wanted to catch up on previous 'gems' or 'pearls' of wisdom from their thousands of interviews over the years.  They've been doing 5-10 interviews a week for as long as I've been with Lumigrate creating content, so there's a LOT at their resource and I took the time to transcribe some of those pearly gem interviews. Because it's easier for a busy person, or a person who is a visual learner, to read something than listen.

But I'd had that thought as well -- I wonder what he thinks of the glyphosate angle, he's not talking about that at all..... that's the new black too, currently. Is it not amazing how researchers in the field of study they are in sometimes are not aware of something massive going on that affects their field, because it's not in the mainstream sources you'll learn of it?! And then you factor in 'who funds him', and it gets complicated for most in terms of how information moves forward. He talks about it a great deal, too, how long it takes for information to advance because of how much research has to be done in the mainstream, though he doesn't say mainstream versus outside the box at all. But it is the mainstream that forces that slowness or allows for rapid advancements in their form of research and product development. 

Essentially he says more than once that vegetarians and vegans are criticized for not eating meat similarly to how paleolithic diet people are criticized for not having grains. Patrick said it's basically a fact if you're going to get into a team about things on planet Earth you're going to get whapped in the head from someone on another team for what you believe, that's just the way the world works. I can hope that will change after the changes we're going through on Earth right now. We'll see. 

The guest did also say that he wishes he'd be alive in 100 years to see what all has happened by then. He implied that in the 20 years or so he expects to be around we'll be seeing the tumult of change without what will result. 

He also did a very good service to Patrick and others who might not understand statistics about lifespan. If a man and woman in a society live to 40 and 60 they'll have a combined average of 50.  Now, take that system and have them have have a baby that dies at birth or infancy and you then have 40 + 60 + 0 /3, or 100 /3 or 33.3.  So the average lifespan of the people he studies falls in that 30-something category BUT if you take the statistics and look at those who make it past when their immune systems are developed and other things that raise their risk of dying (think about teenagers in our country and doing dangerous things because they have to learn their lessons), these people he's studying live long lives, so they're valuable to study.

Many groups study this tribe because they are less changed by modern influences than most in Africa. 

Then one of my favorite parts of the interview was in the mid to later part, where he talked about experimenting on himself with doing a fecal transplant.  This, again, fits right in with what I was relating in this topic, and those about the group headed by Steve Beddinfield and what renowned expert Dietrich Klinghardt has said about today's progression of information being liberated from the slowness of conventional researches' ways.  Tumeric is the example Dr Klinghardt provides, where people with chronic conditions motivated to find solutions got to figuring out about it, talking about it to others in the same boat, and their modifications and trials and successes and not were then able to rapidly push the process along. Somewhere in there conventional system types got wind of it and got to looking at it in their way and creating products in their way, marketing it in their way and now you have everyone knowing about curcumin and tumeric and products containing the medicinal component. 

This supports what I try to convey here, that YOU as the person with the body, mind, spirit experience and 'vessel' to work with on Earth have the responsibility upon you to do your research, form your opinion about what you're going to do and not do, and then do what you're going to do -- getting the assistance as needed, naturally, from whatever form of provider you feel is right for the situation.  But DO THE HOMEWORK, know enough about what you're doing to not be dangerous. _________________ said specifically he knew the man well whose feces he used, then they had a medical workup from conventional providers, plus he talked to colleagues about it.  The impression I got was the overall 'conventional wisdom' given by those he related were guiding him was to not, but he went with what he wanted to do. And he got 'interesting results' and he couldn't talk about it because they're about to publish them. But he did say that he was going to do it again on his upcoming trip so that he can look at different variables and continue the experiment.  

I LOVED IT, because in getting to know these Facebook groups, some of which I link to from Lumigrate topics, I have gotten to experience people who are basically being researchers -- using their own feces / poo, their own microscopes if they have one, their urine, things coming out of lesions, or just microcopic pictures of what's in their skin. What's in the environment of their home, their car, the outside .... they are needing to, for their own health and / or that of their loved ones (pets, kids, etc.) figure this out, what's going on to contribute to or cause problems .... and then the solutions. 

Correlation and causation are also discussed in the interview ...  

This topic is just begun and will be under construction until you see this message no longer here, so please check back very frequently and consider this is 'unfinished business' right now! However, I created it in a draft initially so that what was first here would be fairly complete and worth the read as it is.  Grate-fully, Mardy

 ADDENDUM

You're going to ultimately find that you wished you had more of a mind for science, or be appreciative that you have abilities in that regard.  Here's an example to get started with.  Mervyn Singer is the author (with no cited conflicts of interest noted) of this article I found at NIH.gov when searching on symptoms associated with hydrogen sulfide (with portions brought here which were relevant to mitochondria and hydrogen sulfide). 

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3916385/

The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in sepsis-induced multi-organ failure

Other than carbon dioxide, the body generates three other endogenous gases, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide, which are all important regulators of mitochondrial signaling in health.17-19 The higher concentrations of these gases generated in disease states such as sepsis have progressively greater inhibitory effects on mitochondrial respiration and ROS generation.17-19

Mitochondria are also the site of production (e.g., cortisol) or action (e.g., triiodothyronine, estrogen) of many hormones,20-22 and the biosynthesis of heme and iron-sulfur clusters.23 Mitochondria also trigger cell death pathways—necrosis when ATP levels fall below a certain threshold and apoptosis through release of mitochondrial cytochrome c into the cytoplasm.24

.... .... .... 

 A hibernation-like state has been induced in animals that normally do not hibernate, with the use of hydrogen sulphide (H2 S).54 H2 S is commonly referred to as an environmental hazard. However, H2 S is endogenously produced from L-cysteine within the vasculature.55 By competing with oxygen in binding to cytochrome c oxidase, H2 S can inhibit mitochondrial respiration, thereby reducing cellular oxygen consumption. Mice exposed to H2 S had a drop in core body temperature and a concomitant drop in metabolic rate, as measured by decreased O2 consumption and CO2 production.56 After cessation of H2 S exposure, the mice awoke, without displaying neurological or behavioural deficits. Besides H2 S, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide are important gaseous signalling molecules, which act as an oxygen reducer and inhibit cytochrome c oxidase, similar to H2 S.57 Carbon monoxide has also been used to induce suspended animation in nematodes.58

www.njmonline.nl/getpdf.php