It all started 2 days ago when I was reading about resolution of upper GI symptoms. I've had reflux since I was 10 years old and have had some dysphagia (food gets "stuck" in my esophagus, sometimes so badly that I have to throw up since it won't go into my stomach; I have even had two episodes in the last year where the spasming was so bad that it cut off my airway for several seconds) and regurgitation for almost that long. The GAPS information that I was reading suggested opening the probiotic capsule and sprinkling the powder onto the back of your tongue. This made sense to me! By swallowing capsules and sending them straight to my stomach, I was skipping healing a large and problematic portion of my GI tract. I decided to give it a shot!
I thought it would be most beneficial to do this right before bed so the microbes could work their magic and not be washed away while I was sleeping. I opened the capsule and dumped half into my mouth. It tasted a little funny, but seemed like a manageable nightly ritual.
Dr. Dad and I sat down to watch a little TV before bed,and that's when I figured out that something was going terribly wrong. Within 30 minutes, my nose started draining uncontrollably. I also developed a sudden cough. I woke up several times throughout the night with a gunky throat that was making it more difficult to breathe.
I powered through yesterday morning, with my cold symptoms gradually worsening. I also began to suffer from severe reflux. As the day progressed, my sinus pressure got bad enough to cause a headache, both of my ears hurt like they did when I last had an ear infection, I intermittently lost my voice, and all of my teeth began to ache (which I can say has never happened to me before).
Last night my symptoms had gotten so bad that I had to end a moms night out that I was hosting. My reflux had gotten to the point that I thought I was going to vomit (which I did do a few times after my guests left). I also felt feverish. I laid in bed in agony for about an hour cursing myself for throwing out all the tums 2 days before because they were GAPS illegal. Thankfully, I finally remembered that I could drink a glass of baking soda water, and Dr. Dad was kind enough to mix one up for me at 11:30. I finally was able to find enough relief to go to sleep.
I woke up this morning with my reflux nearly gone again. My sinus pressure had diminished. My teeth only ached a little, my joints ached a little more. Dr. Dad stayed home an extra 15 minutes this morning so he could watch the kids while I took an uninterrupted Epsom salt bath. I felt much better, but still had a low grade fever for much of the morning.
As today has progressed, my runny nose has slowed, my fever has disappeared, my teeth and ears no longer hurt, and my joints feel better. I now feel like I have a head cold and a little reflux rather than the flu.
I actually count this as good news (I probably wouldn't have said that last night while vomiting, however). In order to understand why, let's revisit die off. The theory is that my nagging health problems are caused by an imbalance of gut flora: I have too many pathogenic microbes and not enough beneficial microbes due to overuse of antibiotics, poor diet over the years, and a generally toxic environment. These pathogenic bugs secrete low levels of toxins at all times leading to low level symptoms. But when you do something to kill the pathogenic bugs, for example pouring 10 billion beneficial microbes directly onto your tongue, the pathogenic microbes release all of their toxins at once when they die leading to a much greater toxic load. This, unfortunately, means much more severe symptoms temporarily. The toxins even have the power to induce fever.
So why is this good news? All of the symptoms I developed in the past 48 hours point to pathogenic bug death and thereby a part of my body that needs its flora rebalanced. I had worsening of GI symptoms with reflux, regurgitation, and difficulty swallowing. I experienced inflammation of my nasal and respiratory passages. I developed a migraine. My cavity prone teeth ached. These are all areas that will likely improve as I progress in correcting my flora over the next couple of years. I also had a sore throat and ear pain, and if I can increase my beneficial flora in those areas I will be less likely to develop ear infections and step throat in the future.
While it has been a miserable 2 days, I am encouraged by this experience. I will continue with my mouth powder probiotic, albeit at a much lower dose. I will never view a probiotic as an innocuous little capsule ever again now that I've experienced the power of these little bugs.
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