I don’t know who has or hasn’t seen this, but it looks like uBiome got raided by the FBI shortly after @Nate_Pearson used them for his test, then later filed for bankruptcy. There are some pieces suggesting that the results of the tests were suspect, too. Oof.
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Hol’ up there! You may have solved my malady!
I had a hip injury in March, and I was taking a ridiculous amount of ibuprofin (over 1200mg/day if I recall), and then “coincidentally” started having digestive distress which lead to panic attacks (which I thought were heart attacks; long story), and my health has been in the toilet (pun unavoidable) and my training/riding slim to none ever since. Benzos have helped the panic attacks (which hard efforts on the bike trigger), but my gut has never been the same.
Are you saying the ibuprofin has an effect on the gut microbiome? And from that and @Nate_Pearson’s results about the GABA-related bacteria, am I seeing a connection? (Benzos boost GABA’s effects.)
I apologize for grasping at your straws here, but my doc just shrugs and says, “Idunno.”
Yes absolutely. There is clear evidence that ibuprofen has lasting effects on you gut bacteria. It can take up to 12 months for your gut biome to recover.
I know how frustrating it can be to get back on track after an injury.
Also 1200mg of ibuprofen is a dangerously high amount. It can cause GI bleeding, amongst other things. Whiich may also explain your symptoms.
Hope you hip feels better, you may benefit from increasing your hip mobility or you could go see an orthopedist and get a cortisone shot.
Craig
Thank you so much.
I told my doc about the ibu, and he shrugged. And the hip was just a deep bruise in the worst place, so the hip healed right up. The rest of me, not so much.
For the rest of y’all (and @craigmac too), any suggestions about what to shove in my face to get my GABA microbes humming again?
Probiotic supplements are controversial with no clear evidence to support them. Anecdotally they may work for some people but they are expensive.
Supporting you current biome with high fiber and fermented foods is thought to be beneficial but overall it takes a long time for it to recover.
I am not a doctor, I just play one on tv
Craig
I would say that probiotics are actually really good, but you have to take those tested ones, containing many strain and it must be resistant to stomach acids. And it is true those can be expensive. Anyway, there is another way to eat probiotics as a probiotic food.
Here is an article about the probiotic food
https://foodclinicdiet.com/probiotics-can-help-you-lose-weight-and-feel-better-heres-how/
1200mg is the over the counter daily dose. The maximum dose under clinical supervision is 3600mg. Notably one orthopaedic consultant told me I was on “half of the effective dose” when my GP had prescribed 1800mg daily to help with a knee injury.
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I hate to break it to you but this is all crap 
.
Completely meaningless. If you did the same test on a different day, it would be different results. Gut biome fluctuates.
As long as you’re not having diarrhea and along with it hydration and electrolyte issues, malnutrition, or some sort of deficiency, then this test is pointless.
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Hey TR community -
I’ve been involved in the TR community for about a year but first time poster.
Nate posted last year about getting his gut microbiome tested (I got my gut biome tested, here are the results) from a company no longer in business.
Does anyone have thoughts on whether using a testing service is useful for the nutritional side of training? is it all bogus (some think so) unless you have a major imbalance?
Specific thoughts are welcomed on this company: https://www.viome.com/
I was very interested in the microbiome for a while and read a lot about it. I did a lot of deep diving… I got tested and while it was interesting, I don’t think the information is very actionable.
I say that because the prescription for everybody is mostly the same if you want optimal gut health. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Get plenty of fiber to nourish microbiome (aka fruits and vegetables). Eat polyphenols (dark colored, red colored fruits and vegetables). There could be additional benefits to fermented foods.
Reduce inflammatory foods - gluten, sugar, poor quality PUFA oils, fast food, takeout food, packaged food, prepared food, alcohol, etc.
In the end it is the standard prescription for a super healthy diet.
When I was doing my deep dives I did find some studies showing that some endurance athletes did have certain types of gut bacteria that like to produce certain short chain fatty acids and some that like to eat lactate. You could try and eat certain foods to promote the growth of these bacteria but my understanding is that this is really hard and if you don’t have the bacteria in the first place you can’t grow them. Maybe some day one will be able to get a bacteria transplant to improve athletic performance. Gut doping!
I speculate that promoting short chain fatty acid producing bacteria might make one a better fat burning athlete. And maybe the lactate eating bacteria help athletes clear lactate faster? But there is no research in this area AFAICT.
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Thats quite the deep look inside Nate lol.
Honestly it’s sad that this section of science is at such an infancy stage. Once we decode everything and can get it out of say “naturopathic and alternative medicine” circles into a more structured type of peer reviewed, repeatable research we might start making some headway.
Or some pharma company might find more ways to eff us over.
At least we know what helps increase good bacteria, so we can see direct effects on ingestion vs bacteria levels… but that chemistry that happens in the gut barrier and affects our the body is just such a mystery. What would’ve been great is if Nate had a test pre-antibiotic to compare to the after results.
Because I took antibiotics for 2 weeks my gut is not back to normal. Was doing research and found this to add to the thread
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Apparently, it’s all about N=1
just found this thread, quick google search and this company went bankrupt in 2019, with the founders being fugitives from the FBI?? (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/ubiome-co-founders-charged-federal-securities-health-care-fraud-conspiracies)
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Fantastic news. Although some years ago.
Ha was going to say interesting timing on the bump, whole house was on antibiotics (gf on another round… and then just was told had to change this morning), we both watched that netflix doc on the gut biome, GF is very concerned… then scrolled to bottom and saw the reason for bump… so ok not that company for testing.
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Yeah, obviously a little late to the party 
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