Ok gang. Posting again and still ok. I'm at eight months without an antibiotic!
There have been several significant shifts in my pouch this last month where I felt like I was on my way to another course of antibiotics. Many of you know what this is like. These incidents I have thus far corrected by increasing my dosage of saccharomyces boulardii (probiotic) and continuing the lemon juice along with the other Jarrow product noted above.
(As a side note I have all ready been down the road of having nearly died 2012 due to CDIF. My gastro told me on exiting the hospital, "You take saccharomyces boulardii as a precaution. There are studies stating this fights against CDIF. We must be very careful with any usage of Cypro.")
Now brace yourself for a rant!
I would like to respond to comments about alkalinity. I have read the articles noted above and many others related to system alkalinity that the body naturally manages. I get that there is a PH balance that occurs varying from stomach, to small intestine to large intestine, and if we are healthy this maintains its self and life is good. For us it ends with the small intestine. But what happens when you put an aspirin or any other NSAID down there. Speaking for myself, this changes the dynamic considerably. Acid increases dramatically and can leave me sore in my gut and burned on exit. You try to manage this by eating with taking these drugs. Because of this I question the body is able to constantly maintain its PH through the digestion process. I have found that meat/proteins also increase acidity in my digestive system. So if this is happening why would it not be logical to swallow something alkaline to attempt to assist with some balance? Have we not done this for years with bicarbonate of soda?
I have done extensive study on probiotics. This I believe to be the answer to a lot of our issues with pouchitis and very likely the onset of colitis. I just don't think we know enough yet about probiotics to be effective in maintaining a healthy flora down there. And what has changed so much about our environment that we need them in the first place? I've often wondered why we have to continue to take a probiotic. Would it not make sense that once the bug is down there that it would reproduce itself? So what is making the environment destructive? This is where PH or some other mysterious event must come into play.
If there are any of you that would consider attempting a diet change to push for a less acid more alkaline environment while taking probiotics (I don't believe it has to be lemon juice) and find a change to your pouchitis frequency I would be most grateful for your comments.
I will post again in a month hopefully with continued health. Thanks for reading this draft on 'War and Peace' and your continuing open debate. Everyone take best of care.