Justin Jordan
Total Posts: 854
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01-20-22 09:52 AM - Post#916257
So, in January of 2021, a cat bit entirely through my finger. In her defense, I had just said 'this cat is pretty fat' so I was asking for it.
But I had to do ten days of antibiotics.
In the couple months after that, I gained 35 pounds, AND had chronic heartburn. The latter was new.
At the time, I chalked this up to bingeing brought on by accumulated stress from well...gestures at world. It sure felt like a psychological thing.
But through most of 2021, I couldn't drop the weight, although I didn't gain any and did feel as bingey, and the heartburn persisted.
Fast forward to now, and I'm losing weight (intentionally, it didn't just happen) and the heartburn has largely gone away.
Now it might be that the heartburn is because of fat gain, although I've been much fatter in the past without it, and losing weight is the thing.
Buuuut...I can't shake the feeling that the antibiotics might have jacked up my gut bacteria in a way that affected my weight.
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Jordan D
Total Posts: 771
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01-20-22 10:55 AM - Post#916264
100%. I've had surgeries that messed me up less than the course of antibiotics.
I've rationalized it through bro science this way: antibiotics aren't discriminatory. They just kill off all bacteria, good and bad. Hence the typically immediate diarrhea after you start - the stomach, sinuses, they're starting over fresh. Whatever bacteria you put in your stomach after, that's what takes hold, the new population. I believe new bacteria cultures can double in population every 4 minutes, and in lab environments, can grow to like 2lbs of mass in a day. Stomach acid and whatnot slows that to days and weeks, I think. Either way, if you let bad bacteria take hold, you're either going to have to work very hard with fermented foods to change that population in the months ahead, or nuke it again with antibiotics and start over - surely a terrible idea.
So, I've found it highly beneficial, after antibiotics, to immediately lean hard into the raw vegetables, sauerkraut, and a month of probiotics. Never let the bad gut biome take hold. No grain. No junk. No dessert. Tons of cabbage and clean meat. EVERYTHING seems to recover better - immune system, attitude, sex drive, digestion.
Again, bro science. But it's worked very well for me. And it makes you really feel for those poor folks who doctors keep on antibiotics for months at a time. It's like medically induced slow death.
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Diablo
Total Posts: 7355
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01-20-22 01:27 PM - Post#916268
Not too many bacteria can thrive in the stomach. At 35 pounds I'd suspect visceral fat stores more likely be the culprit. Like the straw on the camel's back, there are probably that few pounds of fat near your stomach that are the reason for a change in position that would cause reflux or indigestion.
For the difference between now and whenever you were last overweight, time has a way of changing your body and the way it functions. Someone else posted in another thread about there being "steps" in change as opposed to change being linear. This could be another example.
Must have been well over ten years since I last had to take that kind of meds. I just came off a ten-day course. Watery stool for at least 7 of the ten days. The joy.
Diablo
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth- MT |
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Old Miler
Total Posts: 1744
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01-20-22 04:53 PM - Post#916274
The last couple of times I took antibiotics, I carefully took the magic yogurts and upped my fresh veg and fruit intake. Everything stayed normal. Come to think of it, I think the doctor or dentist might have told me to. It was a few years ago and I wasn't so aware of pickles then - I'd add them now.
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Dan John
Total Posts: 12292
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01-20-22 07:23 PM - Post#916275
I can circle my "unexpected weight gains" and link them back to surgeries.
I honestly think there is a connection...for me. Antibiotics are not my friend, except they have kept me alive!
Daniel John
Just handing down what I was handed down...
Make a Difference.
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Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude)
Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk.
Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth.
Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights.
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warrior
Total Posts: 1096
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01-20-22 07:30 PM - Post#916276
I have the same experiences. Both surgeries I've had I dropped weight fast.
I was also in a hospital once for 2 weeks. Lost 15 pounds in two weeks.
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Kyle Aaron
Total Posts: 1911
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The last couple of times I took antibiotics, I carefully took the magic yogurts and upped my fresh veg and fruit intake. Everything stayed normal. Come to think of it, I think the doctor or dentist might have told me to.
Yes.
More people need to be familiar with the principles of conservation of mass and energy. You cannot create mass or energy from nothing.
Your gut health will of course influence how much of the mass you consume stays on you. But if you don't consume it then it can't stay.
This is not to downplay the psychological and physiological difficulties people have in their lives. But mass is always conserved.
Consider: if it were just the antibiotics and surgery, we would expect people to gain weight after dental infection and surgery, too. Funnily enough, this is less common than weight gain after lower limb surgery.
Edited by Kyle Aaron on 01-20-22 09:56 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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SinisterAlex
Total Posts: 369
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Jordan D
Total Posts: 771
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01-21-22 10:14 AM - Post#916289
Old, but not forgotten.
Art Ayers talks about the topic and has researched it extensively.
Re-colonizing the gut after antibiotics is crucial to overall health according to dr. Art Ayers.
https://coolinginflammati on.blogspot.com/
Oh man. This is good. I'm going to pore through this later.
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Steve Rogers
Total Posts: 6158
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The last couple of times I took antibiotics, I carefully took the magic yogurts and upped my fresh veg and fruit intake. Everything stayed normal. Come to think of it, I think the doctor or dentist might have told me to.
Yes.
More people need to be familiar with the principles of conservation of mass and energy. You cannot create mass or energy from nothing.
Your gut health will of course influence how much of the mass you consume stays on you. But if you don't consume it then it can't stay.
This is not to downplay the psychological and physiological difficulties people have in their lives. But mass is always conserved.
Consider: if it were just the antibiotics and surgery, we would expect people to gain weight after dental infection and surgery, too. Funnily enough, this is less common than weight gain after lower limb surgery.
My undergraduate degree was in physics so I'm quite familiar with energy and mass balance but biology is more complex than simple physics. Pre-20th century physicists did significant research in biology and psychology but there remain large gaps between them which are very slowly being bridged. There are many feedback loops in living organisms which may interact in complex and possibly chaotic ways.
H. pylori infection is one cause of ulcers and antibiotic treatment cured the severe ulcers that my brother was suffering from. I had digestive issues including mild ulcers and severe acid reflux. I tested positive for H. pylori and also went through a course of antibiotics which cleared up ulcers but not the reflux. We both experienced weight gain afterward with my brother eventually becoming obese. Exercise and a low carb diet have kept my weight under control but my brother won't do this.
I've experienced weight gain after both oral and lower limb surgeries. I don't know how big the effect of gut flora might be but probiotics have helped in my case. I've seen research where fecal transplants from lean to obese mice cured the latter's obesity and the opposite transplants made the lean mice obese. The vagus nerve links the gut to the brain and there's evidence that gut changes in gut flora can can impact emotional health.
"Something's happening here but what it is ain't exactly clear." as an old song put it.
| "Coyote is always waiting, and Coyote is always hungry." |
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Justin Jordan
Total Posts: 854
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To be clear:
I don't think the weight mysteriously appeared in some physics bending miracle. Because I am not in fact an idiot.
I'm not even convinced, necessarily, what the role of gut bacteria was. Just that looking back on gaining and losing there are some patterns that may or may be coincidental.
What I am willing to consider is that the binge like eating mentioned IN THE ORIGINAL POST was not a purely psychological phenomenon and was to some extent mediated by antibiotics wacking my gut biome.
It's kind of irrelevant now since my approach to losing weight is the same either way. But if I need to go an antibiotics again, I'm going to follow it up with lots of pre and probiotic stuff, since it might help and won't hurt.
Edited by Justin Jordan on 01-21-22 12:01 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Old Miler
Total Posts: 1744
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It's kind of irrelevant now since my approach to losing weight is the same either way. But if I need to go an antibiotics again, I'm going to follow it up with lots of pre and probiotic stuff, since it might help and won't hurt.
+1
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