A reader pinged me about new results so I thought it would be good to look at his series of 4 samples from Ombre/Thryve to help people interpret their own results. I am using the tool described in Comparing Samples – Update.

• As you can see, the bacteria count do bounce around, with the change from the last sample being a definite improvement
• There is a ongoing shift towards overproduction of Enzymes, but this does not cascade into increased compound (Produced – Consumed)
• Several of the External Criteria measures showed improvement (2 less) and less showed more (1 more)

The reader has prior reviews:

• A review of a ME/CFS Microbiome Jan 2021
• Evidence of ME/CFS improving using Microbiome Data May 2022

Measure	6/15/2022	5/16/2022	3/15/2022	11/21/2021
Lab Read Quality	4.8	4.8	3.6	4.2
Bacteria Reported By Lab	515	669	593	473
Bacteria Over 99%ile	0	1	0	1
Bacteria Over 95%ile	4	22	21	9
Bacteria Over 90%ile	22	40	48	21
Bacteria Under 10%ile	43	112	23	87
Bacteria Under 5%ile	18	60	5	46
Bacteria Under 1%ile	0	9	0	2
Lab: Thryve				NULL
Rarely Seen 1%	3	20	9	0
Rarely Seen 5%	11	67	38	9
Pathogens	37	42	38	33
Outside Range from JasonH	7	7	9	9
Outside Range from Medivere	17	17	20	20
Outside Range from Metagenomics	8	8	7	7
Outside Range from MyBioma	8	8	10	10
Outside Range from Nirvana/CosmosId	23	23	22	22
Outside Range from XenoGene	8	8	10	10
Outside Lab Range (+/- 1.96SD)	2	7	6	2
Outside Box-Plot-Whiskers	42	71	72	25
Outside Kaltoft-Moldrup	113	148	143	91
Condition Est. Over 99%ile	0	0	0	0
Condition Est. Over 95%ile	0	0	0	0
Condition Est. Over 90%ile	0	0	1	0
Enzymes Over 99%ile	91	48	53	5
Enzymes Over 95%ile	599	305	182	147
Enzymes Over 90%ile	719	629	438	458
Enzymes Under 10%ile	70	71	38	169
Enzymes Under 5%ile	19	28	4	78
Enzymes Under 1%ile	2	0	0	0
Compounds Over 99%ile	6	93	143	19
Compounds Over 95%ile	186	277	190	89
Compounds Over 90%ile	303	435	220	118
Compounds Under 10%ile	321	528	333	133
Compounds Under 5%ile	195	378	310	100
Compounds Under 1%ile	0	118	267	42

Bottom Line

The microbiome is a dynamic system and as shown in the image below, it is not a simple straight path. There is no single measure that indicate the current status of the gut, rather a variety of measures.

The latest sample showed (compare to prior):

• Drop in compound extremes
• Increase in high Enzyme production — this may hint at the body stocking up on supplies for an attack of troublesome bacteria
• A drop of bacteria out of range by both external criteria and Microbiome Prescription Criteria.

Reader’s Comments

This round I restarted the b.lactis by custom probiotics. I did it last test and took a month break and it came up again. 1st round doing it , the herx was kicking my butt and I lasted 10 days. This time around , only did 1 scoop at night and I was still herxing and sleeping 8 hours hard. After day 10 I did half dose mornings and half at mid day or night. Much better tolerance and body seems to respond well. Calmer, better sleep, allergies seem better. 

Now also taking rice bran, blue berries, Lactoferrin for iron, and a lot of the other high priority items. I try playing basketball 1 time a week to check my progress. I have plenty of energy to play, but if I play too hard I crash still exactly 5 hours later (impaired sleep, brain fog, fatigue , headache, inflamed stomach lasting exactly 24 hours) . Then back to normal the same day. Tried the symptom /handpick bacteria tool and focused on picking PEM/brain fog/sleep with associations.  The top modifier for that was glycemic (licorice root tincture). Added that to the mix this week. Still crash, but notice some weight loss and less belly inflammation after I play. Overall improvement in sleep and anxiety. I am still a work in progress and could be better, but seeing improvement. My post exertion crashes are the thorn in my side I haven’t been able to dent much, no clue why I crash exactly 5 hours after every time but can play and feel find right after. Couple more days of b lactis and I switch to my next probiotic L.gasseri. Then will test again in about 2 weeks!

Mystery of Crash after 5 hours lasting exactly 24 hours

I have a few suggestions to try — looking at possible mechanisms..

• At 3 hrs (2 hrs) before crash — take 3 regular aspirins
  • What this is attempting to test is whether coagulation is a factor
• At 3 hours, take a large dosage of Benfotiamine – an interesting supplement or Thiamine
  • What this is attempting to test is whether lactic acid build up is a factor
• At 3 hours, Huperzine A
  • What this is attempting to test is if acetylcholinesterase build up is a factor.
    See Non-cholinergic effects of huperzine A: beyond inhibition of acetylcholinesterase
• At 3 hours, an antihistamine
  • What this is attempting to test is if histamine build up is a factor.

The goal is to see if any alters the onset at 5 hrs, thus a “tell” for possible causality.