April 2, 2022 · 12:53 pm

It’s Negative!

🥳🎉 It’s negative! Negative! Negative! NEGATIVE! And even better it’s negative on the PCR/NAAT. 🎉🥳


TL;DR skip to bottom.

So c-diff testing, especially for relapse, is a little complicated. No one test is considered accurate enough to treat a relapse. So if this test were positive, I would actually need at least one more test before they pump me full of antibiotics again (antibiotics that, you know, destroy your microbiome and leave you susceptible to bacterial infections). There are 4 possible c-diff tests. The cytotoxicity test is the most accurate all around. It’s the gold standard. Positive or negative on that is pretty definitive. But almost no one will do that test anymore because it’s labor, time, and resource intensive. The ELISA tests (which would have been my next step if positive on the PCR) actually test to see if c-diff spores are releasing toxins at the moment. If positive, you have an active infection for sure. However, it’s less stable and therefore less accurate. The GDH/antigen test is accurate but only tests for the DNA of any strain of c-diff. That means it picks up even non-toxigenic strains, and there are lots of those that aren’t harmful at all. Most doctors do the PCR test for initial infection and first for suspected relapse (followed by an ELISA and/or GDH/antigen). The PCR tests for the DNA markers of toxigenic strains. It’s highly accurate and highly sensitive. Read that again: it tests for the gene that identifies a toxigenic strain. That, my friends, means that as long as they did this test right (and let’s assume they did), they found no DNA markers for toxigenic cdiff. The gene is not there. In a highly accurate test. That means not just am I negative BUT ALSO: I managed to eradicate all traces of that deadly bacteria. That means it’s not early signs of a relapse AND I’m not at risk of relapse anymore!

NO RISK OF RELAPSE!

So maybe I had a virus and maybe it’s a blessing in disguise because I got this test result, which was unexpected. In order to get cdiff again, I would need to actually come back into contact with spores and be reinfected. No relapse. Hallelujah.

Thank you for all your support through prayer, good vibes, positive & healing energy. If you sent it, thank you. This is the best possible result.

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Filed under C-Diff, Healing 2021

March 6, 2022 · 8:42 am

Fennel, Cumin, Turmeric

Sharing this article (with recipe) from my morning reading.

➡️ Fennel: supports digestive enzyme production
➡️ Cumin: same + bile secretion, helps with digestion of fatty foods
➡️ Turmeric: anti-inflammatory + supports gut lining
➡️ Cloves: powerful anti-inflammatory

I used the first three pretty frequently when I was healing (and this recipe in the article is similar to one I made…without the veggies until I could tolerate them). I still use them regularly, and I drink a CCF (cumin, coriander, fennel) tea daily, particularly after meals. Coriander also aids digestion.

FoodandRecipes

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Filed under C-Diff, Gut health, Maintain 2022

February 18, 2022 · 8:44 am

RBX2660 update

More news on RBX2660.

➡️ “Most responders had no occurrence of diarrhea for up to two years after treatment.”

➡️ “The efficacy of RBX2660 is impressive and falls in line with that of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in rCDI patients, noted Elizabeth Hohmann, MD”

➡️ Between 82% and 92% of treatment responders remained free of CDI through six months after treatment in the phase 3 program, with “similar rates observed in the phase 2 program out to 24 months,” Dr. Bancke said.

➡️ “Additionally, our analyses indicated a consistent safety and efficacy profile for RBX2660 across the expanded populations of patients with IBD, IBS and immunocompromised status,” Dr. Bancke said.”

clinicaltrials

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February 13, 2022 · 8:47 am

Routine

Today I’m #grateful to be back home and back to my routines! Even before CDI, I always felt best when I was on routine. After CDI, routine became even more important to healing. Even small shifts in routine could cause a PI-IBS flare. That’s gotten so much better now that I’m over a year out. But it’s still good to get back on routine. I’m doing a bit of a kitchari “cleanse,” since I did so much new and different eating over the last week. I’m back to my tea and turkey tail extract and tongue scraping and morning face mask and hour-long dog walks and yoga (although I did do some yoga every morning and evening on a towel in my hotel room 🙂 ). These are all things that helped me while healing, and now they’re a great way to make sure I stay healthy, especially after a change in routine. Just because I healed my gut doesn’t mean I can start taking it for granted again! Do you have a get-healthy or stay-healthy routine that’s helped/helping you?

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Filed under C-Diff, Gut health, Maintain 2022, Practicing Gratitude

January 9, 2022 · 5:55 pm

Beans, beans, they’re good for the heart…

Kidney bean (with chia seeds) burgers: proving you can make almost anything a burger (I’m still avoiding red meat)! LOL. What I am personally excited about with this meal, which I made last week, is that it was topped (as md sided) with cabbage slaw with cotija (this is a low lactose cheese) and paprika-Dijon aïoli (also on the side for dipping). Cabbage. Raw. Not cooked. Not fermented. That’s a first. And I thought for sure I’d have problems. But…no! So that’s my #successstory from last week.

🌱 Beans are such a good source of nutrition, including fiber and prebiotics. Great for the gut. I introduced them slowly and over time, and I now eat them regularly. If you have trouble with beans, I would encourage you to try adding in small amounts over time. As the expert in an article another group member recently shared, “Some people then mistakenly think they have irritable bowel syndrome or a gluten intolerance and back off the fibrous foods.You have to start gently. Increase the amount and type of fibre gradually. The answer to a problem with beans…is actually more beans.” Article: http://bit.ly/3q61jAU.

🎵 Or as we used to sing in my childhood, “Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart. The more you eat them, the more you fart. The more you fart, the better you feel. So eat your beans at every meal.” 😂

❤️ They really are good for the heart, too…not just because of the fiber but because of their significant amount of antioxidants. They’re also linked to reduced frequency of breast cancer. Eating beans or lentils two or more times a week was associated with a 24% reduction in risk of breast cancer.

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Filed under C-Diff, Gut health, In My Kitchen, Just For The Health of It

January 2, 2022 · 6:28 pm

2022 Guiding Word

I’ve been considering what my guiding word for 2022 should be. I’ve settled on “maintain.”

That might not sound particularly inspirational or aspirational–that’s what I thought. But the word stuck to me like glue. I tried to come up with something better, but it just kept coming back to me: maintain. And there are some obvious reasons for this, I think. After a year of healing, of fighting for my health and wellbeing, a year focused on maintaining it makes sense. I want to maintain my health–physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. I want to maintain balance (especially work-life balance). I want to maintain focus, energy, gratitude. I want to maintain all of the good practices I adopted last year and years prior. I want to maintain the lessons learned.

And yet maintain… maintenance…seems like a really low bar. But let’s face it: after the last two years, it’s really not. And also, there’s something to be said for maintenance (ask anyone whose car/AC/appliance/tooth breaks down because they ignored their scheduled maintenance/checkups. And anyway, the world just kept floating to the top: maintain. And I pulled out my Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary and flipped through to find “maintain.” And now it seems even more apt. Maintain. Uphold, defend, carry on, keep up, assert, justify, sustain against opposition, persevere. Maintain. No wonder it kept rising to the top. So here we are: #Maintain2022.

In related news, this dictionary came home with me from Winthrop. It was probably a Writing Center reject. But at one point it apparently belonged to Dot Thompson (which will be relevant to Winthrop peeps like Jo Koster ). And that was another sign for me to stick with “maintain.” And also, I tucked between its pages random newspaper articles about language. There are also index cards with definitions of certain words and notes, including someone’s phone number on this page, which I’ve marked through because who knows whose number that was or is (I clearly didn’t think to note that 😂).

Background:
Several years ago, I started choosing a word or words to guide me through the year, an idea I stole
from Mary How.

2015: “life begins at the end of your comfort zone”
2016: empathy
2017: grateful
2018: Patience.
2019: Release.
2020: {I don’t remember…but can you blame me?}
2021: Healing
2022: Maintain

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January 2, 2022 · 5:28 pm

Homemade Granola

1/2 c coconut oil + 1/2 cup local honey + 1 tsp cinnamon + 1 tsp salt. Mix it all together and then add 3 cups oats and 1 cup sliced almonds. Mix it really well. Spread it out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 300° for ten minutes, stir. Then 10 more minutes. When I take it out of the oven I’ll add dried fruit if I want to and smash it in there with a spatula. Then I let it cool completely on the baking sheet. I can break it into big and small pieces. I like adding it to plain unsweetened coconut milk yogurt.

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Filed under In My Kitchen, Just For The Health of It

January 2, 2022 · 10:17 am

Doctor doesn’t always know best

Remember when Ranitidine (aka Zantac) was banned from the market because it was linked to cancer? I do. Because I took Ranitidine daily. For years. And I commented to that effect on Facebook.

👨‍⚕️ And my friend Elliot commented that there is no way I should be taking that daily anyway. He said something about it being bad for you, not solving the root problem, diet & lifestyle changes…yada yada yada. And my response was something like “But my doctor prescribes it for me. It says right here on the bottle take one to two pills a day.” I may or may not have also mentioned loving tomatoes and jalapenos. And all food and not wanting to give it up. Let me live my best life!

📰 So…then a while later I end up on Omeprazole instead (in part because of burpees, but that’s a tangent). Again, my doctor again said it was fine. Totally normal. NBD. And you should listen to your doctor, right? Well, I’m nothing if not #alwayslearning. I was wrong. Elliot was right. My doctor was wrong. Because one, two, skip a few…c-diff, could’ve died, had no choice.

💊 And once I started really researching CDI, the microbiome, etc., one of the things I discovered about PPIs (proton pump inhibitors, like Omeprazole), H2 blockers (like Ranitidine), and really any ASM (acid suppression medication) is they have very serious effects on the microbiome. Elliott was right: they’re never meant for long-term use because that long-term use can be very detrimental to your health. In fact, a number of studies link PPIs especially to CDI, but H2 blockers and other ASMs have also been linked to it (and other problems to boot!).

🗣️ Listen, the ASMs certainly didn’t cause my CDI. But they certainly didn’t help when I needed to fight it off. And continued use would leave me open to relapse. So I said goodbye to PPIs and H2 blockers and have sought diet and lifestyle changes or natural remedies to help with GERD/heartburn. And, luckily, I’ve been pretty successful.

👩‍⚕️But lesson learned: you shouldn’t always just listen to the doctor. Do your own research. Ask a bazillion questions and don’t feel bad about it. Whip out a peer-reviewed study or two (not just Google stuff). Doctor doesn’t always know best. And don’t ignore your friends in the health & wellness field just because you like tomatoes.

💁🏻‍♀️Thanks for coming to my JennTalk™️.

If you’re interested in more ⬇️

📝 How I manage GERD post-CDI: http://bit.ly/32La9Lg

💊 On PPIs and CDI: http://bit.ly/3Jrsei2

💊 On ASMs and CDI: http://bit.ly/34fD62v

(SN: Cleaning stuff out, meds like these going to appropriate disposal)

ETA: I got some DMs, so for reference Elliot and his lovely wife are the doctors at New Life Medical Center Greenville 🙂

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Filed under C-Diff, Gut health, Healing 2021, Just For The Health of It, My Opinion

January 1, 2022 · 10:12 am

Sourdough Chicken Pot Pie

Last night I threw together a sourdough chicken pot pie in my new cast iron skillet…and it was ah-mazing! Totally impressed myself…which is good because I also clearly made enough to feed us for a week. 😂 It has chicken, lentils, carrots, sweet potato, peas, and I used a little coconut cream and veggie broth before topping it off with a sourdough crust and cheddar cheese.

The crust was super easy. I just mixed together these ingredients in a bowl and then poured it on top of the “filling,” shredded some cheese over it, and put it back in the oven for 25 minutes at 400°.
• 1.5 cups fed sourdough starter
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Penzeys Italian Herb Mix
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

I really wasn’t sure that was actually going to work. But it did. LOL. 😁

I can eat all these foods! Happy 8th day of Christmas!

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Filed under In My Kitchen

December 31, 2021 · 10:20 am

Prescreened Books: 7th Day of Christmas

Good gifts don’t have to cost a lot of (or any) money! Tonight I am #grateful for this stack of new-to-me books pre-screened by friends. Nothing better than a book a friend read, liked, and says, “I think you’ll like this too.” Ready for some 2022 reading! Happy 7th day of Christmas!

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Filed under Practicing Gratitude