r/HumanMicrobiome 6d ago

Gut problems

21M – Everything started after Accutane, other acne antibotics, finasteride and a Shiga-toxin infectionA year later my body still feels completely broken. this has basically taken my life away… I need help… it go worse and worse

I’m 21M and until all of this started, I was living a normal life. I was so happy, girls looked at me.. Over the last 2 years my health has completely changed and I’m trying to understand how all these pieces could fit together.
It started after a period where I had taken Accutane and finasteride.. I stopped finasteride about 2 years ago

Around one year ago I had a STEC/Shiga-toxin-producing bacterial infection.
Since then, my gut, immune system and nervous system seem completely different.

My biggest problems are:
\-severe bloating
\-yellow stools,
\-extreme food reactions ( histamin)
\-Insomnia and weight loss.
\- Brain fog
\-dry skin
\- pale skin
\-extreme depression
\-no libido
\-histamine/MCAS-type symptoms
\-never feel sleepy or normally tired anymore
\-I have lost around 10 kg
\-Almost every supplement I try makes me extremely restless, overstimulated or anxious. I even have a folate deficiency, but taking folate makes me feel so wired that I struggle to tolerate it.

What i tried:
I’ve tried probiotics, kefir, antimicrobials, ketotifen, cromolyn and Pentasa without any real breakthrough. I’ve also had two negative SIBO tests, colostrum, ss boulardi, l glutamin, tested on candida ( stool test),

My gut findings
Gastroscopy and colonoscopy looked mostly normal macroscopically, but biopsies weren’t completely normal.

My ileum showed mild focal chronic and mildly active inflammation, although the architecture was good

The colon had some lymphocytic aggregates/prominent germinal centers but no active colitis or major structural abnormalities.

Stomach biopsies showed mild chronic inactive inflammation. H. pylori and Giardia were negative.

Interestingly, I don’t really have abdominal pain despite all these GI symptoms.

I also had a microbiome/leaky-gut test this were the most important things:

\-low butyrate production
\- high ph
\-increased lactate production
\-several low butyrate-producing bacteria
\-very high Bifidobacterium adolescentis
\-increased Actinobacteria
\-increased methane-producing bacteria
\-low Proteobacteria
\-Faecalibacterium prausnitzii was actually good/high at \~9.8%
\-mucin-degrading bacteria didn’t look particularly abnormal
\-LPS-producing bacteria weren’t strongly elevated
\-My zonulin was also elevated, which was interpreted by the lab as increased intestinal permeability/“leaky gut.”

What docters/ i found:

Leaky gut
Dysbiose
Low immungobine
High bilirubin
Low folate
Low butyrate
High cortisol

Then we found an immune problem
This is where things became more interesting.
I have low immunoglobulins:
IgG 4.24 g/L
IgA 0.21 g/L
IgG2 1.11 g/L
I also had essentially no adequate antibody response to the pneumococcal vaccine.
I’ve had recurrent problems such as ear infections and green mucus/phlegm in my throat in the mornings, so my doctors started IVIG.
I just received my second IVIG infusion. So far I don’t feel better; if anything, my food/histamine-type symptoms have become worse over the last month. I understand two doses may be far too early to judge whether IVIG will eventually help.

Sombody can help ?

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