Hi! When I moved to the US from Europe, I noticed that eating raw onion made me fall asleep after 10-15 minutes. Like narcolepsy, I sleep 20-30 minutes and when I wake up it feels like a hangover migraine. I feel groggy and sad. Sautéed onions, leaks, spring onions, shallots and raw garlic have the same effects with varying degrees of tiredness. Because of that I avoided all alliums as much as possible which made it very difficult to go to certain restaurants or to eat at workplace catered events. I was the difficult one at friend’s dinner parties. Also some restaurants don’t mention onions or chives because it’s like salt or pepper to them. I’m grateful I can cook!

Painful for 15 years. One day by accident I realized that if I drunk kombucha, it could lessen the symptoms. Doing more research, I read somewhere that apple cider vinegar (ACC) might help. One tablespoon or I take 2 ACV pills before the 1st bite works like a charm!

I wonder if people may have a clue of what is at play in the microbiome. How do you explain this?

I had a gut bug (food poisoning) and a few weeks after that I developed severe 10/10 brain fog. The only thing I really changed between these two events was adding a ton of probiotics. This was 2 years ago now, and I haven't recovered.

The fog (drunk/high feeling) is constant, doesn't fluctuate - which is the most confusing part of it being gut related - and can flare a little bit higher sometimes with sugars or probiotics, but the baseline is always severe. I've tried all sorts of probiotics, antibiotics, fibres, diets (paleo, low fodmap, etc for at least 2 weeks each), I've even done a few day fast and nothing at all improved. There is no movement or pattern in the fog, as it's always present.

I've had all the common blood work I've seen in this sub, seen a few GI docs, had gut testing, and all has been perfect. I did had SIBO and resolved that.

I even tried some of the long COVID/CFS brain fog treatments like nicotine patches, antihistamines, low dose naltrexone, guanfacine, and none of it helped. I had COVID about 7 months before the food poisoning, so I'm sure it's not that anyway.

Does anyone have any ideas to pursue with my doc next? They're out of ideas and I'm stuck not being able to earn an income for my family.

Currently despite the fibre I consume my stools are soft and can be messy to wipe. It then leads to feeling of stickyness around the anus a few hours later after wiping.

If my stool is really well formed and takes 1-2 wipes then things are good later in the day.

This has been ongoing since early 2025 and I havent been able to figure it out - even though I get fibre from my diet but also have 2 x 5g doses of NOW psyllium husk powder each day.

Then I read someone elses post that they think metronidazole has messed up their gut microbiome. I have diverticular disease and I have had this antibiotic lots of times in the past, once in 2018, once in 2021, once in 2023, once in 2024 but quite a lot in 2025;

January 2025: One week of metronidazole.
April 2025: bowel and anal symptoms began.
May 2025: Another week of metronidazole.
July 2025: Intravenous metronidazole and ciprofloxacin, followed by a week of both orally.
September 2025: Another week of metronidazole
October 2025: Colonoscopy

I havent been taking any probiotics as it wasnt until now that I have thought that this may be linked/the cause.

My doctors have prescribed me 4g colestyramine which I have been taking once per day for the past week or two which has made things mildly better. This was prescribed as I have gallstones too and they thought I may have bile acid malabsorption so this is a trial.

Is there any thoughts about whether 4 courses of the anti biotic in 2025 (the last being over a year ago) could have caused this issue that I am still dealing with now? And if so what I can do to help?

Thank you

So about two months ago I was diagnosed with BV and the urgent care doctor prescribed me with metronidazole. I did not know anything about this medication and they didn't tell me anything about it even though it is an extremely potent antibiotic that wipes out all of your good gut bacteria. I was on it for one week and a couple days after my last dose I noticed that I felt very bloated and distended. As the days went on the bloating got worse and I felt like I had pockets of gas trapped along my large intestine. It is now two months later and I am still extremely bloated and have been experiencing slight changes in my bowel habits. My doctor has put me on two different pro biotics but I'm just worried that I will be stuck like this forever since I haven't noticed any real improvement. I know it can take up to 6 months for your microbiome to fully rebuild itself but it feels permanent. This has completely taken over my life and I am uncomfortable 24/7.

Idk if it is worth mentioning that I was also on Accutane at the same time as the metronidazole and I know that that can also cause GI problems. I have since stopped taking the Accutane and it hasn't gotten better.

I got ultrasounds and xrays done and everything looked normal and according to my doctor and everything I have researched, I will go back to normal. It just doesn't feel that way since this has been persisting for 2 months.

Mostly writing this just to rant so not really looking for advice, but it's still welcome nonetheless. I've had a pretty rough year overall with my health (a lot of headaches, anxiety, etc alongside stomach issues) and it feels like my poor tummy has just been destroyed from all of it.

I'd been having on and off stomach issues for a few years, but this year got prescribed antibiotics 3 times and had a few other things happen that were not good for my microbiome health. The first time was late last year, I got prescribed cefdinir for some sinus issues (it seemed like I was getting recurrent sinus infections). At the time I actually didn't notice any side effects, stomach-related or otherwise, but I think it was sorta the starting point of everything.

A few months go by, and I got sick with something. Idk what it was, but just general flu-like illness. Didn't have any COVID or flu tests so I just stayed at home and isolated till it was over. If it was COVID though, apparently that can mess with your microbiome, alongside everything else it messes up.

Then I got prescribed a second round of cefdinir because my sinuses were still giving me some issues. This time, however, definitely felt some side effects. My stomach got really, REALLY upset from the cefdinir. I also got prescribed a steroid at the same time and that made me really anxious too.

My stomach just seemed to be continuously upset after this to the point where eventually I went to the ER because my appetite was almost completely gone and I was getting some bad diarrhea. Got tested for a bunch of stuff, and actually was told for the first time here that my microbiome being messed up was likely the culprit due to the antibiotics, being sick, stress, etc. After this I started trying to eat healthier, and the stomach issues did seem to get better, but still didn't go completely away.

I ended up seeing a gastroenterologist and getting a colonoscopy. Ofc, that required the colonoscopy prep (which was a whole side-quest itself because I ended up having an allergic reaction to the first prep they gave me), which can also mess with your microbiome as well. Luckily though, the colonoscopy came back totally good, so no IBD, cancer, etc. Which also is part of why I think so many of my stomach issues are likely microbiome-related since so much else was ruled out already.

Finally, after all of this I thought I would get a good break to just let my body relax, but apparently not. Right before my colonoscopy I fell ill with a mysterious "flu-like" illness again that tested negative for COVID, flu, and strep and although I was mostly over it by the time I got my colonoscopy, I still didn't feel quite right for a while. When it got to be 3 weeks and I still was having some lingering cough and nose inflammation I went to an urgent care where, once again, I got prescribed antibiotics. Luckily the antibiotics did actually seem to help get rid of whatever illness I had, but once again they've made my stomach quite upset.

It just sucks because ever since initially having dysbiosis explained to me, I've been working hard on eating better and working on building up my microbiome to be healthy once again, but I've just had so many roadblocks. I'm glad I got checked for all the serious stuff with my colonoscopy (and endoscope too btw) but it's just annoying that my stomach is still all messed up after this. I'm slowly getting better I think, but it's such a long process, especially when you keep having things slow your progress.

I eat a pretty healthy diet (high amounts of prebiotic fiber, inulin rich foods, resistant starches, no alcohol, no red meat, good mix of nuts/seeds/plants), however once or twice a week I like to eat out at restaurants. This could be something as simple as eating sushi, going to a local sandwich spot, or getting fast food (McDonalds, Burger King, and etc).

Will eating out and having a day or two where I eat somewhat poorly, negatively impact my gut microbiome? Or is the long-term consistent healthy eating more important than a day or two a week of poor eating?

Have had a relatively poor diet for most of my life + have had to take antibiotics quite a few times. I'm now eating healthier (35-45g of fibers daily) and have more whole food diversity in my diet, but I'm wondering if this is enough.

Specifically interested in increasing the levels of

Clostridium butyricum, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Eubacterium rectale, and Roseburia

Hey everyone!
I’m looking for help and advice on what I can add to my routine or change to improve my health. I’m currently undergoing tests, waiting for appointments and results, but I’m also looking for some interesting insights from experienced people who are familiar with this topic. In general, I take good care of myself—I eat regular, balanced meals, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of exercise. I’ve always had great food tolerance; nothing ever caused me any problems until I went abroad, where I overindulged a bit for two days. Overeating led to mild food poisoning, a bloated stomach, a feeling of fullness, bloating, constant burping, and in the morning, mild diarrhea and passing gas. My stomach ached until the evening, but then I was okay, the next few days were fine—some mild diarrhea, sometimes worse, sometimes better—and other than that, nothing happened until the last day of the trip, when I was hit with terrible gas that kept coming out every few moments, smelling like sulfur or something rotten, and it went on like that for almost 24 hours. Then the problem went away; it ended with a bowel movement accompanied by diarrhea, and that was it—everything went back to normal. I went on with my life, carrying on as usual, sometimes it would come back a little, but not on that scale; I ignored it until, after a month, my condition worsened—it always ended up with me passing gas nonstop with that sulfury/rotten smell from after lunch all the way through dinner and after dinner, plus constant bloating; I didn’t have any other symptoms and still don’t, aside from those two. The problem persisted and continues to this day; sometimes it’s been better, and sometimes worse. As of now, I’ve been off Xifaxan for 3 weeks already. For 10 days, things were calm, though my motor skills were worse; later, the problem returned, but in a much milder form. Either way, it’s still there, and I’m not eating a normal diet, so I need to keep working on it. I’m sticking to a low FODMAP diet. Right now, I hardly pass any gas at all; if I do, it’s after a meal or in the evening. Before bed, I sometimes have 2–3 foul-smelling gases. My stomach rarely feels bloated, but it usually does happen occasionally. I sometimes experience constipation and some strange stomach activity, but it’s not the same as it used to be. Either way, I’d like to get better. Does anyone know what this could be? Where should I look for the problem? Helicobacter, parasites, complete blood count, B12, and ferritin are all within normal ranges.
I’m taking Iberogast, NAC, and L-glutamine.

A recent preclinical study uncovers Urolithin A's potential to improve gut health. Researchers from the University of Louisville found that Urolithin A activates a protective pathway in intestinal cells. In inflammatory bowel disease, triggering certain cellular pathways can cause more inflammation; however, in preclinical models, Urolithin A activated a specific pathway with a beneficial response. This activation strengthened the intestinal barrier, boosted production of protective mucus, and reinforced antimicrobial defenses. The researchers state it's the first study showing how a postbiotic can work with the body's own response systems, helping regulate complex processes that happen during intestinal injury.

Out of curiousity, has anyone taken Avelox? What were your side effects afterwards? I was prescribed a 10 day 400 mg course for a nasty secondary infection from a brown recluse bite, and while it got rid of the infection (yay) I just finished it four days ago and I am SO tired. Like can't think straight tired, heavy eyes kinda tired. I Googled it and it said recovering from the bite itself or the meds could do that, but how long does it last? I go back for my regular wellness check in 4 weeks. I hope its over by then.

I’ve been experiencing a lot of foul-smelling and loud gas, especially at night. My stomach gets really bloated, but I don’t experience any pain.

A friend suggested that I start taking fiber supplements around the same time as the probiotic I take before bed.

What types of fiber would you recommend? And what’s the best way to start?

I’ve read in a few places that it’s best to introduce fiber gradually. I’ve been reading a lot about psyllium husk, and some people suggest starting with 5g, mixing it with water, and drinking it immediately before it turns into a gel.

What’s been your experience with this? Any tips or recommendations?

As the title suggests, my microbiome had taken a hit. I’m 24m.

basically anyone else dealt with a similar level of disruption and came out okay?

i‘m also struggling with ongoing malabsorption 2 months after the last antitbioc and 3 since the giardia.

i suspect deficiencies for several reasons.

I am worried, and as inappropriate as it might sound now, im worried about returning to an occasional binge drink (Irish here).

I’d appreciate any help and shared anecdotes!

Buíochas!

One issue that comes up with oral iron is the portion that is not absorbed. Free iron remaining in the lumen can influence the gut environment and has been shown in several studies to affect microbial composition.

This is part of the reason different iron forms are discussed in the context of gut tolerance. Ferrous sulfate tends to leave more residual iron and is more often linked with digestive complaints. Forms with higher bioavailability, such as iron bisglycinate, generally result in less unabsorbed iron. Liposomal iron is sometimes used for a similar reason — more of the iron is encapsulated during transit.

None of these completely eliminate contact with the gut, but the amount of free iron left behind does differ between forms.

Anyone here looked into the microbial effects of different iron preparations?

Which microorganisms make an unbalance microbiome with a GI tract not being able to absorb nutrients and instead releasing them in the blood vessels?

thank you

Hello, I have methane SIBO and gut dusbiosis, can you recommend my an Iron supplement that will bypass that please?

So I've just had a full microbiome GI mapping done and had an appointment with my gastroenterologist and he basically said I had next to no beneficial bacteria left only 1 or 2 strains left and the rest were completely wiped out. Alongside a few nasty strains of bacteria so he recommended a wipe out phase for the bad bacteria then FMT through an enema. I'm wondering if anyone has recovered from a full gut microbiome wipe out without fmt? And if so what the process like? Ideally I don't want to have to do FMT as it's incredibly expensive and I don't exactly like the idea of daily enemas for a whole week. If anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it.

Been struggling with it forever to be fair and now that I'm starting to lose weight would love to feel better in that regard.