I tested Positive for Campylobacter then Salmonella a few weeks later!

In January I contracted infectious Camplyobacter which is a terrible gut bacteria.  Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have contracted it.  The first time was a few months before our wedding in 2017 and I was extremely sick! I lost 8kg in 5 days, and ended up with terrible brain fog and dyslexia-like symptoms for over 12 months afterwards.  This time around I wasn’t as sick as the last, but I knew instantly that I had Camplyobacter again.  My symptoms were:

·        Reactive arthritis in my fingers and hands

·        Fevers

·        Shivers

·        Cold Sweats

·        Diarrhoea

·        Stomach Cramping

·        Nausea

·        Loss of Appetite

·        Brain Fog

·        Fatigue

I was just lucky that I already had a form from my GP to get a stool test done to check for some other things and naturally, being a mum of a toddler I had put that off for a month already! It was no surprise when my GP sent me a text message notifying me that I had Camplyobacter, so I chose to proceed with the conventional medical approach of taking antibiotics.  This was a tough one for me, my toddler is still breastfed and the antibiotics are not recommended for breastfeeding, somehow, through a lot of resistance I managed to cut down our feeding to just twice a day (before each antibiotic).  A few week later I went back to the GP as I was still experiencing arthritic pain in my fingers and extreme fatigue, we decided to run some bloods to rule out Rheumatoid Arthritis and to repeat a stool sample to ensure the Camplyobacter was gone. 

To my complete surprise, I received a text message from my GP saying I now had Salmonella!! Seriously, WTF?!?! This I was definitely NOT expecting that! My bowels still hadn’t returned to normal since the Campylobacter but they weren’t terrible and the only other symptom I had was Arthritic pain!

So now I have just finished the most intense course of anti-biotics I have ever taken: 2x500mg of Amoxycillin every 8 hours! Yes, that is 1000mg 3x a day for 7 days! It has been an interesting week to say the least.   I always go on and on to clients about the gut-brain axis and I experienced the complications of that when I suffered my IBS issues but that was so long ago that you actually forget how bad it can be between the gut and the brain. So here is what I experienced as my gut integrity worsened while taking the anti-biotics:

·        Increase in diarrhoea, urgency, mucous and undigested food in the stool

·        At night I beginning to feel anxious, almost like I couldn’t catch my breath

·        I’ve had a lot of difficulties falling asleep and switching off at night

·        My brain just feels wired all of the time

·        Vivid Dreams – my toddler has also had an increase in her night terrors!

·        Mild reflux (I didn’t see that one coming!)

·        Continued hand arthritic pain

·        Headaches

I think these symptoms would have been a hell of a lot worse if I hadn’t been doing some gut healing while taking the antibiotics, every opposite 8 hours I was taking a strong probiotic, a gut powder containing; glutamine, zinc, liquorice, slippery elm, vitamin A, etc., vitamin C powder, N-acetyl Cysteine, more zinc, fish oil, CoQ10, Curcumin, PHGG, Collagen and a multi-vitamin.  It’s A LOT I know! And these supplements I will continue to take now until I feel like my gut is 100% again. I also made significant changes to my diet over the last week to help with the healing process and growth of beneficial good bacteria.  The different bacteria’s (Microbiome) feed off the food we consume, and difference bacteria’s enjoy feeding and growing off different foods. We often find that the “bad” bacteria prefer sugary and starchy foods, while, the good bacteria love good fibres such as; polyphenols, vegetables and fruit, etc.  So I have been making a conscious effort to have at least 1-3 cups of vegetables with both lunch and dinner, that’s seems like a lot of vegetables but it is so beneficial for my gut health and health in general!

I will keep you all updated on the progress and how it all goes with my gut and next stool test to ensure we have killed off all of the nasty gut bacteria’s!

Liss x