It's been a year since i've posted and i'm progressively getting worse. I do have a question regarding flu shot/antibiotics?

[SashaHewitt]

Hello all, I'd come here for support and even some answers about 4 years ago. My symptoms remain about the same: Severe fatigue (sometimes need to crawl up stairs on all fours), My stomach issues went from me being obese 5'3" 189 .lbs to a measly and terrifying barely at 100, 98 .lbs and still losing. I suspect celiac and/or SIBO have VERY nasty bloating, belching, gas, constipation as well. I do indeed suffer from GERD and leaky gut no treatment. My hospital is and has been absolutely terrible in helping those with anything beyond mainstream issues as is understood by my chronically ill father as well, he used to work there. Many other symptoms too fatigued to list right now as I just got out of an extremely toxic relationship which has drained all of me but mentally and physically. My big question which has caused severe anxiety is can you take stomach antibiotics/any antibiotics and also get a vaccination? I have been reading up on the herbal treatment I need to try to heal my gut and even info ive googled has reports of antibiotics as well as vaccines lowering one anothers effectiveness? If anyone knows if this is the case i'd be very appreciative : ) Ah and the reason for the question is I am sadly debiliated badly and live with an elderly mother who has been pushing me to be on my antibiotics AND get a flu shot? I would love to know if this would be an issue and what I can go about this? Thanks : )

[greygoose]

Why would she want you to be on antibiotics? They are not things to take lightly as they can lose their effectiveness.

As for a flu shot, opinions are divided as to whether you should have one at all. There are many, many posts on that subject as the question comes up several times every winter. Personally, I wouldn't have one if you paid me. But, it has to be a personal decision - but an informed decision. To inform yourself, try doing a search on here and read some of the very many posts about flu shots.

Have you considered that you may have low stomach acid causing your GERD? The solution might be as simple as just raising your acid level.

As for your remaining hypo symptoms, you are probably under-medicated. When did you last have a blood test? And, what were the results?

[SashaHewitt in reply to greygoose]

Ah actually I am putting myself on an herbal antibiotic as mentioned I am suffering severe weight loss and very SIBO-like symptoms am down to under 100 .lbs and am also severely intolerant to gluten, grains, soy, fructose, sugar (have IC attacks as well) and every other food imaginable And currently my only meal possible to tolerate is bland chicken breast and water. I have varying reactions to basically all foods at this point it can be so severe I have no sleep or suffer months of sleep loss. I do at this point due to all normal test results and a much better understanding of how real and extremely complex/difficult testing for autoimmune is I know sadly I have both symptoms of hypo/hyper thyroid and have now for the last 12+ years they've simply gotten worse over time. And my main question to all this was will a flu shot deter herbal antibiotics or vice versa should either be needed and/or taken together? Overall if im honest id much rather skip the flu shot altogether as id once gone two days flared with extreme insomnia I did in fact see a GI and again just no help at all. I hate to admit this but any tests taken at my hospital are typically glossed over and i'm now simply labelled as mental/IBS-prone when she did not even acknowledge my long-term GERD and untreated leaky gut. I would genuinely have to seek professional outside knowledge/tests to get the proper understanding unfortunately it took me so long to realize i've been going in circles I just feel very hopeless/sick/fatigued at this point. Forgot to mention I do have very obvious symptoms of TED Graves and a permanently puffy eyelid either pointing to TED or crohns and sadly w/o the proper medical help I may never know lastly I can confirm ive at least suffered immensely from hashi's for many years now.

[SashaHewitt in reply to SashaHewitt]

Did not want to make a run on, but to top all of this off my twin sister had passed last June from drug-related issues so my mother and I have both suffered worse states of health both physically and mentally so it's been very difficult balancing any energy anymore when I have none left. Even going to the hospital feels painful and exhausting.

[greygoose in reply to SashaHewitt]

I would very much doubt that anyone on here would know the answer to that question. Myself, I've never even heard of herbal antibiotics (but would very much like to know more about them if you have the time to tell me - maybe by PM?).

Also, I'm not surprised you're not getting much help from the medical profession with your problems, because I doubt they know much about it, either. I doubt if many doctors even believe in leaky gut! But, personally, I would think that starting at the beginning would be best, and that would be finding out if you have low stomach acid, because that is the key to so many things. And, the problem is, the symptoms are exactly the same as symptoms of high stomach acid, which is why all doctors do is prescribe PPIs! It's always best to approach these problems one step at a time, it avoids going in circles. So, for me, that would mean getting full thyroid testing, and finding out your stomach acid levels.

[SashaHewitt in reply to greygoose]

Ah of course I would be happy to PM you about them. I unfortunately have a plethora of issues so dealing with uninformed doctors is just genuinely frustrating. I have been really doing my best at least for sanity's sake to just keep each day as positive as I can And I appreciate the information. I shall certainly look further into it. I have sadly had a full thyroid despite being a while ago? and sadly despite my very real symptoms my tests have and seem to always come out normal? I very much feel hopeless as my GP will only even help if my numbers are sky/deadly high?? As is the sad case where I go to I would like to speak to my GI but she too seems to have all but given up and labelled me an IBS/mental case haha? So I genuinely only have the internet currently to even seek out potential causes/fixes

[SashaHewitt in reply to SashaHewitt]

To add on my father whom I mentioned was a former doctor in E.R. is very concerned for my health now as well and he has taken documents with all of my listed symptoms to try and reach out to a university specialist? I am keeping updated with him when able. It has gotten this bad and he has seen my deterioration as well as the anemia bags under my eyes cant seem to get good sleep or get rid of my dark circles.

[greygoose in reply to SashaHewitt]

Dark circles under eyes can be a hypo symptom. Post what results you've got and let's have a look.

[greygoose in reply to SashaHewitt]

There's no such thing as 'normal' where thyroid is concerned. It just means 'in-range', but that's not necessarily good. The problem with GPs is that they only look at the TSH in isolation. Their training does not allow them to look at the totality of the results as they relate to each other.

How long is 'a while ago'? Perhaps it's time to get them done again?

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome back but am sorry you seem to be worse than previously.

To have a 'flu jab is a personal decision. I haven't so far.

I think, before you start to supplement with anything is to get an up-to-date blood test.Make sure you are well-hydrated a couple of days before blood draw.

Following the rules, i.e. The earliest possible fasting (you can drink water) blood draw. Allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of hormones (if taking them) and request :-

TSH, T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies.

I am aware few doctors will do all of these but, if you wish, you can get a home finger-pin-prick test and make sure you've allowed a 24 hour gap between last dose of hormones and early a.m. test and take it afterwards. I will give a link:-

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Having a blood test will show the bigger picture of your thyroid hormones because deficiences can make us unwell. Members will also be able to comment further.

GP should also test B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

When we're feeling very unwell and also taking thyroid hormones we really cannot figure out why we still feel ill. Once you get your up-to-date results it will be a bigger picture and members able to comment further.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Your previous results confirms hashimoto’s

Extremely important to regularly test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

When were these last tested?

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Do you have recent thyroid results and ranges you can add

Are you on strictly gluten free diet?

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Hi, I’m so sorry that you feel so unwell. I don’t really have any advice re GERD symptoms, but I have thyroid eye disease & would recommend you start taking 200mcg selenium & use preservative free eye drops regularly. You will get lots of great eye advice from TEDUKct- they will send you an information pack & offer telephone advice. Make sure you see an ophthalmologist ASAP for a full assessment.

Best wishes to you.

[Lora7again]

If you have a bad infection you need to take antibiotics. I hadn't taken antibiotics for over 4 years but I had a very nasty chest infection in January so I took 2 lots. The Pharmacist I spoke to said there was some nasty bugs about and some of the antibiotics were not working so a lot of people had to take a second course of stronger ones. As for the flu jab, I haven't had it for many years and we were encouraged to have one when I worked for NHS. They can protect against some strains of flu and my Dad who has COPD has one every year but he still gets chest infections and has ended up in hospital in the past.

[Justiina]

I run into this interesting article of SIBO and that one can't fix leaky gut as it's sort not leaky to fix but caused by other factors.

Why I found this article interesting as it mention thiamine as important factor and is thimiane deficiency cause of SIBO or caused by SIBO.

I feel thiamine helps SIBO type of symptoms.

eonutrition.co.uk/post/got-...