Noprop and others,
I am a whole food vegan, which i do believe played/s a roll in my recovery. I thank you for bringing tha tup.
I have been able to correlate my mini crashes to times in which i cheated for a few days or more (such as thanksgiving, etc.). That being said, immediately jumping to the conclusion that I/we/everyone that has PFS have some form of ‘leaky gut’ is perhaps not the most logical of assumptions. Nor is me saying that ALL PFS is related to/caused by gut inflammation. This is why i mention the word ‘potential’ in the title of this thread.
What i believe is logical is to assume that the dietary changes (which i can correlate to bowel habit changes, mild abdominal discomfort, and mini crashes) are related to eating food that my GI tract is not accustomed to.
When presented with a substance that it is not use to, such as unhealthy processed food or animal products, it is logical to assume that the gut would react in an untoward way. The first thing that epithelial surfaces do in response to an assault, be it pathological or traumatic, is to become inflamed. (I see this response on a daily basis while treating patients.) When the GI tract becomes inflamed, among other things, it swells and the protective mucus coating changes making the underlying epithelium less resistant to chemicals such as the acid, digestive enzymes, and bile chemicals released by the stomach, gall bladder, and liver. “Leaky gut” or not, most people’s GI tract will react by becoming inflamed–as did mine.
Taking omeprazole was simply an effort on my part to speed my GI tract back to homeostasis by reducing one of the insults to its already inflamed surface–acid. Of course, switching back to pure veganism was the best choice, but the omeprazole (a pontent proton pump inhibitor [PPI]) certainly helped, as did the other antacids.
In response to another claim about omeprazole in this thread, I have never seen that drug listed as AR inhibitor, nor have i seen the side effects mentioned in that post listed on its label. However, as we all know, some side effects can go undisclosed with some drugs (finasteride), but I seriously doubt the questionable AR inhibition ability of omeprazole is what helped me. I say this because i have gotten help from other antacid drugs such as ranatidine (an H2 blocker). In fact, i should recommend an H2 blocker because these are considered safer drugs that PPIs, longterm.
My regimen is for only 2 weeks. What i should have also disclosed is that people should be eating healthy whole food–hopefully vegan–diets during and after that initial 2 week regimen. The 2 weeks is a period of treatment, like putting a salve on a wound for 2 weeks then allowing the wound to heal itself after that with healthy living.
So calm your gut down with some antacid for a few weeks, eat no animal products, and your gut will be happy. The way i see it, the things i recommend are easy and part of a healthy lifestyle anyway. It has helped with my PFS symptoms. I hope it does with you guys’ too.