This post deals with the role of Oral Probiotics. My model of CFS is that it is a microbiome (gut bacteria) dysfunction that has become stable. The first question is a real simple one: How did the bad bacteria get to your gut? The answer is real simple — through your mouth? A kiss from a friend, a lick from a pet, air bacteria landing on food, bacteria on dust. The bad bacteria while you were sick found your gut much more friendly than usual and they survived and prosper. Your illness, stress level, immune response to vaccine allow the bacteria to take up residence.

The CFS gut has low biodiversity — how do you correct that! Again thru the mouth, either thru probiotics or food. At this point, my wife would say… oh no, here comes the “A spoon full of dirt make the autoimmune go down” jingle is about to happen. In other words, the hygiene hypothesis.

In the land of CFSers, there is often talk about reserves of infections. If we are talking about gut bacteria dysfunction, we have to consider the bacteria in the mouth as being a reserve for potentially dysfunctional bacteria.  Bacteria that will tag among on your next swallow and attempt to reinfect your gut. Yes, you could brush your teeth and use a mouth wash — but would it not be better to then repopulate with non-harmful bacteria then trust random bacteria? Today there are several oral probiotics available, including:

• Now Foods OralBiotic on Amazon (60 capsule for $14) – Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12
• Oragenics Evora Plus Probiotic on Amazon (30 mints for $16) – Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus uberis, and Streptococcus rattus
• Swanson Oral Probiotic: Blis K12® S. salivarius, L. rhamnosus, L. plantarum, L. reuteri, L. paracasei, L. salivarius
  • This one was a delight to find because it contains L.Reuteri which is hard to find in a probiotic. This one looks the most promising of all of the Oral Probiotics.

Recently, the question of “soil bacteria” came up in a comment. It seems that while they are often found in the soil they are also found in healthy human guts BUT many of them do a disappearing act in the gut of a CFS person. So, the pointed question is how do you restore biodiversity of gut bacteria to become healthy– that is the question that must really be answered. Eating yogurt will never do that.

To me, Prescript Assist is a start, having an organic garden and not washing every strawberry or blueberry before eating them is also a risk that I am willing to do.

What is your answers to this question? “Somehow” is not an answer — it is an evasion.