A reader was very kind to share with me their uBiome results. Ross River Virus is an infection (one of many) associated with the subsequent development of CFS. In March 2017, the reader was positive for Ross River Virus (6 months after symptoms started). We have someone in possible early CFS (less than 1 year from onset).

Does the ubiome fit the CFS Pattern?

• Low Bifidobacterium – Check
• Low Lactobacillus – Check
• Akkermansia is very high: 8.27x.
  • This is the bacteria that reduces inflammation. This may be a response to this being a recent infection/onset (the very low level seen later in most CFS patients, could be a result of ‘exhaustion’, i.e. the metabolites that this bacteria needs were badly depleted).
  • One earlier result had higher values
• Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio: 0.45 (both high and low ratios are seen)
  • Bacteroidetes: 1.33x
  • Firmicutes: 0.6x

Looking at some prior uBiomes from prior posts:  B and F uBiomes are vary similar with shared spikes in the same groups (not seen with other CFS uBiome results):

• High Genus: Odoribacter, Parabacteroides, Sarcina, Intestinibacter, Allermansia
• High Family: Peptostreptococcaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, Clostridiaceae 

New (not seen in others)

• Class: Opitutae, Order: Puniceicoccalea, Genus: Butyricicoccus,

From Lab Reports

• “Most essential and other elements are very low, suspected malabsorption issue. About half are below 16th percentile: calcium, magnesium, sodium, copper, manganese, lithium, phosphorus, strontium, cobalt, iron, zirconium.”
• “Main symptom is fatigue. I can work on my computer from home 4 hours a day, … can walk comfortably in total in and around home about 1-1.5km in steps a day, 2km feels like a marathon. Wish I could sleep more, feel terrible in the mornings. Lately I’ve been feeling nauseous on and off. I need to rest regularly throughout the day. No pain thankfully, occasional headaches.”

Items to Discuss with Your Professional(s)

The nausea(and IBS) aspect is where I would start, and in that direction, I would suggest taking herbs and probiotics documented to work in this area. The goal is to adjust the gut while the dysbiosis is still fresh (and less stable). My short list would be:

• Probiotics:
  • Prescript Assist
  • Mutaflor
  • Symbioflor-2
  • Bifidobacteria Probiotics:
    • See this post for ones that are documented from studies 
    • this is a newer one (after above post): Kijimea IBS Probiotic
  • You indicate that you make water kefir, and found the bacteria typically in it on this page.  I tend to advocate avoidance of lactobacillus (not a single lactobacillus strain was been found effective for IBS) because it tend to suppress/kill off many of the bacteria that are low; possibly  making a bad situation worst.
• Herbs and Spices
  • Ginger
  • Haritaki (or Triphala which is 1/3 Haritaki)
• Magnesium Malate
• Consider Folinic Acid (the bioactive form of Folate), it may be more effective in the face of mal-absorption.

Bottom Line

You appear to match the uBiome of a subset of CFS patients. I recall from studies that lab tests for CFS start changing about 2 years after onset (the likely cause is cumulative mal-absorption). Given that it appears to be less than a year since you developed symptoms, there is a reasonable chance (likely 20-40%) that you may go into spontaneous remission over the next year. I believe that the above items will increase your odds.

If you can get Vitamin 1,25D measured, it will likely be very high (and should drop as you move towards remission). This is from my own personal experience and just 1 or 2 studies hinting at this.