I was recently asked, “Does this work for other autoimmune diseases? For example Crohn’s?”. Since this person has Crohn’s, I will work the approach for Crohn’s.

First we need to know the microflora shift

With some effort on PubMed, I found the following description of the changes seen:

• Low faecalibacterium
  • Low faecalibacterium Praunsitzii
• Low Bifidobacteria
• High Enterobacteriaceae
  • High Escherichia Coli
    • Invasive E. coli
• High bacteroides (Bacteroides fragilis)
• High eubacteria
• High peptostreptococcus

Clearly this is a very different microflora than CFS. As I mentioned in an early post, studies have found that microflora is almost a finger print for infections and likely diseases and syndromes.

Fixing the microflora

The art of fixing the microflora is still immature. The following are suggestions to address the above that are herbs with PubMed study backing them. A skilled herbalist may know of additional ones (and you should press them to supply PubMed articles supporting their recommendations). As always, discuss with your knowledgeable medical professional before starting.

• Mutaflor (E.Coli Nissle) to address the invasive E.Coli because it usually push them aside. This could be done with alternative pulses to reduce the total E.Coli population (i.e. kill many, repopulate with Mutaflor).
  • Angelica sinensis and Sophora flavescens [Traditional Chinese Herbs]
  • Zingiber officinale
  • Punica granatum
• Bacteriode Fragilis: inhibited by Rheum officinale
  • US Orders [ 1 lb $20]
• Peptostreptococcus: Chitosan appears to inhibit this according to a 2011 study. This is available as a supplement:
  • US Orders [ 240 capsules @ 500 mg $18]
  • UK Orders [ 240 capsules @ 500 mg £13]

  One 2012 study found that bacteria do develop resistance to herbs. The effectiveness of a “herb” also depend on local variations of the plants, so changing manufacturers/suppliers for each herb is recommended.

  The bacteria that dominates

  A 2007 study found a very clear pattern: “Of all invasive bacterial strains in Crohn’s Disease, 98.9% were identified as E. coli as opposed to 42.1% in  ulcerative colitis and 2.1% in normal controls.”

  Reading on antibiotics against E.Coli, there are many species that are resistant to many of the antibitotics used, or the antibiotics that is effective has nasty side effect, for example: Gentamicin.  The use of rotating herbs (2 at a time) that are known to be effective against E.Coli (with biofilm breakers) followed by Mutaflor, appears to be an approach that deserves investigation.