Can Fluoroquinolones and food sensitivities have something in common?

I personally know the effects of fluoroquinolone drugs like Ciprofloxacin
or others in the same family like Levaquin and these drugs are dangerous, to say the least. However is there a correlation between the ongoing symptoms and the loss of food variety and sensitivities to food?

Why Fluoroquinolones and food sensitivities happen.

First, we need to understand why Fluoroquinolones and food sensitivities happen. The first stop on this magical exploration of human anatomy lands us directly in the gut. Did you have a “gut” feeling I was going to say that? Well, you were right and that is the biggest factor of why we continue to have gut symptoms and loss of food variety. The drug itself reduces bacteria in the body whether good or bad. But why does this happen and what can we do about it?

I had a gut feeling this was my issue for 7 years

So Fluoroquinolone antibiotics destroyed my but bacteria and I have the tests to prove it. We know long term antibiotic use can damage the gut in so many ways. Check out this post on how Lisa healed her stomach after FQ exposure. The reason our stomach is so important in healing the effects of this class of drugs is because we need to rebuild our immune system, nutrient absorption and lower the overall inflammation. If your stomach is low on beneficial microbes, enzymes and you have poor vagal tone (more on that later) you are asking for leaky gut, poor digestion and food sensitivities.

Beneficial bacteria’s role

You can call your mom right now and give her a big thank you because she is the one credited with your gut bacteria. Those microbes passed from mother to child will be your guardian angels against bacteria and viruses. They are your first line defense and once they are compromised, you are compromised. Antibiotics will degrade their population and once that system gets our of balance you become unable to protect yourself from pathogens. Once the bacteria levels get low enough your gut ecosystem is susceptible to things like candida, mold and other parasites to set up shop and live in your gut. That is when rampant inflammation becomes an issue. Too many bad “guys” crowd out the “good” guys and leave your stomach in disarry. If your looking to dive deeper on how to fix these issues, check out the food sensitives summit here.

What about that gurgling in my tummy?

After your microbe balance starts to get out of control. You may start having a hard time digesting food. Why you ask, well the acid and enzymes in your stomach lose their ability to do their job too. There is a thing called the Vagus nerve and that nerve is important here and guess what effects it’s function? You guessed it, Fluoroquinolones. Check out this article on Floxie hope about it in more detail. So what can we do if we do not have the acid to break down our food?

Our stomach is sending an SOS signal, but did you hear it?

Low stomach acid, low beneficial microbes and enzymes that show up to digest food to late or not at all. Wow, overwhelming right? Thanks to that little piece of paper I took to my pharmacist for a prescription just opened all Pandora’s box of stomach issues leading my stomach to react to a damn avocado! Seriously. My stomach gave me hell and rightfully so but can you fix it?

Ohh how I miss the days of not overthinking food!

Month after month more and more foods became my worst enemy and that was not a way to feel about food. I felt defeated, angry and tormented by the idea of having to find out another food triggered a relapse in symptoms. I actually cried in a whole foods parking lot frustrated to go shopping because I was down to 5 vegetables, 2 fruits and chicken! So I got to work and spent thousands of hours and dollars on tests to help me navigate my way back to food sanity.If you have the time I suggest joining me in the food sensitivity summit so you can gain some of the tools practitioners use to get your stomach back online and lead your body back to health through food. Check out the links in this post to get some really nice free goodies from these doctors.

Where you can start finding answers

For me, taking tests like a food sensitivity test or a Viome really helped see where my body had issues. From there I had an idea of what to stay away from (creating inflammation) and also what I could do to repopulate my gut. I also wanted to get my stomach digesting and I personally used some enzymes for a while to kick my digestion into hyper-drive. Once I started digesting my stomach was able to process food. The gut is so complex and I suffered from candida, mold and oxalate issues. For those unfamiliar with some of those terms check out my other blog on oxalates at Healthopsy. My stomach has given me a fair amount of trouble over the last few years but I can say that finding my food sensitivities and working on my gut with probiotics, enzymes and fiber has really helped me get my life back on track.

Thanks for reading and following Floxie Hope, I hope you find value in this post. If you feel it could help someone else please share this post so others can find value in it as well.