Getting Rid of Gut Biofilm and The Critters It Protects

Biofilm is thought by some LLMD's to be one of those "snags" to healing Lyme disease. As mentioned in a previous post, sometimes bacteria and other microbes cloak themselves in biofilm, a polysaccharide matrix comprised of minerals, metals and other elements, to protect themselves from anti-microbial treatments, which prevents antibiotics and other Lyme strategies from being fully effective.

When biofilm exists in the gut, it also disturbs digestion and prevents normal flora (like acidophilus) from thriving. If you have persistent dysbiosis, mysterious gut pain, or a borrelia infection that simply isn't responding to treatments, consider the possibility that biofilm may be impeding your progress.

Unfortunately, medicine is still in its infancy when it comes to understanding biofilm and its role in Lyme disease. It is even less equipped to offer effective treatments that will break it down so that microbes can be accessed and eliminated.

Combining enzymes with heavy metal chelators (since the biofilm is comprised in part, of metals), and taking these on an empty stomach, is thought to be one potentially effective strategy for "punching holes" in the biofilm and thereby breaking down the bugs' protective polysaccharide blankies. Once this is done, then the Lyme sufferer can take anti-microbials to attack bacteria, yeast and other bugs. Subsequently, toxin binders can be ingested to clean up the mess left behind by the dead critters.

Tentatively, some of the enzymatic products that are currently being used for the hole-punching process include: SPS 30 (www.theramedix.net) and Mucostop by Enzymedica (www.enzymedica.com). Other enzymes that are being experimented with for Lyme sufferers with gut biofilm include: Lumbrokinase, Rechts-Regulat and serrapeptase. These latter enzymes, incidentally, are also widely used for hypercoagulation in Lyme. (So you might be able to kill two birds with one stone here; that is, break down biofilm while treating hypercoagulation).

Gut biofilm toxin binders, according to Dr. A. Derksen, a Lyme-literate N.D., include: fiber, clays, zeolites, chlorella, modifilan, apple pectin, butyrate, bentonite and activated charcoal.

A heavy metal protocol may comprise any myriad of options, which I have discussed (and will continue to discuss) in other blog posts.

In the meantime, how do you know if you have gut biofilm? Well, isn't that always the question in Lyme disease? We never seem to know what's wrong with us, do we?

My humble suggestion (which should never to be taken as medical advice! I'm just a researcher, not a medical expert), if you have any of the above-named conditions, and are actively chelating metals and treating hypercoagulation, would be to take your chelator, if possible, at the same time that you take your enzymes for hypercoagulation. After that, take your bug-killers, and over time, see if that seems to be more effective than the schedule that you used to follow for taking all of the above.

If you aren't chelating metals or taking enzymes already, deciding whether to treat for biofilm may be a tougher decision. In any case, I would advise seeking out a biofilm-literate Lyme doctor (which are bound to be even more scarce than LLMD's).

I don't know how seriously we should take the idea of biofilm and its role in Lyme disease. Perhaps more than we have been, but not to the exclusion of other roadblocks to healing, as there are often many. This is just another one you may want to consider.