This blog entry will detail the theory behind Clostridium Butyricum as an ME treatment as well as my experience with this probiotic. Following this, I will examine a post-exertional malaise treatment that has proven useful to me. Finally, I will scrutinise the meaning of an abnormal blood test that I recently had.
Clostridium Butyricum (Miyarisan)
Clostridium Butyricum (CB) is a probiotic that many ME patients have trialled, some noting a reduction in symptoms. This treatment du jour has a 60 page thread devoted to it on Phoenix Rising that can be found here.
CB may benefit ME patients due to many possible mechanisms including:
- Reducing harmful bacteria and increasing levels of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria.
- Shifting the immune system from Th2 to Th1.
- Regulating the immune system of the gut.
- Increasing IgA, IgG and IgM levels.
- Lowering lactate.
- Fighting irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.
- Reducing cognitive impairment and acting as a neuroprotector.
- Minimising allergies.
CB can also raise butyrate levels in the body which may help ME patients due to butyrate’s mitochondrial effects. Butyrate also has the potential to create T-cells in the digestive system and hence lower patients’ gut-related symptoms. It may also lessen inflammation levels and improve patients’ immune systems. Studies have found that butyrate may reduce Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis symptoms. Butyrate can also be taken directly in its own distinct formulation.
Anecdotally, ME patients online who have trilled CB and benefited, have reported an enhancement in sleep quality and length, a reduction in cognitive impairment, an improvement in digestive symptoms and a general lessening of their ME symptoms.
CB is available at a relatively cheap price online in a formulation containing 630 miniscule-sized tablets. The recommended upper dosage according to the company that produces CB is 6 tablets taken 3 times a day (18 tablets a day total which is equivalent to 180mg). It is imperative that ME patients trialling CB begin at a much lower dosage such as 1 tablet a day and gradually increase this to a dose they feel comfortable with. Numerous patients have commented online that transient symptoms have emerged if they increase the dosage too briskly. A ‘strong’ variant of CB is also available that contains 270mg of CB within 9 tablets.
My experience with Clostridium Butyricum
The one realm of ME symptoms that I have largely not developed has been the gastrointestinally natured. Despite this, treatments such as probiotics often act holistically and sometimes benefit patients without many gastrointestinal symptoms. With the caveat that I’m not necessarily the target patient for this treatment, I began at a low dosage on the 19th of December 2016. I didn’t notice any side effects and gradually increased this treatment to the maximum of 18 tablets a day. After 5 weeks of this treatment, I am yet to experience any positive or negative effects. As CB has the potential to reduce lactate, it is possible that it is working on delaying my post-exertional malaise.
A Post-Exertional Malaise Treatment
I have recently found that sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) wards off my post-exertional malaise. I take ¼ to ½ a teaspoon just prior to doing an unavoidable activity that would normally induce a crash. I have so far taken sodium bicarbonate on 6 occasions immediately before tasks such as going to the doctors. In the past, a crash was inevitable however as a result of this treatment, I am yet to crash. The sodium bicarbonate’s mechanism of action may involve causing a reduction of the lactate in my body. Some studies have indicated that this is a property of sodium bicarbonate and that muscles recover faster with this treatment. It is nebulous whether another aspect of sodium bicarbonate is responsible for its effects on me. Several other ME patients have noted a similar effect from this treatment.
Hip on Health Rising has written about similar treatments that when taken before exertion, may ward off post-exertional malaise. These include
- Branched-chain amino acids (5 grams)
- Catalase (600mg post exercise)
- Citrulline (1 gram)
- Coq10 (800mg)
- Creatine hydrochloride (2 grams)
- D-ribose (5 grams taken three times a day)
Hip’s article specifies the rationale behind each ‘crash buster’ including anecdotal reports and studies of possible mechanisms of action. The article is worth reading and can be found here.
I am yet to fully explore the scope of the sodium bicarbonate’s benefits and to date will still feel ‘worn out’ after a basic activity however haven’t yet experienced the dreaded crash since taking this new treatment. I also plan to trial some of the other aforementioned ‘pre-activity’ treatments and have creatine hydrochloride lined up to take next. As Clostridium Butyricum can potentially reduce lactate, I should document that my bicarbonate soda experiment did predate my taking of CB by 2 months. I should also note that sodium bicarbonate does have some side effects and hence I have only used it sparingly. I’ve written more extensively about other post-exertional malaise treatments here.
Immunoglobulin Blood Tests
I recently had a blood test that showed several abnormalities. The test was for immunoglobulins and their subclasses. I was deficient in:
- IgG
- IgM
- IgG subclass 1
- IgG subclass 2
An IgG deficiency is an immunological deficiency and correlates with a patient being more likely to get infections. ME patients are most likely to be deficient in IgG subclasses 1 and 3. Read et al. found an IgG subclass 1 deficiency in patients with ME/CFS. Wakefield et al. found that ME/CFS patients had significantly lower levels of IgG subclasses 1,2 and 3 compared to controls. Several other studies have also found IgG subclass deficiencies in ME/CFS patients.
Some ME/CFS patients (with or without IgG deficiencies) are treated with intravenous immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin injections. A few studies have shown that these treatments benefit ME/CFS patients, while other studies haven’t noticed any effect. Intravenous immunoglobulin treatment is of interest to me however in Australia there seems to be strict regulations on its usage hence it would be difficult for me to trial.
Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 
Does the CB cause looser bowel movements? I have CFS and surprisingly no GI problems. I don’t want to take a product that would cause any GI problems. Thanks
@Adelle
Thanks for the comment. I haven’t read of across any instances of the CB causing looser bowel movements. If this symptom or another GI symptom did occur, it would likely be transient and fixed by reducing the dosage. If you do trial CB, please leave a comment on how it affected you.
Hello. Here is my experience with Clostrisium Butyricum (CB):
It actually sounds a lot like the author’s experience. I don’t seem to have any major GI problems, but yet when taking it, it did seem to reduce bloating a bit and possibly helped to tolerate foods better. But it did seem to interfere with my sleep. And the obvious issue, fatigue, it seemed to do nothing. If it didn’t contain talc in the ingredients (a carcinogen), I would be inclined to continue taking it, as I believe it does help gut function overall.
I ordered Miyarisan through Amazon for about $13 from Japan. I started with 6 pills total a day (with food), then 12, and then the maximum of 18. I was on the maximum for almost a month. Too bad the filler ingredients couldn’t be safer. Being from Japan, it seems unlikely I could make a difference in how they produce this product.
I hope this helps.
So what happened? How are you guys doing now? Has the CBM helped?
I am not better, but like I said, I think it helps with overall gut function. Good luck.
@mkeghosts
I stopped this treatment soon after writing this blog entry due to the fact that I had finished the bottle of clostridium butyricum and hadn’t noticed any effects. I may have been premature in not ordering more bottles and persisting with this treatment for longer but I didn’t think it was worthwhile considering the lack of beneficial effects I noticed.
As you are probably already aware, there is a long thread discussing clostridium butyricum and patients’ experiences here: http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/clostridium-butyricum-a-game-changer.37324/
I wish you the best of luck if you try this treatment.
For those of you who did not notice much if any effects from taking Clostridium butyricum, it might be helpful to add resistant starch and things like inulin and arabinogalactan to your diet along with the probiotic pills of CB. I didn’t notice much of an effect until I started adding these other prebiotic fibers to my diet in great abundance. The CB and other butyrate producing bacteria need a lot of resistant starch to make much butyrate. In essence, butyrate is their waste product after they feed on the resistant starch. The more they have to eat, the more butyrate they will produce for you. Raw green banana is the best resistant starch I have found for me. The greener, the better. Raw unmodified potato starch also works well. And Hi Maize resistant corn starch works well, too, and contrary to what some people have said about it on various internet websites, it is just a particular cultivar of corn that is naturally very high in resistant starch. There is nothing unnatural about it. For inulin, you can find supplements of it, or you can eat lots of things like raw or lightly cooked leeks, raw jicama root flesh (don’t eat the jicama peels!), raw garlic, raw onions. For arabinogalactan there is a fiber powder supplement that has it. Another butyrate producer is soluble corn fiber, such as fibersol 2.