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Comment by haswell | Hacker News Reader

I went through my entire childhood without ever getting sick enough to need antibiotics. Then, I managed to catch strep in my early 20s, and went on a course of antibiotics to take care of it.

This is of course purely anecdotal, but the following year was pure hell from a digestive system standpoint, and looking back, I'm pretty sure it was tied to that course of antibiotics. Thankfully, things cleared up on their own, but I'd definitely be looking at probiotics if forced to go on antibiotics again for some reason.

Glad to see research on this topic.

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Had similar experience. Had allergic reaction to penicillin first prescription, which triggered my full body to come out in itchy hives. Went through 3 courses of different antibiotics until I was fit enough to get out of bed. Had bad guts for a couple of years following, which was usually an alternation between diarrhea and constipation. Sometimes I'd sit on the throne several times a day and no movement, except mucus or eventually, blood, as I'd developed piles.

I went on a super high fibre diet, ate as much low calorie food as I could a day to keep things moving. Ate lots of fermented foods, mainly dairy, sauerkraut, cured meats. Eliminated sugar, took up cycling to work to get fit. I've not been ill since, my bowels are moving, and piles are gone. Not the most pleasant story, but thought I'd share it.

Thanks for sharing your story @sparkie. Doesn't sound like a whole of fun, what you went through.

Do you know of any high-fiber low-calorie non-meat, non-diary foods? Also, does the %age of soluble vs insoluble fiber matter, or no?

Various beans, sweet potatoes, yams, most root vegetables. Sweet potatoes became my favourite food when I realised you could use them as a sugar replacement for many kinds of baking, which made giving up the sugar so much easier.

As for % of soluble and insolubale, I've never really paid attention to it. I probably eat far more soluble fiber than insoluble though, if it helps.

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