What Peptides Increase Appetite the Most?

[sammmy]

H. Pylori is the most probable cause but you should not assume diagnosis yet.

The best is to do the broad spectrum GI-MAP because it searches for intestinal infections and problems that regular gastroenterologists and their endoscopy / colonoscopy don't.

 

[Wild_Man]

H. Pylori is the most probable cause but you should not assume diagnosis yet.

The best is to do the broad spectrum GI-MAP because it searches for intestinal infections and problems that regular gastroenterologists and their endoscopy / colonoscopy don't.

What brand/company GI Map stool test do you recommend? Doc wouldn't order it for me so I am ready to pull the trigger on it myself.

 

[sammmy]

GI - MAP is not ordered by "traditional" medicine doctors. It is used by alternative medicine, functional medicine, naturopaths etc.

I ordered mine for $370 without a doctor at

GI MAP (GI Microbial Assay Plus)

**Note: All laboratory testing requires an authorizing physician. DHA Laboratory offers a patient direct program that partners you with an authorizing physician. If you have any additional questions regarding the availability of testing, please contact our laboratory by telephone or email.**...

www.dhalab.com

You will have to interpret the result yourself, but that is not very hard. The test has an interpretive guide:

https://www.diagnosticsolutionslab.com/sites/default/files/u16/GI-MAP-Interpretive-Guide.pdf

 

[Wild_Man]

GI - MAP is not ordered by "traditional" medicine doctors. It is used by alternative medicine, functional medicine, naturopaths etc.

I ordered mine for $370 without a doctor at

GI MAP (GI Microbial Assay Plus)

**Note: All laboratory testing requires an authorizing physician. DHA Laboratory offers a patient direct program that partners you with an authorizing physician. If you have any additional questions regarding the availability of testing, please contact our laboratory by telephone or email.**...

www.dhalab.com

You will have to interpret the result yourself, but that is not very hard. The test has an interpretive guide:

https://www.diagnosticsolutionslab.com/sites/default/files/u16/GI-MAP-Interpretive-Guide.pdf

Thank you sammmy. I seriously appreciate all the help man.

 

[sammmy]

Is your IGF-1 deficiency diagnosed by a test and what was the level?

 

[Wild_Man]

Is your IGF-1 deficiency diagnosed by a test and what was the level?

Yes it was diagnosed by my lab work. This is the result:
IGF-1: 103 (83-456)
Z score: -1.65

I have gotten IGF-1 tested multiple other times and it has always been around 100 with a Z score around -1.5. So my IGF1 is very low for my age (23 y/o).

 

[ajax31]

The influence of zinc supplementation on IGF-1 levels in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The effect of supplementation with zinc on levels of IGF-1 remains relatively unexplored, and many of previous studies have reported equivocal finding…

www.sciencedirect.com

The influence of zinc supplementation on IGF-1 levels in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis​

Author links open overlay panelJian Guo a b 1, Jingbo Xie c 1, Bo Zhou d, Mihnea-Alexandru Găman e, Hamed Kord-Varkaneh f, Cain C.T. Clark g, Ammar Salehi-Sahlabadi f, Yunkai Li h, Xianzhang Han i, Youguo Hao j, Yimin Liang k

RedirectingGet rights and content

Abstract​

The effect of supplementation with zinc on levels of IGF-1 remains relatively unexplored, and many of previous studies have reported equivocal findings. Thus, the aim of this study was to elucidate the influence of zinc on IGF-1. A complete systematic search was executed in Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and PubMed/MEDLINE, by reviewers, from database inception until June 2019. Weighted mean difference (WMD) with the 95% CI was used for assessing the effects of zinc on IGF-1. We evaluated between study heterogeneity using the I-squared and the Q-test statistic. Ten studies reported changes in plasma levels of IGF-1. Combined results ascertained an increase in IGF-1 levels following zinc administration (WMD: 8.620 ng/ml, 95% CI: 1.126, 16.113, I2 = 97.3%). Subgroup analyses demonstrated that zinc intake dosage ≤10 mg/day (WMD: 9.50 ng/ml, 95% CI: 1.47, 17.53) and intervention length ˃8 weeks (WMD: 10.08 ng/ml, 95% CI: 0.67, 19.48) significantly greater increased IGF-1 levels. The present study demonstrated that zinc supplementation can elicit significant increases in IGF-1 in humans. In addition, greater increments were observed when zinc intake dosage was ≤10 mg/day and intervention duration ˃8 weeks.

 

[Wild_Man]

Update. @sammmy @FunkOdyssey

The endoscopy biopsy results all came back normal. I was really hoping that I’d get answers but like you guys said, those biopsies aren’t the most sensitive test.

A few days ago I ordered the GI MAP stool test. It hasn’t come yet but I’m betting on it hard. It’s basically my last hope. My girlfriend has started getting the same symptoms lately - loss of appetite, nausea, fullness after eating very little food, etc. she got a H. Pylori stool test from her doctor and it was negative. If this isn’t H. Pylori, do you have any guesses of what it could be?

My gastroenterologist doesn’t know what to do.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Update. @sammmy @FunkOdyssey

The endoscopy biopsy results all came back normal. I was really hoping that I’d get answers but like you guys said, those biopsies aren’t the most sensitive test.

A few days ago I ordered the GI MAP stool test. It hasn’t come yet but I’m betting on it hard. It’s basically my last hope. My girlfriend has started getting the same symptoms lately - loss of appetite, nausea, fullness after eating very little food, etc. she got a H. Pylori stool test from her doctor and it was negative. If this isn’t H. Pylori, do you have any guesses of what it could be?

My gastroenterologist doesn’t know what to do.

This is a difficult question. There is such a thing as H. pylori negative gastritis and many other potential causes of gastritis. Alcohol and NSAIDs can cause gastritis. Bile reflux can cause it. There are allergic forms like eosinophilic gastritis where it could be caused by ingestion of things you're allergic to. Ingesting too much fluoride or any number of other caustic substances can cause it. High salt diets can cause it (this is one way they create gastritis in lab animals).

On the other hand, H. pylori is still the most common cause of gastritis. There is alot of debate about the sensitivity of the standard tests and the accuracy of the GI-MAP. GI-MAP will certainly find alot of h. pylori that is missed on other tests. Diagnostic solutions explains that as a quantitative test, they are reporting any amount of H. pylori detected, even small amounts that are below the cutoff threshold of other stool tests. You will find people on Reddit say they are grateful they found h. pylori with the GI-MAP because every other test was negative, and now they treated it and they are better. You'll also find people claiming GI-MAP is reporting false positives.

I am personally negative on standard breath and stool tests and positive with GI-MAP. I am going to be treating with a course of antibiotics soon and I'll let you know how that turns out for me.

 

[sammmy]

The best is to take the stool sample for GI-MAP on Monday and ship it immediately, so the lab receive the package in a few days. I made the mistake to ship it on Friday and the package was not moving over the weekend, prolonging the time to reach the lab. They have the requirement to get the sample within 5 days as far as I remember.

Meanwhile you should not exclude the possibility for another diagnosis. Do basic blood testing like CBC with differential, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, Lipid Panel (cholesterol), and test for vitamin deficiencies: A, C, D. All these should be covered by your insurance and ordered by your primary care doctor.

 

[sammmy]

@FunkOdyssey My H. Pylori was below the threshold (571< 1000 units). The threshold seems completely arbitrary. At the time of the test I didn't have significant nausea so I ignored it because it was low and I didn't have virulence factor detected. A few months later I had C. Difficile and nausea started that did not go away when I treated C. Difficile with antibiotics, so I figured out eventually it was H. Pylori. I later confirmed it with a stool antigen test.

The GI-MAP is sensitive and it is expected to find a lot of H. Pylori infections because 50% of the population is infected. If someone doesn't have symptoms and the test shows low level, they can choose to not treat but if they develop symptoms later, the test is useful because it gives a hint it could be H. Pylori or any other problem found on the test that is proliferating. The test measures just a single time point, the levels are not constant.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

@FunkOdyssey My H. Pylori was below the threshold (571< 1000 units). The threshold seems completely arbitrary. At the time of the test I didn't have significant nausea so I ignored it because it was low and I didn't have virulence factor detected. A few months later I had C. Difficile and nausea started that did not go away when I treated C. Difficile with antibiotics, so I figured out eventually it was H. Pylori. I later confirmed it with a stool antigen test.

The GI-MAP is sensitive and it is expected to find a lot of H. Pylori infections because 50% of the population is infected. If someone doesn't have symptoms and the test shows low level, they can choose to not treat but if they develop symptoms later, the test is useful because it gives a hint it could be H. Pylori or any other problem found on the test that is proliferating. The test measures just a single time point, the levels are not constant.

About the threshold, I think I read that is a 95th percentile value they use as the cutoff. That means the GI-MAP is only going to flag you as high if the quantity of H. pylori in the stool is greater than 95% of people. You would probably describe infection at that level as raging.

 

[sammmy]

I doubt the 95th percentile explanation. If you look at the thresholds, some of them are too rounded to represent a statistical value. What is the probability that the 95th percentile for H. Pylori is exactly 1000?

The thresholds are probably ball-parked based on a logarithmic scale with base 10 but different people will be symptomatic at different levels. If someone has bothersome symptoms and something is detected, I would treat regardless of the threshold.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

I doubt the 95th percentile explanation. If you look at the thresholds, some of them are too rounded to represent a statistical value. What is the probability that the 95th percentile for H. Pylori is exactly 1000?

Yeah you're right. Here's what they say about the reference ranges in their Interpretive Guide:

Reference ranges were developed using known positive, diseased samples to construct cut off values that distinguish disease-causing amounts of pathogenic and opportunistic microbes. Reference ranges for the pathogens were correlated with an FDA cleared assay for GI pathogens. The GI-MAP is capable of detecting as low as 0.1 cell per gram of stool.

 

[Wild_Man]

Hey @FunkOdyssey and @sammmy,

My GI MAP results came back. I was completely undetectable for H. Pylori, which is very surprising. But one thing was flagged as red: Streptococcus spp.

A few other things had values that weren’t undetectable but not above the reference range so I’ll attach all the results. Some notable ones were Staphylococcus Aureus and Citrobacter Freundii.

Just as a quick recap, my symptoms are very low appetite, feeling full after eating just a bite of food, some mild stomach aching (after eating), and acid reflux. My endoscopy showed some gastritis. To me, it seems like my symptoms match pretty well with gastroparesis.

Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks again for all the help thus far.

 

[sammmy]

You have bacterial dysbiosis: the normal Bacterial Phyla is decimated probably due to antibiotic use and you have several dysbiotic bacteria overgrowing.

Also, your intestinal immunity is a bit exhausted: low IgA and elevated calprotectin.

When was the last time you took an antibiotic?

 

[Wild_Man]

You have bacterial dysbiosis: the normal Bacterial Phyla is decimated probably due to antibiotic use and you have several dysbiotic bacteria overgrowing.

Also, your intestinal immunity is a bit exhausted: low IgA and elevated calprotectin.

When was the last time you took an antibiotic?

Damn.

I had C. Diff in November of 2022. I was drinking raw milk from a farm at the time so I assume I got it from there. The hospital had me take 2 or 3 different antibiotics for a few weeks afterward.

Since then, I’ve been drinking a different companies raw milk so I would have thought that would rebuild my micro biome. I guess not. Do you suggest a probiotic? If so, any one in particular?

I’m going to google what the treatment is for dysbiosis.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Just as a quick recap, my symptoms are very low appetite, feeling full after eating just a bite of food, some mild stomach aching (after eating), and acid reflux. My endoscopy showed some gastritis. To me, it seems like my symptoms match pretty well with gastroparesis.

Have you done a gastric emptying scan yet? That's probably the next diagnostic step I would take in your situation.

 

[Wild_Man]

Have you done a gastric emptying scan yet? That's probably the next diagnostic step I would take in your situation.

I have not done that. Could the results of that give me useful info?

 

[FunkOdyssey]

I have not done that. Could the results of that give me useful info?

You suspect you have gastroparesis. The scan confirms or rules out that diagnosis. That's a pretty big deal to figure that out, as it will send you in completely different directions for treatment.