[M]y wife joined me at the breakfast table and saw my bloodshot eyes streaming tears down my face. One eye was partially closed with the lids swollen – behind that eye was a migraine that started 36 hours before when I began my liver flush. My body ached as if I had the flu and I had the feeling my body was in crisis.
“I’m in bad shape,” I said, “but I’m happy because I know this means more toxic slime is on its way out.”
“I hope you’re right,” she worried.
“This isn’t my first rodeo sweetheart!” I reassured her.
And that is the truth — I had used both charcoal and DMSA to soak up some of the toxins I knew were going to come out. And I have all the tools of the trade in my “second office” – enema bucket with extra soft silicone tips, ozonated olive oil for faster recovery, 3% hydrogen peroxide and 6+ months of experience waging my cleansing war.
At first I was disappointed when this liver flush yielded no stones. But then around 10 AM I started passing the yellow gelatinous stuff, larger thicker blobs than I had seen before. After posting pictures on the “Bottoms Up” Facebook group, and a couple other related groups, I kept hearing this was “biofilm“.
Then, in the afternoon my abdomen began cramping, and I started feeling body aches and general malaise. A few hours later, with the help of an enema, I started passing large quantities of what I previously called mucoid plaque. After researching it a bit, I realized that the proper term might be “biofilm” because this stuff is not just mucus. It might be a toxic stew of pathogens which could include bacteria, virus and fungi (probably marinated in heavy metals).
The biofilm matrix has a horizontal and a vertical weave. It is standard knowledge that biofilm bacteria use metals and minerals to help build that matrix.
Or, it might all be plant material/cyanobacteria related to algae and mold.
Either way, it’s toxic stuff.
I decided to take better pictures this time including close-ups. That’s because the first time I photographed my biofilm/mucoid plaque, my colonic hydro therapist sounded skeptical even after seeing the pictures. So before you look at these, if you’re at all skeptical – consider this:
- I’ve fasted and then used 2 tablespoons of magnesium sulfate in 2 cups of water and later 16 g of sodium ascorbate in 1 quart of water to flush my bowels so there is no stool in my system
- during the 48 hours it takes for this stuff to completely move out of my system, I get very ill, physically and cognitively.
- it may look a little like stool (there are occasionally small bits of undigested food wrapped up in it) but it is not stool.
- although it has its own unique vile odor, it doesn’t smell even remotely like stool.
- it doesn’t dissolve in water as stool would. It looks like hundreds or thousands of pictures posted online by others doing colon cleanses and in places you can see it has been molded into the shape of the colon wall.
I’m not sure exactly why or how I cleared out so much biofilm slime after this flush but I’m guessing it has a lot to do with the ozone water followed by hydrogen peroxide therapy and maybe a little bit to do with the 30 days of parasite cleansing (walnut hull/clove) I did before that. My colonic may have helped also.
My migraine disappeared this morning after I delivered the last bits of slime and I was left feeling like I had exorcised a demon. When I see the gobs of slime and smell it and think about the intensity of the lightning-strike illness it brings on, I’m so sure I’m on the right track to recovering my health. No amount of vitamins or chelation could restore my health with these toxic demons choking up my insides.
Still, I’m not expecting any fast miracles and ready to stay engaged in this war for as long as it takes. Who knows how much biofilm I’ve got left… who knows what it will take to keep it from growing back.
And now if you’ve got the stomach for it, here are the pictures starting with the easiest to look at:
The next two pictures are magnified to about twice actual size.
Branchy thing floating in water Reminds me of the slime mold that researchers say is smart as Tokyo’s railway planners. Steve calls it cyanobacteria.
Collection of branchy biofilm thingys floating in water.
Above, my biofilm slime blobs – the large round one was about the size of a quarter.
Flat, filmlike slime above, hard to get a good photograph because it punches together easily and sinks to the bottom of the container. Probably more cyanobacteria.
Plant material according to Steve, related to algae.
I was worried that these could be flukes or tapeworm eggs, but Steve says they are just plant materials/algae.
More pictures of the things I was hoping were not helminth (worm) related.
To give you a sense of scale, the next images are taken on a paper plate. Steve says these are Bryophyte materials (related to mosses, liverworts and hornworts.
Biofilm turds showing the effect of charcoal on the outside/skin.
More biofilm turds and one with branchy thing wrapped around it.
Inspiring isn’t it?
Congratulations for looking – you’re a tough cookie! Maybe tough enough to win the war against your biofilm…
Really shitty stuff
A word of caution with any type of medical implants. Biofilm and bacteria infections are associated with all medical implants. Biofilm is the reason for antibiotic resistant bacteria and recurring infections. Biofilm is a slime that forms around medical devices and allows mycotoxins such as mold and fungus to remain undectected. The only way to get rid of Biofilm for people with implants, especially breast implants, is removal. Thousands fo women are bedridden due to this problem and doctors don’t understand the problem despite research that has proven all medical implants create Biofilm.
This is important to know because many people have some form of medical devices, or foreign objects implanted in the body, at some point in time. In my experience doctors don’t make the association with medical implants and recurring infection or immune system related problems.
My mother in law had a pace maker and we could never understand why she had recurrent infections. This explains it. Another example are mesh devices for hernia repair or breast implants. There are many examples, and it is something we need to be aware of. <3 Sharing is caring. http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/2/2/288/htm
Hi Eric,
I hope you’ve made great progress on your road to health and vitality! I know this is an old post but I do have a question I hope you’re happy to answer!
I’ve just learned about biofilms and they’re very disconcerting as they’re so difficult to identify. In my research I came across a post by a Dr. Ettinger who’s been “busting” biofilms for almost a decade. He cautions people in self-treatment for incomplete eradication creates a stronger, more resistent biofilm…for the love of God. I have SIBO and persistent fatigue–and I’ve eaten my fare share of sushi, for which I will pursue chelation once I’ve healed my gut. But I have no idea if I suffer from a biofilm and am hesitent to self-treat with the potential for exacerbating the issue.
To the question: I’m curious what contributed to you developing such a large build-up in the first place? I understand with every individual comes a complex matrix of contributing factors, but there’s bound to be some major players that affect everyone. Could you please provide a list of your major diet and lifestyle habits that you believe may have contributed to the formation of your biofilm? Antibiotic usage perhaps, acute/chronic stress, heavy metals…whatever you believe stoked the fire.
Thank you in advance for your time and help, and thank you for sharing your journey! 🙂
hi Chandra, I’ve got all those:
-antibiotics
-acid blockers including two years of proton pump inhibitors
-heavy metals
-mold exposure
-HLA genetic flaws
-CIRS
If you haven’t seen it already, please check out http://howirecovered.wpengine.com/mold-toxicity/
By coincidence, I just read Dr. Ettinger’s protocol also and ordered a handful of the biofilm busters!
peace and healing,
Eric
Thanks for your response Eric. And my God, talk about a perfect storm for biofilm to grow and thrive.
With regards to your daughter’s GI issues (read in your mold post), have you considered an elimination diet? The process is so simple yet brilliant. Tom Malterre’s protocol is a game changer that I think can greatly shift people’s health–his book is a worthy read. Chris Kresser also has an awesome post on SIBO that addresses concerns of low FODMAP starving the good guys and allowing the bad guys to take root and flourish. The effects of long-team low FODMAP are not yet understood. Personally, I’m presently using berberine throughout the day and taking a soil-based probiotic at bedtime, along with Betaine HCL and enzymes with every meal, and lots of broths and soups that are easy to assimilate. It’s working brilliantly and has grealty diminished my GI issues that have persisted for far too long. It’s worth considering for your daughter–bonus of simple and inexpensive.
Oh, one last thing! Dave Asprey now has a Bulletproof product called Homebiotic: a probiotic spray that is antifungal!! AMAZING!! It’s pricey, but another game-changer. There’s a company named Chrisal that also manufactures probiotic home sprays (one that treats bedbugs). Next step to probiotics–our environment!! This could really help you and your family!
Thanks Chandra, we did start with a couple of different elimination diets and none helped. I bought oregano oil and we never started with it because everything she ate or drank made her stomach hurt, even just water. So we decided to try the master cleanse and it seems to be helping quite a bit. She no longer has stomach pain! She’s only on day for so we’ll see. She may end up using berberine afterwards, it’s on my list 🙂
Biofilm turds! Memorable description
My gut has settled a lot on a GF/DF paleo type diet. After I settle on MeB12 this is the next thing I will look into.
Had colonics and the epsom/ olive oil flush but nothing like this passed.
But I imagine biofilm would be very resistant to removal from the gut. It reminds me very much of the scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) which is the floating plaque on top of kombucha cultures, if you’re familiar with that. Its a slimy squishy cellulose fibre/ microbial plaque and I suspect very similar to this microscopically. Its also incredibly tough – I couldn’t pull apart a 1cm thick scoby.
Yes, biofilm is incredibly resistant to removal. I’m shocked that I still seem to be cleaning house. I guess that’s because we have 35 feet of gut to clean!
from my understanding about copper from Gittleman and a woman that wrote an article on the Weston Price Foundation website about her experience with copper overload (and convinced me that I had it, before getting the test to confirm it, which did), biounavailable copper can lead to candida overgrowth and other bacterial infections and UTIs even though tons of copper is stored up.
That’s very interesting Joshua! I was just researching the connection between SIBO / intestinal overgrowth and heavy metals and it seems copper is not the only culprit. I think lead and mercury can do the same thing by debilitating the immune system…
I have been doing a cleanse with MMS for 4 months now. In that time I’ve removed many hundreds of parasites and some other things that look like either biofilms or partially digested worms, I’m not sure which. Many are 10 to 12 inches in length and some are quite wide, which is what makes me think they are biofilms. Sometimes I get a tremendous Herxheimer reaction before I release them. When I first began taking MMS I got quite ill with cleansing reactions, but after time they have reduced in both quantity and severity. I was hoping that you could help me identify what I am releasing.
Since beginning my MMS cleanse, I have been able to eradicate my chronic migraine headaches that I had 4 or 5 times a week for over 50 years. I consider this to be a miracle. Though I’m not completely healed, my digestive issues have improved tremendously. I did this by following the instructions in Keri Rivera’s free online ebook entitled Healing the Symptoms Known as Autism. It gives precise instructions for removing parasites from the body which are quite effective. Like you I have taken a few pictures of the common things I release. Perhaps you can link me to a website that will help me. I would so appreciate it.
Congratulations Susan on your huge victory!!! I know how good it is to get rid of migraines:)
Don’t think I can help with the identification because I pretty much gave up on that, but I think you would get the most feedback from joining Facebook groups like CD Health, Ropeworm, Bottoms Up and Steve’s Images…
Hi there Eric, I have spent some time going over your website in the last week. I am so impressed with your work! First, I’d like to say that one of the thing that is so precious to me about your site is your attitude. It radiates! After all of the things you and your family have tried, your kind heart is right there on your sleeve. I’m not sure the reason that you’ve gone through so many things but I DO know that your journey has/is impacting so many that are learning from you – thank you for sharing your heart!!
You spoke of your copper protocol -3 mg molybdenum and 100 mg zinc daily in divided doses. How many doses do you divide that into?
You mentioned a few different eating habits you’ve tried, has any of them helped at all?
You are so kind Stephanie! It’s a good thing I don’t write when my attitude is failing, because often when toxins are moving out my moods can become black and hateful but fortunately I have no desire to write or do anything in those moments!
I take 1 mg of molybdenum at breakfast and lunch and then a half milligram with my first dinner and a half milligram with my second dinner. As for the zinc, I’m just taking 50 mg at breakfast lunch and dinner.
What helps me most with diet is to avoid all sugar and high carb foods (no fruit) and to eat large quantities of vegetables, fats and proteins. So in practice I eat chicken or turkey with most meals along with a heap of sautéed vegetables.
Eric, how are you using the ozonated olive oil? And a few posts back you mentioned that you’d drunk ozonated water for about a week, did you get a migraines during the week of the ozonated water? (the water was at a time of no liver flush, if I recall correctly)
The few liver flushes I’ve done always gave me that 2 day migraine. I didn’t use anything ozonated around the time of the flushes.
And during a different month, not doing any liver flush, I once tried tiny amounts of ozonated olive oil, and got a migraine from that too.
Just wondered if using the ozonated olive oil during a flush might make the migraines from the flush worse. You’re a brave man, those migraines are a beast. I get it right at the back of my neck, with eye symptoms too, unrelenting for 2 days. The only small remedy I’ve found is ice on the back of my neck, but nothing else helped.
Mary, I’ve been thinking about doing a post just on the migraine aspect because, yes it is a true beast and I have been dreaming about finding a way to stop it in its tracks for years. Now I found that!! I wonder how many others have been able to do this without medication? I had a tremendous brainstorm the other day when I got to thinking about the connection between vitamin D and sunshine causing the same migraine created by the liver flush. When I googled vitamin D + antiparasitic, I started immediately reading about vitamin D’s antifungal properties. Now I’m absolutely sure that vitamin D and sunshine were giving me migraines through its antifungal/antiparasitic effect.
But back to your question about the ozonated olive oil… I was wondering when someone would ask me about that lol. I’ve had a tender bum for months presumably because of all the toxic stuff passing through the rectum. The ozonated olive oil solves that and doesn’t seem to have any negative effects at all.
I’m guessing that any form of ozone you try is giving you migraines because it is creating die off and I expect it lasts two days because that’s the time it takes to move through your digestive tract. Next time you get a migraine, try a retention enema or two or three and see what happens. Hopefully you will have the instant clearing I got.
Yesterday I started taking vitamin D again to intentionally provoke the migraine so I can investigate this:)
“because it is creating die off and I expect it lasts two days because that’s the time it takes to move through your digestive tract.” –that is exactly the impression I have had. There are several other products that give me this 2 day migraine. And those products are antifungal and antibacterial.
Once I ingest such a product, the 2 day migraine is inevitable, whether I do enemas or not – I’ve tried. (retention ones, coffee ones, etc). Thanks for the tip though! The only thing that shortens those migraines for me is if I take a senna-type herbal laxative and if it actually works. This lends further support for the idea that the migraines are from die-off as the trouble product is moving through the gut.
I see what you mean about the salve use of ozonated olive oil, applied to the rectum.
Vitamin D doesn’t cause migraines in me, so maybe whatever “bug” I have isn’t susceptible to vitamin D, and whatever “bug” you have is.
**Anyway, here’s what I’m building up to saying:
I’m trying to slowly adapt to a few products that may kill my gut infection, without getting a migraine, by first using the product diluted in an enema, and not swallowing the product at all at first. Lynn above beat me to this idea here on your blog, I just wanted to add the idea that it can be done with non-pharmaceuticals.
That way the product isn’t moving through the gut for 2 days, instead it is in the rectum for a few minutes and then expelled. I’ve tried a few of my problem products this way, without migraines, and did get some weird stuff out that resembles your photos. I hope to use the products this way often enough that I can later try them again orally.
But this is probably too tame for someone like you who is in a rush to detox by summer!
PS. There’s also an idea out there about taking certain enzymes on an empty stomach, to bust up biofilms. That’s a whole ‘nother subject.
It sounds like you’re on the right track Mary!
Sorry to hear that the enemas don’t work to eliminate your migraine. Have you tried a colonic? Very interesting that your experience coincides with mine. Since the peroxide seems to be doing a good job for me, I’m not going to go overboard in looking for new solutions right now. Just got my third annual hair test in the mail and it shows that I still have a big copper problem which might be very central for me… possibly Wilson’s disease. So I’m off in a new research direction for a little while!
Both copper and silver remain high and I’m guessing that’s the reason that I don’t have candida or helminths/worms. That has been puzzling me for quite some time, as ill as I am, I always expected to see tapeworms or something!
Eric – isn’t Wilson’s disease where too much copper accumulates in the organs, in other words is not expelled through the hair or other elimination systems? So…maybe high copper in your hair means you are getting rid of it very efficiently?
I wonder what Cutler has to say about that. My Cutler book is packed away, otherwise I’d go look.
unfortunately high hair copper is reliable according to Dr. Cutler for predicting copper toxicity even in cases of deranged mineral transport like mine.
I have one important comment. The branchy things you posted pictures of, I have had the exact same thing, numerous times. Their passing is usually precipitated by a flare of my terrible illness, both mind and gut symptoms. After passing, I usually feel loads better.
Once, I did a Doctors Data Stool test, and I saved the test until I started passing those branchlike things. I then did the normal stool test, and just to make EXTRA SURE their staff understood, I cut off a piece of the branch film and stuffed it into one of the vials with stool intended to be frozen. I included a postit note expressing concern over that sample especially.
I got the test back from DD, and while there were things I was expecting to be bad (like dysbiotic bacteria as a whole… I’ve done many stool tests and know what they are), there was no special remark about my the vial including the branchy thing you photographed above. I’m still upset about that, they simply treated the test like any run of the mill stool test I wish someone would have called me or at least wrote a note on the report regarding that particular sample. That particular test required many stool samples taken over the course of a few days, but only one of them had the branch-like growth included in it.
The lesson? Next time I get an excellent sized growth like the ones you have a picture of, FREEZE IT, then call DD and say you want them to put it under a microscope and find out what the hell it is. Don’t mix it in with other feces samples and hope they get the picture… send it in an isolated container and demand an answer.
Please consider Eric, that if it can be identified, perhaps you can find a drug known to wipe it out. Also, if it’s nothing more than some sort of amazingly formed web of mucus (I know it’s very difficult to imagine, but for our certainty sake we must pretend it’s “innocent until proven guilty”), at least you’ll know.
The tests are pretty cheap for this sort of thing. It should be easy to throw it under 400-1000x scope and find out if it’s something REALLY abnormal. Fungal rhizoids would be instantly recognizeable, etc.
Good luck!
I don’t believe in testing and drugs so much actually… Glad to know that you have similar experience feeling like death when these things come out.
Identifying these things isn’t really of great interest to me – right now I just want to heal. If I were interested in taking a drug to wipe these things out, that would probably be fenbendazole – there is a large community of people on Facebook who seem to be healing this sort of illness dramatically with fenben. Eventually I may try it too.
thanks for sharing!
I have learned that if it is biofilm it can not be detected in stool samples, I have sent feet long of what I believe to be biofilm numerous times over the last 10yrs and it never comes back with an explanation as to what it is. I just want it gone too. at this point my health is failing so badly and I have been all over the states to see different drs.with no explanation. I have been offered a FULL intestinal transplant at cornel med. center in ny. If anyone found a lab to identify biofilm I would love to know where.
I think I’m making great progress clearing mine… Not too worried about identifying it because I know it’s not just one thing either. I would guess I have seen as many as a half-dozen ‘species’. What’s your ferritin level by the way?
Although this isn’t from the Cutler book, it’s just what a poster on Phx Rising remembers reading in that book (hopefully accurately), Cutler might have said:
“RBC mineral tests may be useful for mineral status, for people who have deranged mineral transport which alters the results in hair tests.” (RBC means Red Blood Cell test)
Years ago I had both a hair test and an RBC test done for minerals, from the same lab on the same day, a Cutler-approved lab. My results were quite different for some minerals, between the hair test and the RBC test.
(and I did fit enough of the Cutler rules that my mineral transport is “deranged”, but I just barely fit enough of those rules — I’m apparently not wildly mercury toxic, just “a little bit”)
thanks Mary, I went back and reread Cutler on copper and it is very informative while not giving any direction for chelation. I’m going back to the protocol I picked up on FDC (which worked – I just quit too soon): 3 mg molybdenum and 100 mg zinc daily in divided doses.
I see. I think the quote I noted above, about RBC tests instead of hair test, may have meant for many other minerals but not for copper – if that person read Culter’s book correctly that is.
Anyway, please keep us posted on what you learn as you work on your copper levels!
thanks Mary, someone else also suggested the RBC test and I’m looking and all this, will put up a post soon:)
Have you looked into nystatin enemas? I’ve seen same type of branchy biofilm pics from those using nystatin enemas although they call it candida threads. The enemas can be done daily and the reactions are quite tame compared to what you have gone through.
Thanks Lynn I appreciate the suggestion. On certain that my reactions would be much much milder if I skipped the liver flush part – I believe it’s the fasting, magnesium sulfate and 16 g of vitamin C that are to blame for the intensity! I’m kind of in a rush to detox to prepare for the summer so the roller coaster is okay with me for now. Also I am very much against using pharmaceuticals except as a last resort, based on lots of bad experiences. Warm regards, Eric.