"Back in 2017, my wife and I had some serious food poisoning that wasn't resolving on it's own. Even our dog got sick from samples of the same meat we ate. I had it worse than she did and the ER treated us differently with IV fluids and antibiotics for 7 hrs. Eight days later I started breaking out in hives. Then sometimes I'd be in a lot of abdominal pain, my stool would be very narrow and difficult to go. CT scans would show the walls of my intestines were swollen. After months of doctors and testing, colonoscopy, upper endoscopy, you name it, I started getting a lot of shrugged shoulders from doctors. I would hear guesses like it might be IBS or IBD, or Crohn's, or Celaic, or Leaky Gut, or just plain constipation. But no one had any definitive answers or course of action. At first it was thought I had C-Diff but tested negative. I tested negative for Celiac too. Eventually allergy tests showed I had become allergic to dairy, soy, tree nuts, egg whites and a high allergy to wheat. I didn't have food allergies before the food poisoning and ER visit. I could eat most of a pizza by myself or all the bread I'd like with no issue. Then after the ER visit, just one cracker would cause a skin reaction 2-3 hrs later. No one had any course of treatment for me other than just being careful what I eat.

Nearest we could figure is the high doses of antibiotics at the ER had negatively affected the bacteria in my gut. A lot of my body's responses looked like an autoimmune problem. My eyelids and nail beds burned like they were sunburnt. The sun would cause my whole body to tingle at times. I'd wake up in the middle of the night completely red a few times. Mostly I'd have blotches of hives on my neck or shoulders or sides or thighs. Always in random places and 2-3 hours after eating. Over time most of the skin reactions diminished by me staying away from the foods that would trigger them. But this was over months and years of trial and error and trying different supplements as well. I'm a biker, a mechanic, I camp and hike and like the outdoors. Rain and bad weather don't bother me. Strenuous activities and hard work don't bother me. I went from being kind of rugged to being sensitive to frickin' food.

I recently learned about L-Glutamine's benefits for people with gut issues. Some of the stories sounded familiar. I bought the powder assuming I would need to start with 2-4 teaspoons and didn't want to have to take a lot of capsules to achieve that. My first day was with 2 tsp. By the middle of that day my gut was moving easier. By the 3rd day I was only taking 1 tsp to feel the benefits of a smoother moving gut. I also felt like I had more of the energy I use to have when I was younger, I'm 52 now. And my mood was better. By the end of a week I was trying foods that would normally cause me issues. Now I'm not pushing my luck, I think cheese and wheat are still a bit of a problem for me. But things are definitely moving more normally and I don't have that feeling like I was constipated or having difficulty going to the restroom.

Now the mood benefits seem too good to be true. Maybe it's a coincidence or a placebo effect. I started having night terrors middle of last year while trying to get off of Amatriptyline that I was prescribed to help me sleep due to disc pain in my back. The night terrors were pretty intense, leaving me distraught the next day. Over a few months of working with a therapist, doing meditative yoga, drinking calming teas, etc, I was able to start sleeping better. The night terrors mostly stopped about 2 months before taking the L-Glutamine. But I would still get frequent daytime anxiety and would wake up feeling overwhelmed for the first few minutes sometimes. Since being on the L-Glutamine the daytime anxiety is almost non-existent. I am more positive, sleeping better, and waking up looking forward to the day. I sleep through about 6-7 hrs on most occasions. I think this is going to continue to improve. I am skeptical about the L-Glutamine having such a dramatic impact on so many problems I've been having. But there is a strong connection to gut health and mental health.

I think I could have started with the capsules. As bad as my gut problems were, I think the regular dose would have been sufficient in my case. Once I am done with the 2 lbs of powder, I will try the capsules. The powder isn't bad just a little inconvenient, especially if I'm out camping. I am also taking Aloe Vera capsules (1/day) and Glutathione Reduced (1/day). I'm not sure they are having any effect. The L-Glutamine's effect on it's own was pretty dramatic so maybe that's masking what the other two are doing for me. I have been a little gassier than usual on the L-Glutamine, but I'll take that over the issues I was having before."

"I found out by way of diagnosis with an autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis) that I had intestinal hyperpermeability (i.e. "leaky gut"). My holistic physician and a book by Dr. Isabella Wentz on Hashimoto's taught me that is one of the conditions that is almost always required to be present for autoimmunity to develop, or it is a result. The only GI signs I had were a months history of gradual onset acid reflux (which I had never had before) and what I decided were early onset of low stomach acid and slight lactose intolerance. To treat the reflux which I saw as a symptom of the leaky gut I used prilosec at high doses as a very temporary measure to get a handle on things until I got my leaky gut headed in the right direction. I did this first with high dose probiotics (Hyperbiotics PRO-15 time-release regular strength 5 billion cfu "pearls") three times daily for a month, (after a month I tried to go down to once a day a normal dose and didn't feel enough support, so I switched to the Hyperbiotics Advanced Strength time-release tablets 15 billion cfu once daily and am still taking these at that dose - they are awesome), and then added high potency broad spectrum digestive enzymes including gluten-digest and dairy-digest also (all NOW brand) after every meal. Then I added Nature's Way licorice root,1 capsule three times a day with meals and NOW Aloe Vera gel caps 2 gels three times a day with meals along with the L-glutamine three times a day to address the leaky gut further, and I noticed after 2-3 weeks of this combination a definite improvement in how my GI tract overall felt, and noticed I was better absorbing my food and my vitamins, minerals, and other supplements.

Another useful hint I used D-limonene (Jarrow) to stop my acid reflux almost completely taking just one soft gel a day and tapered off the prilosec completely within 1-2 weeks. After that the other supplements I added to help my intestines also helped to keep the acid reflux under control, although I added slippery elm (NOW) 1 capsule three times daily with meals when things got a little worse again. The last thing I got brave enough to try was Betaine Hcl with Pepsin (NOW brand) to correct for low stomach acid, another common cause of acid reflux and maldigestion and malabsorption as well as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, which I strongly suspected I had had due to my rapid response to only the high dose probiotics in the beginning. It takes me anywhere from 1-3 capsules of Betaine Hcl to appropriately digest a small to large meal, depending on how much protein there is, but the extra acid definitely helps, believe it or not. The day I took my first dose of Betaine Hcl was the last day I ever took prilosec, which I consider a big win.

I do believe the L-glutamine has been an essential part in beginning to heal my leaky gut. I have not changed my diet except to try to eat as healthy as possible, If I have to I will, but given how much better I feel in my GI tract, I find it hard to believe that I have a serious food intolerance problem at least so far. I do think the L-glutamine is more integral to my healing than I thought at first. At first I was going to take it for a month or two, expected to notice no difference and so then planned to stop, having done my due dillegence. Now, although I don't plan to be on it forever, I fully expect it to be a number of months minimum that I am on this, until I feel my "leaky gut" has healed.

I highly recommend this product to anyone who is attempting to treat their own situation with intestinal hyperpermeability, or anyone who thinks they "just" have GERD or IBS or Celiac or any other intestinal disorder, it that may run deeper than you think. I have given all this information about my situation and the supplements I have used in case it can help someone else like me, or someone with a simpler problem. It was noticing the distinct effects of the L-Glutamine that to me confirmed the "leaky gut" hypothesis/diagnosis and I was surprised how much it helped, with myself having few overt GI symptoms initially. I highly recommend L-glutamine as a crucial component for healing leaky gut for anyone who even suspects they might need it. And Jarrow brand is always the best. It comes in a powder too where you can dose much higher doses but the tablets are working fine for me after I upped my dose to 2 tablets three times a day. What L-glutamine does is provides directly absorbable nutrition to the GI enterocytes to help the "tight junctions" heal. They are what are supposed to be able to keep food particles, bacteria, and other antigens from the systemic circulation where they cause systemic inflammation and sometimes autoimmune disease. The crucial thing is that the "leakiness" is sometimes silent except for mild GI symptoms or even seemingly unrelated symptoms such as joint pain.

Even for someone without intestinal hyperpermeability but who has signs such as acid reflux and IBS, L-glutamine can be helpful because it provides direct healing to the cells lining the GI tract. Furthermore, for simple GI upset or IBS, many of the interventions and supplements I have been using can be helpful also. Some combination of licorice root, slippery elm, and marshmallow root can heal or manage many such cases on their own, and so can aloe vera. I believe with any even mild GI symptoms, though, that it is rare not to have dysbiosis, maldigestion, and malabsorption, and so no matter what, strong high quality probiotics (I highly recommend Hyperbiotics) and good broad spectrum powerful digestive enzymes are essential for almost anyone. And consider the L-glutamine - it is essential for anyone with any even "mild" form of "leaky gut", and it may just help with other simpler GI problems as well, and all with no side effects. I know what it does for me, and I will be reordering and using the L-glutamine tablets by Jarrow for the forseeable future. Highly recommend this product!"

"Reasonably good!"