Cyrex Labs - Gut Permeability test?

I had never had my gut permeability tested before, as I knew it was definitely leaky and definitely connected to my UC.

There is a relatively new way to test for permeability, through a test done via Cyrex. I recently had that done as well as their food allergy array. The results were interesting and I was wondering if anyone else had that test done and how they used the results?

From my interpretation, it appears that yes, I have some permeability but where I was really off the charts was in lipopolysaccharides (LPS) being present in my bloodstream. That's something that definitely should not be there within any level. It also suggests dysbiosis, I think. I have a message out to my doctor for more information, but she's an endocrinologist and probably doesn't run these every day - so I wanted to pulse the group here to see if anyone else had done it.

To prevent a flare (that could be forming for the future) and other issues I'm going to go back on Autoimmune Paleo for a while, as well as will go back on VSL. I'm disappointed that my gut healing backtracked, but it's exciting that I can hopefully get things under control and be proactive.

Hi Boris! My insurance did not cover the gut permeability test, so I paid out of pocket. It was just under $300, so less than what a month of my prescriptions are....hahaha. It was done with a blood test.

I really think that leaky gut is my root cause, so I am going to make healing that my focus. Although I'm still in remission from my UC, apparently now my immune system is attacking my thyroid. Happy New Year!

Thanks for weighing in, Beave. I actually asked to have the test done and requested it from my doctor, after much research and consideration on many part. This "pseudoscience" has made more sense for me in my journey than what tradional medicine has done for me, so i was looking to hear from others that may have done this test as well.

Best wishes to you for a healthy and happy 2017!

beave said...
Did this "Cyrex Labs" tell you that *everybody* has "leaky gut" - or did they tell you that the concept of "leaky gut" in general is pseudo-science that sounds like it means something but really doesn't?

If we didn't all have a "leaky gut," how would we absorb nutrients from our ingested food?

I apologize for being rude, but it bothers me when companies take advantage of people - and by paying for tests that sound scientific but don't really mean much, you are getting taken advantage of.

It should be leaky to micronutrients from food, but not leaky towards entire bacteria which are exponentially larger than say a molecule of glucose. LPS is from the bacterial cell surface and should not be present in the bloodstream.

brucen36 said...


It should be leaky to micronutrients from food, but not leaky towards entire bacteria which are exponentially larger than say a molecule of glucose. LPS is from the bacterial cell surface and should not be present in the bloodstream.

Does that leakiness that allows entire bacteria in *cause* the disease or *result from* the disease?

Do people who don't have IBD also have leakiness that allows entire bacteria in sometimes?

What is the cutoff of "leakiness" between a healthy state and a diseased state?

How is this "leakiness" treated? And then how is that treatment monitored to see whether or not it is effective?

CGK thanked Beave for 'weighing in' so I don't think it is necessary to try and shut him down. His questions are all sensible and worthy of discussion. There is no need to fear open discussion.

Intestinal permeability is extremely complex. It is over simplification to consider permeability as being 'good' or 'bad'. Tight epithelial junctions are a barrier to large molecule passage, but large molecules may still pass directly through the barrier, rather than between the barrier.
Transcellular and Paracellular pathways (through cells or between cells) are gaining enormous interest in the the scientific world.
It is clear that, in the intestinal tract, these pathways are altered by a great many factors, and certainly inflammatory conditions like IBD affect those pathways.

Whether or not passage of antigens, or other molecules which challenge the immune system, are part of the IBD cascade, is a a very interesting field. Hopefully more research will be done. And whether the 'barrier dysfunction' is a result of the cascade or a precursor, is also an interesting field of discussion.

Good luck CGK. Whatever helps you on your journey is worthwhile to you. The science is still in its early stages regarding those issues.

I thought that Alessio Fasano, one of the leading pediatric coeliac researchers, proved that leaky gut is real in coeliac and identified the pathway by which it occurs--something called the zonulin patrhway, which he found while doing research into cholera. I recall that he thinks leaky gut may play a role in other autoimmune diseases and the difference between coeliac and other diseases is they've found the cause of the leakiness (gluten) and the mechanism (zonulin) and it happens for other reasons in other illnesses.

Hi CGK,

I know it has been a couple months since this thread was live, but I wanted to see if you had any updates on your progress working to get your LPS levels down and if that has had any impact on your symptoms.

I'm about to order the Cyrex LPS "Array 2" as well and I suspect my levels will be high. (Backstory--I've been dealing from a huge list of chronic symptoms for for 2.5 years. I was diagnosed with and treated for chronic Lyme; with improvement to most symptoms except loose stools and severe fatigue. I continue to see countless docs with most telling me I'm fine or that they have no clue. Fast forward--while doing some research on CFS, I notice a recent study found lipopolysaccharides are a strong marker for CFS. Well during this whole time my blood work often comes back as un-analyzable due to lipemia (fats in blood), even though I fast for 12 hours. No doc had a clue what to make of this (hematologist, GI, ID doc, etc), but it occurs to me that the lipemia could be due to LPS from gram negative bacteria (I have had stool tests showing overgrowth of klebsiella and citrobacter and clostridial species (but not c diff), which further suggests a connection since those bugs are made of LPS).

Anyway the light bulb kind of went off last week so I'm excited an answer might be around the corner and I'm trying to do testing to confirm the hypothesis.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you CGK on what you've done to reduce LPS and/or your symptoms. I found one study that said l-glutamine and NAC helped to reduce symptoms from high LPS endotoxins (by healing tight junctions), so I'm starting to take those. But really interested in anything else that might work.

THANKS IN ADVANCE for any tips or insight.

Thanks for your response it is very helpful- I will look into the GI repair supplement and I'd love to use this thread to keep comparing notes.

My main life-altering symptom--severe fatigue--has mostly been stagnant for almost two years now. I was a mess in 2014--could barely get out of bed and do much of anything on my feet (not to mention being dizzy, palpitations, neuropathy and more). Since the fall of 2015 however I have mainly been deadling with two symptoms--constant loose stools and weak legs/fatigue. I believe I have solved the stool problem, at least temporarily. On the advice of a naturopath, I've been doing fecal microbial transplants, and the results have been amazing--I went from 95% loose stools to 90% solid in a period of a few months. I believe this is because I've killed off the clostridia and other gram-negative bacteria that were overgrowing.

However, this has only been since Christmas or so, and I've had "interruptions" when I do my antibiotic maintenance. I've only seen mild fatigue reduction if any at all during this time, so now I'm going to really focus on long-term gut healing (bone broth and the supplements above) in the hopes that my energy levels return and I can go back to a normal daily schedule that doesn't involve resting after every 15 minute period on my feet.

Don't want to get overly optimistic but I am excited that the Fecal Transplants and focus on LPS and related inflammatory response is a HUGE piece to this puzzle, so I'm going to hopefully do tests on LPS, oxidative stress (which has also been through the roof) and urine organic acid testing every couple months (though as you note, this gets very pricey (F insurance co's for not covering) but worth it if it helps solve the problem.

Good luck and thanks again!