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Anyone taking "Probiotics"? (1 Viewer)

Da Guru

Da Guru

Fair & Balanced
Any good or bad results?

I am a sucker for supplements.  Was shopping at Costco today and all the vitamins are on sale this month.  Keep hearing those probiotic commercials on the radio and saw them today on sale so I bought a box.  Am I going to lose 3-5 lbs of toxic sludge from my colon as the radio ad states?

 
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yeah when drs had no clue what was wrong with me gastro told me to take some.. I did for 30 or 60.. didn't really see any affect

 
From what I'd read, scientific studies don't find much of anything to back up the health claims. IIRC the amounts in many of them are totally miniscule compared to the number already in your digestive tract.

But I still tried one at one point just to see. Within two days I started feeling occasional, irregular thumps in my chest that resulted in my doc sending me to a cardiologist for tests. Everything from the cardiologist said I was good so we wrote it off to digestive. I had stopped taking them but the thumps continued for over a half a year, and I realized particularly when I'd eaten beef recently, before finally going away.

Yeah, I ain't touching those again.

 
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Being on antibiotics for what seems all the time, I was recommended to take Align every day. Also, plain yoghurt is a great source.

 
I've been taking them for six months. They have made my system function dramatically better. just picked up a new brand at Costco that was about 40 percent off the one I was using before. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Not exactly sure what you mean here.  I'll stab at they are bacteria your system needs to process food better. I've been told my gall bladder isn't functioning normally.  Basically gets rid of the runs and you #### bricks   




 
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The cheaper, new brand you recently purchased so that I might too also save dollars.  

You been drinkin?

 
Binky The Doormat said:
The cheaper, new brand you recently purchased so that I might too also save dollars.  

You been drinkin?
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Lol.   I've been in so Cal last 4 days and don't remember which brand I bought at Costco.last Monday    I brought my old ones and still have about 8 left   

 
For a probiotic, I've been using this from Vitacost. I was taking this pretty much every day to start, but it probably more like 4 times a week now. I've also been taking about a 1/2 a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar most nights. I'm not sure if it's one or the other or both, or something else that I just lucked into, but my GERD is pretty much a non-factor now.

 
if you've ever taken augmentin, you know what that does to your innards.  doc directed me to Florastor.....the only one i find works.  i still take 1 or 2 a week just for maintenance due to my BP meds.

 
My son had some severe food allergies since birth (dairy, egg, peanut, tree nuts, sunflower, soy, and banana) and we visited a food allergist specialist when he was about 3 years old.  She did the blood tests and got his allergy levels, and immediately prescribed him some probiotics.  Now the normal culture count on over the counter probiotics is something like 3 or 4 million.  These that she prescribed for us were ~25-30 million, so much more potent than the kind on the shelves.  We had to mail away for them and they arrived in packing with ice to keep them cool.  Over the last 2 years, we have challenged many of the allergies after noticing drastic changes to his allergen levels via more blood tests. He is now only allergic to dairy and non-baked egg.  In our experience, these probiotics are a god send.  It was the only thing we changed and definitely noticed a drastic change in his levels.  

Our allergist thinks that he developed these allergies as a result of my wife taking antibiotics during her last month of pregnancy.  She developed walking pneumonia and went on the antibiotics a few weeks before he was born.  The allergist thinks the antibiotics killed some of the "good" gut bacteria in both of their stomachs, which caused him to be born without said cultures in his stomach.  

We have kept him on the probiotics and also put my daughter on them as well.  Since we have put her on them, we have noticed a drastic reduction in the amount of colds/sickness she has developed this school year.  During last school (kindergarten) she was sick A LOT.  So far this year she hasn't missed a day due to being sick.  Is this a result of the probiotics?  Hard to say, but we aren't chancing it as she is doing so well on them.  

This is what my kids take: https://www.protherainc.com/prod/proddetail.asp?id=K-TCC

 
If you have any histamine related issues be careful which ones you take.  

I suddenly developed a ton of food intolerances out of nowhere 2 years ago so I started taking a mega probiotic (80 billion!)... I wasnt really sure if it was helping me or not but after a few months I ran out and couldn't get to the store so I stopped taking it for a week.  I felt great NOT taking them, so I googled a few things and found that some strains create histamines, some are neutral and some some actually fight histamines.  (Here's a list if you're curious which are which)

Started taking one that was made up of strains that fight and/or neutral (this one) and I felt like a million bucks.  Food issues are still there but otherwise felt great.  

 
The best source of probiotics is fermented foods. Costco carries Kimchi which is a very tasty fermented cabbage.  

Another great source is kefir.  Basically fermented milk. I make my own every day. Very good and loaded with probiotics. 

You may also consider taking a prebiotic like Inulin FOS. This is basically food for the probiotics. Helps them grow. 

There are millions of bacteria in your gut and medicine really doesn't understand how it all works but they have learned that they are very important to overall health. 

 
Digestive Advanatge by Schiff...Probiotic Gummies

100x Survivability vs yogurt. They also have published clinical reports with proof they actually work, majority of most DO NOT, that brand/form and a much more expensive liquid supplement were the only 2 my specialist recommended and since I'm cheap I went with the gummies. They say take two, I actually take about 4-6 of them daily and they really help with digestion and the rest of it. 

Wal-Mart sells them, I would avoid Costco.

 
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10 years ago I was hospitalized with severe diverticulitis and came very close to needing some unpleasant surgeries.  

6 months after the incident I had a second case of diverticulitis, although this time not needing hospitalization in order to treat.  Additionally cases occurred over the next two years and my quality of life had begun to suffer, i.e. afraid to eat many previously enjoyed foods for fear that it would trigger diverticulitis, lengthy rounds of antibiotics, and feeling poorly for weeks after an incident.

At this point out of desperation I started taking Goodbelly, which has the Lp299v mentioned earlier in this thread.  Since taking this regularly I haven't had a reoccurance of diverticulitis in 8 years.  

So yeah, anecdotal evidence and all, but I can't point to anything but probiotics as fixing my health problem.

 
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boots11234 said:
The best source of probiotics is fermented foods. Costco carries Kimchi which is a very tasty fermented cabbage.  

Another great source is kefir.  Basically fermented milk. I make my own every day. Very good and loaded with probiotics. 

You may also consider taking a prebiotic like Inulin FOS. This is basically food for the probiotics. Helps them grow. 

There are millions of bacteria in your gut and medicine really doesn't understand how it all works but they have learned that they are very important to overall health. 
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This is consistent with my bro-scientific research.  Scientist / Dr's are just beginning to understand the importance of the gut biom.  There are theories that if you eat a sugary diet your gut biom will actually cause you to crave it.  Weird to think that "you" are actually millions of species of microorganisms.

I think most of the store brand probiotics are probably a waste of money.  Unless they are refrigerated, they probably aren't as good as kefir or yogurt.  I eat Greek yogurt 4-5 times a week, so I think I'm probably good.

If you are on antibiotics probiotics are obviously important, but don't take them at the same time as the anti.  It will kill all the probiotics, so it's best to wait a little while.

 
On a related note, look into Liposomal Vitamin C.  Everytime I have felt a cold coming on I load up on it, and it's gone in 24hrs.  Your body can't absorb normal vitamin C that effectively, but can when it's bonded with a lipid.  They say it rivals intravenous.

 
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Gachi said:
My opinion on probiotics: Our intestines harbor so many different types of microorganisms, probiotics are unlikely to make any kind of significant difference in digestion or whatever. 
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:thumbup:

biggest scam since the Dewey Decimal System. 

 
Love them but I don't buy them because the mark up is ridiculous and I question how much live culture is actually in most supplements.

Instead I make my own yogurt, buttermilk, krauts, kimchi etc. And I also eat some resistant starch daily either from heated, then cooled potatoes (heating then cooling increases the amount of RS) or I buy potato starch and put it in my breakfast shake.

 
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otb_lifer said:
:thumbup:

biggest scam since the Dewey Decimal System. 
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Disagree. Many symptoms associated with my IBS are directly impacted by Probiotics. Many of the supplements however are not quality. I mentioned a specific brand, anyone who starts taking a regular dosage will see a difference ver the first week. 

Easy to dismiss them but I avoided them for 42 years, they have had a direct impact on my bowels. 

 
Ministry of Pain said:
Disagree. Many symptoms associated with my IBS are directly impacted by Probiotics. Many of the supplements however are not quality. I mentioned a specific brand, anyone who starts taking a regular dosage will see a difference ver the first week. 

Easy to dismiss them but I avoided them for 42 years, they have had a direct impact on my bowels. 
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No ####. 

 
Ministry of Pain said:
Disagree. Many symptoms associated with my IBS are directly impacted by Probiotics. Many of the supplements however are not quality. I mentioned a specific brand, anyone who starts taking a regular dosage will see a difference ver the first week. 

Easy to dismiss them but I avoided them for 42 years, they have had a direct impact on my bowels. 
Click to expand...


had quite a bit of lung issues back in the '90s ... was poppin' antibiotics (mostly Amoxicillin) like candy.  effed my digestive tract up like a mofo.

been in much finer fettle (respiratory-wise) the past decade or so, but the resulting scorched earth ramifications (from overuse of antibiotics) remained. 

asked my internist about the probiotic kick many years ago, when it was becoming en vogue ... he recommended not partaking in the supplement end of the gig, and instead referred me to a dietitian who advocated changes in diet, much like Chaka mentions here:

Chaka said:
Instead I make my own yogurt, buttermilk, krauts, kimchi etc. And I also eat some resistant starch daily either from heated, then cooked potatoes (heating then cooling increases the amount of RS) or I buy potato starch and put it in my breakfast shake.
Click to expand...

 
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otb_lifer said:
had quite a bit of lung issues back in the '90s ... was poppin' antibiotics (mostly Amoxicillin) like candy.  effed my digestive tract up like a mofo.

been in much finer fettle (respiratory-wise) the past decade or so, but the resulting scorched earth ramifications (from overuse of antibiotics) remained. 

asked my internist about the probiotic kick many years ago, when it was becoming en vogue ... he recommended not partaking in the supplement end of the gig, and instead referred me to a dietitian who advocated changes in diet, much like Chaka mentions here:
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90s was a while ago, they have improved them I would imagine. I was skeptical but the Gummy Probiotics and really any of the ones Schiff is producing have clear research showing the vast benefits. Some of the things you and Chaka suggest elude to dairy and that stuff doesn't agree, even yogurt doesn't digest so easy for IBS sufferers. 

I understand and have read your concerns, I have an appt with the Gastro Specialsist tomorrow, I will see what he says. Maybe he will tell me I'm killing myself but I doubt it. 

 
Anyone who is seriously an IBS sufferer and has been to the Gastro Specialist and told to stop taking Probiotics, would love to hear from those folks if we have any. 

 
I think it's good to get food from the four major groups every day, or nearly everyday: plants, animals, bacteria, fungi.

For bacteria, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking pills, but I suspect that food is probably better: yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, (real) dill pickles, kefir, kombucha, etc.

 
By the way, I would never, ever, ever take a "probiotic." If I am going to take a pill along those lines, it will be an actual probiotic.

 
Da Guru said:
This is the brand I bought.
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Started suffering from IBS in my mid 20's. The doctor thought it was my gall bladder and removed it. That made things even worse.  For 3-4 years I was afraid to eat much unless there was a bathroom nearby as things moved rapidly. I ended up discovering Stoney Field Farms organic yogurt and it workex wonders.  No more pain or gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now!  Then the dickmittens discontinued making it a few years back.  So now I have a Greek yogurt every morning. It helps but nowhere near as effective as the other SFF brand.  I don't care to take pills that don't have narcotics in it but going to give these a try in addition to the Greek yogurt. Thanks! 

 
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I don't take a probiotic pill, but do eat the fermented foods and changed to a near vegan diet, based on whole unrefined foods, which added lots of other foods that nourish the gut bacteria I do have.

One of my favorite things on a cold winter day or when I'm sick is a bowl of kimchi soup from the local Korean restaurant.

 
Binky The Doormat said:
Maurile Tremblay said:
By the way, I would never, ever, ever take a "probiotic." If I am going to take a pill along those lines, it will be an actual probiotic.
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what?
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Whatever the difference between a probiotic and  a "probiotic" might be, I definitely don't want the second one.

By the way, here, have some "food."

 
St. Louis Bob said:
Started suffering from IBS in my mid 20's. The doctor thought it was my gall bladder and removed it. That made things even worse.  For 3-4 years I was afraid to eat much unless there was a bathroom nearby as things moved rapidly. I ended up discovering Stoney Field Farms organic yogurt and it workex wonders.  No more pain or gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now!  Then the dickmittens discontinued making it a few years back.  So now I have a Greek yogurt every morning. It helps but nowhere near as effective as the other SFF brand.  I don't care to take pills that don't have narcotics in it but going to give these a try in addition to the Greek yogurt. Thanks! 
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I'm 57 and this started with me last year.  My doctor sent me to a specialist and they said I should have gall bladder removed.  When I saw my doctor again, we discussed it further because my wife put me on some probiotics and I quit eating bread that had gluten in it and the issues went away.  It's done wonders for me and I still have my gall bladder, even though it's not doing much good. But I've heard too many stories where it doesn't help at all to take it out.

 
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in another thread I mentioned I have begun drinking kombucha and kevita.  good way to get more liquids in my system and jump the probiotic. 

 
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