Anyone taking "Probiotics"? (1 Viewer)

[culdeus]

I'm taking one now.  My farts now knock down walls.

 

[GoBirds]

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.

Sounds like similar to what I went through, are you still happy with this product? So it’s a drink not a pill? 

Anyone else using one they are very happy with? Trying to research if these are truly effective or more placebo effect?

 

[opensourcebeer]

Sounds like similar to what I went through, are you still happy with this product? So it’s a drink not a pill? 

Anyone else using one they are very happy with? Trying to research if these are truly effective or more placebo effect?

I don't think you'll find a study that indicates that probiotics are effective in preventing diverticulitis.  Based on conversations with my GI doc at Mayo and reading various JAMA/NCBI articles, my conclusion is that medical science doesn't have a clue to the actual physiological mechanism that causes a diverticulitis flare up.  

Yes, Goodbelly is a drink.  I don't use it anymore and have switched to following:

- Florajen

- L. Plantarum Probiotic

I've also added Sodium Butyrate based on this study and  L-Glutamine based on the possibility it reduces intestinal inflammation.

 

[GoBirds]

I don't think you'll find a study that indicates that probiotics are effective in preventing diverticulitis.  Based on conversations with my GI doc at Mayo and reading various JAMA/NCBI articles, my conclusion is that medical science doesn't have a clue to the actual physiological mechanism that causes a diverticulitis flare up.  

Yes, Goodbelly is a drink.  I don't use it anymore and have switched to following:

- Florajen

- L. Plantarum Probiotic

I've also added Sodium Butyrate based on this study and  L-Glutamine based on the possibility it reduces intestinal inflammation.

From your experience though you feel these supplements are legit and have helped you significantly? Have you ever had anything close to the first one that put you in the hospital? Are you able to enjoy your favorite foods and some drinks or have you had to avoid a lot completely? Thanks for the info. 

 

[Bonzai]

Asked my doc about them a couple days ago.  He said that if you'd asked him a year ago, he'd have recommended taking them.  But the current research pretty clearly points the other way.  Recommended I stay away from pills, but continue consuming yogurt, kombucha, kimchi, etc.  From what I understood,  the bacteria in your gut is there based on the foods you regularly consume.  If you introduce a set of bacteria totally outside that ecosystem (not sure that's the right word, but whatever) not-so-great stuff happens.  

 

[opensourcebeer]

From your experience though you feel these supplements are legit and have helped you significantly? Have you ever had anything close to the first one that put you in the hospital? Are you able to enjoy your favorite foods and some drinks or have you had to avoid a lot completely? Thanks for the info. 

By legit, I assume you mean it's not filled with whatever and actually contains what is says it does. I have a high level of confidence in Florajen as I've had that prescribed by my doctor and normally purchased it from my local pharmacy (they keep it in a fridge with other prescription drugs).  Regarding the other supplements I noted, I don't have any reason to believe the supplement isn't what it says it is, but I also don't have a great to way verify the ingredients.  My mentality is you pay your money and take your chances.

Regarding a re-occurrence, unfortunately the answer is "yes".  In January 2018 I had a diverticulitis flare up.  I went through the normal treatment routine but continued to have on-going issues (referred to as "smoldering diverticulitis" by my GI doc).  In May 2018 I spent over a week in the hospital with complicated diverticulitis (stage 1 with a 2cm abscess). I again avoided emergency surgery. In late 2017 and early 2018, my work life was stressful (dealing with a narcissist boss and related HR issues) and my home life was a total mess (dealing with a child with serious psychological problems, police and state services involvement related to these problems, and a decrease in the household's earning capacity when my spouse quit her job to care for the child).  My thought is that my problems with diverticulitis during this time were a direct result of the stress associated with these events.  My speculation is that diverticulitis flare-ups are caused by inflammation and that stress can cause inflammation.  I think probiotics make my GI tract more regular which in turn allows my GI tract to "rest" more, i.e. less symptoms consistent with IBS and low grade inflammation.  I want to note that this is pure speculation on my part and that I'm not a medical professional.  Having said that, medical science doesn't know what causes a diverticulitis flare up.  When I discussed the use of probiotics and this speculation with my GI doc he said there isn't anything in medical studies that would confirm that, but if I personally felt better taking them, whether it was a real effect or a placebo effect, then by all means continue to take them.  

I've been seriously considering elective surgery.  When I asked my GI doc if he was in my situation would he have surgery, he spent a full minute in silence thinking about it and indicated he probably would.  He also indicated that I'm unlikely to have the diverticulitis escalated to perforation, which has a significant mortality rate associated with it.  Based on conversations with a surgeon at Mayo and reading various JAMA articles on the topic, the elective surgery has a roughly 80% chance to prevent future diverticulitis flare ups.  The surgery has a 1% chance of death, 5% chance of causing a post-op leakage, which then raises the likelihood of death and results in the same outcome as if emergency surgery was done.  There's also a 1% chance of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction problems.  

My diet is mostly back to normal at this point, although I now completely avoid deep fat fried foods and have cut way back on excessive alcohol consumption as those things seem to cause my GI tract to become irritated.  When I do feel discomfort associated with diverticulitis, I've had success with temporarily changing my diet to liquid based for a duration of 3 days which has resulted in avoiding taking a course of antibiotics.  Thankfully over the last 4 months or so, my stress level has been down and I've been feeling a lot better.

 

[GoBirds]

By legit, I assume you mean it's not filled with whatever and actually contains what is says it does. I have a high level of confidence in Florajen as I've had that prescribed by my doctor and normally purchased it from my local pharmacy (they keep it in a fridge with other prescription drugs).  Regarding the other supplements I noted, I don't have any reason to believe the supplement isn't what it says it is, but I also don't have a great to way verify the ingredients.  My mentality is you pay your money and take your chances.

Regarding a re-occurrence, unfortunately the answer is "yes".  In January 2018 I had a diverticulitis flare up.  I went through the normal treatment routine but continued to have on-going issues (referred to as "smoldering diverticulitis" by my GI doc).  In May 2018 I spent over a week in the hospital with complicated diverticulitis (stage 1 with a 2cm abscess). I again avoided emergency surgery. In late 2017 and early 2018, my work life was stressful (dealing with a narcissist boss and related HR issues) and my home life was a total mess (dealing with a child with serious psychological problems, police and state services involvement related to these problems, and a decrease in the household's earning capacity when my spouse quit her job to care for the child).  My thought is that my problems with diverticulitis during this time were a direct result of the stress associated with these events.  My speculation is that diverticulitis flare-ups are caused by inflammation and that stress can cause inflammation.  I think probiotics make my GI tract more regular which in turn allows my GI tract to "rest" more, i.e. less symptoms consistent with IBS and low grade inflammation.  I want to note that this is pure speculation on my part and that I'm not a medical professional.  Having said that, medical science doesn't know what causes a diverticulitis flare up.  When I discussed the use of probiotics and this speculation with my GI doc he said there isn't anything in medical studies that would confirm that, but if I personally felt better taking them, whether it was a real effect or a placebo effect, then by all means continue to take them.  

I've been seriously considering elective surgery.  When I asked my GI doc if he was in my situation would he have surgery, he spent a full minute in silence thinking about it and indicated he probably would.  He also indicated that I'm unlikely to have the diverticulitis escalated to perforation, which has a significant mortality rate associated with it.  Based on conversations with a surgeon at Mayo and reading various JAMA articles on the topic, the elective surgery has a roughly 80% chance to prevent future diverticulitis flare ups.  The surgery has a 1% chance of death, 5% chance of causing a post-op leakage, which then raises the likelihood of death and results in the same outcome as if emergency surgery was done.  There's also a 1% chance of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction problems.  

My diet is mostly back to normal at this point, although I now completely avoid deep fat fried foods and have cut back on alcohol consumption as those things seem to cause my GI tract to become irritated.  When I do feel discomfort associated with diverticulitis, I've had success with temporarily changing my diet to liquid based for a duration of 3 days and avoiding taking a course of antibiotics.  Thankfully over the last 4 months or so, my stress level has been down and I've been feeling a lot better.

Thanks for this info and sorry to hear you have had some issues reoccur.  Months ago I ended up in the hospital with some issues caused by an infection they determined. While they said the infection should clear and I would be back to normal I never felt quite right after and wanting to be cautious. Appreciate the info!

 

[opensourcebeer]

Thanks for this info and sorry to hear you have had some issues reoccur.  Months ago I ended up in the hospital with some issues caused by an infection they determined. While they said the infection should clear and I would be back to normal I never felt quite right after and wanting to be cautious. Appreciate the info!

I think I know what you mean by "never feeling quite right after".  I attribute the cause of that feeling to having my gut biome disrupted by the antibiotics needed to treat the infection and any subsequent scarring associated with the infection.

 

[djmich]

I've been taking these

https://www.amazon.com/NatureWise-Billion-Probiotics-Time-Release-Probiotic/dp/B01E6C4FVM/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1547413921&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=naturewise+probiotics&psc=1

High CFU, 30 strains and from what I can tell all of the ones that are commonly called out as useful.

Who knows if they do anything, but i can say that since I've been taking them I've have had the most "cold" free 1yr period of my life.  I might have had a 24hr bug once in that timeframe.  I have some other elements of my regimen so who knows what works and if any of it does, but I travel a decent amount (25 trips last year) so if it has a chance of helping my immune system I'm a sucker for it.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Easier to eat foods, that contain them. 

 

[Chaka]

Easier to eat foods, that contain them. 

And much cheaper. Even moreso if you make it yourself. Sauerkraut is just about the easiest thing in the world to prepare (cabbage + salt + water + time).

 

[Nugget]

I try to add some apple cider vinegar with the “mother” to a quart of water and drink daily. Other than tasting like vomit, it seems to help me with weight loss and has some good gut bacteria.