Best Probiotic for chronies

We are doing VSL #3. It has clinical trails to back it's eficiency.

I use Primadolphilus Fortify. You can find it in the refrigerated section at your local healthfood store. Others that many on the forum use are VSL#3, Align & Culterelle. Good luck!

I use Align, but I found through trial and error that some will work for you and others might make you worse. It really is individual. Don't give up on probiotics just because the one you try doesn't seem to work. Give it a few weeks at least to see if it works and then try another. I have tried pretty much all the ones recommended by others here, but found they didn't work for me. So I gave up. Finally my doctor got me to try Align and it worked. I have since found a couple of other brands that seem to work too. Like everything else though, you get what you pay for, so don't go super cheap, go for a good brand and give it a fair shot before moving on to another.

Hi FSer... ...you might want to consider taking one of the brands people are recommending PLUS another like Florastor for its Saccharomyces boulardii. This is a particular strain of beneficial bacteria that has been proven it studies to help fight the recurrence of C.diff infections. Read what Wiki says here....scroll down to "Recurrent C.diff infection":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces_boulardii

Some doctors will write a prescription for Florastor, or you can just google "saccharomyces boulardii" and lots of different brands will come up. Best I can tell, S.boulardii does not come in a combo probiotic with other strains--at least I've never seen it that way.

I make yogurt and we use different brands of probiotics--VSL#3, Theralac, Solaray, Dr. Michael Murray's...to name a few. They say it's good to have one with lactobacillus acidophilus as a main strain in combination with several other strains. Also, try to find one with at LEAST 10 billion cfu. Good luck!

Most probiotic supplements are very limited -- only including 1-5 strains (tops), usually starting with Acidophilus.

What you REALLY want are the super expensive ones that contain 10-20 (yes, 20!) different strains. One of the most important is L. Reuteri, which has been shown to reduce intestinal inflammation and thicken the intestinal lining, which can directly alleviate many digestive disease symptoms ("leaking fluid," mucus, bleeding, fissures, "leaky gut" etc).

Probiotics may not "cure" every case, but most people who are taking probiotics don't realize they're not getting a balanced set of strains nor are they getting the most important ones, such as Reuteri.

I take MegaFood brand "MegaFlora," which contains 15 strains:

Bifidobacterium longum
L. Acidophilus & Acidophilus DDS-1 (not sure, but DDS-1 may be a unique strain of acidophilus)
B. iIfantis/B. Lactis
L. Lactis
L. Reuteri
L. Salivarus
S. Thermophilus
L. Pantarum
L. Brevis
B. Bifidum
L. Bulgaricus
L. Casei
L. Rhamnosus

Every single one of these (and more, though these are the most important) is necessary to maintain a functioning GI tract. Leaving ANY of them out -- even though some are more "important" than others -- means you aren't going to get the full benefits.

I know it's frustrating to have to pay so much for these supplements and not have insurance cover any of it....particularly for those of us on SSD. But trust me, these high-end probiotics are worth every penny. You will almost certainly get more benefit per dollar spent than by cheaping out on something that has only Acidophilus and maybe a couple of other strains (almost never Reuteri....that is only present in supplements that approach 50¢/capsule).