Hi Tilly1957 and those who have tried the VSL, hoping you all can give me some advice on whether to try VSL3, and how to go about
taking it in . I was perfectly fit and healthy until the beginning of July when I along with two other members of my family got a stomach bug. My husband shook it off in 3 days but feels he has slightly more indigestion and occasional bouts of feeling sick than he used to, and now also seems to have sinusitis after some meals so has possibly been left with some form of intolerance??? My father is now fine with no issues (he has the constitution of an Ox and is rarely ever ill). Unfortunately I came off worse - I suspect this was due to years of oral broad spectrum antibiotic therapy for acne, and finally in desperation Accutane last year.
Since the gastroenteritis I have had bloating, belching, regurgitation (not burning or acidic), feeling full all the time, abdominal pain, tight abdomen just above navel with pulsing and sometimes pain under lower left of my ribcage, the pain occasionally wakes me during the night and often is associated with episodes of Tacchycardia (palpatations occur only when my abdomen is bloated, painful and I am constipated so I am sure of the link). My digestive system essentially seems to stop when I lay down and if I have eaten within the past 6 hours I can feel the food in my throat at times and often the taste too. The latest episode was waking at 2am with a racing heart, abdominal pain and shivering - I put this down to eating maize in gluten free foods that day.
I have had blood/stool testing for inflammatory bowl diesase, celiacs, h. pylori, bowel and ovarian cancer. All thankfully negative, but that leaves me in the catch-all diagnosis of IBS and no referral. I paid privately to see a cardiologist due to nightime and morning tacchycardia (pre-lactose removal it was a daily occurance and landed me in A&E twice). No problem with my actual heart was found, the tacchy was sinus rhythm but interestingly the premature atrial contractions recorded correlated with when my bloating was severe and he thought this was at least causing them if not sure regarding the tacchycardia (he'd not seen this before with someone lying down in bed in the absence of an actual arrythmia condition).
I have kept a diet diary and realised through a "reintroduction test" that the episodes of severe cramps, diahorrea early on were down to lactose (so guess the bug has left me intolerant probably due to villi damage) and that the other gassy/constipation symptoms are linked to eating any form of starch.
I have been living on meat/fish, small portions of white rice (less irritating), fruit berries and gluten free rice cereal with rice milk for 2 months. I am taking Mebeverine three times a day (despite the lactose content) so that I feel my stomach has any room to eat at all. I also take simeticone as required for the gas/bloating. I am trying to reintroduce more fruit and some veg but it is not going well...
As things are not getting any better with time (what my GP advised) I am now wondering if in my case the bug has left me with "IBS" that is in fact due to SIBO. The bug having killed off a lot of my good gut bacteria and left a void that was then filled with the gassy producing bacteria, which have now migrated to the small intestine too. I feel I need to wipe them out somehow and start again. I am debating trying the VSL 3 to compete with these bacteria and hopefully re-populate the gut, in view of this is it worth risking starting the course strong and putting up with the gas and diahorrea? Exactly how bad is it? Did you have to get up throughout the night with symptoms or was it manageable?
Post Edited (Flo_Z) : 9/22/2014 10:27:14 AM (GMT-6)