Probiotics, suggestions

Im finally seeing bloat diminished and bowel movements more regular after recent herx, stopping abx, detoxing like a madman and increasing my daily dose of probiotics.

I take PB8 and Florastor. I limit Florastor to once per day as I find it constipates me. But the PB8 seems to be good for me. I did take 2 in the morning and 2 at night. Since my herx I increased to 2 morning, 2 afternoon, and 2 night.

So far im happy with PB8, but I thought id ask for opinions if there is any other brand that I should be looking at. For the record, ive tried a lot before. Two stick out that I cboose to stay away from. GOL Ultra Primal Defense did absolutely nothing for me. At the opposite end, VSL3 was TOO much and cause some undesireable effects, e.g. diarrhea.

That said, im coming to the end of the PB8 bottle, im going to buy another. But if theres anything else that is reasonably price I should be looking at I would very much appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.


Todd

I prefer to use homemade kefir, because it has so many different strains: www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/milk-kefir/milk-kefir-grains-composition-bacteria-yeast/.

I think you named the other two I know about, so I'll leave the suggestions to others that are more familiar with buying probiotics.

But, I did have a question on the VSL3 - could you take a lower dose? Diarrhea is something that can happen with too large of a dose. Just a thought.

Some useful reading about VSL3:
https://www.amazon.com/review/RTV7F17ZKX5JE/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0050YACWC
TL;DR: start on 1/4 of the pill and _slowly_ work it up.

+1 on fermenting food at home, it is very easy, very tasty and provides pre-biotics, vitamins and minerals at the same time.

Probiotics do help but I am saving the best ones for post antibiotic use due to cost.

I found that I can reduce expense by adding a smaller amount of a quality probiotic to a mixture of resistant starch combined with vegetable powders.

This supports and promotes healthy bacterial growth while saving money as we seem to need a lot of both for successful treatment.

I find it easy to mix plaintain flour and Starwest Botanicals Organic Green Powder blend and some wheat grass powder to yogurt.

Dr. Mercola: "A quart of kefir has far more active bacteria than you can possibly purchase in any probiotic supplement, ..."

And more here:

http://foodfacts.mercola.com/kefir.html

I do make it myself, from the grains not the powder. I don't advocate it for everyone as it s a small chore. But it is so delicious and so healthy and straightforward.

Fermented foods are important for immunity and our ancestors ate them regularly and for centuries. To me that means we've evolved to depend on them and they should be on the menu regularly. The more I read about them the more convinced I am.

I just don't feel the same way about the lab made probiotics.

Lostcoast said...
I try not to put all my probiotic eggs in one basket. I use several different brands, taken multiple times daily. I don't think it's possible to take too many good bacteria. Plus things like kombucha, yogurt, and kraut. I try to take my probiotics evenly spaced between antibiotics. It's a constant cycle of killing and repopulation our intestinal flora.

Something that we all do need to consider is that when taking large amounts of probiotics, we are at risk for SIBO - small intestine bacterial overgrowth - which will ruin your day. I'm not sure just what the protocol for healing that is, as that's one of the things I've never had to deal with, but I'm sure it wouldn't be pleasant since we are already in treatment.

Achieving balance, equilibrium, is what we strive for personally, culturally, politically, spiritually, it's so elusive.