Can you mix probiotics?

Or is it better to just double up on the one you are taking when you feel a flare coming on?

I take Align, which has been a great thing for me, but I am starting to flare, and was thinking of trying 1 Align a day and 1 Ultimate Flora.(never tried that one)

Not a good idea to mix?  Should I just stop the Align and go for the other and see if that helps?  Or maybe try 2 Align a day?

Any suggestions?

I've been on Asacol for years, but can't hold in the enemas at the present time.

I've also been wondering on this... Anyone else have experience and results?

I had been some months into a persistent flare when I started VSL..... and the bleeding gradually stopped. When I ran out of VSL about 2-3 months later I decided to see if I could avoid purchasing more, and so went without..... and in about 4 days I was seeing some blood again. I ordered more, and after taking it about 3-4 more days, the bleeding stopped again!
I repeated this experiment again about 2 months later, same results.

Then at the beginning of August, I was heading into a flare.... I started steroid enemas AND doubled my VSL DS on the same day (bad scientist)... so I can't tell which helped more, but I averted the flare. I'm still on 2 per day put will likely go to one a day soon. (I'm just about off the steroid enemas, thought I'd keep the VSL at max until I'm off the other.)

This is me, however; not everyone responds the same to anything, including probiotics, including the various brands.

Hello, IMHO it is ESSENTIAL to mix as many different types of probiotics as you can.

Your gut is like a rainforest.

When the rainforest has been cut down you don't replant with a single species of pine.

You try to put back as many different species as you can.

For me, it took me out of my first ever flare, and I've never looked back.

The following fixed me right up. I'm not on any meds and am back to normal.

This is my diary entry from January, detailing how i felt and what i took. all were refrigerated, from the chemist. I took a capsule of each, twice a day.

"I think I am cured. I feel great. Putting on weight. no pain. no blood, no mucous, no diahrroea.

The thing that turned me around was heaps and heaps of probiotics.

As soon as I started taking them I got better very quickly.

I have been taking 226.788 billion organisms each day of 13 types.

"Polybac 8" - 8 strains:
Streptococcus thermophilus (1.5 billion)
Bifidobacterium lactis (4.5 billion) and longum (4.5 billion)
Lactobacillus acidophilus (7.5 billion), casei (7.5 billion), plantarum (7.5 billion), rhamnosus (9 billion), salivarius ssp salivarius (3 billion)

"Nourishing flora" - 8 strains:
Bifidobacterium bifidum (333,000)
Lactobacillus acidophilus (3 billion), plantarum (1.66 billion), casei (333 million), delbrueckii (333,000), rhamnosus (333,000), brevis (333,000), kefir (333,000)

"IBS Supprt"
Lactobacillus plantarum (20 billion)

"UltraBiotic 45" - 9 strains
Streptococcus thermophilus (2.25 billion)
Bifidobacterium bifidum (450 million), breve (1.35 billion), lactis (4.05 billion)
Lactobacillus acidophilus (7.4 billion), casei (9.45 billion), fermentum (1.35 billion), plantarum (3.35 billion), Rhamnosus (15.55 billion)

"Yakult" fermented milk drink
Lactobacilus Casei - shirota strain. Unknown amount of live culture - 2 small drinks per day.


TOTAL PER DAY:

Streptococcus thermophilus: 7.5 billion (2 brands)

Bifidobacterium lactis: 17.1 billion (2 brands)
Bifidobacterium longum: 9 billion

Lactobacilli:
Acidophilus: 35.8 billion (3 brands)
Casei: 34.566 billion + shirota strain ??? (4 bands all up)
Plantarum: 65.02 billion (4 brands)
Rhamnosus: 49.1 billion (3 brands)
Salivarius ssp salivarius: 6 billion
delbrueckii: 666,000
brevis: 666,000
Kefir: 666,000
fermentum: 2.7 billion

Just know that there are many different strains of probiotics, some can actually cause D so research and know what you are doing, especially if you're mixing probiotics.  Here's a very helpful link...near the middle of the link it specifies different strains of probiotics and what issues they are most helpful with...

http://www.functionalingredientsmag.com/article/Formulations/probiotics-strains-matter.aspx

It's also recommended for IBDers to be taking at least 10 billion live cultures/day.