Psyllium seed vs psyllium husk: finally a good answer

I should have asked this days ago, but it just popped back into my head.

I know psyllium forms stools, but by how much? Does it help our stools go back to normal? Or does it simply help firm up the stools by a little bit?

Congrats Badslinke!

So it all depends on where you are on the spectrum. Either in a flare, slowly getting out of one or in remission. I bought the husk a few months ago and was hesitant because I didn't know enough.

One more question, is the taste that bad? Would apple juice be enough if I mixed it in, or do I need something stronger?

aguywithuc said...
A stir stick blender for seed powder with any liquid helps but you need to down it before it starts swelling.

Medications can wind up absorbed into the psyllium and mostly the husk not as much the seed powder. VSL#3 is not effected adversely when combined IMHO.

Ditto.

As far as my flare status, I was in a FULL flare just a few weeks ago, and heavily considering pulling the trigger and just getting back on prednisone. Lo and behold, completely unnecessary!

I should also note that I have a constant state of colitis. A lot of people seem to have UC that comes and goes, especially with certain seasons, but my UC came and never went. It just stayed. In short, except for a) when I was on high doses of steroids, b) the short instance where I took VSL 3 at the levels I am now, and c) right now itself, I have been in a state of constant flare since 2006. I had bad symptoms, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, nonstop, all year, irrespective of seasons or even high/low stress levels. I was always just flaring.

If this protocol can pull someone like me out of a flare in a few weeks, then it's got something going for it.

^^ brilliant to hear! i really think the psyllium seed + probiotics combo has something going for it.

InSoFla,
Thanks for the words! I have considered LDN, and continue to monitor the thread for information. Right now, she is doing great, so no need to experiment. :) Our Doctor has been very supportive of the treatments and weaning her down to lower doses of her medications.

As a side note: We experienced a time when our daughter was flaring when we would have tried just about anything that didn't have adverse side-effects. Most of us have been in this situation and we all know it is not a pleasant experience. It is almost impossible to know for certain what is helping. However, relief of inflammation and symptoms is your primary concern at a time like that. We tried lots of supplements and diet restrictions. We were not able to keep her on something as strict as the SCD although we made a good effort at it. In hindsight, this may have caused more harm than good because of the reduction in calories at a time when she was definitely malnourished due to absorption problems. We all do the best we can and continue to learn from our experiences.

My best advice is to try what you can, keep track of what you are doing meticulously and monitor changes in BMs with a notebook. We are able to see subtle changes in symptoms and can monitor trends in symptoms with much greater accuracy than a Doctor can. These observations and tracking of symptoms can be your best weapon in treating IBD.

Best to all,
UCPop

Time for an update, as promised:

I had one of the best days I've had in years recently. It was last Sunday. I had a grand total of 6 movements throughout the entire day, which is unheard of for me. I even managed to play a full day's worth of beach volleyball.

I was feeling so good, however, that I decided to have some pizza haha. Well, needless to say, within 48 hours I was back up to 15 +/- movements a day, but now, 5 days after eating that pizza, I'm back down to about 6-7 movements a day. The movements have some form to them, but not perfect.

The conclusion: the psyllium seed + probiotics protocol is definitely working, and the only thing that's going to get in its way is diet. I can control my stress levels very well now (UC has effectively taught me how to do that out of necessity), and barring any food infections, I ought to be down to 2-3 BMs a day within a few weeks given the current rate of progress.

Frankly, this is incredible. Again, as stated before, I have SEVERE colitis. If this can work for me within a matter of weeks, I can't help but wonder how many others it can work for.

If/when I hit a state of full remission that remains stable for at least a month, I will create another thread that details my experiences and this treatment protocol.

I've also gained 5 pounds in the past week and a half. YA! So tired of being skinny...

It certainly doesn't appear to. Not for me anyway. The seed powder is far more soluble than the husks. Some naturopaths claim they have seen people get worse on husk powder. According to my UC journal, I had a lot more daily movements when taking the husk powder, even though they were bulked up a bit. That can't be pinpointed on the husk powder though; my general condition wasnt as good then as it is now.I

In the end, I would certainly just stick with the seed powder. The good testimonials off of HW are from those who took the seed powder. And yes, it is a bit more palatable than the husk. But only a bit

InSoFla said...
Please share the secret to controlling stress, [img]/community/emoticons/smile.gif[/img]

hahaha. First and foremost, I realized I have a choice I can make about how to feel, always. Yes, the environment can exert certain pressures that seem to force your choices and decisions about how to feel (i.e. some situations are just inescapably stressful), but you still ultimately have a choice on how to feel. It takes a certain level of self awareness to realize that you are making nearly sub-conscious choices to stress out. You have to extend the awareness of your own mental processes far back enough to literally "hear" yourself making almost hidden choices to feel bad about whatever is around you. I developed a metaphor in which I realized I was "painting" the world around me certain "colors", or definitions, and more often than not, I was painting my world a lot of stressful colors. My brain would set off little stress signals about even the most minor of things, and I didn't even realize it was happening until I took the time to carefully listen to my own mental processes.

Again, I had to do this because the left side of my colon would actually flare up in sharp pain, immediately so, every time I had a stress signal fire off that was strong enough. It was and still is a very powerful and very physical reaction. I could almost use my gut pain as a test to determine whether or not I was stressing over something or having overly negative thoughts. I very quickly realized I had to get in conscious control of the way I was interpreting my world, as it was literally making my intestines worse. By employing the power of choice, I've managed to be far less stressed about a lot of things than I was before, and it is sweet. I'm actually grateful to my colitis for forcing me to learn how to do this.

So, employing your own ability to ultimately choose how to feel helps a lot. The series of choices I make these days is nestled within a greater philosophical framework about the very nature of existence, which helps me make those choices easier. That framework, however, is beyond the scope of this public forum. Maybe I'll write a book someday hahaha.

This is totally off topic!

You're more than welcome I moonlight as a philosopher for hire haha.

In my experience, no. The husk adds noticeable bulk within a few hours of taking it. It also makes stools easier to pass (good if you're constipated) and seemed to increase the number of BMs I was having. I can't say for sure that the husk was responsible for the increase in movements, though. It could just as well have been my overall condition at the time. The husk definitely added some immediate and noticeable bulk though, that tends to pass quickly and easily. It's interesting.

Admittedly I'm not taking the seed powder for its bulking properties, especially given it doesn't seem to bulk as much as husk powder. Rather, I'm taking the seed powder for its ability to produce butyric acid in the colon, which is the primary fatty acid colonic cells use for repair and normal function. Beans and butter are also very good sources of butyric acid (much of this is explained earlier in this thread), and I have since added those to my diet now that my gut is in better overall shape and able to tolerate the fibers from the beans.

I make my beans homemade, btw. Soaking them when raw for 8+ hours reduces a lot of the gas producing chemicals that beans are so famous for. Right now I'm doing a serving of black beans a day, with 1 tablespoon of psyllium seed powder in apple sauce, alongside my massive doses of VSL 3 DS and l-glutamine, and am doing better than I have in years.

XtraOrd - did you switch from husk to seed? Or, did you start with seed?

I'm feeling great! But, as I have mentioned, I can't say it was the LDN that got me out of my flare, as I started taking VSL#3DS about a week before I started feeling better. Certainly, the combination is working great, and I plan to continue taking both!