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Probiotic Question

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/20/2011 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
My son was just diagonised with IBD limited to his rectum. As soon as we go back to the doctor in 2 weeks I'll get him a prescription for VSL#3D but until then I have him on Align and Culterelle. Is this an overkill? BTW, he was put on Asprio and Rowasa.

I know how to take care of my j-pouch but it's been so long that I had UC and it was for such a short time......

Thanks

Susan

Posted 9/20/2011 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
No, it's not overkill - sounds like a good thing to me.

My son takes a single Align also.

One Align is one billion pro-bacteria units.

One envelope of VSL#3 DS is 900 billion of those units.

He'd have to take 900 Align capsules - or 450 Align and 450 Culturelle - to equal a single VSL DS. (When flaring, I did like the clinical studies and took 4 packets a day of VSL DS. And... the flare went away.)

The probiotics help me a lot; but as with anything else UC-related, they don't help everyone. I wish him the best!
Posted 9/21/2011 2:26 PM (GMT 0)
Songlady- did you take the VSL with food or on it's own? All at once or spread out over the course of the day? How long did it take to see results, and when you say you were flaring, how bad was it?

Thanks!
Posted 9/21/2011 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
I mixed the VSL with juice, yogurt, kefir or ice cream; I spread the doses throughout the day (first thing in the morning, before lunch, late afternoon, bedtime, depending some on if my schedule allowed) and - again, based on what I'd read of the clinical trials, it indeed took maybe 8 weeks for the bleeding and urgency to stop and the frequency to cut down. I just kind of slowly got better.

It wasn't a bad flare at all; I started hitting it early on, so the flare never became worse than some blood and urgency and 4 -5 times a day.
Posted 9/21/2011 4:00 PM (GMT 0)
Until I get more VSL should I give him more than 1 Align and 1 Culterelle per day?
Posted 9/21/2011 5:08 PM (GMT 0)
I think starting at a low dose is a good idea, for the first week or so, just to make sure everything agrees with him.

Has he tried fiber? I do better with fiber supplements than with food fiber (likely because my teeth don't meet that well for chewing... food fiber is rough on me.) Folks here take all kinds. My son's GI recommends Benefiber and Metamucil. If he starts it... again, tiny doses at first.
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