good affordable probiotic??

There's only one basic rule for the cost of probiotics: The more billions of cultures there are, well, the more billions they will cost. If you divide the cost of the probiotic by the billions of cultures, you will find that VSL is actually one of the cheapest probiotics there is. It's all a question of how much you are willing to pay for the billions of cultures you want. The less you pay the less cultures you will get.

I FINALLY found a mix of probiotics that affects me in a positive way. I take three mixed together, and consistently notice positive results.

Natren Healthy Trinity - Capsules (www.natren.com) These are EXPENSIVE.
Benebiotics - Advance Multi-Probiotic (Buy on amazon.com) $20 for 60 capsules.
Jarrow Formulas Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS (Buy on amazon.com) $12.50 for 90 capsules.

I need to take all three together, 3 to four times a day to make a significant impact fast. Then I can lower the dose down for maintenance. I've struggled to find an effective probiotic for years. I've tried VSL3 DS many times with no lasting results. I have not tried VSL3 DS at the same time as the cheaper two on here, but I might try once I'm out of the Healthy Trinity to see what happens.

I haven't ordered from natren.com in probably 6-10 months. Usually on their site they have a specials page, but I haven't been able to find it today. I re-registered for their emails, and am hoping to get specials that way. For 90 capsules of the healthy trinity they want $160. I ordered 3-4 bottles and got a significant discount last time. I don't see that option right now unfortunately.

Keep in mind that my success with these is happening as Remicade seems to slowly be healing me. So, they alone might not have done the trick. I had done Healthy Trinity on it's own with no success before, as well as taken the Saccharomyces Boulardi without noticing too much. I believe my colon is healing to a point where these are beneficial, and taking the mixture in high doses is really able to make a difference.

Also... food still effects me. If I want a bunch of veggies and fruits I might as well not take the probiotics, because they effect my gut horribly. Salads are okay sometimes, but fruit cocktail, tomatoes, that sorta thing... not good.

Good luck!

Remember that the Saccharomyces Boulardi is just one probiotic. Try it and note your improvements. Then try something else. Then try them together. Since the doctors do not by any means have enough answers for us, we need to keep trying safe experiments to see how we may help ourselves.

Thank you God for letting me find this site!! I've been looking all over for something that I could use to lessen the cramps and pain I've been having with my UC. Good grief, I was on ALA for my insulin resistance, also vitamins D,E, and calcium.and basically a lot of probiotics that the rest of you are on.....Oh for Pete's sake, patient heal thyself, right?!? I need to get some refills of the supplements I was using. Thanks for the heads up soystud. I am also dairy, wheat, gluten, rice free diet, along with LRD. Hope I can get some pointers from all of you.

its definitely trial and error. unfortunately i have never got any results from probiotic, good or bad, its like i am taking nothing, lol.

here is what i have tried:

vsl3 DS (for 9 months!)

benebiotics

jarrows sacch boulardi

sustenex

and a few more that others here take..

i also made and ate homemade kefir DAILY for 3 months.  Kefir is a natural source of probiotics, with TRILLIONS of strains of good bacteria, and NOTHING, NO change in my UC

There are others here that have had alot of luck with probiotics so i think it is worth a try, since we are all so individual.    There is one more prob called Mutaflor i think that i would still like to try but it is really expesive and at this point i put probiotics on my back burner... for what its worth, diet mod never helped my uc either.  only thing working is a combo of lialda, rowasa and imuran.  good luck to you...