Formed Stools

yea! Monitoring my diet with selected supplements has helped me remain in remission for quite some time now, no blood, no urgency, with no more than one or sometimes two BMs a day. But I have never been completely satisfied.

Prior to UC diagnosis and my first flare, I experienced well over a year of ever more loosening stools, until POW!, an unbelievably intense flare hit me. Later flares were also preceded by weeks without urgency but loose stools seemed to predict what was to come. So now I closely monitor my bowel habits, always looking for that formed banana shape.

Despite my remission it hasn't always been easy to consistently prevent BMs from gradually loosening. But I found a supplement that supports microbiome balance and it really seems to help. It is not a cure, I still cannot have a beer and pizza at happy hour, but it works very well for helping to maintain formed stools with my normal lifestyle.

This has been in my signature for over six months but I really didn't want to explicitly share it with HW until now because I wanted to be absolutely sure it works long term.

https://ionbiome.com/products/ion-gut-health

Years ago Culturelle and VSL#3 worked very well for me. But a few years ago their formulas changed to include excipients such as maltodextrin, etc. that tore up my gut so those probiotics became less effective. VSL may be OK with you if you aren't allergic to their additives.

I switched to.Lactobacillus Reuteri (NCIMB 30242) which helped but was not quite as effective as the old Culturelle and VSL#3. You can shop by google to find a brand (I recommend a brand with the least amount of junky excipients). I am now experimenting with sauerkraut to add probiotics to many of the foods I eat.