Different types of VSL #3?

I really want to try VSL #3, but looking at their website it seems like there are different types, and vast price differences between them to boot: several non prescription versions and a prescription version. Does anyone know the difference? Anyone had better experiences with one over the others?

Do you know the difference between the four? Any recommendations for one over the other? Advantages to the satchel versus pill, etc?

Well it's all really the same exact product, just in different size/dose and different in how it gets to your stomach. I'd just get whatever is the most cost effective. VSL is hella expensive, so price shop around online.

I only used the satchel, VSL#3 DS which I got as a prescription. They are tea bag sized, you pour them into a liquid, mix, and drink. To me, VSL tasted like spoiled milk ick! I just mixed vsl in water (others said a more flavored drink works better). Others say they liked the taste *Shrug*. So, perhaps the pills are better as there's no taste.

The prescription version just has more probiotic in it. You could take more of the over the counter stuff to get the same exact dosing.

Starting with an uber high dose of any probiotic will cause bloating and flatulence. Always ease into it with a low dose for a few days, then increase for best results.

I gave VSL a fair try for a month, all it did was make me even more gassy, no improvement in uc symptoms. So, I discontinued. My DW already calls me fartzilla without a probiotic, had I kept taking a probiotic then I'd probably be divorced now lol.

"I mix mine with apple sauce." - i can't think of a worse profanation! i'm crazy about the taste of vsl (i could easily eat the whole box in one gulp) so i only mix it with water and taking it is the most pleasant part of the day :)

sorry for spamming, but i've just found a passage on enteric coating which may be interesting:
"You don’t need an enteric coating.
The human digestive system is a pretty inhospitable place for most organisms, and probiotic bacteria are only useful when they make it through the high-acid environment of the stomach. Though most probiotic strains are acid-resistant, many companies use enteric coatings, which protect the probiotics until they’re past the pylorus — the trap door in the bottom of your stomach.

Seems pretty smart, until you start looking at what actually goes into making an enteric coating. In addition to being expensive, the coating process involves a lot of heat, which can compromise bacterial viability. Even more troubling, many enteric coatings contain things like shellac, vinyl acetate, and phthalates (though there are some enteric materials that aren’t sketchy like alginate and hypromellose). There is enough substantial clinical evidence to suggest that probiotics survive, thrive, and get results even without enteric coatings."