Too much probiotics?

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Mmp
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Too much probiotics?

Postby Mmp » Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:40 am

I am one week out from my vanco taper. Today I have gone 5 times in 3 hours but are all solid. I am taking two florastors a day and a renew life probiotic plus kefer and saurkraut for lunch and dinner. Just wondering if it could just be all the probiotics making me go? I don't feel sick other wise.

Bobbie
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby Bobbie » Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:56 pm

Probiotics do bother some. Stop for awhile and keep a food diary.

Best wishes and keep posting.

georgina
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby georgina » Tue Nov 05, 2019 1:39 am

You are taking quite a lot of probiotics . Stick to one brand and maybe try to avoid the sauerkraut for awhile. Sauerkraut is pickled cabbage , and all that fiber does not agree with most people in their early recovery.

roy
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby roy » Tue Nov 05, 2019 5:22 am

Solid is good!
ANYTHING except watery D 3x or more a day is normal in recovery.

AllisS
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby AllisS » Tue Nov 05, 2019 9:45 am

I think the probiotic trend is doing more harm than good. Data showing that probiotics help at all, as well as what specific types and in what amounts, are basically lacking. Florastor has shown signs of helping to prevent recurrence in hospitalized patients, but that's about it, so far. It's human nature for people to want to feel like they're somehow in control of their illnesses and their risk for same -- and also to feel that the more of a possibly therapeutic substance they take, the better. However, some medical problems aren't susceptible to human intervention, sad to say. And with some substances, less is more -- which others have mentioned in their responses already.

I took a probiotic called VSL3 for several years, once/day, on the basis that it might not help but it couldn't hurt. However, about a year or so ago I started to notice some GI symptoms that I'd not had before. I read somewhere (perhaps on this site) that VSL3 had changed its formulary, which may or may not have made a difference. Anyway, eventually I stopped taking it, and I actually feel better without it. Even my cat had been on a probiotic for GI issues for a year or two; I took her off it recently, and she, too, seems better than when she was on it; she's certainly no worse.

If and when convincing clinical studies emerge that support the use of probiotics, I may give them under chance. Until then, color me "skeptical." Caveat: I'd again take Florastor prior to/during/for awhile after hospitalization, if that situation arose.
If your illness was preceded by use of a medication, e.g., an antibiotic, please fill out an FDA Adverse Event Report at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm

roy
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby roy » Tue Nov 05, 2019 1:00 pm

Good call Allis.
It's been suggested that probiotics can slow down the recovery of normal gut flora.
It makes perfect sense to me that if probiotics crowd out bad flora they can also crowd out the returning good flora.
No probiotic is natural flora, they dont multiply inside the human gut and have little connection to the normal floras composition.
Opinions are still mixed but one "expert" stated that licking the floor in a train would certainly give his children a better gut flora than taking probiotics!
Florestor might help but the truth is that nobody knows and it's big $$$!

D1dad
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby D1dad » Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:37 am

It’s a mixed bag. One paper will talk the positives while the next discredits that and so forth. I’ve stated before that a nursing home in PA reduced cdiff infections by 65%, simply by giving the residents on antibiotics 1 yogurt a day. I’d say that’s proof in the real world and not in a lab. I still partially blame my cdiff on not adding probiotics while taking augmentin. I can say for a fact that taking more than one a day makes my stomach ill but I’ve also been sick less since I started taking them, no summmer or fall cold which I usually do get, and my allergies are 100% better as well.

Ril
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby Ril » Wed Nov 06, 2019 5:49 pm

D1Dad, that is very nice and maybe yogurt is easy to tolerate and it certainly can’t hurt but it is not proof of anything.
Only scientific studies with specific controls and criteria can provide proof. What happens - or doesn’t happen- in a lab IS important.

roy
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby roy » Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:10 pm

Think about it this way.
Our gut flora weighs about 4 pounds.
Antibiotics kill some of it so just for arguments sake let's guess at a quarter so 1 pound in weight gets killed.
We then take a tiny little pill and hope it replaces the important pound of bacteria.
Might help but dont expect miracles!
AND the antibiotics kill most if not all of the commercial probiotics.
Florestor survives antibiotics because it's a yeast.

D1dad
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby D1dad » Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:14 am

I agree on probiotics....may or may not help. Ril, I’d say that reducing cdiff in a nursing home by almost 2/3 when compared to the amount of cases in the previous 5 yrs is proof of something. Roy, you do realize that swallowing 40 poop pills as an fmt is very effective yet weighs in the ounces and not anywhere near the 4lbs? I’m not a probiotic pusher by any means but there’s proof that they do work. A guy I work with has reduced symptoms of his MS since he implemented a probiotic regimen..placebo? Maybe.
My own personal experience has been positive. I had a cholesterol deposit on my eyelid that’s completely disappeared and the only thing I’ve done to explain it is probiotics. Diet is still pretty much the same as well as exercise routine. I also used to suffer from a very dry scalp thanks to Ohio winter yet that’s no longer an issue for me. I don’t think probiotics will make you better looking or your car get better fuel mileage but I don’t think they’re as useless as some here make them out to be.

roy
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Re: Too much probiotics?

Postby roy » Thu Nov 07, 2019 11:22 am

The key is that the poop pills are true gut bacteria that seed the gut and can multiply.
ANY Dr using them will also tell you not to take commercial probiotics following an FMT in case they react with the newly implanted natural bacteria.

Any nursing home that manages a 2/3 reduction in c.diff MUST have had a severe c.diff problem to start with and that problem is lack of cleanliness and lack of antibiotic stewardship.
Giving residents yogurt is only a very small part of the measures needed to reduce c.diff statistics and would have been done alongside much more vigorous intervention.
Research on probiotics is still in its infancy, they are medicaly acceptable because they have been around since before testing was required by law and that means no pharma company is going to spend big bucks on research but they will spend it on advertising!
The only way to know if they help is to give them a try.


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