How often does one need to change probiotics?

[Basmah]

I've been using Jarrow S. Boullardi for some time, and do well with 10 billion. However, it does not have a lot of strains, and I am wondering how often do people change their probiotics? Also, and good suggestions for vegan, gluten free products that are around 10 billion cultures?

 

[JackG]

It depends on whether they are doing anything for you. I used a lot of them before, but I now use a product called VSL #3 specifically made for irritable bowel and ulcerative colitis. It's described on its own website (vsl3.com). I know 3 crohn's people using it, myself included, and none of us would ever go back to anything else.

 

[Basmah]

The thing with VSL is that it has so many cultures, and I can only handle 10 billion right now. I will up my dosage to 15 soon, but I am curious if people ever feel the need to change their probiotics every few months or so.

 

[JackG]

Probiotics are supposed to be all good, helping your gut and your immune system. How can you only handle so much, and such a small amount??

 

[Basmah]

I am not sure how it works, but I am not the only one who struggles with finding the right probiotic. I think because the goal is to get rid of all the bad bacteria while putting in the good, that for some, starting at a high dosage can result in unnecessarily horrible die offs.

 

[Basmah]

I just found that MegaFood has their own probiotic, so I bought the 20bil. I will add that to my S.boullardi. I love Megafood products, they're so easy on the stomach! I just hope that their probiotics work