S. Boulardii

[Basmah]

I have been struggling with probiotics - the last one had 15 billion cultures, and I lost my appetite, throwing up, etc. My coworker told me about S. Boulardii, and how the Mayo hospital is encouraging patients to take it (especially if they took antibiotics). I might just need to go down to 5 billion, and I will ask my doctor about it too, but I am wondering what other people's experience were with it?

 

[kel]

I never noticed any improvements while taking florastor during or after antibiotic therapy. Align really helped a lot while I was taking large doses of antibiotics.

 

[Basmah]

Yeah, I have been having bad luck with probiotics lately whether im on antibiotics or not. I figure since this is different, it could help out. I am just wondering if it is safe enough, and what other people's experiences were/are. I am trying to find a vegan option too since I can't eat gelatin and dairy.

 

[Essieluv]

Honestly, all probiotics no matter the strength seem to make me worse. Just not worth it for me. But I know that they can be quite helpful in others so you won't know until you try it, eh?

 

[Basmah]

Very true! I went to this coop that just opened near my work the other day, and found some probiotic drinks. Kevita is the brand that I got, and I am just trying it for the first time today - the strawberry coconut one is pretty good. I guess if all else fails with pills, at least I have some other options.

 

[Robrich]

In my experience probotics do not work well if you have very active disease or if you have an overgrowth of the bad bacteria. There is no place for them to colonize. If your gut ph is way off they can't thrive either. I find using probiotics during and heavily after antibiotics along with a crohns friendly diet e.g. SCD, paleo, gaps then You have a good chance they will work and you can get some intestinal healing.
I use mostly food based probiotics I find them more reliable.
Plain whole milk kefir, yogurt the best quality you can find usually in the health food stores but life way kefir is carried in many supers
I also get probiotic infused sauerkraut at the farmers market. there are some refrigerated ones in the health food store. Organism counts are in the trillions!. Kimchi is good too if you can find the real stuff and it's not spicy or learn to make your own. Miso is another best used in a salad dressing or soup but don't boil.
The only pb supplement I am taking now is s boulardis made by Jarrow. It is supposed to attach to the intestinal wall and protect it from the bad guys.
You can also get in the kombucha drinks.
Probiotics do help but you have to learn how to create the right environment for them and use them accordingly
It's not as simple as just taking a few pills
If you do that it is not unusual to have symptoms worsen as bad stuff dies and the ph changes

 

[Basmah]

Yeah, I get that. I used to be really good at eating things like yogurt with probiotics and what not, but ever since I had to cut down my dairy intake, it's been really difficult to find food based probiotics. Haven't seen dairy free kefir in stores, and I have never been a fan of sauerkraut. I haven't tried any of the other stuff you mentioned - if I could find any within my dietary means I'll check it out. I found KeVita and Good Belly drinks, so it's a start.

I attempted to make my own yogurt last week, but it flopped because I didn't get my goat yogurt to room temp before I mixed it with the milk. Lesson learned, but I will keep researching (and my coworker told me about Jarrow, so if my doctor is cool with it, I will probably order that one).

 

[Robrich]

Basmah there is a kefir made from coconut water it's very good
Have you tried goat milk yogurt or kefir?
That might work better for you than cow milk.
T
But if you can't make it with the food probiotics by all means use the supplements. Just find a reliable brand and source.
Good luck

 

[Basmah]

I just bought some goat milk yogurt as a starter for my own yogurt, but I think I will try it by itself until I can master the yogurt maker. I was actually looking up some probiotic foods and drinks today, and saw that water and coconut kefir exists. I wrote down what i found as well as the stuff you recommended. Thank you for all of your help!