Is It Normal?

[GlutenWrangler]

Is it normal to have symptoms similar to a glutening for the first few days of taking a strong probiotic? The probiotic is definitely gluten-free. Thanks

-Brian

[Guhlia]

My system couldn't handle probiotics. They made me awfully sick. I had to stop using them. I gave them a full week to work and I just stayed sick. I've heard the same from others. Perhaps some people are just sensitive to them.

[Guest cassidy]

I have never had any reaction to them, but if you think about it, if the new good bacteria is killing off the old bad bacteria you might have some sort of a die off reaction. Last year I took an antifungal for candida and two different antibiotics for an amoeba and bad bacteria and those things made me feel terrible. After all that I took tons of probiotics and those never made me feel bad, but the die off from the first things was almost more than I could take.

I have no idea if that is a real possibility, but it sounds logical.

[GlutenWrangler]

I did some reading and found something called excessive drainage syndrome, which can cause headache, diarrhea, bloating, and gas. It makes sense that it would feel like getting glutened. Thanks for the replies.

-Brian

[dionnek]

does anyone know if probiotics and L-Glutamine are ok to take when yoiu are pregnant? I will check with my dr, but they are usually so clueless about stuff like this.

[GlutenWrangler]

I read that probiotics are fine to take when you are pregnant. I would think that L-Glutamine would be fine too, because it is a naturally occuring amino acid in the body. But I think that you should double check with your doctor because I could be wrong.

-Brian

[Ursa Major]

I was supposed to take a probiotic when I had terrible diarrhea for a week and a half just recently (caused by some meds that were high in salicylates, long story). So, I started taking one I had in the house, and it made me feel terrible, and made the diarrhea worse. I checked the ingredients, and it had maltodextrin.

I went to the health food store to buy a new probiotic. Almost all of them had either dairy in them (whey and lactase I think), and the others had maltodextrin. I only found one without either, and with a guarantee of not containing any sucrose, starch, salt, preservatives, artificial colours, flavours or additives, or any corn, wheat, yeast, gluten, soy, dairy or animal by-products.

This one of course cost me $55.00 for 120 caps. Quite steep. But it worked to stop the diarrhea, and it didn't make me feel bad, even tough I was taking about ten a day. It is called HMF Forte, and is by Genestra Brands.

[ArtGirl]

Is it normal to have symptoms similar to a glutening for the first few days of taking a strong probiotic?

Dieoff is certainly a possibilty as some have reported this happening and they would feel worse before feeling better. When I first tried to take probiotics I would have very caustic D right away. I would try to stay with them because *everyone* said it was so important to good health. But, the negatives outweighed the positives and I stopped after trying probably 5 different brands/combinations.

It wasn't until I started looking for corn derivatives that I discovered that the ALL had either dairy, corn or soy. No wonder I had problems. Like Ursa said, it is very difficult to find a probiotic that doesn't have corn in it (dextrose, maltodextrin, citric acid, etc.)

So, if your symptoms don't improve, you might want to explore other food sensitivies.

[GlutenWrangler]

I'm using HLC Intensive probiotics. This is from the website:

Each capsule contains:

HLC LAB4 Consortium......24 billion viable cells (may contain up to 30 billion)

L. acidophilus CUL 60

L. acidophilus CUL 21

Bifidobacterium bifidum CUL 20

Bifidobacterium lactis CUL 34

Other Ingredients: cellulose, silica, vegetable magnesium stearate.

HLC probiotics contain no dairy, casein, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, or other common allergens.

So I don't think they could cause me a problem with gluten or casein, right?

-Brian

[marciab]

Brian,

Unfortunately, anyone can react to anything and we are all different. If it is a capsule, you could always open it and pour a little in applesauce, etc. if you still want to try it.

It's always possible that this is just too strong for you right now. Or maybe it is has gone bad. That would be the downside of supplements. You never know how they have been stored.

Also, I may be mistaken, but doesn't the L. in front of Acidophulus stand for lactose ?

Miso and sauerkraut also contain probiotics ... I found some chick pea miso at my health food store that is gluten-free, DF,CF, SF and it tastes great. Google fermented foods to find other natural probiotics.

Good luck ... marcia

[jerseyangel]

Add me to the list of people who can not tolerate probiotics. The first one I tried, Culturelle, made me terribly nauseous. I took them for as long as I could stand it--about a week.

The second time, the probiotic was in a digestive enzyme--I immediately got gas, bloating and nausea.

I thought it must just be me because I read so much about people taking them and feeling better. I just felt worse. It's good to hear that I'm not the only one! (We say that a lot around here!)

[Ursa Major]

I looked it up, because mine have L. Acidophilus as well. It stand for Lactobacillus Acidophilus. No lactose involved.

Brian, I am stumped, I don't see anything that could cause you to be sick. Do you take them with a meal? If I take probiotics on an empty stomach, I get a stomach ache and feel nauseous.

[GlutenWrangler]

It's not that I feel really sick right away. It's just the next morning what I get up I don't really feel good. I attribute it to my body getting rid of the toxins in my intestine. I feel a little better every day. This is my 5th day taking them. After 30 days I switch to the High Potency capsules which have half of the amount of bacteria that is in the Intensive capsules. If it doesn't get any better soon I'll just switch to the lower dose. I can't stop taking them because I think they will help with the D. I still have it almost 6 months into the diet. Maybe things have to get a little worse before they get better.

-Brian

[Nancym]

I switched from trying probiotics to using kefir instead. It really seems much easier on the gut.

[Guest cassidy]

does anyone know if probiotics and L-Glutamine are ok to take when yoiu are pregnant? I will check with my dr, but they are usually so clueless about stuff like this.

Both my ob/gyn and my holistic doctor said that probiotics are ok when pregnant. My holistic doctor said that both probiotics and digestive enzymes are very helpful when pregnant because your body is already straining so much to take care of the baby that any help you can give your gi system is beneficial. My health food store also said they are ok and I have been taking them the entire time with no problem.

[Guest AutumnE]

I'm using HLC Intensive probiotics. This is from the website:

Each capsule contains:

HLC LAB4 Consortium......24 billion viable cells (may contain up to 30 billion)

L. acidophilus CUL 60

L. acidophilus CUL 21

Bifidobacterium bifidum CUL 20

Bifidobacterium lactis CUL 34

Other Ingredients: cellulose, silica, vegetable magnesium stearate.

HLC probiotics contain no dairy, casein, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, or other common allergens.

So I don't think they could cause me a problem with gluten or casein, right?

-Brian

vegetable magnesium stearate could be corn, what vegetable do they use for it? Alot of times they call it hypoallergenic because they pull out the protein part of the corn but I still have a reaction. Im not the only one either others sometimes are hypersensitive to it.

[GlutenWrangler]

Autumn,

I don't think it's from corn because they say they don't use corn in their ingredients. I'm not sure which vegetable they use for the vegetable magnesium stearate. I tried to look that up myself a few days ago, but found no answers. I don't think I'm sensitive to corn anyway though. I've eaten it once since going gluten-free, and didn't have a problem.

Anyway the good news is that I feel pretty good today. I think that my body has finally adjusted and rid itself of most of the toxins. I'm glad that I can finally tolerate them. I had no idea so many people had trouble tolerating probiotics. Thanks everyone,

-Brian

[Guest AutumnE]

Im glad your doing better It stinks to not feel well around the holidays.

Take Care

[TestyTommy]

Add me to the list of people who react to probiotics.

I started taking one a couple of days ago. I got a stomach ache and felt bloated & gassy. Then I got the big D. It was similar to a gluten reaction, except when I was on gluten, I felt bloated and gassy, but could never pass any of the gas. This gas is definitely passing.

Will this wear off after a while? Is it a good sign? Or should I stop taking the probiotics?

Thanks for any advice any of you can offer.

[marciab]

"Miso and sauerkraut also contain probiotics ... I found some chick pea miso at my health food store that is gluten-free, DF,CF, SF and it tastes great. Google fermented foods to find other natural probiotics. "

I had to come back here and let you know that I am having a major candida outbreak and I believe it is from the miso, etc.

I'm confused because I read that people with candida should avoid fermented foods (miso, etc), but they are also considered beneficial if they still contain live cultures (from the Body Ecology diet) ...

Just wanted to give y'all a heads up ... I am back on kefir for now, since this is what cleared me up the first time ...

Marcia

[debmidge]

add my husband to list of those who have celiac disease & can't take probiotics (reaction)

[GlutenWrangler]

Tommy,

My first few days were pretty rough. I was about to stop taking them, but I decided to stick with it. Each day after that I got better and better. At this point my body has no problem tolerating the probiotics. I've been taking them for roughly 2 weeks now, and I'm definitely happy about the improvement. My healing process had kind of stalled, and now it seems like it's back on track, and I feel better than I have in a very long time.

If you have a bad mixture of intestinal flora, the probiotics will be able to help you. But in order to repopulate your intestine with good bacteria, the bad bacteria has to be removed. This cleansing period makes you feel like crap, but it should lessen and then disappear with time. If it doesn't get better, you might want to try another brand. Make sure there is no hidden gluten in the ingredients. I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

-Brian

[TestyTommy]

Thanks, Brian. I'll stick it out for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Besides, what's a little belly ache and GI distress to a celiac??

[GlutenWrangler]

Couldn't have said it any better myself

[NoGluGirl]

Brian,

Unfortunately, anyone can react to anything and we are all different. If it is a capsule, you could always open it and pour a little in applesauce, etc. if you still want to try it.

It's always possible that this is just too strong for you right now. Or maybe it is has gone bad. That would be the downside of supplements. You never know how they have been stored.

Also, I may be mistaken, but doesn't the L. in front of Acidophulus stand for lactose ?

Miso and sauerkraut also contain probiotics ... I found some chick pea miso at my health food store that is gluten-free, DF,CF, SF and it tastes great. Google fermented foods to find other natural probiotics.

Good luck ... marcia

Dear Marcia,

As far as I know, L. stands for Lactobacillus. That is the genus of the bacteria. That means the strain it is unique to. This normally states what family it is from. I do not think it has anything to do with dairy. The most common source of it is yogurt, though.

Sincerely,

NoGluGirl