Probiotic Question

[JSegura226]

I have a question for all you probiotic experts..

In the month of June, I put on a good 15+ lbs while eating a whole foods diet and counting calories. During this time I also added a couple high calorie sweets everyday (Hail Merry Miracle tarts) for a calorie and fat boost...As July rolled in, my weight was the highest it had ever been in my entire life! I was on a roll and feeling great!.. Well I was on a roll up until 4th of July weekend... During this weekend I started to feel a bit gross in the gut and I knew something bad was coming... Sure enough, as the week progressed my bowel movements were getting more loose by the day, I was cramping, became very gassy and completely lost my appetite. I also developed what I think was a small case of thrush on my tongue...

I figured that I probably was eating too much sugar and developed an overgrowth of baddie microbes. Well I started a strict No-Sugar Diet about 12 days ago and started taking Culturelle Digestive health Dairy free along with my usual supplements of Digest gold and cod liver oil... I am on my 13th day on the probiotics and I feel like the probiotics are actually making me worse!! I wake up every morning feeling fine and take the pill and I swear I can feel it going through my system and upsetting everything on the way down. By mid day I am hunched over in pain...

My question is, Should I just buckle down and continue taking it until I feel better? Or should I stop and see if I feel better without it?? Also is 13 days long enough for a probiotic to go win the war with the bad bacteria?

[LauraB0927]

I have a question for all you probiotic experts..

In the month of June, I put on a good 15+ lbs while eating a whole foods diet and counting calories. During this time I also added a couple high calorie sweets everyday (Hail Merry Miracle tarts) for a calorie and fat boost...As July rolled in, my weight was the highest it had ever been in my entire life! I was on a roll and feeling great!.. Well I was on a roll up until 4th of July weekend... During this weekend I started to feel a bit gross in the gut and I knew something bad was coming... Sure enough, as the week progressed my bowel movements were getting more loose by the day, I was cramping, became very gassy and completely lost my appetite. I also developed what I think was a small case of thrush on my tongue...

I figured that I probably was eating too much sugar and developed an overgrowth of baddie microbes. Well I started a strict No-Sugar Diet about 12 days ago and started taking Culturelle Digestive health Dairy free along with my usual supplements of Digest gold and cod liver oil... I am on my 13th day on the probiotics and I feel like the probiotics are actually making me worse!! I wake up every morning feeling fine and take the pill and I swear I can feel it going through my system and upsetting everything on the way down. By mid day I am hunched over in pain...

My question is, Should I just buckle down and continue taking it until I feel better? Or should I stop and see if I feel better without it?? Also is 13 days long enough for a probiotic to go win the war with the bad bacteria?

I dont have an issue with putting on weight (I'm actually trying to lose it!) but I did have an issue with a high amount of probiotics in Kefir. I drank a small amount of Kefir just to see if I liked the taste and about an hour later I was curled up on the floor screaming in pain. My nutritionist told me that a lot of people with Celiac have a hard time with high amounts of probiotics at least until they heal more. She doesn't want me to drink any more for a long time until I can work it back in slowly. How long have you been gluten free? Maybe you should hold off on the probiotics until you've healed more??

[JSegura226]

I dont have an issue with putting on weight (I'm actually trying to lose it!) but I did have an issue with a high amount of probiotics in Kefir. I drank a small amount of Kefir just to see if I liked the taste and about an hour later I was curled up on the floor screaming in pain. My nutritionist told me that a lot of people with Celiac have a hard time with high amounts of probiotics at least until they heal more. She doesn't want me to drink any more for a long time until I can work it back in slowly. How long have you been gluten free? Maybe you should hold off on the probiotics until you've healed more??

I have been gluten, dairy, soy and grain free for about 17 months now. 2 months ago I had my second endoscopy with celiac panel and the doctor says everything looked great and healed up.. The weird thing is I have actually taken this specific probiotic before, but never had any issues with it other than a little occasional gas... but then again, last time I took it, I was not particularly having belly issues to start out with other than the normal healing pains..I am starting to think that the pains I am feeling right now are the good bugs and bad bugs waging war.

[Bubba's Mom]

Probiotics will wage war with bad bacteria. If you feel symptoms after taking them it could be an indication that you are getting a die off? Some probiotics have inulin or other probiotic "feeders" in them too, which *could* cause a reaction, so read the label?

If you are eating a diet that starves out yeast and the bad bacteria that feed on sugars and starches, stay with it but cut back on the probiotic if it's making you too ill to function. You could be getting the double whammy of a die off from starving the bad guys AND the die off from the probiotics? You can increase it later. It's good to keep taking it so your intestine is full of good guys. No parking spots left for the bad guys.

If you had thrush..that suggests there *could* be a yeast battle going on too? If you don't currently have a good quality coconut oil in your diet, I highly recommend adding it. Nutivia is a good one.

It helps more than just your intestine. It's a wonder food.

[beachbirdie]

You might try a probiotic without inulin or other prebiotics (another poster mentioned this). I can't say with scientific certainty that this is an issue, I do know that when I started on probiotics after my diverticulitis I got gut-wrenching cramps every time I took them.

Now, after learning how the Specific Carbohydrate Diet works against bad bacteria, I figured it was probably the prebiotics making me sick.

Try to find one that allows you to start on a very tiny dose. Work your way up gradually as you can tolerate. And don't expect instant results. Gut healing takes from many months, up to a year or two.

[FruitEnthusiast]

Someone in an earlier post said: "My nutritionist told me that a lot of people with Celiac have a hard time with high amounts of probiotics at least until they heal more"

My ND has me taking two different probiotic capsules twice a day, that's four capsules every day. I'm not getting better, and I feel sick so much of the time. Is anyone else taking such a high dose daily of probiotics, or has anyone heard of that before? Being sick so much is really getting me down. I swear the learning curve on this gluten stuff is never ending.

[veronika]

I'm pretty sensitive to probiotics myself and cannot tolerate a full dose of anything I try.

That and, like other posters suggested, inulin is sometimes really rough on your system so you can try to avoid it and see if that helps. It promotes the growth of intestinal bacteria (growth of good AND bad bacteria) so it may be making things even harder on you.

Maybe you can try a powdered or liquid probiotic for awhile so you can introduce it in smaller doses until your system stabilizes with it? If by mid-day you are hunched over in pain, you are probably taking too much. If you are really sensitive, you can start off with a good probiotic yogurt (or you can culture your own with the probiotics you currently have) and work up to taking full strength probiotics when you are ready.

[TeknoLen]

I was taking probiotics daily and sometimes twice daily for about six months and then ran out before I could get to the store. Once I went off of them, I noticed my constipation improved significantly. I am pretty sure that nothing else in my diet changed. I bought some more since but have not added them back yet. I plan to resume eventually to see if this was what was causing the C. It is said often here and continues to be true, everybody is different. For some, probiotics are effective, for me the jury is still out. Good luck finding your own truth!

[jerseyangel]

I'm very sensitive to probiotics myself. I stopped trying them altogether. I do eat a good sized serving if plain Greek yogurt every say. If you need to be dairy free, fermented foods such as sourkraut might also be worth a try.

[FruitEnthusiast]

That is so helpful, thanks. I'm taking a break from the probiotics to see what happens. It's starting to seem like each thing my ND asks me to try makes me worse. Now she's asked me to try a parasite cleanse, though I have no reason to suspect I have any parasites. I just don't think she realizes what a delicate balance it is in there while our intestinal lining is healing.