Probiotics causing stomach ache !

Posted , 12 users are following.

We try so hard to be well.  Have had a struggle with sinus, headaches, ears and stomach for about a year now and it was supposedly under control and geting better, then I took a large dose of biotics to replace the good bacteria as I had been under the weather and taking three weeks of anti biotics. Next thing I knew my stomach felt awful and has done ever since - nearly a week now.  The pp2 and the ibs tablets do not help.   Anyone else had any similar experiences?

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  • Posted

    Hello Carmel. I have been away from Patients' forum for some time. I am sorry you have had such a rotten time with the  Probiotics. I can't offer an explanation but am sure others will.but I do sympathize because recently I took some Probiotics  for an unsettled tummy and it became far worse with stomach aches, and not digesting food properly. I stopped taking them and have been drinking green tea and less milk/dairy.

    after a week and taking  'Windeeze' I felt much better.

    hooe you will too.

    Cosima

    • Posted

      Hi Cosima.  So you have had a similar experience then. Thanks for telling me abot it.  I took three strong (20 billion each) capsules nearly a week ago and then this awful stomach which will not go away, in fact now on saturday itis worse. When I went shopping today I was in agony and hardly able to walk around or stand up.  I am also getting wind both ends!  I wonder if this is abouthow the balance in the gut has to be right and just as we can have too much BAD bacteria we can have too much GOOD bacteria?  That is my theory.  I am eating very soft food now and just whatever I fancy.  Might try another pain killer. I hesitate to go to doctor because they never connect things or look at reasons.  Never heard of windeeze and unable to get out now  but thanks for teling me about it.
    • Posted

      It could be you started with to high a count and it was too much for your system. Try starting with 3 billion. Maybe try another brand. All brands are not the same. Research before you buy, always. Don't buy WalMart, Walgreens

      go to a health store who can give you more info. And not GNC. Make sure there is not a lot of other ingredients. Expiration date thru shelf life.

  • Posted

    Hi Carmel,

    We seem to be chatting a lot on here! I can't take probiotics either, they make averything worse. a simple explanantion could be that it's not the right probiotics as there are many to choose from each offering a different mix of healthy bacteria, so if you choose the wrong one you get too much and it makes you sick. 

    • Posted

      Morning Kerry.  I am in the UK and it is 11.51 now.  Am in agony with my stomach it is worse than before.  I think it is about getting the right balance and you can have too much  of the good bacterias just as you can have too much of the bad? Does that make sense to you?  I had been on antibiotics for three weeks before and thought I needed to boost the good but took 60 billion and it must have been too much for it.   Why  it is worse five days later goodness knows.  Am eating some blue cheese because it contains penicillin which is sort of the opposite thing.
    • Posted

      Hi carmel,

      sorry you're so ill. think you may be making it worse with the blue cheese though, I can't touch the stuff (because it's fermented I think.) Get on the vegetables I mentioned in the other discussion and your stomach will calm right down, when you roast them in the oven in olive oil they are heavenly!

    • Posted

      Thanks but at the moment am too ill to go out, no visitors, feel too bad to stand there cooking,  have to make do with the food that is here.
    • Posted

      Hi Carmel. I remember taking some probiotics last year and they made everything a lot worse, they were designed more for the bowel than the tummy and they were called saccharomyces boulardii. I just wonder if the probiotics you took contained this strain. The ones I take now are bio kult and they are the only tablets my sensitive stomach will let me take.

      I hope things are improving for you now.

    • Posted

      Hi Emma. I actually wrote to the manufacturer of these biotics and said there should be a warning on the site about them. Just as you get a warning on a jar saying it may contains nuts or whatever and some might react to it.

      The violently insisted nobody had ever had this problem and tried to say it was me or a coincidence or caused by something else, but I KNOW it was this. They did not contain that strain. I often wonder though why we are supposed to keep taking them. Once our stomach is full of friendly bacteria surely they can take care of themselves unless we put in some poisonous antibiotics or something that spoils them?

    • Posted

      Hi Carmel. I have been taking probiotics for about 18 years now and I dont actually think they have done anything for my stomach. The only thing they help with is my allergies because they say that the majority of our immune systems are in our stomachs so presumably they help to boost my immune system against my allergies.

      Are you able to get out of the house now? The trouble with this illness is the more stressed/depressed you are, the worse you get. Mine had got really good about eight years ago after homeopath, then we were burgled four years ago and the stress made mine really bad again. Im still trying to get it under control.

    • Posted

      Hi Emma. I was on medication for a week and felt better and stopped today it yesterday and the bad stomach is back, very painful constantly, so taking cimitidine again to nunumb that and hope to go out in a few days. Thanks for asking, how are you
    • Posted

      Having a better day today thanks. My problems originally started because I was taking antibiotics and painkillers for sinusitis and ended up with h.pylori. Have you been tested for this as you have been on antibiotics for a while? Cant remember having the pain you have got but was very acidic and nauseous. What sort of pain is it, mine burns as its raw?
    • Posted

      Mine is a sort of burning gnawing like when you are very very hungry. Sort of like knotting? Otherwise I am fine.

      The nausea has gone and the burping and passing wind has gone. Gla\d you are feeling better today.

    • Posted

      Always read and research on what kind to take, what to look for how much to take and which ones. That's on anything.

  • Posted

    I can say to you I experience the same thing ! You're not alone , my problems all started after taking amoxicillin for bronchitis 8 months ago nearly now , I hadn't felt right for a while with a cough and ear infections , then I had what seemed like gastritis / urine infection , and my problems have since got worse and moved to various parts of my body ( along with stomach pain I experience pretty much at all times ) , Ive recently in the last few months been experiencing ear pain , headaches , joint pain and pain with urination ... A lot of sinus problems , excess mucus , sneezing , u name it ... Just seems my whole bodies has been knocked for six since the stomach infection , do u take probiotics daily and have u changed the brands as recommended ? Yakult are meant to be the best kind , I can also recommend buying a tablet form of probiotics from your local health store , bio-kult are a good brand although quite expensive but I noticed some different whilst taking these 
    • Posted

      Hi Batgirl.  I have often had yoghurt and made my own yoghurt with no problems.  I have also taken biotics with no problem before.  This seemed to be a case of having an iffy stomach which had been knocked for six by the anti biotics for a few weeks etc and then a HIGH DOSE of probiotics straight after. How are you now?  Is your stomach still bad and is it bad all of the time? Am sorry you feel so  poorly.  It is getting me down a lot because I live on my own and have no visitors so it gets pretty boring feeling like this on your own all day.

      Don't feel up to working and doing my normal things so it is a long day.  Of course I am no longer taking the probiotics after they knocked me for six.  I have a sort of theory Batgirl.  Just as antibiotics can knock out a  lot of the flora in your stomach which is good perhaps biotics can knock out some of the bad flora which we also need and give it a bad balance. Like a see saw effect where we have to make sure it it is not all or nothing? I managed to get rid of my ear problem and pain by taking the anti biotics previously and NASONEX (but I refuse to use this every day and only when needed ) and using an ear popper, maybe it would have gone anyway without it.  I also had a

      bad cough but that is cleared up now.

      One of the things that drives me mad is when you speak to a  doctor and they ask you something like DO YOU GET NAUSEA and they think this is a clue to what is wrong withyou - yet you are taking three medications which can cause nausea so it is misleading.  And if you are telling them that your problem started when you took the high dose of probiotics this should tell them all they need to know.

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