Trial with VSL3 probiotic for IBS D

What is a prebiotic? Never heard of that.

All I've been doing is taking 1 sachet of VSL daily on a morning web I wake up. I mix the VSL with an activia yoghurt.

Quick update as I'm here now...

Ran out of VSL last week as I started 12 hour nightshift working. So... I thought id see if not taking VSL instantly reverts my IBS back to IBS-D. I concluded that the VSL has helped a lot. Changing my diet going onto nightshift obviously messes up anyone's system that isn't used to it... But I was expecting really bad diahrrea and to feel rough... That's what happened last time I did night shift. This time however I was ok. Not brilliant, my stomach felt a bit strange and 1 morning decided to eat a full English breakfast before bed... I won't be doing that again, but generally I did feel better. That feeling if going to the toilet and not being finished seems to have gone. I've since finished nights, had a BBQ and some alcohol last night. Had a poo before I went to bed and thought... Oh no... The ibs has returned, but today I've been ok. Slightly bloated.

Without over analysing this too much... The VSL is helping and fixing / healing my guts... It's just a slow process. The 2 thins that have massively helped sort out my IBS was significantly lowering my sugar intake and taking this VSL.

To anyone reading this who suffers IBS D... All I can say is when you decide to trial something new in a way to fix ibs, do one thing at a time and do it for long enough. For example I tried VSL for the first time earlier in the year, kept taking it for 2 weeks, didn't notice a difference so stopped. I've since started taking it again, probably for 4-5 weeks in a daily basis and the improvements in my ibs seems unbelievable.

I made the mistakes of starting gluten free diets, only drinking water, taking VSL etc etc all at once then got fustrated when I actually felt worse!

Anyway... I'm still sceptical about this VSL. I want to keep taking it for a minimum of 6 months with no other changes in my lifestyle or diet so I can make a good judgement.

:-)

Hi Ned. A PREbiotic is some food that helps the biotic to multiply and flourish, themore it flourishes the more it takes over and gets rid of the bad and the more it helps you.

If you have a good prebiotic and a low dose of biotic that helps more than a large dose of biotic without the pre.

You can google prebiotics but the three I tend to stick to are onion, oats and honey. Just have some so that the biotic can feed on it/them and flourish and you get more from it. Mixing it into yoghurt simplymakes it easier to eat, it doesnt help it to flourish. Live yoghurt is the only one that helps. A lot of yoghurt is dead even though they have added a tiny bit of a so called biotic that is dead so they can put it on the label. Then it might taste nice and fill you up but has no benefit otherwise. I like muesli so I have some muesli and then yoghurt and make my own yoghurt.

I don't take activia yoghurt because I think it will help lol. I only use it to mix the VSL in as it tastes awful mixed with water.

I sometimes mix horrible tasting stuff with a teaspoonful of yoghurt. Know what you mean.

Chalky water lol...

Il look into probiotics then.

I also read on another post that L Glutamine is good?. I've got some capsules but yet to start taking them.

L Glutamine might help but cannot harm, but it is really for the lining of the stomach not the gut flora.

Drinking will always put you twenty steps back to whatever you achieved before.

Biotics are great but they are a food, not a medicine.

You take them along with taking the right food and not taking the wrong food otherwise they do very little or no good at all and are just a waste of money.

Yes.

Hello Ned

Great to hear of the progress you've achieved. Could I ask a favour and that you continue to update what happens with your experience of VSL and L-glutamine, say every month or few months, if you get the time. Thanks

Unless you make sure you cut out alcohol, sugar, processed and refined foods, eat lots of veg, cut down on fruit and have foods with inulin every day you are usually wasting your money on it, it just goes through the system. You have to make sure you do not eat things that kill it and eat foods tht grow with it.

Thanks Carmel, that's very helpful to know. As my daughter is 13, all of what you've suggested shouldn't be a problem. I've seen your earlier posts about prebiotics. Could I ask, what is your usual routine with them - do you usually eat something like half a banana (or some oats / onion / honey [together ? separately ? and in what amounts / proportions ?] Then do you wait say 15 minutes or half an hour and then have the probiotic ? Also, how successful have you found pre & pro biotics to be and how long did you take them before noticing any beneficial effects ? Have you tried L-glutamine at all ?

Hi Peter . Sometimes I have plain yoghurt but mix in some sunflower seeds, raw oats etc so that the bacteria feeds off of it. Sometimes I eat some onio or an onion bhajij about same time as the live yoghurrt. A lot of the yoghurt we buy in the shop is not live. It has either been heat treated so much its dead or they have just put a tiny bit i n so they can put iton the label to sell it. The yoghurt with sugar is bad.

This is as much about what to eat as it is about what not to eat.

But another thing to remember is that when you help the bacteria to flourish this can sometimes backfire, as itmight help the bad bacteria to grow too.

At the moment I am taking professional formula and helping it to grow. Am also taking oats and fibre capsules a lot. Eat a lot of veg and the only fruit I eat now is banana or apple, though apple doesnt help with this, but is good for you and for inflammation in particular. But never eat more than 1 piece of fruit a day as it can help candida to grow.

Have cut down a lot of processed refined food and sugar. Cut down on protein and carbohydrates and starch (which turns into sugar when eaten).

MOST people want a quick fix and think if they take a biotic they are sorted. But that is just a part of it. Without the backup its a waste of time and money.

You can also take tablets of inulin, the ingredient you get from chicory , onion etc. And garlic capsules help too. They help against infection etxc tloo. The recommended dose I always double as am overweight.

Omega fish oil capsules help with digestive problems and many other things. Eating more fish and less meat is great. Many people have too much meat in their meal. It should be about 15 - 20% of the whole meal.

Jacket potatoes are great as alkaline and fibre. Avoid dairy. Avoid salt.

I put more pepper on when I need more seasoning. Get into the habit of increasing veg. So when you have a snack have raw carrot sticks rather than something else. When you have a sandwich put in less or no butter/marg (which is bad for you) and more salad.

Sugar helps the bad bacteria to grow, so do refined and processed foods.Vegetables and garlic help the good to grow and crowd out the bad.

Too much fruits bad because of the sugar.

I also try to eat as much of alkaline foods rather than acid foods now

and takej bicarbonate of soda daily for my silent acid reflux rather than

the medicine pp1s and pp2s which give horrible side effects to me after a while. Yes tried l glumatine. It is supposed to repair stomach lining.

There are other supplements that do too. Ifj someone says it helps them but they are still taking it there is something wrong. Usually you take it for a few months and then do notneed it anymore. But that is for leaky gut etc. Watch out for honey. Most is heat treated. Only the expensive manuka or home made is ok. Jereusalum artichoke is good too. Pure sugar! An enemy. Hope this helps.

Yes no problem. I plan to keep regularly updating the progress.

The VSL seems to have done this:

* calmed the stomach noises

* solid stools

* reduced the 'not finished' symptom after passing a stool

* generally more energy and clear mind, less tired, better moods

* reduced the anxiety and worry associated with ibsd.

* reduced the intensity of an ibsd attack - typically +5 days to start going 'back to normal' whereas now it's more like 1 day. This obviously depends though on diet etc.

* allowed me to eat foods that would previously irritate my stomach. Pizza, pasta, breads, spicey food - don't get me wrong if I eat all that food all week if be really bad... But my body seems to be able to tolerate it better since the VSL. I've had the odd spicey pizza and felt slightly bloated the next morning... Which is 110% better than I used to be.

Cutting down massively on sugar has done this:

* stopped the burning stools

* stopped stomach noises

* stopped morning rush

* stopped a serious amount of brain fog, tiredness and moods

* stopped these weird hot sweats and heavy heartbeats I used to get  

* stopped heart palpitations

I'm going to stick with the VSL and l glutamine. I want to start heavily analysing my diet to find out 100% what's caused my ibs. Also as mentioned above probiotics sound good. There must become a point though where my guts are re-balanced so should my stomach not improve anymore whilst taking VSL I need to start looking into other areas!

Hope this helps

Hi Ned

I have a very close friend who has a naturally health nut for a wife ( she's wonderful) and she has investigated natural probiotics for him and has come up with milk kefir.  This is an ancient grain which is used to culture a yoghurt over 24 hours. Now I know lactose is a no no for alot of colitis sufferers, but kefir actually nutralises a large percentage of the lactose and if you can get your hands on RAW milk its even better. 

My friend has been taking it in a smoothie with abnana and honey for flavour, and has had the same results as you with the expensive VSL, at the same rate (long term results not over night fix).

THe beauty of milk kefir (you can also get a water kefir which ic delicous) is its self perpetuating, you scoop the grains off the top of the mixture after its fermentated and start again.  The only difficulty is getting your hands on it, but if you google milk kefir in your area you will often find people giving it away as they have surplus to their needs.

I am not a sufferer but I am constantly looking for things that can help releive symptoms for my 2 close dear friends.  Check it out, see what you think.

Thankyou