# Probiotic--Align



## cfro (Dec 28, 2006)

I have been taking Align for about 15months and it eliminated most all of my IBS-D problems. In Jan. I stopped taking them and everything was fine for over a month and then I had a terrible bout of D and was not sure if I had gotten a "bug" or was it because I was no longer taking Align. I started back up and after about 10 days everything was fine again. Not I am starting to take it everyother day. My question is do you have to take it everyday and is it going to be a problem if you take it the rest of your life? I sure would like to eliminate the expense, but not if it is going to cause me to go back of the "d". BTW, I have Post infectious IBS that I have also heard will sometimes disappear over time.Thanks,cfro


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

In my personal experience at the start of taking probiotics I pretty much had to take them every day.After about a year or so I could not take them for awhile but would have to take them for a couple of weeks when the symptoms returned.My understanding is that probitoic bacteria tend to be short-term residents of the colon rather than ones that are for the most part permanent. So it takes awhile to get a reliable population in there and it can maintain that population once it is strong for awhile, but then the population levels start to drop and symptoms can return.So it is kind of like they need an occasional re-seeding to keep the population up. It seems it is hardest to get it going in the first place, and the later times (at least for me) is I still have a bunch, just not quite enough. So the first time it took awhile to get the population up and stable, but I don't completely lose that, just have to boost it back up once the numbers get too low.There doesn't seem to be any long term issue with taking probiotics for life. After all a lot of cultures eat yogurt or other fermented foods as a life long habit and seem to do OK.


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## IanRamsay (Nov 23, 2008)

HiTaking ANY probiotic on a permanant basis will not harm you in teh slightest, it is extremely difficult (just about impossible) to overdose or damage your self with them. (i have tried! purely as a scientific experiment.) but after a few months it is a good idea to give them a break to see if your symptoms come back quickly or not. if they dont, you can either not take them untill your symptoms come back, if they come back, or you can choose to take a maintanance dose every day or every other day or even once a week. sadly every bodys guts work slightly differently so you will have to play around with teh frequency of teh doses untill you find one that suits you. the advice Kathleen gave was spot on, teh bacteria dosent stick around for ever and does pass through you eventually, how long depends on your motility and the foods that you eat etc. so you do need to put them back in every now and then. cheersIan


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## cfro (Dec 28, 2006)

Thank you both--answers my questions!!!


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