# Probiotic side effects?



## Shell13

Ugh... I started TuZen probiotics a week ago. My doc recommended this particular probiotic as he deemed it the safest. I feel 10 times worse then when I started. Is this side effects? Please somebody tell me it will get better soon, 'cause I'm about to give up and throw them in the trash (and they're too expensive to do that!







) Absolutely nothing else helps with my IBS, I have IBS-D and C with tremendous abdominal pain and gas. The fodmap diet was useless and I've cut so much out of my diet, I'm starving. I've tried all sorts of prescription meds to no avail and please don't recommend anti-depressants 'cause I've been on every type you can think of and they all make things much worse. Maybe the probiotics just make you sick at first, and then start to really help?? Please, I'm so disheartened, has any body else started out this way?


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## BQ

Here is some info: Some side effects go away over time.http://www.tuzen.ca/bloating-and-gas.aspIf you don't see an improvement after a week or two... try a different probiotic with different bacterial strains. Sometimes when one doesn't help us... another will. There is no "safest" one... Each of us is different adn each one of us will respond differently to different probiotics... So if one doesn't help .... try another with different bacterial strains.HOWever...If you are feeling THAT much worse.. I doubt this probiotic is the one for you... so.. look into another one maybe.


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## Shell13

But with no real research into long term effects, is it safe to be putting all this bacteria into our bodies? Besides, these probiotics are so expensive, I can't just keep spending a fortune for trial and error. Why is it that more research is not being done, by actual doctors? Could this probiotic thing just be another way for companies to make money off people suffering? If there's no real way to diagnose IBS, I guess there's no real way to treat it either.


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## Kathleen M.

There are already something like 100 trillion bacteria in your gut, so as long as the ones you are adding aren't pathogens it is unlikely to cause serious longterm health problems.Probiotic bacteria are the same kinds we use to ferment foods (like yogurt or saurkraut) and before refrigeration fermenting foods was a major way of preserving them.I know we have a lot of every bacteria is a bad bacteria thought in modern culture (with how much antibacterial stuff we slather on everything and everyone) but we have always coexisted with a lot of bacteria and it seems being completely devoid of them will make us sicker. There are a few bad ones that cause illness, but most of them are harmless.There is actual research being done by actual scientists and doctors. Some strains (Culturelle, Align, VSL#3) are the actual versions used in real research. Although most of th studies are relatively short term (like up to 6 weeks rather than up to 6 or more years) Just checked and there is 822 papers published in science journals on probiotics this year. 500+ have something to do with probiotics in humans.Like every other treatment for everything thing, some people do well, some people get nothing, and some people get side effects. We are just at the beginning of figuring out why that is for some medications, it will be awhile before we can do that with something more complex like how 1-10 species of bacteria you add will coexist with the 500-1000 species of bacteria you already have in there.Some of the side effects can be from prebiotics that may be added (not sure about that brand) or because there is a change going on in the internal ecosystem and that may upset things for awhile. Also if you always react badly anytime you know you take something, there are nocebo (when you get sicker when taking something that can't have an effect) effects like placebo effects and if your conditioned that taking a pill makes you sick you may react badly to pills, any pills.You can get probiotics the old-fashioned way by eating yogurt and other traditionally fermented foods. And there are some people who are producing what they call probiotics just to make money. Like any supplement there are brands where you are unlikely to get either the number or the species of bacteria that are on the label. That doesn't mean all probiotic information is fraudulent hype that some ad executive made up.


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## Shell13

Thanks, I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just so exhausted from being sick all the time. Believe me, I have nothing against pills, and I KNOW there are benefits from many, many of them. It was mainly my gastro-doc that made me believe that they may do more harm then good, but I told him I had to try them if there was any chance at all they'd help. I know it's hard to treat IBS because they don't even know the cause. And my doc said probiotics are a long-shot because there really is no way to detect what gut "flora" you may be low on, etc. I'm giving it the old-college-try anyway, because I don't want anybody saying that I'm not trying to help myself. Every other doctor I see tells me the pain and everything is all in my head ,and yet they refuse to get me a counsellor, because my problem isn't severe enough to be depressed about it. Give me a freakin' break! I can barely go anywhere anymore, IBS affects every part of my life, and that's not a reason to be sad?? Anyway, I'm sorry if I was coming off negative, my patience is pretty non-existent now. I appreciate any advice and/or even just support and understanding.


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## Kathleen M.

If you can't see a therapist, you might try the home hypnotherapy tapes. I did CBT which is a different mechanism but getting at some of the same mind-body things and it did my pain a world of good.Have you seen if peppermint (which you can do yourself) can reduce the pain, sometimes it will help even if other antispasmodics haven't.Sometimes just feeding the bacteria have less food will help (low Fodmap diet, or just less starch in the diet) or eating smaller more frequent meals so you even out the stimulation to the gut.


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