# Align reviews



## hating ibs (Jan 28, 2009)

I have a friend who is taking Align and is loving it. She said she has notices a big change in her IBS habits being on align. Its not a miricle cure but its made her much more comfortable. Im a bit skeptical because its a probiotic and i have tried a number of them and still felt pretty crummy... but im always up for trying a new product. Has anyone tried this? Pros/cons? One complaint she has is that it costs almost $30 for a 28 day supply which is very expensive. Does anyone know of a more generic brand that is half the price and still has the same benefits and ingredients?Any feedback is appreciated!


----------



## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Hating please visit our Probiotics Forum and do a sear ch there for it. I am sure you will be able to find out how others did with it.(Use the site navigator on the bottom right of every page to get to all of our Forums)All the best


----------



## Moises (May 20, 2000)

See the Probiotics Section of the forum for numerous discussions about Align.


----------



## crstar (Jun 29, 2009)

i've tried a ton of them out there...........look for enteric coated, with as many strains as possible.........there's one called jarro-dolphus, i think, which isn't too expensive...........there r others, but i haven't been able to find a difference between them..........there r also vitamin stores own generic probiotics..........i think vita-cost has a decent one, that's more reasonable........here's the thing about the biotics in ur intestines...........there r any number of reasons why we can end up with low levels, but no one should have to keep taking them for ever & a day...........after they become re-estalished, u shouldn't have to take them for a really long time.........if everytime u stop taking them, u go back to the way u were before, then something else is wrong.........people who have had their appendix out, will always have to re-establish the flora, themselves.........it can b a fragile thing & stay away from antibiotics........they'll wipe u out everytime.........here's another thing.........if ur own flora do get wiped out & the appendix is gone, u r still going to b in trouble..........there r hundreds of strains of flora in the untainted gut & no company has them all in a capsule.........the most i've ever seen in one cap was like 10 different strains........that's a far cry from hundreds..........then, if u have an over-growth of candida & the caps help, it can still b a hard thing to get the balance back w/o intervention..........& when u do unbalance the flora & candida gets a foothold, i personally don't think u can re-establish the balance by ur self.........candida is a nasty thing to have running amok in ur body.........


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Very few species have been tested with IBS and even fewer have many strains of any given species tested.Align is one that has been tested in IBSers and does seem to help. The species in Align is in a lot of other products, but likely isn't the same strain.I find Align works for me (reducing fart freequency) but I generally do well with any probiotic where I think the company is actually capable of getting live bacteria into the product (so not the really cheap generic store brand)


----------



## faze action (Aug 6, 2009)

I took Align for 8 weeks on the advice of my GI doctor, following a course of rifaximin. I never even knew I was taking it. That could have been because of the effect of the antibiotics, but my symptoms did begin to return (as they had done previously w/o taking a probiotic) about 6 weeks after the antibiotic course had ended. Approximately 7 weeks into the course my symptoms got markedly worse, but I believe that was due, in part, to a virus I was fighting at the time. At this time my doctor took me off the Align and about a week later my GI issues actually improved (again, this was probably due to the virus).Nutshell: Align really didn't do anything for me, in terms of either improving or worsening my symptoms. About the only result was that Proctor & Gamble got a little richer...


----------



## Halleycomet (Jan 6, 2010)

I have been on Align for a whole whopping week now and have noticed zero effect. Tho my GI did tell me that it can take a month or so to notice anything. I am going to wander over to the probiotics pages and see what's up but thought I might mention something I have wondered about similar to the above comments---I used to work with dairy goats and other ruminants and once had a really sick animal that "lost" her ability to cud. Without a cud the animal will not be able to digest anything so it is extremely important that the cud action be restarted ASAP. A few ways to do this are to "steal"' a cud from another animal IN THE SAME HERD as the bacteria etc will be similar and defensive organisms will be there that the animal needs. However if you think giving your dog or cat a pill is hard YOU try sticking YOUR fingers in a goats mouth and trying to find much less steal the cud! You can sometimes get one from a slaughterhouse OR you can try and "re-cud" with poo. Yeah this DOES sound like an episode of Dirty Jobs doesn't it! Actually guines pigs have a non-cud digestive system that also needs a double digestion and they produce "special" poo's to eat and feed their babies and their sick. I have re-extablished guinea poigs digestion this way and did manage to save that goat via a poo cocktail, yogurt infusions and lots and lots of weird solutions shoved thru a tube down her throat. Soooo---I have often wondered if there is some component that may NOT be what we think of as a "biotic" professional or not---that is MISSING from the guts of those with IBS and other digestive issues. I have tried other probiotics to no avail. I had "stomach issues" as a kid attributed to a congenital bad gallbladder---try convincing your MD that your kid has a bad gallbladder at age 9---let me know how that works for you!---and after I had mine out (and after a severe bout of Hep A the raw sewage version) I got much worse. Now I have had in the past few years several serious life saving antibiotic courses inc several PIC lines and now I cannot eat about 2/3's of the stuff I could even a few years (sometimes months) ago. My daughter has the same issue as did my mother and several other close order rellies. Any thoughts????


----------



## crstar (Jun 29, 2009)

i have just had a conversation with a friend about gallbladder issues...........i will not go into depth, but u might want to read my other posts & check into hydrochloric acid (HCl) thing..........it keeps things in solution, rather precipitating out...........


----------



## Borrellifan (May 5, 2009)

Kathleen M. said:


> Very few species have been tested with IBS and even fewer have many strains of any given species tested.Align is one that has been tested in IBSers and does seem to help. The species in Align is in a lot of other products, but likely isn't the same strain.I find Align works for me (reducing fart freequency) but I generally do well with any probiotic where I think the company is actually capable of getting live bacteria into the product (so not the really cheap generic store brand)


I thought VSL#3 also had positive results when tested on IBS patients?Personally, I have tried just about every probiotic on the planet, sometimes taking all of them at the same time. I have felt no benefit to my IBS symptoms from them but my overall health has benefited. I haven't gotten a single cold or sore throat in the last year, not one cold, which is quite amazing.


----------



## transatlanticist (Dec 24, 2009)

Borrellifan said:


> I have felt no benefit to my IBS symptoms from them but my overall health has benefited. I haven't gotten a single cold or sore throat in the last year, not one cold, which is quite amazing.


Same here! None of the probiotics I've tried (including Align -- what a waste of money! -- and an IBS-specific probiotic) have dramatically improved my intestinal symptoms. However, they sure help me avoid the common cold. This has been so helpful since I get sick easily due to an auto-immune disease. I can't tolerate vitamin supplements because of my IBS, so for me, probiotics are a great substitute for vitamin C. Nutrition Now's PB-8 is my favorite so far.


----------



## On Edge (Aug 25, 2009)

Probiotics have generally not worked for me, but I am game to try Align. I do not seem to be able to find it available in Canada, though.


----------



## Siea (Jun 21, 2010)

When is the right time to take align?Morning, day or evening?Before, during or after a meal?


----------



## Halleycomet (Jan 6, 2010)

hating ibs said:


> I have a friend who is taking Align and is loving it. She said she has notices a big change in her IBS habits being on align. Its not a miricle cure but its made her much more comfortable. Im a bit skeptical because its a probiotic and i have tried a number of them and still felt pretty crummy... but im always up for trying a new product. Has anyone tried this? Pros/cons? One complaint she has is that it costs almost $30 for a 28 day supply which is very expensive. Does anyone know of a more generic brand that is half the price and still has the same benefits and ingredients?Any feedback is appreciated!


According to the Gastro who gave me the Rx for Align this is the ONLY source of this particular probiotic and seems to work much better than the others. I too have tried others and been left wondering what the fuss was about. But the Align DOES help---not a cure but def a big help. I was given samples at the Gastro and coupons for $5 off. I also found that several drug/retail places are selling various sizes and prices so you have to do your homework to find the best deal. Walmart seems to be the best "everyday" price but CVS had a different size package which worked out cheaper. Price Chopper also had a sale on it for awhile which may run again. SAms Club oddly was very spendy on this but VERY cheap on their brand of Imodium and it comes in a large quantity bottle---go figure! It would be nice tho if we could get this stuff as an ACTUAL Rx since we would be able to order it in quantity and pay a co-pay price, I don't know if this is possible. I do know that if you have a "flexible spending plan" on your health plan you nwill no longer be able to use it for things like OTC drugs etc which is just annoying.


----------



## QuiQui (Aug 15, 2010)

Moises said:


> See the Probiotics Section of the forum for numerous discussions about Align.


Does that section still exist? This link doesn't work.


----------



## tiff125 (Apr 13, 2010)

I took it for month but did not notice any differences either good or bad.


----------



## QuiQui (Aug 15, 2010)

I took Align for seven weeks, and all it did for me was give me bad gas. It was a total waste of money for me. And the worst part is that I missed out on the money-back guarantee because I didn't notice that I had to do it within a certain time period. Argh.


----------



## faze action (Aug 6, 2009)

I took Align previously (my post is above) and went back on it a couple of weeks ago because of a bad "flare up"... so far it has done nothing for me. I'm going to take it for another 2 weeks (finish the box), but I am not holding out hope for anything major. I took it previously right after a course of ABs and figured that might be why I didn't notice any changes then, but nothing now either and I haven't been on antibiotics since that last course in 2009.


----------

