# Found some effective probiotics from a webmd article



## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Article: http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/probiotics-diarrhea - Feb 13, 2015 it looks like they updated their article since I made this thread so I'll update this post too. *The page has been further edited to remove all mentions of specific strains and thus is no longer as useful. 8/22/2016 *- *I would recommend the "Starting guide to probiotics" link in my signature instead*.

Diarrhea in Children:

Saccharomyces boulardii, Lactobacilllus rhamnosus, and Lactobacilllus reuteri

Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea:

Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus GG

Travelers' Diarrhea:

Saccharomyces boulardii, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacteria bifidum

C. difficile

Saccharomyces boulardii, Lactobacillus plantarum

Saccharomyces boulardii (Brewer's Yeast?, Florastor, Jarrow formula): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013OVW0E - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OVW0E (cheaper)

Lactobacillus rhamnosus (Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, reuteri pearls): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O3GCSW

Lactobacillus reuteri (reuteri pearls): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O3GCSW

Lactobacillus GG (culturelle): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007A2YQV0
Lactobacillus acidophilus (reuteri pearls): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O3GCSW

Bifidobacteria bifidum (kyo-dophilus): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AP6R3E
Lactobacillus plantarum: I haven't been able to find a good supplement for this one yet. It seems common, but is also included with a lot of other strains that aren't listed in the article and thus might have contradictory affects. Let me know if anyone finds something good for this one and I'll update the thread with it. Pro-15.

Nice site for finding probiotics with specific strains: http://www.thecandidadiet.com/list-of-probiotics/

This pro-15 supplement is pretty cheap and has everything except s.boulardii & GG: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JEKYNZA - unfortunately, this one has negative effects for me. Probably due to some of the included strains (as well as the identifiers - see reuteri example) that aren't in the other probiotics that work well for me.

(Nature's Way Primadophilus Reuteri): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FL9EAG is similar to the reuteri pearls, but is cheaper, has FOS, and has 5billion cfu vs 1billion for reuteri pearls. It lacks the bifidobacterium longum, but longum is also found in the kyo-dophilus supplement. - Thanks to SteveInAustin for this one.

Primadophilus Reuteri has a different strain of reuteri it seems: HA-188 vs SD-5865 in reuteri pearls. Not sure what this means. Both supplements are by Nature's way. I read some comments where people preferred the reuteri pearls over the primadophilus reuteri, so you'll have to experiement for yourself.

================================================

I've been taking them all except b.bifidum which I was only just now able to find and order. I've been getting pretty good results. Cheese (unheated jack) & align also seem to do good anti-diarrheal work for me.

What I've found is that specific strains are much more effective than random probiotic supplements with multiple strains. This might be partly due to the fact that many strains have anti-constipation effects, and thus are detrimental to anti-diarrheal needs. But the main benefit is likely from the specific functions that these specific microbes perform. There's also significant difference between brands, strains, and different concoctions from the same company. I've also read of people having better results from store bought, because the heat during shipping damaged the product. But I don't think I've experienced this.

My diet right now is mainly fruit, sweet potatoes, white rice, red lentils, leafy greens, malt-o-meal, tapioca, oatmeal, olive/coconut oil, and unheated monterey jack cheese. And everything's pretty much under control.

*EDIT*: So while the florastor had some good affects, the cheaper Jarrow formula seems to be much more powerful (I'm guessing due to the FOS). It gives me some painful, odorless gas but if I take 1 simethicone with breakfast and 1 with dinner, that takes care of it completely. After 3 years I can apparently eat meat again (EDIT: nvm, close but no cigar. Infact, the s. boulardii seems to only work when not eating high protein foods) without getting dark green diarrhea thanks to the Jarrow formula (probably the combo in Edit #2)...

*EDIT 2*: None of them alone are close to as powerful as they are together. Align, Jarrow's S. Boulardii, brewer's yeast, culturelle, reuteri pearls, unheated jack cheese, & imodium have to be taken together for me to see the big benefits. Also, taking them separately with meals seems to be more beneficial than taking them altogether with breakfast.

*EDIT 3*: The cheaper reuteri formula and kyo-dophilus seem to have negative affects for me.

*EDIT 4 (IMPORTANT)*: At least in my case it is vital that I eat a low fat, low protein, vegan diet in order to reduce bile production as much as possible. As bile acts as a bactericide. I have had to stop eating cheese, because even though it has similar affects to imodium, it also seems to prevent the probiotics from taking action. I was previously able to add back fats and proteins (stopped supplementing for a while for testing), and I assume I'll be able to do the same this time around, after a few months. (unknown importance; wasn't taking b.yeast at the time)

So I stopped taking everything for a bit, and then I tried to figure out which ones were the most important. No combo I was trying was working as good as the first time around. I think I greatly missed or underestimated the affect brewer's yeast had. Maybe because I started it around the same time as others.

This time around I was taking reuteri pearls, align, imodium, & culturelle. And had already tried addtions and combos of the following, except b.yeast.

I added: cheap reuteri, s.boulardii, kyo-dophilus, brewers yeast, Diatomaceous earth, garlic. And a few days later I'm getting rock hard BMs. So brewer's yeast seems to have quite a big affect. But then my BMs started to soften. I stopped s.boulardii and they went back to rock hard. I stopped imodium and they softened and increased in frequency to 3x/day instead of 1 every 1-2 days. The fact that imodium is still necessary leads me to believe that there are more probiotics/yeasts out there that my gut needs, so I'll keep looking.

I've also just done a really thorough study through all my daily food diary entries, and from what I can tell from both that and my current experiements is that s.boulardii (jarrow or florastor) mostly has short term benefits (possibly from it's affect on bad bacteria), but isn't good for me long-term.
*What currently seems to be the best/necessary* is imodium, align, culturelle, reuteri pearls, brewer's yeast, and unheated Monterrey Jack cheese (plus the other diet-related stuff). All of which need to be taken. I'll update in 1-3 months to see how this mix is going. Unheated Jack cheese only has positive effects when I'm taking all these other things at the same time.
This mixture constipates me to where I need to do daily enemas, but I don't want to decrease imodium because it helps a lot with my chronic fatigue.

*EDIT 5*: I tried this soil-based probiotic, and it had extremely negative effects. As far as I know I've now tried every major probiotic.

Man... I cannot get rid of this soil probiotic since it's spore forming. And it's causing bad inflammation, arthritis, pale face & dark bags under my eyes, nausea, etc.. It brought back chest tightness & breathing problems from my youth. It also completely negated all the positive affects I was getting from the other probiotics. Probably the most dangerous probiotic on the market.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Hey MaximilianKohler,

I've been taking S. Boulardii for three weeks. It might be helping, but it is too early to be sure. My main symptom is pain. I've had few D episodes since I started the S. Boulardii.

I am taking two brands. Orthomolecular products and kirkman.

BTW, S. Boulardii is *not* brewer's yeast.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Do you know if the ones you take are cheaper or better than the Jarrow Formula?


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

MaximilianKohler said:


> Do you know if the ones you take are cheaper or better than the Jarrow Formula?


The ones I take are "SCD legal". I am following the SCD diet. I don't know if they are better or worse than Jarrow's.


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## SteveInAustin (Aug 22, 2007)

Hmm. I just switched my probiotic treatment to S.Boulardii + Reuteri + Rhamnosus, after seeing this post. Big difference after one dosage. For the past two days, I've woken up in the morning without feeling the usual "battery acid intestines" feeling that I've had for the past 8 years or so since contracting IBS-D (I suspect from eating tainted food). And my intestines are more quiet. Not perfect, but it is a remarkable improvement. And I've tried lots and lots of different probiotics and tons of other things over this period of time. These are tentatively the best I've had so far.

Still too early to say if this is something that will help me in the long term, though. Have to rule out placebo effect and other possibilities.

These new probiotics I am now using exclusively twice a day are:

Nature's Way Primadophilus Reuteri Vcaps
http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Primadophilus-Reuteri-Vcaps/dp/B000FL9EAG

(Lactobacillus rhamnosus + Lactobacillus acidophilus + Lactobacillus reuteri HA-188)

Jarrow Formulas Sacharomyces Boulardii & MOS

http://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Sacharomyces-Boulardii-Capsules/dp/B0013OVW0E

If I had to guess, I'd say it was the S. Boulardii that's making the most impact, but I'll figure that out some other time. Right now I want to continue doing the same thing for another month and will report back if it's still working. Thing is, I did try Florastor (which is also Sacharomyces Boulardii) at some point several years ago, and it turned my guts inside out and upside down. Just terrible. So I'm not sure why this Jarrow Formulas one is doing any better. Must be a different strain. Either that, or it's the Reuteri.

Thanks for posting that, MaximillianKohler!


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

SteveInAustin said:


> Thing is, I did try Florastor (which is also Sacharomyces Boulardii) at some point several years ago, and it turned my guts inside out and upside down


I heard of stories about S. Boulardii triggering an initial negative reaction. The right way to introduce them is with microdoses and then slowly building up. There was a guy that had to go to the ER after taking a regular dose of S. Boulardii. He explained that, a year later, he introduced the S. Boulardii slowly and recovered.

It can be that different brands have different effects. And also the fact that you are now combining it with other probiotics. Thanks for sharing your experience.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Updated OP.


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## SteveInAustin (Aug 22, 2007)

As for me, I had about 5 days of very good results on Jarrow brand Sacchromyces Boulardii + Reuteri. My diarrhea did not go away, but the nature of my gas bloating changed for the better. Prior to using these probiotics, I would get gas bloat that was invariably quite painful. Every single day I would wake up feeling like my intestines had battery acid in them or something, which would go away as soon as I pushed the gas out (which was often difficult to do, since the gas was further up in my colon or in my small intestines even). It was so bad that I often just woke up every 2 hours during my sleep to go to the bathroom and try to fart it all out. So painful.

But with the new probiotics, my gas became completely different overnight, after just the first dose. The pain was gone completely. Also, my farts used to smell awful, like rotten eggs. Now, I can hardly smell my farts at all. It's like plain air. It must have changed from hydrogen-sulfide to carbon-dioxide or something, I'm guessing. And the new gas (CO2?) seems to be fine with my gut. No pain. The previous gas caused pain, even if there wasn't much of it... The amount of gas I've been getting is about the same, I think. I thought it might be a lot less gas, just because it wasn't as painful, but I suspect it's the same.

After the initial 5 days, something bad happened. I had an "episode" that lasted for 2 or 3 days. Suddenly I had painful gas bloat again, even though my farts still didn't smell bad. I'm not sure why this happened. I hypothesize that maybe the yeast (S.Boulardii) was fighting with the regular gut bacteria during the initial 5 days. After the struggle ended, and S.Boulardii won, it started producing more gas. But that's just my hypothesis.

I responded to that episode by downing a handful of about 5 or 6 probiotics, like Align and Culturelle. (The bacteria based probiotics.) In addition, I scaled back my S.Boulardii to just 2 pills in the morning and 2 pills in the evening (I had been taking 3 pills, 3 or 4 times a day).

The result is that things calmed down a lot. I'm no longer in pain once again. I'm still getting a moderate amount of gas, but it doesn't cause pain, and bloating is minimal. It still doesn't smell, either. So that's all good.

I'm still taking other probiotics with S.Boulardii, but I believe S.Boulardii is what is responsible for the changes I've been seeing. The other probiotics I've taken through the years with less of a result. Align was my favorite until now.

I still take loperamide also.

In addition, I've started experimenting with Citrucel fiber, 4 times a day at 2 teaspoons. It has been helping a little, I think. I'll increase to 4 teaspoons 4 times a day soon. It hasn't caused any problems that I can detect, but it still hasn't firmed up my poop like I think it should at a higher dosage maybe.

My previous experience with Metamucil fiber (psyllium husk) was that it firmed up my poop immensely, almost making me constipated. I mean, I was pooping logs. Fully formed, long logs. Haha. Sorry to be so graphic. But it caused a lot of painful bloating. I may switch back to Metamucil if Citrucel doesn't firm things up enough. Now that I have S.Boulardii working for me, it might make Metamucil less bloaty and less painful. We'll see.

So I have hope that I could eventually become more or less normal now. This is a very positive change in direction for me, after about 8 or 9 years with IBS-D. Crossing my fingers.


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## SteveInAustin (Aug 22, 2007)

Citrucel with sugar, by the way, can be highly caloric. In other words, if you're getting 60-100 calories, 4 times a day, you might find yourself getting fatter over time. There's a sugarless variety has less calories, but uses the artificial sweetener, aspartame, which many people don't approve of. The Citrucel caplets are free of any sweetener, but it's much more expensive.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I am still taking the S. Boulardii. And I started eating bananas. I hope that this combination completely stops my D.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

s. boulardii let me stop taking loperamide.

Have you tried simethicone Steve?


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## SteveInAustin (Aug 22, 2007)

My understanding of simethicone is that it merely breaks up bubbles of gas into smaller ones, making them easier to eliminate. Or something like that. It doesn't actually reduce gas. It just changes it in some way to make it easier to eliminate.

I actually have some simethicone at my place right now, the left-overs of an experiment I did a few months ago. Every now and then, I go back to old ideas like simethicone. My results: No difference. It might help some people, but not most people with IBS-D, from what I gather.

It's interesting that you mentioned S.Boulardii letting you go off of loperamide. That actually occurred to me as a possibility during my initial 5 days of amazing results. It actually felt like my intestines were healing themselves after years of abuse / poisoning due to whatever bacteria or microorganism that was wreaking havoc in there. But I'm still waiting to see my diarrhea firm up, which so far has not occurred.

I suspect I might have Habba Syndrome, which is an excess of bile being produced. That causes diarrhea. To fix it, it requires something to bind to the bile. That's what fiber does.

I'm going to continue with S.Boulardii, but I'm probably going to switch back to Metamucil to deal with the diarrhea if my Citrucel experiment doesn't work out for me. I know Metamucil got results. Just didn't like the bloating that came along with it. But I think maybe now it wouldn't be a problem.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

In my case I had to combine the probiotic with the diet. I had no BM yesterday. And I had loose BM the previous days. It depends on what I eat.

My current list of safe foods: meat, fish, olive oil, lemon juice, banana and some selected veggies. The veggies are zucchini, green beans, spinach, lettuce, chard, parnsip, broccoli. They have to be peeled, seeded and cooked (including the lettuce).

The previous days I was eating too much avocado which seemed to cause loose stools. I reduced the amount of avocado and introduced banana and there was no BM yesterday. I have more smelly gas, though.


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## 2015 (Jan 29, 2015)

@ MaximilianKohler

If you are still unable to eat meat, you should try raw meat & seafood. I cannot tolerate cooked meat or seafood but have no problems with it raw. There are plenty of traditional raw dishes including sashimi, tatami, steak tartare, carpaccio and many others. If you are unsure about eating it raw, there are several books and forums that discuss the benefits.

Hope that helps.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

I was actually eating raw meat when it started.


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## Micjasmc1 (Apr 30, 2015)

Probiotics did not work for me. I am now taking Imipramine-it is an anti depressant and is suppose to help stop the diarrhea but so far not so much. It is quite debilitating as sometimes I just barely make it to bathroom. Tried lotronex with Imodium and still took the imipramine. But got me so constipated and bad, bad cramps I stopped taking the lotronex as it is a dangerous drug anyway. But please someone tell me what to do. I have this for so long, But I had chemo a couple of years ago and that stuff is poison(I have non hodgkins lymphoma) and I think it made my IBS worse. Help!


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Micjasmc1 said:


> Probiotics did not work for me. I am now taking Imipramine-it is an anti depressant and is suppose to help stop the diarrhea but so far not so much. It is quite debilitating as sometimes I just barely make it to bathroom. Tried lotronex with Imodium and still took the imipramine. But got me so constipated and bad, bad cramps I stopped taking the lotronex as it is a dangerous drug anyway. But please someone tell me what to do. I have this for so long, But I had chemo a couple of years ago and that stuff is poison(I have non hodgkins lymphoma) and I think it made my IBS worse. Help!


What probiotics did you try?


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I switched to another brand of boulardii. Maybe the one I was taking was not good enough.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Which brand?

Also, I stopped taking all probiotics for a month or so for a heart monitoring test, and all my problems came back. Since restarting them I haven't gotten as great results. I started with s.boulardii this time.

It definitely seems like the big improvements I saw were from taking those 4 specific probiotics/brands together. Though also someone recommended I try taking each of them individually with my meals instead of taking all 4 at breakfast together. I was actually doing that at one point when I was previously seeing big benefits, so I'm going to experiment with that too.

And for me, the cheaper reuteri formula and kyo-dophilus seem to have negative affects.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

MaximilianKohler said:


> Which brand?
> 
> And for me, the cheaper reuteri formula and kyo-dophilus seem to have negative affects.


I switched from orthomolecular products to ultra-levura.

The one from orthomolecular products is lactose and sucrose free, which I thought it was a good thing. I bought it in iherb and it was shipped to spain by mail.

I bought ultra-levura in the local pharmacy. It contains lactose, but I think it might be more effective.

Which are the ones that are working for you?


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

The ones in OP under "edit 2", but I'm gonna experiment with taking them separately with meals, as I haven't been getting as great effects as previously.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Right now I am taking only the boulardii. I ordered iflora and it never arrived.

I take the boulardii on empty stomach. That should make it easier for them to reach the colon untouched. The instructions say to take preferably before meals.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

*EDIT 4*: At least in my case it is vital that I eat a low fat, low protein, vegan diet in order to reduce bile production as much as possible. As bile acts as a bactericide. I have had to stop eating cheese, because even though it has similar affects to immodium, it also seems to prevent the probiotics from taking action. I was previously able to add back fats and proteins (stopped supplementing for a while for testing), and I assume I'll be able to do the same this time around, after a few months.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Interesting, my diet is quite the opposite. Low carb, high fat, high protein.

However, the carbs are necessary to feed the probiotics.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Made some updates to OP. Namely: s.boulardii seems only temporarily beneficial. And I tried a soil-based probiotic, and one (pro-15) that contains all the strains listed in the webmd article. But both of these have negative effects on me.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I also stopped the boulardii after eight months. Currently taking iflora.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Yeah, in my experience all of those kinds of multi-strain products have negative effects on me.

The identifiers (don't know what they're called) in brackets that come after the name of the bacteria seem to be hugely important. And these seem to be patented by companies like align and culturelle.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I think they are called strains.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

jaumeb, have you noticed any significant benefits from the multi-strain supplements you're taking, like iflora?


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I'd say some benefits. That's why I continue taking it. Not the final answer though.

As you know, we are all different and what helps one individual may harm someone else.

I am revisiting the topic of diet. Currently reading "the perfect health diet".


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## doctorsareuseless (Aug 30, 2015)

Have you tried silicol gel? Just brought some this weekend and will keep you informed.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Doctorsareuseless, I've heard a couple of good reports about silicon gel but haven't tried it myself. Please, let us know how it works for you.


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## MaximilianKohler (Apr 15, 2013)

Hmm, that's interesting. I take https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth which is very cheap. I don't know what exactly the effects are, as I'm pretty sure I've only taken it along with other things like brewer's yeast. But if you see significant results from your gel, I might take the time to test DE more exactly.

@jaumeb, yes we definitely see and expect a level of variance between people, but there should also be some things that remain constant among everyone or most people.


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