# Activia



## jasonibs9 (Dec 1, 2008)

I bought some at the grocery store yesterday and had it. Today i'm not going diarrhea so it is binding something. check it out at http://www.activia.com Its a yogurt


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## amanda8 (Jan 21, 2008)

That's good it is working for you. I've heard some people have success with yogurt, others do not. Activia is a popular choice.I am not able to tolerate yogurt at all and it usually triggers an attach of D for me. Most of us on here who subscribe to the belief that probiotics help with IBS (myslef included) are better able to tolerate probiotic supplements. Probiotics are the same substances contained in yogurt that are said to assist with digestion and improve GI function.If you find one day that you cannot tolerate yogurt or your symptoms take a turn for the worse, you can look into probiotic supplementation as well.Here's hoping you have continued success!


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## degrassi (Jun 10, 2003)

I tried but it did nothing for me. No worse, no better.


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## jasonibs9 (Dec 1, 2008)

this is my 3rd day on it and I'm noticing that I'm getting more gas than usual BUT the good news is I don't have diarrhea now ! Its Normal again... activia is really helping me out... Last night I actually wasn't woken by an upset stomach


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## sazzy (Nov 27, 2006)

I tried it, and although it made a small difference it wasn't all that great and it was expensive to have daily so I didn't bother.They also do a high fibre yoghurt, and not only was it vile but it was awful for my IBS.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Yeah, Activia is helpful for some, but not others. Jason I'm so glad it's working for you. For me, it worked pretty well at first then it kinda stays at a certain level - no more improvement and then the gas/bloating problem I just can get rid of with eating the yogurt. Have you tried Beano or Gas-x to reduce the gas?


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## jasonibs9 (Dec 1, 2008)

cherrie , Yea today makes my 6th day using activia and its really helping me a ton. FINALLY had my first normal bathroom day today. All I know is that activia does more good then the average yogurt and has live ingredients in it going to battle for your intestines. My wife and I used to eat a lot of sushi and I know there is bacteria in uncooked fish. I sure there had to been one point where I ate a bad piece... No I haven't tried beano , a little scared to .. I do drink ginger ale though.. the nurse at my hospital recommended beano or "anything with ginger" ginger ale , root , snaps.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Hi Jason, that's wonderful! I'm so glad it's working for you so well! For me, I still do eat some yogurt with the good bacteria sometimes -- just an organic one (stonyfield farm) since organic cultured dairy/soy is less bothersome for my stomach -- but I can only eat occasionally now, cos the sugar content in almost all the brands are too high for me and sugar bothers my gut (whereas my GERD won't allow me to eat the sugarless ones, too acidic). What a dilemma, LOL. Hope it continues to work well for you!


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## jasonibs9 (Dec 1, 2008)

i see... so its an actual "live" bacteria? What exactly does that bacteria do in your system? I was thinking activia was good if a person eats a lot of sushi like I do.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Hi basically we all naturally have these good bacteria in our colon (they are native to everyone's colon). But for some IBSers their colon may not have enough of these good bacteria, for example, after a GI infection, after a course of antibiotics, after certain food, etc... So, if this is the major reason for the IBS acting up, then it's good to re-colonize the colon with these good bacteria. And this is also why for some (I don't know the stats) people the good bacteria does not necessarily work well -- if their brain-gut connection doesn't work well anymore (in which case hypnotherapy may be a good choice for them).


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## jasonibs9 (Dec 1, 2008)

well I wanted to do a follow up with all of you since I have been taking 1 activia per day for 16 days in a row now... I am happy to report that I have been having normal stools now (not every single time in the bathroom yet) but besides that , I haven't really had bad stomach aches since sticking with it. Who would have thought a yogurt could be helpful? No I'm not perfect but it has done good... Its a great way to start the day too cause its easy going down.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Yay!! That's wonderful! SO Happy for you!


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## jerry1127 (Jan 6, 2009)

One thing for sure is to saty away from fried food, grease and cheese. I am taking Immodian AD on weekend and it works well but you get constipated. Thus, Immodian is not for every day use........ in my case, one every week........


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## ThewallsRclosingIn (Feb 9, 2007)

I picked a case of 12 up after reading about activa here on the forum. Been eating 2 a day for 3 days now. I my abdomen does feel a bit better, less tension. Ive actually been emptying my bowels better for the past few mornings. I also have started eating fiber daily and I think everything together its going good so far. Yesterday morning I went to the bathroom and I think I had my first normal BM in yrs. Its so hard to remember what a normal BM feels like but it felt like those I used to take before school








It just felt different, like it came out with ease. Stools were formed and I felt more relieved after. The yogurt taste good, I like the vanilla and strawberry. I did get a little bit gassy but I was able to pass it so I didnt mind.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Great to hear you all are having such success! And yes Walls it is kind of expected that once you increase your fiber that initially you may experience more gas.... but once your body adjusts to more fiber... the gas should decrease over time. I read somewhere that it can take up to 3 weeks for our bodies to adjust to more fiber... so be patient with it.. and maybe you will see alot less gas in time.BQ


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## suffering (Sep 16, 2005)

Monday and Tuesday I had a lot of discomfort for some reason. My IBS isn't usually like that. So I thought maybe my internal flora was out of whack. Bought some Activia and DanActive, and seem to be better now. Coincidence, or placebo effect? Who knows. I've taken probiotics before, and sometimes they seem to help, but their helpful effects seem to wear off after a week or 2 (even if I keep taking them daily). So after I finish the Activia/DanActive I won't buy anymore (for now). I also had a cheeseburger and fries that seemed greasier than usual for lunch today, and I was expecting to have bad D tonight, because I always have bad D when I eat high fat content food. But I had a normal BM tonight! Very surprised by that.


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## SpaceNeedle (Jul 22, 2000)

Vanilla is the best! Unfortunately for me, the helpful yogurt effect kind of wore off over time for me. I started buying the larger containers of activa, versus the single serving containers (cheaper).


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## softness (Jan 17, 2009)

Cherrie said:


> Hi Jason, that's wonderful! I'm so glad it's working for you so well! For me, I still do eat some yogurt with the good bacteria sometimes -- just an organic one (stonyfield farm) since organic cultured dairy/soy is less bothersome for my stomach -- but I can only eat occasionally now, cos the sugar content in almost all the brands are too high for me and sugar bothers my gut (whereas my GERD won't allow me to eat the sugarless ones, too acidic). What a dilemma, LOL. Hope it continues to work well for you!


Hi Cherrie!A good alternative for you might be to make your own yogurt culture. I recommend this to any of you who have tried Activia and found it helped. Activia does contain live cultures, but not nearly as much as if you cultivate your own live yogurt. I lived in Australia for a year, where they are pretty intense on health and holistic medicine, and I got introduced to the art of yogurt making by my boyfriend of the time.It may seem like an ivestment at first but once you get one culture going you can simply recycle it over and over and all you really need is powder milk or real milk and that's it! Google it for more info. You basically need to buy a plastic airtight container. Some people will try to sell you yogurt makers, I bet they work fine, but really if you don't want to spend the money you can just use something with a screw-on cap that you will leave on the counter overnight for the bacteria to form. Follow the instructions on a packet of live yogurt bacteria made for this purpose. Of course the company will tell you to buy more and more packets, but if you want to avoid the sugar and the flavours and everything, you can just use a few tablespoons of a previous batch of yogurt, put it in some milk or water + milk powder and the culture will form again and again, making you fresh yogurt with HUGE amounts of beneficial bacteria every morning.Hope this info will help some of you!


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## map7660 (Dec 17, 2008)

I am one of those people that it did not help. In fact, it made it worse. I cannot tolerate any dairy products. I do not eat cheese, milk, or yogurt. It is a shame, because I really like yogurt. In fact at one point when I was trying to lose a little weight, I would eat a sandwich and a yogurt for lunch. That way, I did not eat any chips or desert. But still had the IBS-D.


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## hating ibs (Jan 28, 2009)

Activa is great unless you cant tollerate lactose (me) then yogert is harsh on your system. I ate it for a while and waited and waited for it to work and no luck. So i backed off it. would have been a cheap fix.. of course not for me







bummer


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