# Culturelle and Fibercon



## clack013 (Jul 6, 2007)

I am a long time user of metamucil but finally gave up becuase although it does seem to help the diarrhea/constipation/stomach pains, it causes me to be really gassy and also while I take it I seem to have frequent urgent bowel movements. I am out of town right now and before I left I switched my routine to fiberon and culturelle. The fibercon seemed to provide the benefits of fiber but without the gas and frequent bowel movements of metamucil. The culturelle as expected made things worse for a couple days but then I began feeling better and felt like I was in better control. I was having much more normal bowel movements, the problem is that I began to feel really bloated and full. I only had around 1 meal a day and I felt completely full the entire time. I was out trying to drink a couple of beers with a friend and normally 2-3 beers would not cause any trouble but I felt so full it was hard to drink them. I am thinking maybe it is because I was slightly constipated ( I was having much fewer bowel movements than the 2-3 I have with metamucil). I am also thinking maybe it is just because I have been traveling... So my questions are: 1) Has anyone else experienced a similar bloating or feeling of fullness from fibercon or culturelle, or the combination of the two?2) Of course alcohol does not help IBS, but is alcohol a problem specifially for probiotics (is there some sort of reaction or does it kill the probiotic?) 3) What have people found to be the best probiotic for gassiness, a grumbling noisy stomach etc?Thanks,


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## Gret (Sep 23, 2003)

I think everyone is different in regards to gassiness, etc. For me and my lifestyle Florastor has been best. I also take a tablespoon of Benefiber in the morning and one Metamucil capsule after lunch. The combo works, but it has taken years of trial and error to find something this close to normal. So what works for one may not work for another. Culturelle would have been my next choice, but for months the Florastor has been working so well, I won't switch for now.


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## clack013 (Jul 6, 2007)

yeah i've already spent a couple of years with trial and error and the way it's going it looks like it will be a couple more. I am really curious about florastor and align. The only thing that turned me off to florastor was that apparently you can't drink alcohol while taking it. I'm not a big drinker but do have a few beers occasionally and I don't want that to completely reverse the progress. Have you drank any alcohol while taking it?


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## clack013 (Jul 6, 2007)

Oh also what is the reason that you use metamucil in addition to benefiber? I haven't heard of people doing that before.


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## Gret (Sep 23, 2003)

Yes, I drink alcohol with Florastor. I guess I didn't know you shouldn't!







I only take one instead of the recommended two per day because they work that well on my IBS-D.I started using Metamucil with Benefiber because of a study I did with Align. They sent me two products to use for four weeks which turned out to be Align and Metamucil. I recognized them even though they were in packaging with no labels. The metamucil worked well with the Align, but I was already doing Benefiber. So I did both and during that four weeks, the IBS was completely at bay as it still is. So the two types of fiber seem to work well for me. The Align and Florastor both work very well, although they are two different probiotic formulas. It took me a few years to find what works. Good luck and ask a lot of questions around here. You will hopefully find your fix too!


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