# Do Probiotics Just Quit Working?



## Guest (Jul 10, 2009)

I have been on Align for nearly 3 weeks now and although I am not symptom free I am a good 90% symptom free! It's been nothing but fantastic for me. First few days were rough like it said it may be and after that, it's been great! Went to a GI specialist today who said probiotics are placebo drugs and it's just my mind thinking it's going to work and that's why it's working. I doubt this...because I have tried so many things and I honestly thought "this is NOT going to work" and it did. I was wondering though, does your body develop an "immunity" to them? Should I be alternating strains ever so often? How often? I'm afraid to go off and if I go back on it won't work. Any advice?


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

Ian is the one to talk to about probiotics, and I have no doubt he will be along soon to do so. What I would suggest is that you get another doctor. None of us can afford anyone with a closed mind to the range of treatments which have helped segments of sufferers with this condition. That is how you end up with a doctor whose greeting becomes "You, again!"Mark


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2009)

I had this appointment scheduled months and months ago because she has been voted the top GI in the state for 10 years in a row. I didnt want to cancel just because I was having a couple of good weeks and wanted to just hear what she had to say. Now I wish I hadn't. She also informed me that my bowel problems in the morning only is "just the start of problems" and that I soon will probably have way more episodes and often. She said she's had it for 40 years and there is no getting rid of it. Also beg to differ that point because my mom, dad and several of my friends have had IBS at points in their life and it went away. Some years, some months...she said I could continue taking the Align if I wanted but would "buy a new pair of jeans with that $30 a month you are spending" and wrote me a prescription for Levsin...which from reading up on it sounds like it wont help me anyways. My problem is loose stools in the morning online and not cramping or pains.


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

For 10 years, my condition echoed the doctor's; and would have presumably just kept getting worse if I hadn't found a treatment effective for me. Because there are so many things that can cause this, it may not always be possible to take every test for every possible condition, let alone try everything under the son. And even then, our own personal chemistries (and lifestyle choices) can make one person's SIBO, as an example, different than another's. Hopefully, this will be genetic enough in your case that you will find the same resolutions as your parents, rather than what the GI is going through.And what would you do with 12 pairs a jeans each year, anyway?Mark


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Well there were some studies with probiotics that were equivocal, but the more recent study with Align looks to show it isn't just placebo effect.I've not noticed they stop working for me and I've taken them off and on for years. After a year or so I didn't need to take them every day, but when my fart frequency goes up I will reseed with some for a week or two until it goes back down.


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## IanRamsay (Nov 23, 2008)

HiI can assure you that probiotics, regardless of teh strain or quantity, do NOT just stop working. (but They may not work in teh first place if they are not what you need). Bacteria of all kinds are a vital part of our gut and to a certain extent the entire GI. Align does have a good track record that has some data behind it, and alot of people on these boards have had some sucess with it, but it is also worth remembering that teh bacteria in align and VSL3 etc is just normal bacteria available in other makes. what may make it different is the way that it is made and teh active numbers that are consumed (this is just an observation and not a clinical oppinion). However, once your body has enough of the strains of probiotic that it needs, it wont actually utilise them anymore untill it needs them again. taking them everyday wont do you any harm at all, but every few months, it is worth stopping them for a few days or a week to see if your original condition comes back to any extent. if it dosent, it is up to you if you continue to take teh probiotics ortake a small maintenance dose daily or wait untill your original symptoms start to re appear, if they re appear. but as i said, taking any probiotic daily for years wont harm you at all, and if your body at some point has enough of them, they will just pass through you harmlessly. Because all bacteria is in a transient state through the GI, at some point after stopping them, if you choose to at any point, you will need to put some more back in just to keep things on an even keel. if you stop taking them, every two or three months is a good time period to bung some more in for 4 weeks. also, if you have a bout of D or a bug of any kind when you have stopped taking them, start taking them again for 4 weeks. Sadly there are still doctors out there that think things like probiotics and suppliments are as good as witchcraft and should be dissmissed as mere folly. i think that these doctors are the ones that dont read teh lancet or other medical papers and have their mindset stuck in teh 80`s when bacteria where still largely thought of as bad. but more research is being done slowly and alot of it cannot be ignored. Sure, teh ploacebo effect can occour with probiotics, but the physical differences that occour if probiotic therapy is working for you cannot be imagined. It is true that probiotics do not help everyone, but they do have something to offer most people, even normal healthy ones!Your doctor i think is a sandwich short of a picnic. The only time that probiotics should be not considered as a therapy or part of a therapy for anyone, is when they are seriously ill or have a pancreatic illness that is very serious in nature or is suffering from an illness that affects teh immune system in a big way. in these situations probiotics can be very dangerous. A doctor should encorage you to try everything that is safe as well as the stuff that they have reccomended. Im so happy that you have found something that is working for you. may it last long.cheersIan


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2009)

Ian - Thank you! And thank you to everyone else. It is not working for me 100%, but the relief I've had so far is fantastic. I really appreciate your time and extensive knowledge. I appreciate it more than I can even begin to say!!!!!!!


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