I'll no longer take Alflorex and will try another probiotic, Bacillus Coagulans. I also don't take bacillus coagulans anymore. These probiotics weren't beneficial for my health symptoms.
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Just started, the 11th of August, with a single strain probiotic, bifidobacterium longum subsp longum BB536. It's a well studied multifunctional bacteria that can be very helpful for health/gut problems/symptoms. My hope is that it will ameliorate my IBS C. I also tried lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for 6 days but this strain made my symptoms worse, more constipated and feeling sicker. Now I know that it were probably side effects and that I did quit to soon.
I take 2 capsules a day. Each capsule contains 2 billion cells, 2.000.000.000 CFU.
** Switched to B. Infantis 35624 (Alflorex) on Friday the 13th of August. **
Monday the 16th of August - Decided to go for the probiotic bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 instead after reading and trying to understand the scientific article on this particular strain.
But in doubt now if I really should because Alflorex could have similar health effects.
17th of August.
Decided to stick to Alflorex and give it the benefit of my doubts.
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Meleber
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Bloating, burping, gas and feelings of constipation. It's just now that I have read that these symptoms can occur when starting with a probiotic. I think I need to lower the dosage for a while or take one capsule each other day for a week or so till my gut is used to the probiotic. This also means that the Lactobacillus Rhamnosus GG I tried could have been beneficial too and that I did quit to soon because of the side effects. You learn every day 🙂 For now I just will continue with bifidobacterium longum BB536.
Probiotics. Plantaurum is very good for gas bloating as is Rhamnosus. Look up BioOptimiser P3-OM on Amazon. Read reviews also. Look at Self Hacked.com and search for the different strains. You get ton of info re what the strains are good for
Any probiotic needs fibre to flourish...which is opposite to low fibre protocols used in fodmaps.and the best fibre seems to be green bananas.Why because these are low is glycogen and fructose...so dont get broken down it the stomach...doesnt add to fermentation in the upper tract.
When this fibre is in the lower bowel...it feeds the probiotic...which can then deal with the bad bacteria that finds its way into the deeper folds of the mucosa.
Pomegranate has a component in it that also works to fix loose junctions...tighten them back up....so that leaky gut can repair.
Fermented foods help because there is no more fermentation involved hence no gas or bloating.
Sugar and yeast are the main culprits....if you can tolerate apple cider vinegar....ginger or garlic...even garlic extract (allicin).you will get the h.pylori under control.
PPI causes low acid...which lets bad bacteria flourish....leads to poor digestion......digestive enzymes like those included in Optima with aloe vera...will help.
Noticeable increase of skin lesions on my head ☹️ and because this is a sign of increasing inflammation I really doubt if I should continue with this particular probiotic, it seems to work counterproductive in my particular situation. A while ago I did order Alflorex for treating my IBS C symptoms (but did quit to soon because of side effects, it felt if IBS symptoms worsened) but this probiotic, b. infantis 35624, can lower CRP, an inflammation marker, so I think I will try it again, it's still stored in the kitchen cupboard. Also because I've learned that starting with a probiotic can make you feel a bit sicker in the beginning. Maybe if I take it each other day for a week and than increase the dosage it will go better. I will not give up so easily 🙂
So I switched to Alflorex again. You might think what is he doing, so do I 😉 But I know my body reacts quite fast on what I take. For now my short trial with bifidobacterium longum subsp longum BB536 has ended but it doesn't mean that it couldn't be beneficial for you. Every person, every gut is different.
This morning I woke up at 7 am! Normally I am awake around 5.30 am. Didn't change anything in my diet, only added the probiotic from Alflorex (b. infantis 35624) and took it around 22.00, before going to bed. It was my second dosage, I took the first capsule on Friday morning. Didn't take a laxative before going to bed because I took the probiotic. However I had bm this morning. I have read that this probiotic can also increase tryptophan, a precursor of serotonin, in my gut and that would be great if it does because my levels are too low. That is why I also need to take an antidepressant. Not suffering from disturbing side effects till now.
Some discomfort in my right lower abdomen and right lower back. Feeling a bit constipated yesterday during daytime. Therefore I didn't take the probiotic yesterday evening and took some laxative during daytime and before I went to bed. Plan is to take the probiotic this evening again, before bedtime.
Hi, although I intended to try Alflorex again and already started I came to the conclusion today that in my particular medical situation I could better give the probiotic bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 a try. Mainly because of the positive effect it can have on relieving depression, improving sleep and ibs symptoms as a recent (small) study showed and I 'have' it all.
So this subject will probably no longer be updated by me.
But I'm in doubt now because Alflorex could have similar effects. Increasing tryptophan, lowering CRP and ameliorate IBS and these are all effects I'm looking for in a probiotic. So maybe it's just better to try to finish this course/bottle and see what the effects are after a month.
the 17th of August
For the moment I will stick to Alflorex. Took one capsule yesterday evening before bedtime. Had bm this morning and was surprised that structure, color and amount of stool where pretty good actually.
Feels as if the tiredness is increasing and I already had so little energy. You can look at it in a positive way, that my body is relaxing, getting rid of the excessive stress, because this probiotic has a positive effect on my microbiome (from dysbiosis to eubiosis) and as consequence on my bodily processes. Wait and feel what happens in the days, weeks to come.
Just spoke with my gastroenterologist, he's retiring soon. He told me that he couldn't do anything extra for me, he hasn't an idea what he could possibly do more to alleviate my IBS symptoms. On my request he made a referral to his successor, I will see her or him in four months time and than can discuss the effect of a probiotic.
It's a tough process to accept that there's no one single solution, no cure for IBS and that it's something you probably have to deal with for the rest of your life. I think I'm now slowly getting into the stage of accepting it after all the examinations and the discussions with the gastroenterologist.
I am grateful for the existence of this forum, it does help me to understand how complex IBS is and it's a great help in my personal battle to try to alleviate some of my IBS symptoms.
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I notice that my stool has changed since I'm using Alflorex. Structure is better, more solid. Because of the increased tiredness during daytime I experience since I started using Alflorex I decided to take this probiotic early in the morning instead of late in the evening. Wait and see if tiredness during daytime will decrease.
Although my stool is improving I still need to take a laxative several times a day as I found out after skipping a dosage 🙁. Next Saturday I will have a CT scan of my abdomen. Despite what the surgeon thinks it still feels that there is a partial recurrent blockage of the gut in my right lower abdomen, the caecum and or ascending colon. We'll see what the CT-scan shows next Saturday.
It seemed my stool was improving in first instance but now I'm not so sure anymore.
I had the CT-scan of my abdomen yesterday and have an appointment with the surgeon this Tuesday to discuss the outcome. Asked the nurse if my arteries and veins will be visible too and he said they will. Thinking about a possible constricted artery, reduced blood flow to my intestines. Will ask the surgeon if the radiologist has examined the results of the scan for these kind of abnormalities also, not only looked if there is a mobile cecum or not.
So anatomically nothing wrong with my intestines, pipeline is approved by the surgeon 🙂 and that's the good news of the day. But functionality stays very problematic.
Still not convinced that Alflorex is really beneficial for my gut. I'll finish the course, eight capsules left, but I don't think I will order it again.
Hi, I see that in this 1 year old post of mine I didn't mention that I stopped taking the probiotic bacillus coagulans a long time ago. So it probably wasn't beneficial for my health symptoms.
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