My husband tried it last year -- he has Crohn's -- and had no significant results. His symptoms are not typical, however, so maybe that accounts for it. His doctor has had other patients that were helped greatly by it. Good luck to you.

There are a lot better and more potent probioitics out there.. this one is mass produces and I dont believe the strains are very potent.. but yes, probiotics are GREAT for us.

My new GI recommended it to me yesterday but he said that it costs about $70 per month. Anyone know of a good source for purchase?

I started it yesterday and it can take a couple of weeks to begin to work, but I'm hopeful.

Fraz, I did some checking and found that the Costco near me doesn't carry it, but with two days notice, they can get me a 60 capsule bottle for $40. If you have a Costco near you, you may want to give them a call.

Fingers crossed,

Chuck

VSL #3 is the one my b/f uses. we aren't sure if ti helps much or not to be honest, but for him, nothing really has. The one good thing to use it for is to swish it around in your mouth if you are suffering canker sores. This VSL#3 came highly recommended from his GI doctor.

fraz you can get better none dairy much more potent strains of probioics for around $30 at a local health food market.

oh and in powder form wich should be fridgerated, since its live bacteria.

I believe the GI docs highly recommend it becuase they see how much profit there is to be made, they loose a lot of money when people go to health food stores and purchase legitimate and strong potent strains of probiotics so they took the innitiative at the pharmacutical companies to create a product and make some more money..

My GI doc recommends my local health food co-op's own brand (Outpost Natural Foods which is part of a bunch of other natural food co-ops in the Midwest). The powder is in a capsule form and requires refrigeration. I believe it costs about $12-$15 a bottle and it lasts me usually a month or so.

This is one situation where spending more money doesn't equate quality or better results.

Have you noticed a difference with none dairy strains compared with dairy fermented strains?

I think I noticed more abdominal discomfort personally.

The reason a doctor might be hesitant to recommend off the shelf supplements could be because of quality control. "Natural" supplements are not required by law to have consistent quality or have actual scientific proof that they work.

I'm still on the fence about probiotics. If we have over a 1000 types of bacteria in our colons, each in certain amounts and in certain areas in our colon, how do you know which ones are deficient, or in abundance, and then if you take a supplement, how do you know it's getting where it's supposed to go, especially when there is no proof that these supplements actually survive digestion.

Just thinking out loud ;-)

While there may be "better, more potent" strains available, what I see with the VSL #3, is that there are 8 different beneficial bacteria, versus the one or two in other Probiotics that I have seen/tried. The benefit may well be in the breadth of the spectrum contained in it rather than amount of each live bacteria. Whatever the case, it has been incredibly effective for my friend when nothing else worked for her.

I'm taking 6/day currently and believe it or not, today is already MUCH better than yesterday. This may not make sense, but even if it's a placebo effect I'm experiencing, I'll take it.

Cheers all!

Chuck

Good points. And I agree that the whole quality thing with natural supplements is sketchy. As a doc, I'd be hesitant to just say pick one from your local health food store because there's nothing that speaks to actual quality of many of these products.
In fact, I typically think the natural supplement industry is as big of a scam as the pharmaceutical industry but, well, that's another topic all together.

My doc's recommendation was to give acidophilus a try to see if helped with my overall digestion, not specifically UC (I have GERD and Gastritis along with UC). For me, it does seem to help a bit.

the probiotic powders I take, I take two different ones, one has a mixture of many idifferent strains of bacteria, an the other one just 3 or 4, but the strains are very potent and strong, Ive researched the company an everything wich is why I picked them, but Ive tried I could say, about 7 different companies, I was first introduced to bio-k but wasnt very happy with the fillers an such with in them..

How do you know which bacteria you need?