Probiotics

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This was originally posted to my blog, Diabetes Odyssey.

I’ve suffered from tummy issues almost my entire life. As with most of my issues, this problem was much less significant when I was younger, but has become a somewhat major issue now days.

Who knows what caused my tummy troubles? Heredity? Type 1 diabetes? Anxiety? I really don’t know. It’s probably a combination of them all.

What exactly do I mean when I say “tummy issues”? Nausea, vomiting, pain, loss of appetite, bloat…

The increase in trouble pretty much began when my heart started to give me trouble. It was strange that I began to have severe heartburn at just about the same time I started to have chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, and all the symptoms of heart failure.

I think one thing that messed up my tummy even more than it already was is that for over a year I was taking a double dose of Omeprozole on a daily basis. I was also drinking Apple Cider Vinegar like water because it helped the heartburn more than the meds did.

Within a month after my heart surgery the heartburn faded away. Yes, I am certain it was heartburn and not just another symptom of my heart problems. For some reason the heart congestion was aggravating my stomach. I had an endoscopy done and the doctor did confirm acid reflux.

But, I think, because of all that time with tummy meds and vinegar, my stomach was permanently out of balance. I could no longer eat certain foods without vomiting (onions, red meat, garlic, eggs…), I was nauseous all the time, I vomited about twice a week no matter what I ate, my gastroparesis symptoms were increased…

I had tried to incorporate probiotics into my diet via yogurt and other foods with them in it. But they all mess with my blood sugar because they tend to have added sugar, and they didn’t help my tummy at all.

So I gave up on probiotics for a couple years.

Then, out of the blue, for no reason other than I was curious, I started taking a probiotic supplement. Just one little capsule a day.

In less than two weeks I realized I was no longer nauseous and had not vomited for awhile, and had only had one tummy ache.

I have been taking the supplement for almost a month now and have no issues at all anymore except for still having very little appetite.

What are probiotics? They are a beneficial microorganism (good bacteria) that aid in digestion and stomach “balance”.

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Congratulations on your discovery and continuing recovery!!

Probiotics are nearly a religion in our house. One supplement a day, at 102 billion organisms each, (a dose usually used during antibiotic rounds), helps stave off many severe symptoms for me (symptoms NOT related to my T1), and my daughter, who has several serious and mysterious medical issues (some mimicking stomach/ heart/ autoimmune conditions).

Probiotics reduces these symptoms to such a minimum, I swear by them.

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I have highly infrequent, sporadic bouts of IBS. Is there any hard data on whether probiotics are useful there?

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I don’t know about hard data, but several of my family members have really bad IBS and at least two of them swear by probiotics. They say their symptoms are greatly reduced, not totally gone, but much better, as long as they keep taking probiotics.

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Great to hear you’ve had some awesome success with Probiotic supplements. Anecdotally, I once contracted horrendous food poisoning whilst travelling. After a few days I no longer was sick but I couldn’t actually eat anything without having extreme stomach discomfort, followed by some vomitting. A friend I was travelling with gave me a probiotic capsule and the very next day I was back to normal.

I’d be interested as to what strands of probiotics people predominately use?

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So. This is an important subject to me. After some major surgery and antibiotics in 1996, I had 3 rounds of oral thrush…gross and uncomfortable. I took the prescribed drug and it worked–for a bit. The second time was after antibiotics for a dental infection…

But the third time—the thrush just showed up. So I did some research and combined the personally doable aspects of several different Candida diets and stuck to it for 6 months.

Yeah, it wasn’t easy, but since I was already doing Bernstein’s very low carb approach for the D, it was not a great leap…

After only 6 disciplined months, I gradually added things back in and haven’t had a problem since. I also added a strong probiotic as a daily supplement…BTW don’t take the probiotic if you are on post-op antibiotics–they can cancel each other…

Anyway—I take a daily probiotic now and totally count on it. I am also careful about vegies, flax seed and other gut stimulants…

Oh and somewhere along the way, I learned that it is important to rotate a bit through the various microbes out there, which I do. I prefer the once-a-day ones. But when I travel, I go for the “shelf-safe” versions that don’t need refrigeration…

Good fun to you experimenting. If your very most personal gut needs them, you will feel better within a month or two…Blessings…

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There are other ways to get probiotics, like eating yogurt and acidophilus milk or nut milk.