Eureekah!

So, I made an astonishing discovery about my health by reading an Andrew Weil news letter. The news letter listed several symptoms and stated that if you had any of them, you might benefit from taking probiotics. I had half of them: unexplained rashes, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), feeling drained of energy ALL THE TIME, multiple UTIs (urinary tract infections).

While hospitalized for a spinal cord injury in 1992 I was given many antibiotics, including some of the worst: vancomycin & gentamycin. I also had terrible diarrhea while hospitalized but I assumed that this was because I wasn't eating and was on tube feedings.

Over the past summer (2008) I began taking probiotics. Andrew Weil recommends taking one with either Bacillus coagulans (BC-30) or Lactobacillus GG in liquid or capsule form. I did not start with one of these but began taking a capsule with BC-30 about two weeks ago.

Wow, the results have been stunning. My bowel movements changed dramatically for the better and most all of my problems with rashes have disappeared. I do not expect all of my problems to be resolved instantly, after all, the problems began about 16 years ago while I was hospitalized. I am going to be very interested to see if the probiotics help with UTI and with increasing my energy level. Also, I have had lots of problems with epigastric pain from GERD (gastric-esophageal reflux disease) and I am hoping that this will also resolve with time. I do recommend taking a probiotic with the either of the two bacteria that Andrew Weil touts as I took an inferior brand for about a month and they truly were not as useful. I started taking the brand Sustenex and found it to be very good. Their website says that you can find the product in Walgreen's, CVS & Walmart but I did not find this to be the case. I eventually ordered it from Amazon.

I always thought that my intestinal flora was fine because I eat a lot of yogurt, almost every day. But the culture in yogurt degrades in stomach acid and does not get to the intestines. The Sustenex definitely gets the organism to the gut. I have given some capsules to a couple of friends to try. One has problems with diarrhea and the other has had multiple sinus infections. It will be interesting to see how they work for them, too.