Digestive health

[rascal14]

I've tried gut health and regular random probiotics in the past, but never had any luck. I only got gas and bloating that never went away. My diet doesnt have enough fruits or veggies, so im interested in what people are taking now for digestive health.

 

[The Solution]

Before you jump to another probiotic and think this will rule out the gas let's look at a few things
If you stop the probiotic how do you feel? better or worse?
Have you ever ruled out food sources or choices as to what is causing your gas?
Have you ever run a food sensitivity test?

I see this all the time where people are constantly eating foods that do not agree with their bodies (20-30 minutes after a meal they find gas/GI distress) yet they continue to eat those foods.

If you continue to take a probiotic you may actually feed the bad bacteria in your body and make things worse. Stopping it could help the issue and allow you to grow good bacteria back in your gut. This could also be done with the process of elimination of some of the food sources you eat.

I can't speak for everyone as the human body is not a textbook, but you could first start by looking at HIGH FODMAP foods as those are usually harsh on the digestive tract. Food like eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, various protein bars are common things I see that cause GI Distress for many (not all) and provide gas shortly after a meal.

I've seen people who drink carbonation see flareups pretty soon after drinking those beverages.
I could say the same for nuts (some people simply cant digest them well) or have a tolerance to a certain kind of nuts (cashew, pistachio, almond, peanut) which cause flare-ups.

This topic is very diverse and there are a lot of ways to tackle it pending if you have something like IBS or SIBO that could make things worse and may be out of our scope of practice. It could be something minor that can be solved with the process of elimination. There really is not quick and simple answer to digestion and digestive health.

 

[rascal14]

Before you jump to another probiotic and think this will rule out the gas let's look at a few things
If you stop the probiotic how do you feel? better or worse?
Have you ever ruled out food sources or choices as to what is causing your gas?
Have you ever run a food sensitivity test?

I see this all the time where people are constantly eating foods that do not agree with their bodies (20-30 minutes after a meal they find gas/GI distress) yet they continue to eat those foods.

If you continue to take a probiotic you may actually feed the bad bacteria in your body and make things worse. Stopping it could help the issue and allow you to grow good bacteria back in your gut. This could also be done with the process of elimination of some of the food sources you eat.

I can't speak for everyone as the human body is not a textbook, but you could first start by looking at HIGH FODMAP foods as those are usually harsh on the digestive tract. Food like eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, various protein bars are common things I see that cause GI Distress for many (not all) and provide gas shortly after a meal.

I've seen people who drink carbonation see flareups pretty soon after drinking those beverages.
I could say the same for nuts (some people simply cant digest them well) or have a tolerance to a certain kind of nuts (cashew, pistachio, almond, peanut) which cause flare-ups.

This topic is very diverse and there are a lot of ways to tackle it pending if you have something like IBS or SIBO that could make things worse and may be out of our scope of practice. It could be something minor that can be solved with the process of elimination. There really is not quick and simple answer to digestion and digestive health.

Ive always felt better after stopping them when they made it worse.

I don't necessarily have any major issues now, some IBS and general bloating. I've never really had it bad enough to try to identify the culprit, I'm sure dairy is part of it. I've tried stopping that before but didn't do real well.

My main reasoning for increasing digestive health is the affects it has on mood and Cognitive health.

 

[The Solution]

Ive always felt better after stopping them when they made it worse.

I don't necessarily have any major issues now, some IBS and general bloating. I've never really had it bad enough to try to identify the culprit, I'm sure dairy is part of it. I've tried stopping that before but didn't do real well.

My main reasoning for increasing digestive health is the affects it has on mood and Cognitive health.

It could be many other things causing the bloating
Stress (Common)
Sleep - Another issue for digestive health
Hydration - Another common one
Limiting water at meals can help with less volume in the tract during meals
It could be TONS of things. Simply buying and using probiotics is just not the long-term approach a majority of the time.

You even stated when stopping them made better. So this goes to show buying a different brand just won't be the long-term solution. I personally would start listening to your body. Doing a food journal of what you eat and how you feel after each meal and start to rule out what food sources could be causing the GI Distress so you can play the process of elimination. I would start there instead of buying more supplements which won't fix the root issue.

 

[OutOfStep]

Anyone with gut issues should be getting tested for food allergies asap.

Probiotic supplements really don't have a lot of research supporting them. I see them pushed all the time by people who largely have no idea what they are talking about.

 

[BCseacow83]

If you are going to try another probiotic I would encourage you to try single strain products. Some of these formulas have gone the more strains the better route and and it could be one, two or 12 of the 25 strains in the product are not for you.

I agree with The Solution and think exploring all the other avenues is going to be your best bet long-term.

I know as I have aged certain foods that I never had any issue with in the past are now complete no go's. If you pair your intake down to a core group and then really pay attention when eating different things you usually can isolate some of the bad "apples."

 

[hyperCat]

I started having digestive issues a little over a year ago. My symptoms were usually bloating, an unsettled feeling where my gut would gurgle really bad throughout the day, and eventually several loose bowel movements daily. Without getting into everything I tried, the thing that worked for me was taking half an Immodium in the morning and the other half in the evening. My digestive doctor also prescribed dycyclomine to take as needed, which is a mild IBS medication. This combination has eliminated about 90% of the issues I was having. I feel the immodium multi-symptom works a little better since it helps with gas. I was amazed and very relieved to find something that finally worked for me after trying so many different products that didn’t do sh1t. Still have occasional issues if I eat too much sugar or heavy greasy foods, but that’s not very often. Might be worth a shot.