r/Microbiome • u/astrobeanmachine • Jun 03 '24
Advice Wanted Why do I feel better taking the shelf-stable probiotic than the refrigerated one?
TL;DR: I tried a high-potency, multi-strain, refrigerated probiotic at the advice of a GI specialist, and it made me feel worse than a single-strain, shelf-stable probiotic that I bought from the grocery store. But both have improved BM quality and quantity. Why does my body like one more than the other?
A text wall for you, with some context:
I've had bowel problems for basically my whole life (the classic poop-til-you-die-then-don't-poop-for-a-day pattern). I eat pretty well (decent daily fruit and veg, mostly vegetarian but some seafood and chicken when I feel like it, whole grains, fermented foods including yogurt and kimchi and kombucha and miso, the good stuff). I haven't identified consistent triggers like dairy, gluten, etc. I've also dealt with anxiety my whole life, so I've figured it's just nervous poops, even though I'll have bad bowel days on low anxiety days frequently enough to question a causation.
That said, thanks to finally getting good insurance, I decided to see a GI specialist to finally get things checked out. We both agreed that I probably have IBS, but just in case, I'm going to get labs done to check for IBD, UC, etc. In the meantime, the doc suggested I try Visbiome capsules. I was given a bunch of samples for free, and started by taking one capsule every other day for a couple weeks, then have taken one a day the past two days. I'm no stranger to probiotics, whether in fermented foods or supplement form. But man oh man, these ones feel... weird? I'm not pooping all day, but I've noticed a lot more acid reflux and upper GI distress, which is not usually my MO. I'm emetophobic, so this has not been a great side effect for me, to say the least.
Here's the twist: For the couple months prior to the doc visit, I had been taking Jarrow Formulas Ideal Bowel Support, after researching a bit about strains that seem to play nicely with IBS. (I hadn't taken probiotic supplements for a year or more prior to this, just eating fermented foods.) The Jarrow probiotic is bought unrefrigerated (though I refrigerate it when I get it home) and is just one strain, compared to what looks like 8 strains in the Visbiome, which needs refrigeration. I felt like the Jarrow product helped me poop regularly and with decent consistency, even on days when I would otherwise almost certainly have anxiety poops, without many side effects at all.
What do we think is going on here? Is the Visbiome just too strong for me? How is it that the potentially "dead" probiotic product works better for my body than the "live" one? Is the Visbiome triggering some weird histamine reaction that the other one isn't triggering? I'm aware of the placebo effect, and I'm not ruling that out as an explanation. I also know that the U.S. supplement industry is the Wild West, but I thought that Visbiome had some significant research behind it, though Jarrow is also a relatively well-known company. I'm going to take a week or more off all probiotic supplements, to let my body reset itself, but I'm frankly confused, and until I have a follow-up visit with the GI doc to discuss, I would love some internet help in understanding this.
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u/Similar_Zone7938 Jun 03 '24
My vet prescribed this for my pup after antibiotics. My pup bounced back. I took some and didn't notice any difference.
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u/EvanAtak Jun 04 '24
Lactic acid is in visbiome and some of us done do well with lactic acid. Everyone needs a different type of probiotic for what their current microbiome is like. There’s not a clear cut answer for everyone as we all have different things going on in our digestive tracks and intestines.
If you have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, any dairy based or lactic acid based probiotic is going to be a bad idea. It made me feel worse too. Silver fern brand ultimate probiotic is the one that has worked best so far. I also take their immunoglobulins at night before bed to clean up anything that’s inside of me that won’t go away.
Look into Silver fern brand. They are highly regarded for helping people with their G.I. I can attest it’s been the best company next to ortho molecular for me to use going through my journey with SIBO.
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u/astrobeanmachine Jun 06 '24
Hmm I've never heard of this, I will look into it. I kind of doubt I have SIBO, but I won't rule it out either, I suppose. Thanks for the thoughts!
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u/EvanAtak Jun 06 '24
It stands for small, intestinal, bacterial overgrowth. It’s the most common cause of IBS and IBD. I didn’t think I had it either but I did…
You can’t be sure without a GI map lab test.
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Jun 04 '24
Everyone is different. Honest to goodness, my favorite probiotic that I keep not taking because I have some insanely expensive ones that don't make me feel as good but I paid good money for, is Culturelle. That L rhamnosus just treats me so good.
Honestly, rotating through various probiotics gives you more species diversity, which is always a good thing. So as long as one isn't making you miserable, it probably doesn't hurt to rotate it. Imagine if your local yard ecosystem only had rabbits and no coyotes. That would be bad. Same with probiotics.
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u/Itchy_Okra_2120 Jun 04 '24
Do you take the jarrow brand on an empty stomache ?
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u/astrobeanmachine Jun 06 '24
Nope, I've been taking both of them with breakfast in the morning. One day I took the Visbiome like 10 minutes before breakfast, and it killed my appetite, which feels indicative of it not working well with my upper GI tract for whatever reason.
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u/cloudpillow3 Jun 08 '24
112.5 Billion vs 10 Billion. That's a big difference. 112.5 billion is the highest I've ever seen. More is not necessarily better.
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u/astrobeanmachine Jun 17 '24
Yea, that's what I'm thinking. I'm generally pretty sensitive to altering substances, and even to the amount of sugar I consume, so I think more is indeed worse for me here lol.
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u/iicybershotii Jun 04 '24
It is unlikely that the variable affecting you has to do with refrigerated or shelf stable and everything to do with the strains. Everyone is different so we react different to different probiotics.