Thursday, March 14, 2024

Will Taking Probiotics Help With Diarrhea

What Are The Potential Effects Of Probiotics As A Method Of Treating Acute Infectious Diarrhea

Good to Know: Can taking probiotics improve our health to help us lead better lives?

Although it is rare, some people who begin taking a good bacteria medication could notice a change in their typical bowel pattern. This may result in softer stools and increased intestinal motility.

It is unknown why or how this could happen in some people. Still, it is assumed to be related to the disturbance the introduction of new bacteria in the shape of a probiotic medication causes to the gut microbiota.

There Are Natural Ways To Prevent And Treat This Painful Disease That Affects Many People Over The Age Of 50

Aggressive treatments for diverticultis, including surgery and antibiotics, may be overused, according to a recent study published in JAMA.

No one who has ever suffered from diverticulitis is lucky, but some people are able to get through the intense attack of lower abdominal pain relatively unscathed. The unlucky diverticulitis patients have a different story, one that can include complications, hospitalization, surgery, or chronic disease that will have an ongoing effect. Fortunately, natural medicine can help prevent and treat this painful disease.

Associated with the modern Western diet and lifestyle, diverticular disease is the most common disease of the colon in the Western world.1 While it is most prevalent in people over the age of 50 in the United States and Europe, it is beginning to affect more people worldwide, at younger ages.2

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Should I Try Probiotics

If you are interested in adding probiotics to your diet, its worth a conversation with your healthcare provider. Many providers may suggest giving them a try to see if they help with your general health. It is important to remember that not all probiotics behave the same way and have the same effects. Each has their own individual benefits. They generally dont cause harm. One easy way to start can be by simply introducing probiotic-rich foods into your diet, like yogurt.

Before you start any supplements, make sure you talk to your healthcare provider. Your provider may be able to point you in the right direction, helping you figure out the best probiotic to take, how much to take and when to take it. A conversation is always worth the time when it concerns your health.

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When Are Probiotics Used

Probiotics are most often prescribed for maintaining a desirable intestinal microbial balance, according to the Merck Veterinary Manual. When an animal is stressed or sick, the balance between the healthy and disease-causing microbes may be disrupted. This can lead to diarrhea, gas, cramping, and bad breath.

Some of the triggers for such digestive disorders include:

  • Infection or bacterial imbalance
  • Stress: As in humans, changes that cause emotional stress, such as boarding, moving, or losing a home, can result in colitis. Thats one reason why many dogs in shelters suffer from diarrhea. Some studies have suggested that probiotics work as well as antibiotics in clearing up diarrhea in shelter dogs.
  • Diet: This can include abrupt changes in the menu, or eating food that is spoiled or that just doesnt agree with the dog.
  • Medications: Antibiotics and long-term steroids are known culprits in causing diarrhea by killing good bacteria.

You might consider giving your healthy dog a probiotic if he is prone to developing diarrhea in stressful situations. For example, if you are planning to take your dog to a show or to board the dog, it may make sense to give probiotics for a few days in advance. Also, puppies who tend to get diarrhea after training classes of visits to the vet, for example, might benefit from a few days of probiotics in preparation for the stressful event.

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What Are The Most Common Types Of Probiotic Bacteria

Phillips Daily Care Colon Health Probiotic Capsules

Though there are many types of bacteria that can be considered probiotics, there are two specific types of bacteria that are common probiotics found in stores. These include:

  • Bifidobacterium.

Probiotics are also made up of good yeast. The most common type of yeast found in probiotics is:

  • Saccharomyces boulardii.

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What Is Gut Flora

Gut flora, or intestinal flora, is the natural barrier defending your intestine. Its located throughout your intestine and is important for a number of reasons:

  • It plays a critical role in completing the digestive process.
  • It enables the proper intake of nutritional elements from the food that you eat.
  • It helps to maintain the regular movement of your intestine.
  • It reinforces the intestinal barrier, making the whole body more resistant to infection.

Can You Give Them Human Probiotics

Your cats intestines are quite different than yours so it goes without saying that its not a good idea to give them human probiotics. There hasnt been much research on how human probiotics would affect a cat. This means that there is no telling if doing this would kill your cat or not.

Its a much better idea to give them pet probiotics that are specially designed for kitties.

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Probiotics For Upset Stomach And Food Poisoning

Trillions of bacteria live inside us in fact, the bacteria residing in our gut are essential to good health. However, there are different types of bacteria and other micro-organisms living in our gut: some are friendly and work with body systems to keep their host healthy, these are known as probiotics. But other micro-organisms are less desirable these are known as pathogens, and can cause upset stomachs, either in the form of gastro-enteritis, or on an ongoing basis such as in IBS-type symptoms.

Lets look at the different factors which can upset the delicate balance in our gut and cause an upset stomach, and how probiotics might be able to help.

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Probiotics For Diarrhea From Antibiotics

PROBIOTICS FOR DIARRHEA?

In another systematic review, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of probiotics in preventing diarrhea associated with antibiotic use. While antibiotics are effective in treating bacterial infections, they may harm natural gut bacteria populations, potentially resulting in diarrhea and other digestive issues. The meta-analysis found that antibiotic-associated diarrhea was present in just 8 percent of those who took probiotics, while 17.7 percent in the control group exhibited antibiotics-associated diarrhea. This suggests that probiotics reduce diarrhea caused by antibiotics by 50%.5

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Get Functional Gi Lab Testing

If you find that you experience side effects of probiotics or eating probiotic-rich foods, even after using a high quality product recommended by your practitioner, titrating them in slowly and persisting for a few weeks, then functional GI testing is definitely recommended.

The inability to tolerate probiotics is a common sign of gut pathogens like parasite and bacterial infections, as well as bacterial and yeast overgrowths like SIBO and Candida. For this reason, and because each condition requires separate treatment approaches, functional GI lab testing is key to working out exactly what is going on in your gut.

If you would like to learn more about four tests that cover-off the five most common root causes of IBS, check out this blog post for the full details. For those who dont tolerate probiotics, Id definitely recommend a comprehensive stool test and a SIBO breath best as a good place to start.

If you want to learn more about the testing process, or how we can help, please head to the Work With Us page to learn more about how we work online at The Functional Gut Health Clinic with clients in many countries to test for and treat the many root causes of IBS symptoms and other GI conditions.

Did you find this post on the side effects of probiotics helpful? Want to get back to this post later? Save THIS PIN below to your Gut Healing board on Pinterest!

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Who Is This For

Colon Support Probiotic may be ideal for those looking for extra colon support. Lifestyle challenges such as diet, normal aging and overuse of medications, stress and the environment may all contribute to a digestive imbalance of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteria. This concentration of the beneficial bifidobacteria may offer the support you need to help with occasional gas and bloating as well as supporting the good bacteria needed in the gut. This is a great probiotic capsule for anyone looking for extra colon support while maintaining normal flora in the body.

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Probiotics Diversity And The Human Microbiome

The human microbiome is the collection of microbes that live in and on the human body. We are made up of many more bacterial cells than human cells. Incredibly, the microbes in our bodies outnumber our own cells by a ratio of about 10 to 1. Many of these microbes live in the gastrointestinal tract, which contains about 100,000 billion bacteria from more than 400 different species and 60 percent of the bodys immune cells.

The digestive tract is sterile, with relatively few microbes, until after birth. The initial colonization of the intestines by bacteria is affected by how a baby is delivered, diet, hygiene, infections and medications, such as antibiotics. Microbial diversity is important for the development of the infants digestive tract and maturing of the immune system.

By diversity, we mean many different types of microbes. After 1 year, the gut microbiome is relatively stable in healthy children but it can be altered later in life by what we eat, infections, antibiotics, stress, travel, and various disease conditions.

Note: The safety of probiotics is not known in people with impaired immune systems, pregnant women, and the elderly

Do Probiotics Make You Poop

The 3 Best Probiotics For IBS

This is a question that requires a little thought. It is a given that probiotics have the ability to work within your gut as they do their part to purge your system of harmful radicals. Because of this, the short answer is yes. Probiotics will make you poop, and the size and frequency of your bowel movements have much to say regarding your overall health. Their mission is to improve your gut microbiome, and this is typically done in an effort to get you more regular in your pooping.

People who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome or constipation can also benefit from these effects. However, they are not to be confused with coffee, laxatives or other stimulants, the latter of which stimulate bowel movements. Instead, probiotics are the supplements that regulate good bowel movements. They do this by working through your gut microbiome to purge the waste out of your system, thus doing their part to keep you clean on the inside.

Probiotics are supplements that work to speed up the process of your gut microbiome system. Whenever your system is off-balance, you will know. This lack of balance manifests as skin inflammation, a faulty immune response to common colds, and intestinal issues. When these start happening on a regular basis, it’s time to get an appointment. Call or visitNorthlake Gastroenterologytoday to schedule an appointment in one of our offices in Louisiana.

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Prevention Or Alleviation Of Acute Diarrhea Caused By Viral Or Bacterial Infection

Acute diarrhea from viral or bacterial infection is still a major health problem worldwide and a frequent cause of death, especially in hospitalized children and in developing countries. But infectious diarrhea is not only a problem of developing countries. Up to 30% of the population in developed countries are affected by food-borne bacterial diarrheas each year.

Protection by probiotic bacteria and yeasts with immunostimulatory properties or the alleviation of symptoms and shortening of acute infections are perhaps the best-documented probiotic effects, and these have been demonstrated many times in the past in clinical studies fulfilling scientific requirements. Beneficial effects such as decreased frequency of infections, shortening of the duration of episodes by 11.5 d, decreased shedding of rotaviruses or promotion of systemic or local immune response, and an increase in the production of rotavirus-specific antibodies have been demonstrated for a number of food and nonfood probiotics . In numerous studies probiotics were administered as nonfood preparations, e.g., as a powder or suspended in oral rehydration solutions . For reviews see Fonden et al. , de Roos and Katan , or Marteau et al. .

How Safe Are Probiotics

Because microbes used as probiotics already exist naturally in your body, probiotic foods and supplements are generally considered safe. They may trigger allergic reactions, and may also cause mild stomach upset, diarrhea, or flatulence and bloating for the first few days after starting to take them.

There are certain people who need to use caution when using probiotic supplements. There is a risk of infection in some people. These people include those who have:

  • A weakened immune system .
  • A critical illness.

Caution should also be used when giving probiotics to very sick infants.

Always talk to your healthcare provider before starting a probiotic supplement.

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Do Probiotics Help To Treat Acute Infectious Diarrhoea

What is the aim of this review?

Acute infectious diarrhoea is a major global disease that particularly affects people in low- and middle-income countries. We wanted to know if taking probiotics is helpful in shortening the time taken for symptoms to resolve. We searched for studies that looked at the use of probiotics in people with acute diarrhoea. We looked for studies in which the treatments people received were decided randomly these usually give reliable evidence.

Key messages

Probiotics may not affect how long acute diarrhoea lasts. We do not know if they can shorten the time to recovery from diarrhoea. We need reliable evidence from further studies to determine whether probiotics help treat acute infectious diarrhoea.

What was studied in the review?

Diarrhoea is the name for frequent bowel movements or the passing of unusually soft or watery faeces. Infections of the gut by bacteria, viruses, or parasites cause acute diarrhoea and are most often spread through water contaminated with faeces. Acute diarrhoea usually improves within a few days. However, in severe acute diarrhoea, water, salts, and nutrients that may be lost from the body are substantial, causing dehydration and even death. Treatments for acute diarrhoea aim to prevent or reverse dehydration, speed up recovery time, and shorten the time that a person may pass the infection to others.

What are the main results of the review?

Taking probiotics may not have affected:

How reliable are these results?

Probiotics For Food Poisoning

Should I take probiotic supplements every day?

People often ask whether probiotics help with food poisoning and, in short, the answer is yes. Specific strains of good bacteria have shown to help alleviate the symptoms of many gastric illnesses including diarrhoea and reduce symptom duration by up to 24 hours.

One particular strain, clinically trialled1 to reduce the effects of stomach upsets, is Saccharomyces boulardii. It is unique from other bacterial strains, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, because it is actually a probiotic yeast. Originally found in lychee fruit, this probiotic strain is known for its transient qualities, meaning that it doesnt colonise in the intestines. Interestingly, it is thought to have a sticky outer membrane which it uses to adhere itself to harmful bacteria, including E. coli and Salmonella. This process is thought to help remove any pathogens from the gut. Saccharomyces boulardii is the only probiotic that functions in this way, making it a valuable therapeutic tool to tackle most stomach upsets. It has even been found helpful in limiting Clostridium difficile2 infection in the gut. C. difficile is a notoriously difficult pathogen to eradicate, as it is becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics.

Read more about Saccharomyces boulardii at The Probiotics Database.

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Why You Should Take Probiotics With Antibiotics

Antibiotics play a critical role in killing bad bacteria. But as they destroy infections, they can also cause collateral damage to the good bacteria in your gut, which could result in diarrhea for a couple of daysor even weeksafter you stop taking the medicine.

So how can you get the benefits of antibiotics without the nasty stomach side effects? The answer might be found in probioticspills or even powders with live microorganisms that offer health benefits.

Your intestines contain around 1,000 different species of bacteria, with 100 trillion bacteria in total, says Dr. Lawrence Hoberman, president and chief executive of Medical Care Innovations Inc. If 80% of that bacteria is the good, healthy kind, the harmful bacteria stay at bay. But antibiotics change the balance in the microbiome, which may result in an increase in the harmful bacteria, he explained.

The immune system recognizes the bad guys and will try to destroy them. But in the process, it breaks down the intestinal lining and causes inflammation, and thats how we get antibiotic-associated diarrhea, Dr. Hoberman explains.

One study found that antibiotic-associated diarrhea affects between 5% and 39% of patients, depending on which antibiotic they take. But research shows that probiotics can curb digestion problems. A meta-analysis of 34 other studies found that probiotics reduce instances of antibiotic-associated diarrhea by 52%.

Should You Take Probiotics If You Have Ibs

Despite some promising research, it is too early to make general recommendations about the use of probiotics for IBS.

While some strains have been shown to have benefits for one or two symptoms, the majority of probiotics are unlikely to cause improvements.

However, probiotics are safe, and a relatively cheap potential treatment option for IBS. Also, they have worked for some people, particularly for those with specific symptoms.

If you are interested in trying a probiotic, there is an .

Here are some key tips when making your selection:

  • Choose an evidence-based probiotic: Select a probiotic that has research supporting it
  • Select a probiotic according to your symptoms: Choose strains that work for your issues
  • Take the right dose: Use the dosage recommended by the manufacturer
  • Stick with one type: Try one variety for at least four weeks and monitor your symptoms

Keep in mind that some probiotic supplements contain ingredients that could make your symptoms worse. These include oats, inulin, lactose, fructose, sorbitol and xylitol. If your symptoms are triggered by any of these, look for a probiotic that does not contain them.

Even if you dont experience significant improvements, probiotics still offer other great health benefits and can be a valuable component of a healthy lifestyle.

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