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Posted 5/24/2009 12:48 PM (GMT -5)
Been trying to do a little research on probiotics, because although I eat yogurt every day, I'd like to learn what else might be of benefit. (almost done w/ abx for infected thumb).  I am also interested because of my father who got Enterobacter cloacae in his new hip, during hip replacement surgery.  He endured extremely high doses of abx, both orally and IV for awhile and now just orally.  The Dr will keep him on it (Cipro) for the rest of his life.

As I wrote once before, he does not feel welll. He is an ornery, stubborn man who will not eat yogurt if his life depends on it. (we tried). He has been on abx for over a year and a half now, w/ no probiotics,  I've been looking to see if an acidopholus (sp?) supplement or something would be of benefit to him -- I might be able to get him to take a supplement of some sort.  Because I believe that he may have some other type of infection that the infectious disease Dr is not finding, for instance -- let's just say, for example, he had Lyme.  Or some other infection that the IDD doesn't know anything about.

But so far, what I'm seeing is that there are so many different kinds of probiotics for many different specific types of bacteria. How might I go about determining what he might try starting with?

Posted 5/24/2009 1:02 PM (GMT -5)
Hi there:). I'm sorry about your father. I have him in my thoughts and prayers.

You always want to get a refrigerated probiotic. You want the bacteria to be alive so that they can do their job. I get a probiotic that has 1.25 billion Lactobacillus Acidophilus and 1.25 billion Bifido Longum. I take 4 a day. 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. It has helped my stomach alot.

I'm sure there are stronger probiotics and he may need to take something stronger. I'm sure someone else will chime in and help soon. Good luck!

P. S.- if he doesn't like swallowing the pill, you can always open it up and mix it with his food. It might be better for him that way.
Posted 5/24/2009 2:33 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you, CajunGrl! Oh, he can take a pill alright -- the man used swallow his aspirin and vitamins without liquid! (he refuses all vitamins now, tho)

How did you figure out what probiotics to take? And where do you get them? I know very little about them, except for acidopholus (sp?) and yogurt w/ the live stuff.

Hoping this info might help other Newbies as well! Thank you!
Posted 5/24/2009 2:57 PM (GMT -5)

Hi LymeUnkown.  The best kind of acidophilus to get are those that are refrigerated and that have a high culture count (such as 9 billion cultures per capsule).  Most health food stores have them.  These need to be taken at least two hours apart from the antibiotics or they will not be effective.

I am sorry your father is not well.  If you feel something else is going on, why not switch doctors to see if another one can help?

Posted 5/24/2009 3:13 PM (GMT -5)
LymeUnknown,

I think Ticker answered your question. She is very experienced with Lyme Disease and supplements. In my opinion, your father probably needs something stronger than what I'm on since he's been on antibiotics for so long. Look for either acidophilus or probiotics. Either one will do and I'm sure the worker at the health food store can help.

I get mine from a nurse here where I live. She is a licensed distributor and orders all the supplements I need from a hair analysis that I had done.
Posted 5/24/2009 3:13 PM (GMT -5)
I've had good luck with Align which is in most hospital pharmacies-- you can open the capsule and put it in his food... he won't even know it's there....

Posted 5/24/2009 3:28 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you so much everyone! Well, getting him to another Dr has so far been fruitless. He likes his IDD and is, frankly, sick of Drs after all he went thru. I'm still working on getting him interested in 'a 2nd opinion'.

Thank you for all the suggestions -- So am I to understand that my Mom could go to the health food store and get for him a 'general', refrigerated acidophilus w/ the high cultures? (I don't live there, yet) Would this be in capsules?

What was confusing to me was that from what I read sounded like you needed different specific probiotics for different specific bacterias.

If I have understood you correctly, then this would be manageable and I'll get my Mom and Dad right on this! Hey, I don't suppose vodka counts as a 'fermented' drink, does it?......... No, he doesn't drink too much, but does occasionally enjoy a couple martinis before dinner.......

THANK YOU AGAIN! I will use this new info for myself too!
Posted 5/25/2009 3:27 PM (GMT -5)
Ultra Flora DF from Metagenics in my probiotic of choice (buy it on line or from a nutricionist) for live potency in the billions, PLUS a probiotic with 6 to 8 strains for diversity, you can read the labels of the ones in your healthfood store or vitamin shoppe refrigerator for the one with the most strains, sometimes they have 6 or 8 in the name. I use both probiotic approaches to seed the culture from both the numbers/population side of it and the diversity side of it. It seems to work pretty well so far after 9 months on abx.

Also, take probiotics on an empty stomach if you can, which I think means 45 mins before food or 2 hours after food. That has the best chance of the bacteria living longer.

If you do the yogurt thing, and I do, make sure it doesn't have added suger. Most any supermarket or health food store will have no sugar added yogurt. Note Yogurt isn't sugar free because the milk has sugar which is fine, just don't get one that adds sugar or sugar like substances in the ingrediants. The ingrediants should be milk and cultures.
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