VSL is the Most Economical Probiotic Available

I keep answering this on seperate posts so I decided to make this to try and let folks know that VSL#3 is not expensive...in fact, from the all the probiotics I've looked at (and it's far from all inclusive), VSL#3 is the best value for your money...here's why I say that:

 

VSL#3 contains 450 billion bacteria per packet and each packet costs (at most) $3. So it costs $0.07 for 10 billion bacteria in packet form.

 

Culturelle (sold at Target--I just picked this as an example because it has a lot of bacteria compared to most) contains 10 billion bacteria per capsule; 30 capsules cost $18.59. So it costs $0.62 for 10 billion Culturelle bacteria in pill form.

 

VSL#3 pills (to compare pills to pills) have 225 billion bacteria per pill. 60 pills cost $48.50. So it costs $0.36 for 10 billion of VSL#3 bacteria in pill form.

 

The thing I like best about VSL#3 is the bacteria are freeze dried, come from 8 strains, and they are shipped and stored cold to assure the bacteria remain alive.

 

I get VSL#3DS mail order. With my copay I end up paying $0.008 for 10 billion VSL bacteria (packets)

 

There's no need to buy pills. If you want to go the least expensive way and don't need 450 billion bacteria per dose then buy the VSL#3 packets and split the powder up in to different doses.

 

 

The VSL dosing comes from the "extensive clinical research in the dietary management of UC or an ileal pouch." The bottom line is the cost per number of bacteria you're getting.

If you buy a 30 pill bottle at the drug store for $20 and it recommends taking 1 pill a day and each pill has 10 billion bacteria then you're not taking enough according the "extensive research" VSL did. I'm certain these other probiotic companies have not performed double blind,placebo controlled studies on UC patients.

But, even if you notice benefit from taking that 1 (10 billion bacteria) pill, it's still cheaper for you to buy the VSL because you can split the sachets up. One sachet equals 45 of those pills (or whatever the strength comes out to be).

The bottom line comparison is the number of bacteria--assuming you're getting adequate strains (which VSL has 8 from more than I've noticed in other brands) and the bacteria are alive and kept alive.

According to the research VSL performed, most people are not taking enough probiotics for their dietary management of UC.

The VSL#3DS directions I got recommends taking 450-900 billion bacteria per day for "dietary management of UC" and 1800-3600 billion per day for "dietary management of UC, active-not responding to conventional therapy". I guess I would take a little as I needed but right now I'm maxing out because of being in this hard flare still.

statistics: you mean about how much one should take or which brand or what...my sister already made me promise to take the vsl so i'm locked in to give it a try per their instructions...i figure we have similar genes so i may get the results she does...i'm hoping
she gets constipated with a flare though where i tend to have diarrhea so i wonder why that is and if i need what she does?

OK, I am persuaded - and feeling a little foolish re my math on the other thread.

I've been taking Ultimate Flora Critical Care, 50 Billion per capsule. I buy bottles of 60 for $50. I usually take two a day. Lately, with a flare trying to emerge, I've been taking 4 a day - so that's $100 per month on those alone!
And my one VSL packet per day.
I have been operating under a "false ecomony" - that's for sure! lol

Last week my GI tried ordering the DS via prescription for me. I'm hoping it goes through this time, that will really help! I think in the past docs have tried to order DS but have put "30 packets" - and the ins has replied that it's a non-prescription item. I've gone through this twice with 2 different GIs!)

Thanks for doing the math, Burli!

Passer - as I said in the other thread, my insurance had said it was OTC last April and in October, the other two times by GIs (my old one and now my new one) had tried to order it. I had assumed that they had written the order wrong, because when the mail-order pharmacy had declined to cover it, the email they sent said they were refusing to cover, "VSL#3DS packets of 30" because it was OTC.
This time I made sure my doc wrote the order to include not only the letters "DS" but the number "packets of 20" and it came out as "by prescription only" was they covered it. Apparently in the previous attempts the pharmacy computer (or whatever) had picked up the number "30" and had interpreted that as the non-DS strength.

Since it took me all these months to get a doc to write out the thing correctly, would it be worth your retrying, to see if somewhere between the doc, the nurse, the secretary, and the pharmacy, that kind of tiny mistake was made and that's why they started to refuse it?

(I'm not being argumentative here, I'm trying to figure this out....!)

Laura -
I've had better results with drops, or "tincture".... it comes in a little bottle with a dropper, and you add 40 drops to water. I've also tried the capsules, but my results are more obvious with the drops. My local health food store carries both.

Good luck!

And I hope you can get your GP to try to write up the VSL. The one time I had the prescription sent to the local pharmacy rather than the mail-order, they called me to tell me it wouldn't be covered, (which was nice, the personal touch) and offered to sell it to me a box at a time for the bulk-order price - so it was still a bit of savings. (Of course, when I got it, it wasn't the DS strength, hence I realized that once again there had been a mix-up.)

My hunch is that in my case, what the processor picked up (whether it was a human or a computer) was the "30" and not the "DS" letters. In one of these failed attempts I'd described, my local pharmacy called me to tell me it wasn't covered and would I like to just buy it a box at a time or would I refuse it all together - so when I went to buy a box, what they had gotten in was the regular VSL and NOT the DS strength.
So in my case, I think if the doc goofed a little and wrote the order for VSL#3DS 30's, and what the pharmacy understood was "VSL#3(Not DS) 30's". And this happened twice.

When I looked over my GI's should at his computer a few weeks ago to put in the order that actually worked, it was very, very confusing to find the small option among all the options for "DS" and "20's".