4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[redfrock]

Following my operation back in April, I am still off work having had 'complications'. I am now on something like my twelfth course of antibiotics since January - four of them since the operation. I have just started a 2000mg a day course of the penicillin family and am feeling quite dreadful on it (my second course, just 7 days apart). I can't think that all these antibiotics are doing my body a whole heap of good and thought I had better give it a helping hand. I thought maybe I should consider taking something like Actimel or Yalkult, but there are so many on the market and I know very little about them. I mustn't have one that is soya based, and although I have a diary intolerance I am hoping they are small enough to not cause too many problems! If anybody can enlighten me on whether they are worth taking, which ones are best, how long to do so etc I would be really grateful.

 

Thank you

[The Dogmother]

I know that they are dairy based, but Rosie and I really love the Rachels organic probiotic drinks and find them great for poorly tummies.

 

Check the victoria health site as I am sure that I remember them having a probiotic in capsule form, that is really good at repopulating the gut.

 

Poor you, I hate antibiotic, they always give me an upset tummy and thrush

[redfrock]

thanks Clare - I knew I could depend on you ... and yes, the 'T' word

 

I will check out the pills. I am busy ordering my shopping online today (a luxury) as Andy isn't home this weekend so I can't get out to do it. My Sainburys is quite small, so their lines are limited. They don't seem to have the Rachel's one

Edited June 5, 2008 by Guest

[Guest]

Yeo Valley do probiotic yoghurt too - might be a little to much for you though.

 

I love Yeo Valley.....

 

and the good news is I'm allowed yoghurt now!

[The Dogmother]

Yup, the Yeo ones are lovely too and seem to be effective.

 

Here y'are http://Hon....http://www.victoriahealth.com/vhstore/pc/viewproducts.asp?idproduct=5431

[Guest]

my dad has bowel problems and a colostomy bag. His surgeon told him drinking Yakult would help him.

 

Yakult has been around for many years, long before all the other pro biotic drinks etc

[chickencam]

I tried Yakult and found it really sweet and had to force myself to drink it. I had Actimel every day for about a year and I am trying a break from it at the moment on cost grounds and to see if it really makes any difference.

 

Actimel come in loads of flavours but I preferred the plain one, I found the 0.1% fat ones a bit bitter, so tended to have the plain normal one when I could find it.

 

I have felt a bit bloated the last couple of days so I may go back to it.

 

Hope you feel better soon.

[Olly]

I swear by Actimel, I have one a day - it's expensive, but I found it really helps with bloating, IBS and constipation (gosh, we Omleteers do talk about some great subjects, don't we! If it's not chicken poo ... )

 

I can't stand the flavoured ones, I always buy plain. I tried Yakult but I just didn't like the taste.

 

I do sympathise, I always get thrush when on antibiotics, it's miserable - at least you can get stuff over the counter these days but the cost is . I spent nearly £20 on the last episode. (Very annoying, because if I'd had it on prescription I wouldn't have had to pay! )

 

You sound as if you've had a really rough time lately, sorry to hear about all the complications.

[redhotchick]

I'd go with Yakult. You can get a lower sugar one, which is a bit less sweet. I'm speculating but I'd say it has a low dairy content compared to the yoghurt pot types.

Cut right back on sugar, and carbohydrate as much as possible to help minimise the T.

I'm the same when I have to take antibiotics.

[Egluntyne]

I've never tried either so can't offer an opinion, but just wanted to say I'm sorry that you are having ongoing problems.

 

Rotten for you.

[WitchHazel]

I suspect Yakult is better, it was around long before the others.

 

I quite like the yoghurty taste of Actimel or Muller Vitality though.

 

They definitely made a difference to me. I didn't think they were making any difference, so a couple of years ago I stopped, and I really noticed the difference.

 

Another option might be to try making your own Kefir, which works out much cheaper after you've bought your initial Kefir spwan, but that is also dairy based.

[Lesley]

I'd go with Yakult. You can get a lower sugar one, which is a bit less sweet. I'm speculating but I'd say it has a low dairy content compared to the yoghurt pot types.

Cut right back on sugar, and carbohydrate as much as possible to help minimise the T.

I'm the same when I have to take antibiotics.

 

I agree with this and that it probably has a fairly low dairy content. I know Yakult and Actimel were proven to work in a survey recently. I've just had two courses of antibiotics for teeth pain and now have an irritable bladder

[..lay a little egg for me]

Hi

 

I recently edited a paper on intensive care patients being given probiotics to prevent antibiotic-related diarrhoea (Hickson M, D'Souza AL, Muthu N et al. BMJ 2007; vol 335: pgs 80-85). The study found that it did help. The patients who were taking one or two antibiotics drank 97 ml twice daily of a probiotic yoghurt drink containing Lactobacillus casei DN-114 001, Streptococcus thermophilus and L. bulgaricus.There was a significant reduction in the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (12% of patients compared with 34% among controls; p = 0.007)

 

If you cannot find probiotic tablets, have you considered Kefir? Although usually made with milk, you can make a water-Kefir. It has a big range of friendly bacteria in it and the milk version has been used for centuries by tribes in the Caucasus mountains. I use the milk version and absolutely love it with home-made granola! It is credited with having a whole host of health benefits, however it does contain two of the bacterial species used in the paper I mentioned above.

 

You can buy the culture for water kefir from The Kefir Shop (http://www.thekefirshop.co.uk/) and culture it yourself...it is very easy. You use water and sugar to make your very own Fizzy Probiotic health drinks without any diary products. You can add dry fruit like raisins, dates, prunes, and even fresh herbs and spices to make your own personalised drink

Look at this page http://www.thekefirshop.co.uk/Water%20Kefir_information.htm for more info on water kefir

 

For absolutely loads of info on kefir generally, see Dom's Kefir Page http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

 

Making your own works out so much cheaper than buying expensive Yakult etc. It cost me £7 for my kefir grains and I have been making about 2 pints of kefir every week for the last 6 months!!!

 

Good luck

[The Dogmother]

What does it tatste like Caroline?

[Seagazer]

A good alternative is Acidophilus Plus which contains lactic bacteria as the trouble with Yakult (which I take) etc is that they are full of sugar which if you have a problem with T could make it worse.

 

You can get these capsules from most health food shops in the fridge as they contain live thingeys!

 

Hope you feel better soon.

[..lay a little egg for me]

What does it taste like Caroline?

 

The milk version is like a tangy yogurt. Quite sour and a tingle on the tongue from a faint fizziness. Have you ever had Swedish filmjolk? It is a bit like that. Hard to describe really...it seems to be one of those love it or hate it things. I don't think I could drink it on its own as some do, but with granola or stewed fruit it is really yummy, I think anyway!

 

If you would like to try some, I could post you some grains. I started with a postage stamp size amount and now over the months it has grown to half a cupful!! I think it is possible to turn milk kefir into water kefir, but not sure. I expect it says on Dom's Kefir page (link in my previous post) as he (she?) is really informative.

Edited January 9, 2009 by Guest

[missuscluck]

Aldi do one called Optifit. I couldnt tell you if they are any good though, but I guess they would win on cost.

[Valkyrie]

There are soya yoghurts available, such as Alpro, but don't know if they would have the same effect. Alpro do lovely chocolate soya milk too (not So Good chocolate, although their plain milk option is better than Alpro - in my, and DD's opinion).

[redfrock]

Thanks for all the help - Omleteers are just so knowledgable and your research is fascinating Caroline - thank you for taking the time to post about it. I think a tablet form is probably the best bet for me as they will be soya and dairy free. I have picked up some multibiota (?) just for now as I was able to pick that up round the corner. Apparently it is very good and I wanted to be able to start taking something straight away. I will also order some of those tablets that you recommended Clare and swop over to those once they arrive

Edited June 6, 2008 by Guest

[The Dogmother]

I hope you get better soon Claire

[ChookieCaz]

I think I've read somewhere about Yakult or something like that speeding up the post-operative healing. Hope you are soon on the mend

 

The suggestions about Kefir sound interesting. Presumably it can be made in a yoghurt maker?

[..lay a little egg for me]

The suggestions about Kefir sound interesting. Presumably it can be made in a yoghurt maker?

 

No, actually, because it evolved in cold climates, it works best when kept cool. You don't have to heat up the milk first either and unlike yoghurt it never (or at least not in the 6 months I have been growing it) gets contaminated with other bugs, tastes horrid and have to start again, which was what happened when I used to culture yoghurt. I would only manage to make so many batches before some other microorganism got in and spoiled it. I have been going 6 months with the kefir starting with half a teaspoonful of grains and now have about half a cupful, but all still fine. The kefir organisms actually live in the 'grains' and somehow keeps out the wrong sort (like a kind of gated community on a microscopic scale!! ). I started out by scalding the container I was using to grow the culture each time, but I had to wait for it to cool and ended up not bothering and it hasn't made any difference at all. I think the fact that it is cultured at a much lower temperature than yoghurt helps to keep the nasty bugs out.

 

Edited to say I have been growing it for 10 months now and still no problems

Edited January 9, 2009 by Guest

[ChookieCaz]

What a pity I didn't know about Kefir when I first started making yoghurt and the weather got too chilly to use the car as a mobile yoghurt maker It may sound silly, but I was reduced to desperate measures when the boiler was off due to the warmer weather and it was the only place that was warm enough (with the sun on it). I have since got a yoghurt-maker, so don't need to have sunny weather, not be going anywhere in the car and loads of towels to wrap around the pyrex dish with the milk and starter.

 

When making yoghurt, I normally have a fresh starter and need another after about a month. I think my Mum found that the batch would last a little longer than that though. The local Happy Shopper is a good place to go as they do a large tub of natural plain live yoghurt for less than Sainsbury's, which was bio, but not live, so useless! I normally use tins of evaporated milk nowadays, but don't know if this would have worked when I used a warm place My yoghurt is naturally sweet enough, so I don't bother with flavouring it.

[ChookieCaz]

Recently, I was given some Kefir grains by someone in Reading's Freecycle group and made a few batches. I even did one batch with a couple of tins of evaporated milk and that made it both thicker and a bit sweeter. Hopefully, it will soon multiply enough to share the grains with others, if they would like some.

 

Happy Christmas

[..lay a little egg for me]

My kefir has now been going for over a year and is still fine. I have passed on grains to loads of people, and it is still growing! Let me know if you would like me to send you some.