Do You Make Regular Use of Acidophilus?

There is a probiotic called PB8 that has worked well for me, and I like that it doesn't require refrigeration.

homemade yogurt is absolutely the best.
storebought yogurt is the next best. good yogurt from organic milk.
isn't 'assisting the bowels' enough? those little critters do all sorts of great things inside your gut. if you don't want to do yogurt until your mom's back, i'd just ask the pharmacist what brand of acidophilus supplement she recommends.
khairete
S.

Keeping your gut healthy is the first and most important step in staying healthy. That is where your body flushes out all the bad stuff so taking a probiotic/acidophilus helps keep it functioning properly.

Your mothers home made yogurt would be the best, but an over the counter one will help too. I use Culturelle for myself and my daughter (the one for kids is a packet and easier to mix with food or drinks). They are also safe for you and your children (even if your breast feeding).

A few things to keep in mind (taught to us by our daughter's numerous gastroenterologists - I'm not medically trained but I have spent the majority of the last 12 years in doctors' offices and learning about my daughter's precarious health, and I've taken good notes!):

1. Organic, plain (unflavored, unsweetened) Greek yogurt is an excellent choice. You can add fresh berries to it, or add a little raw local unfiltered honey to it, if you like. Don't get flavored yogurt, or the popular ones like "kiwi cheesecake" in the cute little cups, or yogurt with cookies to dump over it. I prefer mine combined with a heaping handful of fresh blueberries, and about a teaspoon of pure organic blueberry jam (unsweetened, made with blueberries and lemon juice mainly - it can be hard to find but it is worth it to me). One very prominent doctor who was an integral part of the team who came up with my daughter's diagnoses told us that organic plain Greek yogurt was her prescribed "drug" of choice.

2. A probiotic (which is what the acidophillus is) should never be purchased or consumed unless it requires refrigeration and is sold in the refrigerated unit of a store. The ones on the grocery store shelves have possibly been exposed to heat, or have been stored for a long time. Go to a store like Whole Foods or Sprouts or Trader Joes or similar places and choose a probiotic that has been kept refrigerated. And store it in the refrigerator at home.

3. There should be several different strains of probiotics on the label. They'll have long Latin names or abbreviations (the first word or letter is the genus,, the second is the species, and the third is the strain, and then there will be a number). But there shouldn't be too many or too few. Look for brands that have between 4 and 8 strains. They'll be listed separately on the ingredient list, and then it will tell how many parts per billion or how many of them are in there (sometimes written as units or CFUs). If there's more than 7 or 8 different species or strains it's a possible sign that the manufacturer is just throwing things in there to look better, and actually too many can be harsh on your system and the species can work against each other.

4. You want between 5 and 50 billion units total, from the different strains when they're added up. It's sometimes advised to start with a smaller count (5 to 10 billion) and then work up after a few days.

5. A probiotic should have an expiration date on it. If it doesn't, don't buy it - you have no idea how long it's been in a warehouse or on a truck or in a store. These are living things - and they need refrigeration, a dark bottle (to protect against damage from light and UV rays) and they have an expiration date.

Hope that helps a little!

I use Culturelle, which is a very high quality probiotic that contains a mix of strains. It's great for overall digestive and gut health.

What's wrong with regular store yogurt with acidophilus? It's easy for you to get, and you can deal with homemade yogurt later on. Or talk to the pharmacist, as Suz suggests.

I don't know much about them, but when my Dr recommended them when I was taking antibiotics, she specifically recommended Culturelle.

I have heard some vague things about the pill supplements: that there are differences between them in the kind of bacteria in them, the quantity of bacteria, if they are coated to make sure they survive enough to get past your stomach acid to where they need to be, etc. But, I didn't do that research - in this case, I just took my dr's advice and bought the Culturelle.

We always have acidophilus in the house. We use it any time anyone is on antibiotics to put good bacteria back into the gut and help prevent diarrhea, yeast infections, and yeast rashes.
Any time anyone has loose stools or is gassy or just has a stomach ache, we give acidophilus. Any time the babies have a yeast rash or my daughter is sore or itchy from not wiping well, we give acidophilus. Sometimes we even use it as a "band-aid" when one of the kids is says they don't feel well, but there's really nothing wrong.
Putting good bacteria into your system can't really ever hurt, so we use it a lot.
We use no specific brand, but there are chewable tablets available that the big kids and the adults in our family like.

I was recently on antibiotics. The doctor said to eat yogurt 2 hours before or after taking the pill. Life was busy. I failed to eat yogurt twice a day and then stopped eating any. I got a yeast infection as a result.

I was taking probiotics by pill because.I have IBS. Gradually stopped taking it. This reminded me to start again. I was having diarrhea and gas and didn't put those symptoms together with my not taking probiotics. I'm back to taking them.

Yogurt drinks with acidophilus have a lot of sugar in them. A great way to get probiotics is to eat foods that contain them. Foods like sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir and kimchi. Another great way is to take a supplement in pill form. It did not give me any problems such as diarrhea when I started...but I cannot say if this is the norm or not.

Did you try real cranberry juice for your UTI first?