Probiotics..... Florastor safety?

[hlh]

My father has lymphopenia and specific antibody deficiency. Because of a spinal cord injury, he also has neurogenic bowel. Basically, this means his bowels don't really work on "command", shall we say, and he has struggled in the past with diarrhea and severe constipation intermittently. He was started years ago on a probiotic, which helped things, and many with neurogenic bowel use one. Now he just takes a relatively inexpensive one he gets at Costco in the states.

I was a little surprised when searching on the website that there was almost no discussion of probiotics. Since many on this board get recurrent infections and are placed on antibiotics, I assumed many of you would be taking probiotics. Probiotics have been shown to help prevent and improve antibiotic associated diarrhea.

Who is taking them? Which one are you taking?

In addition, because taking multiple courses of antibiotics can increase your risk of the terrible infection C. diff, there has been some discussion about ways of preventing C. diff. One specific probiotic - Florastor - has been shown to help prevent C. diff. But this probiotic is different from the others. While most probiotics are bacteria in a pill, Florastor is a yeast in a pill.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces_boulardii

One of my Dad's doctors (spinal cord injury doctor) said that they give Florastor the most to patients admitted to the hospital, and suggested it to my Dad because of his increasing number of infections. He knew that Florastor could decrease my father's chance of getting C.diff. Surprising to me, his Immunologist and Infectious Disease doctor have not heard of Florastor. Also, I have been hesitant to give it to my Dad because there is a warning about a risk of Fungemia (fungus infection in the blood) in people who are Immunocompromised.

Anyone heard of this, and told NOT to use Florastor?

Sorry for all the questions..... But it stinks to have these rare Immunodeficiencies and doctors that don't talk to each other.....

[mothergoose]

I use Kefir myself. You can buy a dairy Kefir in the yogurt section of the grocery store, but this is an expensive way to go.
I use water Kefir not dairy Kefir, you can Google this where to buy it, how to grow and take care of it, there is also You Tube Videos how to do it.
Basically I grow the water Kefir in a glass jar on my counter, every day or two I drain the water/juice off, I keep this to drink.
I then rise the Kefir grains, I put 2 tablespoons of the grains back into the jar after I add fresh not treated water, I buy bottled water if the water is chlorinated, I then add a couple of tablespoons of raw sugar, not coconut sugar, and a pinch of Sea salt, stir and put lid back on the jar, leave it on the counter for a day or two.
The grains use up the sugar, they should also multiply. When first starting out it takes a week or two to get there grain working/growing properly.
When ready it should have a bit of a fermented taste to it, not sweet, it is a bit of an acquired taste.
You then drink this liquid, it gives you the good bacteria you need. My Dr. told me to drink all I want of this just not with an antibiotic, 1 hr prior to AB, 2 hrs post AB.
You start off drinking 8oz per day, but can build up too 4 - 8 oz glasses. When you 1st start drinking this it can clean you out for the first couple of days, so plan around that, this uses ally settles down quickly and then just keeps you regular.
When I drink it I water it down some and add a bit of lemon juice to it, this makes it taste better to me. For most people they like the taste of it, I just don't like the taste of fermented things.
It is all much easier than it sounds and is good for the whole family.