Probiotic

Has anyone else (mainly women probably) taken a probiotic and noticed a difference in their counts? I started taking a daily probiotic to help with some stomach issues. My next counts were sky high compared to normal. I accidentally didn't take them for about a month and my counts went down. I started taking them again and my counts went up. I have now been taking the probiotic for about 3 months straight. I had counts today and they were lower (but still not as low as they used to be).

Just wondering if anyone else noticed a similar trend....(not that this is a "cure", obviously haha)

I will do my best to keep this explanation simple - but no promises. :lol: Approx. 80% of a person's immune system is in their gut. That means the stomach, large and small intestine. We have both good and bad bacteria. *Most* people (by natural health standards) have an overrun of bad bacteria compared to their good bacteria. A good probiotic can bring the gut bacteria back into balance so the good once again outweighs the bad.

ITP is an issue of the immune system (really, all disease is, but that's for another post). That being the case, one needs to look at the gut. It makes sense that a person *could* respond positively with their platelets if one of things causing their ITP happens to be an overrun of that gut bacteria. H Pylori is one that sometimes can get a hold for ITP patients. But I'm even thinking of the other more common bacterias. Klebsella pneumonaie, streptococcus, etc. There are a multitude of them.

Because you seem to respond to the probiotics positively in terms of your platelet count it might be really worth your while to get a stool test done from Genova Diagnostics. It can tell you EVERY bacteria in your gut, if you have enough good vs. bad, and what substances (both antibiotics - which I don't recommend- and natural substances) will kill off the overrun of bad bacteria. This may prove very beneficial to your health long term since you are responding to the probiotics so easily. Typically, one finds that oil of oregano, uva ursi, and plant tannins are common substances that will kill off the overrun of bacteria. A stool test will test the bad bacteria to multiple substances to see what it is sensitive to. In your case, this would seem really worth your while.

It's actually quite a good thing that your body responds this way. Not many respond to probiotics so quickly in terms of gut repair (immune repair).

hope this helps,

patti

I have taken probiotics since September as recommended by my naturopath. I bought one with colostrum added and didn't really like the taste. She also recommended digestive enzymes or apple cider vinegar. I didn't really think I could take the vinegar but it was soooo much cheaper so I gave it a go. I tried mixing the 2 and surprise!- they tasted good together. Now I drink it with most meals and enjoy it. Now when I go out to dinner I take a small bottle of vinegar to dilute - ok, a bit eccentric. My counts haven't reflected anything radical but I feel my health is improving and I'm not getting cravings for sweet or fatty foods like I did. That's got to count eventually. Cheers, Sally

Well I'm not surprised colostrum tastes nasty (to adults)!

I just wanted to mention that if you are having any sort of bowel issues that result in inflammation - like celiac, or even lactose intolerance or fructose malabsorption or IBS, that could be causing your immune system to react and making ITP worse. So resolving that bowel issue could result in better platelet counts.

I believe that changing my diet (a lot) to address fructose malabsorption is a factor in my remission that Rituxan gave me, going on 2.5 years now. At my colonoscopy the doctor said there was evidence of scarring from healing but no current inflammation.
Erica