Feeling strange on probiotics

[C1239]

I’m only on day 3 of taking a new probiotic but I feel a bit strange, bloated this evening, a bit stressed / in a bad mood… can probiotics often make you feel worse before you feel better? Should I maybe ease into it taking every other day instead of every day?

Stop taking them if the species you have bought are not good for you.

How long are you meant to take it for to see if it improves?

People can really mess up their microbiome. What were you trying to achieve? What is your goal?

Pause them and for a week take probiotics in food form, so real sauerkraut, kefir, tempeh, live yoghurt, ...

Would I have caused problems by only taking them for 3 days? I ll stop and see if symptoms ease. I aiming to improve my immune system and this one was recommmended

Focus on diet and fermented foods.
Three days is enough for you to notice adverse effects, but your microbiome will go back. The species you have will only do their beneficial work if you feed them the food they need. A probiotic for "beneficial" species without the fibre, starches and carbs, won't work. It is the food you ingest that shapes your microbiome.
The immune system is more complicated than just swallowing a pill. Lifestyle has far more impact.

I’ve been feeling a bit stressed recently and getting bugs so was just trying to give myself a boost, got caught up with the probiotic hype! How long will it take for them to go out of my system?

Gut bacteria are short lived if they don't reproduce or are introduced. Give it a few days. You shocked them by sending new species, but the old ones will take over .
How is your diet? Plenty of plants?

If you can get kefir 'grains' and start making your own (as long as you consume dairy) and then you can start on a tiny amount and build up, I make my own kefir, started with a spoonful mixed into a smoothie. Also give some to my dogs, they love it.

Diet could be better, not sure where to start really so much differing advice online! I try to eat fruit and veg, take vitamin c, zinc and d3 but just wanted to feel more energised and to stop getting bugs!

People tend to forget that the microbiome starts in your mouth. Munch on an apple, you will have these species, munch on crips, different species.
If as you said, diet could be better, work on diet first. Remove processed foods, go have on a variety of plants, cut alcohol, exercise or walk even day.
If you are eating a lot of animal products or fats, switch slowly to gut-friendly food, more vegetables, more lentils, more whole grains...

I think it is better to enhance you daily diet than bombard the gut with massive doses of species that may not suit it at all. Prebiotics are a great way to help the microbiome: foods like bananas, oats, leeks, onion, garlic, asparagus, lentils, etc. (It's a lot easier to up these in your daily diet than to suddenly start making your own kefir.) Some natural acidophilus yogurt, like Vaalia, is an easy probiotic to add to your regular diet. I have porridge ie oats for breakfast every morning, make yogurt and banana shakes, and incorporate lots of garlic, onions, in my cooking. This is more realistic for me than eating sauerkraut. Plus lots of gut-friendly foods like pulses/beans, vegetables, etc.

Kefir is shockingly easy to make, add grains to milk, allow to ferment either slowly in fridge or on counter top, strain and use. I really wish more people would try it, lots are buying it bottled now but some of that has the probiotics added instead of naturally occurring

That's nice! But for the average person eating a shit diet it's a big stretch to be seeking out kefir grains for starters. I have violent allergic reactions to various yeasts and moulds and don't want to experiment. Prebiotics, on the other hand, can be found in any supermarket.

I'm not sure if it actually works but kombucha is nice (if you get one that doesn't taste of vinegar!). Nexba rose lemonade is lovely.

They're not hype OP, they are great for you. But be very careful with how you take them - I've never gone over 8bn for example, and take them evenings and I've worked up to that over quite a long time (I started on 1bn per day). Loads of probiotics now are 15, 20 or 30 bn which is very high and can give you massive side effects short term like bad bloating especially if the first time you take them you go that high. I had awful side effects before I knew this.

Could they affect your mood? Probably, because lots of scientific research does Link gut microbiome to emotional health and even cognitive abilities.

Ultimately probiotic pills are amazing. They've made a huge and great impact on my health. I wouldn't be without them. Don't throw them out - just b v careful about the dosage and that you chose the best one for you.