Taking probiotics for better mental health/wellbeing

[petalflowers95]

Hey all,
Has anyone taken probiotics and do they help anxiety/stress? I’ve started taking Symprove which is a daily water-based probiotic drink. All it’s doing at the moment is giving me very bad brain fog! Has anyone else experienced that with probiotics? Or had any good/bad experiences with probiotics? I’d be interested to hear anyone’s experiences!

Thank you!
Lou

Anyone out there had any probiotics side effects?

No side effects none that have really bothered me.
im post menopause so the brain fog is normal for me 🤦‍♀️ I can forget a word a want to say and it drives me mad, I think I’m loosing my mind sometimes.

I’ve tried 3 different brands of probiotics
Australian one that said helped Anxiety
Bio Kult
Hey Nutrition

I can’t really say they helped my anxiety but I have chronic anxiety and also take meds
i take more gut health

Thanks for your reply! I read that some of the gut bacteria can give off histamine which then creates a brain fog, but I’m not sure if this is true or not!

I’ve noticed when I consume natural probiotics consistently, my anxiety levels some what subside.and I feel all round much better. Natural, unsweetened yogurt, kefir, miso soup, sauerkraut and many naturally probiotic products. And these tend be way cheaper than probiotic supplements that are often so expensive.

Thanks for this! I had started taking probiotic supplements for this reason - I read about the gut-brain axis and how probiotics might help with anxiety long-term. Do you consistently eat those foods every day?

I try to, usually a fair amount of natural yogurt, miso and sauerkraut throughout the week - these easily accessible and affordable. Often, also miso and kefir. I find that this and taking good quality omega 3 works well for me and my anxiety generally.

Thanks so much! That’s really helpful. I hadn’t thought about Omega-3. Do you take it in a tablet form? And could I ask how much you take per day? Thanks!

Yes, I take the high strength omega 3 from Holland and Barratt, 1a day. But they have a variety in store so it’s worth having a look at the other choices. But the quality is always good.

You could listen to some of the ZOE podcasts and Tim Spector’s work. As I understand it it’s good for gut health to take pre and pro biotics but of all the different strains available the science can’t yet specify which ones help particular needs. It’s certainly a good idea to eat keffir yoghourt, miso, sauerkraut etc but the use of expensive health shop pre and pro biotic supplements claiming they target anxiety is not based on evidence.

What the poster above eats are prebiotics not probiotics. They feed the existing gut microbes whereas probiotics help repopulate healthy microbes. Both are great but it’s important to know the difference.

OP I’m a clinical Nutritionist and I do gut healing protocol with practically all of my neurology patients. I prescribe Vivomixx 450 (I’m in the EU not sure you can get this one in the UK) taken in cold still water, on an empty stomach first thing in the morning for 6 weeks. There is a huge improvement in anxiety.

What you are likely experiencing is a healing crisis. A period where it gets worse before it gets better. Brain fog indicates to me that your gut is changing and perhaps diverting resources to healing. I wouldn’t be worried about it unless it becomes chronic.

Thanks for the info! That’s very interesting. I would say it is becoming a bad brain fog to the point where I feel almost drunk when I’ve not had a single drink! It’s like an extreme tiredness/spaced out feeling. I’m worried as it’s two days since I stopped the probiotic supplement and I’m still experiencing the brain fog. Will it subside? It’s almost scary.