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[Springchicken]

I have just finished a scince degree and a lot of my work and interest shifted to the gut biome / gut health / wellbeing / and probiotics.

A relatively new area to Medical Science but one that I believe our long ago ancestors had an incredible insight into without the knowledge of how molecules interact. The kind of stuff our grannies knew about! 
I have been on HRT for a good few years and tried about 5 different ones now. I am suffereing from terrible fatigue, painful joints and my brain has gone to mush and my skin looks like an old leather suitcase. (am more concerned about fatigue now though LOL). GP thinks it is all in my mind. Obvioulsy!!! Grrrrrr. It is a very lonely place to be especialy when you are too tired to work and keep up with friends and social engagements. Very deflating to be practically told that you are somehow inventing your dreadful symptoms. Cried when I got home. Cried a lot. But hey....lets move on.

On a very positive note I am really getting into the amazing world of probiotcs and I have a "gut" feeling that this may be of a little or a lot of help to me and many others who are really suffering. I think that perhaps this may play a helpful role in helping us ladies who are having a grim time.
A lot of health food shops sell probiotics but the pills and also some yogurts/drinks are also packed with some nasties that are not so good for you...used to mostly help to pad out pills or yog. For example:
Microcrystalline Cellulose, Chicory Inulin Fibre, fructo oligosacharides. Watch out for these baddies!
You can make probiotics yourself! Make SAUERKRAUT. Drink KEFIR. KOMBUCHA. Olives in brine (though wash off some of the salty brine) Make sure that the sauerkraut you buy is live. If you buy it in a jar in the supermarket it is unlikley to be live and therfore not beneficial. Same with kombucha drinks!
If possible grow herbs on a sunny windowsill. All these wonderful things interact and create a healthier body AND mind and hopefully improve meno issues.
Sauerkraut is so easy and cheap to make. No need to spend loads on pills.....some are around £40! Probiotic manufacturers know how to charge! There is a lot of benefit from making your own fermented foods.
Anyway, there is a lot of information out there so that we can all make up our minds.
Google Scholar is a good place to look info where you know it is not linked to an advert for a product. If you are going to buy probiotics from a health food place, make sure it is a well know "repuatable" one. Beware of unknown ones online!

Many of you may already be on the happy probiotic road and I hope it is helping. For those of you who are yet to explore it....please give it a go.....gently and steady away to begin with, and obviously research any products.

All the best. Hang in there all. xx

[AgathaC]

Thanks for this nice post xx
I love The Collective Kefir which I get in Morrison's. Coconut and honey OR mango and turmeric. Both are delicious and very filling!
No nasties and good product information on the bottle xx

[Night_Owl]

Interesting post Springchicken.

Would you be able to expand on why Chicory Inulin Fibre is so bad - thought it was a source of fibre, a prebiotic and helped control blood sugar levels?

I drink Chicory Root instead of tea and coffee to avoid caffeine.

[WearyTraveller]

Hi Night Owl

Thanks for your message previously.  I just found it in Spam so so sorry not to reply as this was very helpful and appreciated.
 Glad to hear you are finally coming through this hell and hope you are generally feeling well.

I have my sweats and flushes back under control - had to up Estradot to 75 patch and if I am late changing, am immediately hot and flushing so think am on the lowest I can go. Gave up the norethisterone, awful stuff (for me).  Have been prescribed Utrogestan caps although doc said this was not good at stopping spotting/bleeding, but this is much better than it was and very light and infrequent so won't start it unless it gets worse again.

I'm also curious about why Inulin is bad.  I take this for a month or two then stop because the list of HRT, vitamins and things is already too long.  The original purpose was to improve sleep, also my gut biome as don't eat enough fibre and have a fairly high sugar, unhealthy diet and thought it would be good for general health as well as possibly help with low mood, joint achiness, immunity, inflammation etc. 

Have found it fantastic.  Tried several brands, all 100% chicory, and they do taste different and seem to create more or less gas but they do all massively improve digestion.  I also find a scoop of this in a glass of water makes me feel quite full, so an unexpected side effect is that I snack less which means less junk food which is great! 

Had recommended this to friends, all of whom find it has improved their digestion and also reduces appetite which may be a goal for some in its own right.  Hadn't read about this benefit but seems all of us agree it does.

I haven't found anything in the research to suggest it is harmful or an issue in any way.  I was thinking that it might be wise to find an organic source because of the possible level of residual pesticides if taking daily for long periods, although eating more fruit and veg would have same risk.  Other than that, can't think what could be the issue.  At some point I will check if there is anything in the Maximum Residue Level reporting that has looked at this and if not, may suggest it goes on the list as is 100% vegetable product if not "produce".

All best

[Foxylady]

I've taken Optibac probiotic for a few years, helps the IBS. Lots more research coming out about probiotics and there benefits across the body, very interesting but as mentioned pricey.

[Kathleen]

Hello Springchicken and welcome to the forum.

I am also keen to learn all I can about the gut microbiome and this new area of science.

I've been making my own Sauerkraut for years and fortunately love the taste. I would add that anyone eating it for the first time should eat small amounts initially and build up slowly. It's powerful stuff!

Wishing you well.

K.

[AstroCat]

Would you be able to expand on why Chicory Inulin Fibre is so bad - thought it was a source of fibre, a prebiotic and helped control blood sugar levels?

I drink Chicory Root instead of tea and coffee to avoid caffeine.

Yep, I'll second that. I gave up coffee quite a while ago and have been drinking a chicory drink instead, so would be interested to know why it might not be a good thing.
Thanks :-)

[Hurdity]

Well I just bought some organic Kefir yogurt  (Yeo Valley) and it tastes just like oridnary (natural) yogurt to me although the blurb says the cultures contain 14 strains of live cultures - but most natural yogurt is live anyway ie you can make more yogurt from it. I wonder if the kefir bit (in the commercial stuff) is a bit of a bandwagon or whether it really is any different from normal natural yogurt (I'm not talking about horrible stuff likre Muller yogurt which doesn't taste anything like yogurt to me!)?

I agree that gut health seems be the thing and gut flora can be responsible for all sorts of other conditions eg propensity to weight gain amongst other things. The more research into this the better - but I wonder if we just all have a better balanced diet from fresh unprocessed ingredients - including organic where possible - if we will have excellet gut health anyway?  I don't eat pro-biotics but as I said I am hoping that my diet is good enough that I don't need them (shall I polish my halo or wither into a heap?!) (I eat lots of proper natural yogurt...). Maybe you can shed light on this Springchicken?

Hurdity x