As I've mentioned in other posts, Metamucil gave me excess gas. I had no side effects whatsoever with Benefibre, but no benefits to report either (frequency and consistency were unchanged compared to taking no fibre supplement), so I didn't bother continuing with it. I don't take any fibre supplements now. If Dr. Shen is only recommending imodium, then I'd start with that and see how you fare. You may have to experiment with the dosage a bit - up to 8 tablets per day.
That is interesting news about VSL#3. I hadn't actually heard that opinions on it had changed that drastically. My surgeon wrote a prescription for me several years ago and was a big advocate for it at the time, but I didn't fill it as it was cost-prohibitive and my insurance didn't cover it. I feel a bit better now that I didn't pursue it despite the cost, as it could have been a lot of wasted money with little potential benefit. When I see my surgeon later in the year for my scope, I will pick his brain and see if his opinions have changed.
I am taking Align now, and have been doing so for the past 2.5 years. I feel my pouch function has been better with it, but I also started turmeric supplements at around the same time, so it's hard to say which has had the more positive impact. Funny though, I had actually been thinking about going every other day with the Align to save some money. I might still give that a try.