TE Marie,
Yes, we are familiar with VSL#3 it was prescribed through the VA. It was mixed results for him. It seemed to digest a lot of his food for him, but created quite a bit of gas, he was quite uncomfortable. It didn’t seem to help with pouchitis though.
The biggest difficulty I’ve found with probiotics, which just is what it is, is that probiotics are not designed to colonize the gut, they live as long as they are passing through your system and then they are gone.
In order for bacteria to colonize it needs to be fed the right diet to keep it alive. Most manufactured probiotics are not reproducing, on purpose, so you have to keep buying them, if the drug company solves your problem, they stop making money off of you.
The best way to colonize a gut is through feeding fermented foods and other food that has natural bacteria cultures, like yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut (but not the sauerkraut at the store since it’s pasteurized). These food carry the cultures that are needed in the gut.
The problem is that the gut—even in a bad, infected situation—is still in a sort of balance, just not a good one, so this balance has to be interrupted in order to create a “vacancy” for new, ideally good, bacteria to make a home there.
One good example of this working is when someone is one a very sugary diet, there are many bad bacteria’s that survive and thrive on sugars. By cutting out the sugars these bacteria starve and create vacancy for new bacteria to move in. Another way is through herbs and oils, such as oregano, these harm the bad bacteria. And of course antibiotics. The problem with the antibiotics, as you mentioned, is that they kill it all and without a diet to support recolonizing with good bacteria, one is often susceptible to the bad bacteria taking root again, although after antibiotics there are many more vacancies.
Again, my failure in understanding the more complex nutritional needs of humans is why we are trying to get into this facility, it’s 2-3 weeks, but should be the kick start we need for detox and nutrition.