Supplements Recommended by Nutritionist?

[mbozard]

The Nutritionist/Functional Medicine Practitioner I began working with in Dec. has me on Metagenics UltraFlora IB (Probiotic), Metagenics GI Sustain (to promote gut healing of Leaky Gut Syndrome), and Klaire Labs Vital-Zymes Chewable (Comprehensive Enzyme Supplement). I don't think they are helping and they are possibly exacerbating my symptoms but I also came down with the flu in mid-Dec. (despite getting the flue shot). I ended up losing weight (not good for me @105 lbs). Plus with all the Holiday Stress, there are a lot of variables at work...

I am struggling with whether to continue on the diet/supplement plan recommended by Nutritionist or to scrap it all (very expensive!) and just avoid these supplements until I get the EnteroLab testing but continue with the diet recommendations (no gluten, dairy, corn, soy, and very limited sugar/honey and only pure stevia). Any guidance on these supplements? Are there others I should consider?

[JFR]

I would ditch the supplements. They contain too many ingredients for starters, so it is impossible to figure out what is causing a reaction if something is. Plus most of us here have had bad reactions to probiotics when things were flaring, some of us here have had bad reactions to digestive enzymes and the Sustain product says it is to add easy to digest proteins and a digestible fiber. For most of us eating a safe meat for protein (lamb or turkey usually being safe) and keeping fiber to a minimum works best. Easy to diget fiber for someone with MC is an oxymoron. You can do much better for much less money by using natural foods rather than then supplements. Except for vitamin D it usually is safe to just forgo all supplements until your system is behaving better and then only adding a single supplement at a time. I find supplements with only one active ingredient to work best, taking care to make sure they don't contain gluten dairy soy or eggs as inactive ingredients.

[mbozard]

Thanks for the great advice!

[ldubois7]

I agree with Jean. Ditch the supplements. My ND tried to load me up on supplements, but until your gut is starting to heal (I ate a very simple diet of meat and I cooked veggie) everything you put into your body will react. As Jean mentioned the exception is Vit D3. It is the only supplement I have been able to take, and I believe it has helped my gut to heal without a reaction.

After 1 1/2 years eating very simply, I have been able to add some foods back into my diet, as well as probiotics/digestive enzymes. It's sometimes a slow healing process, but well worth the effort and sacrifice.

Have you tried Entrolab testing? That's what helped me early on in my journey. Tex's book also is a great help in understanding our colitis...especially when our doctors don't have the knowledge to help us.

Good luck...and remember that slow and steady wins the race with MC! :)

[Zizzle]

I agree with the others, except for the digestive enzyme. I believe most us are lacking several digestive enzymes to break down proteins and starches for a number of reasons, so they are a good crutch to help you metabolize foods while you are trying to heal. Just make sure the chewable has no weird ingredients you might react to. I and others here take capsule form digestive enzymes.

[tex]

that less is almost always best when treating MC (except for vitamin D — vitamin D is virtually a must-have). And I agree the digestive enzymes are a controversial topic. Because some of us react adversely to them, I don't consider them suitable as a first line treatment recommendation for someone trying to decide on a safe diet to use at the beginning their recovery. If you want to try digestive enzyme supplements, that's fine, but do it only after you have tried a very restrictive elimination diet without enzymes, probiotics, or any other "digestive aids", and after you have given that diet enough time to work.

The problem is that if you start out with all that junk in your so-called "elimination diet", you are not following an elimination diet at all, because you have not eliminated some of the very things that are well known to prevent recovery for many of us. Try it without that stuff, and if you can't see any improvement after a couple of months or so, and you really feel that the reason why you are not making any progress is because you need a digestive enzyme, or a probiotic, or whatever, then you might consider trying them, one at a time of course.

But if you are making progress without them, then please do not add them to your treatment regimen, because a simple search of the archives of this discussion board will turn up many, many posts from members who destroyed a perfectly good recovery, and fell all the way back to square 1, because they tried to "improve" their recovery rate after their nutritionist, or their doctor, or a good friend, or a total stranger suggested that they would heal faster if they started using "this" or "that" (because "this" or "that" helped them so much, doncha know ).

I will freely admit that there are a few people who may be helped (or at least not hindered) by using all sorts of supplements during their recovery, but the experiences of the majority of the members here clearly show that the odds of you or I being one of them is rather slim. Back when I was recovering, someone posted about how much they thought they were helped by a digestive enzyme. So naturally, I ordered an expensive enzyme combination.

After I received the order, I tried the first capsule before breakfast one morning. Within a couple of hours after swallowing it, my belly began to churn, and grumble, and burn. An hour or so later, the projectile vomiting of ugly green goop began. After a couple of episodes, followed by the dry heaves, I thought surely I would feel better soon. Nope. The vomiting (dry heaves) continued the rest of the day (even though I didn't eat or drink anything other than a small sip of water now and then). And of course there was plenty of watery D to go with it. The next day, I managed to keep a little broth down, but my belly still burned as though it were on fire. It was 3 days before I got up the nerve to try some solid food, and my digestive system finally settled down. So that was enough to convince me that digestive enzymes are not for everyone. I could probably tolerate them now, but I wouldn't touch one with a 10-foot pole.

The main problem with most medical professionals who offer advice on treating MC is that they have never enjoyed the thrill of dealing with the disease personally. If they did have the disease, and they were able to successfully control their symptoms over the long-term, I can guarantee that their recommendations would be totally different.

Tex

[ldubois7]

Tex and Zizzle..... I was speaking from personal experience. I tried at least 5 different enzymes in the last 1.5 years and just as many probiotics, and other supplements. I couldn't tolerate any of them. I then let my body heal with just Vit D3 and betaine hcl for about 8 months before trying enzymes/probiotics again ...and finally the supplements are working for me.

Less is better!

[tex]

Linda,

Yes, that's exactly the way that I see it . Thanks for the extra supporting information.

Tex

[brandy]

Agree with the team, ditch the supplements. Brandy (and welcome!)

[Gabes-Apg]

Welcome...

Metagenics is a great good quality brand, so there should be no aggravating inactive ingredients. I do agree totally with what has been said above....

For now focus on figuring out your safe eating plan, get 6 months or more of good healing underway...
Use Vit D3 for now, and in a few months consider some magnesium spray...
Down the track consider active forms of B's, zinc, Vit C.
Stick to single ingredient supps, start on low dose and work up to full dose gradually, only add one supp at a time. One thing to mention to your practitioner is that MC is quite different to other IBD's....

It has taken me 4 years before I could handle multi ingredient supplements in the calibre of the metagenics products you mentioned...

As you may have learnt from reading other discussions, there is no quick fix... Or magic potion that will fix things quickly... Low inflammation, well cooked, bland meals with safe ingredients are your best option, based on the info you provided in the other post, be prepared that it will take quite a few months to get some good healing underway...
Home made bone broth is fantastic healing option... After you have the enterolab results, and know your safe meats, home made bone broth is better than any supplement formulation!!! (And may well be cheaper)

Happy healing and good luck for your MC journey..