I suffered from IBS - abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation - for four years. I took this probiotic (and then after that, the 200 billion one) for a month and I was completely back to normal! I didn't know what was wrong with me, and I had been on various medications that didn't do much (even antidepressants). But finally my doctor insisted that my only option left was probiotics. I had tried them before (several years back) but they had no effect. I had just taken the normal 1 or 2 billion CFU capsules. So I figured I might as well go big or go home, and I gave this one a try. Now I literally owe my life and happiness to these guys. I feel like sending them a $10,000 check! (would if I had the money). I hope some other people with IBS at least give this a try. I think IBS is caused by too many bad bacteria in the gut and not enough good. Its like warfare in there, you can't go to war with 100 soldiers. You have to have an army. There's no downsides to taking too much probiotics as far as I know, so don't cheap out like I did before and get wimpy 1 billion capsules

I do not exaggerate when I say this product changed my life. I've had a lifelong problem with IBS moving to IBS with constipation as I aged. I have been under the care of a gastroenterologist for years. I have tried every remedy known to man....including mineral oil, Miralax, Zelnorm, Linzess, extra fiber, extra water, all fibers, Metamucil and nothing would work for longer than a month or so, sometimes with painful side effects. This product is my personal miracle. With this one pill and 2 T of ground flaxseed on my cereal I have a normal functioning gut. Completely normal which I had not had EVER! I did not review for a few months thinking it also would quit working,but it has kept on working fine and I couldn't be more pleased. It's worth any price, at least to me. I tried lower dosages and cheaper brands and they did not work. If you've been searching forever, do yourself a favor and give this a try

If i could give this probiotic 100 stars, I would! I am not a paid reviewer and I don't normally write reviews but this is truly one of the best products I've ever used. I have struggled for months with near-constant thrush (the oral version of a yeast infection- disgusting and extremely uncomfortable!) as a result of illness and none of the typical anti-fungal medicines or probiotics were working for me. I finally found this product suggested on a thrush information site (suggested to be used along with another product called Candida Cleanse which I also highly recommend). After some research into these products, I ordered them with overnight delivery. Within a week, my severe thrush was completely gone! I was amazed!! Now, whenever I feel the first signs of thrush coming on or I have to take antibiotics, I take them with this probiotic and I haven't had thrush (or a vaginal yeast infection, sorry for the TMI!) since that last one almost a year ago! Even if thrush is not your concern, this is still the best probiotic on the market by far! Most probiotics have 2-3 different strains of bacteria..ultimate flora has 12 and the difference in results is unbelievable. There are very few products that I believe in enough to recommend to others but I recommend Ultimate Flora to everyone who mentions any kind of digestive problems or sensitivity to antibiotics because I truly believe it to be the best on the market AND everyone I've recommended it to has been amazed by the results! From pregnancy-related and other digestive issues to food sensitivities (not food ALLERGIES! This is NOT for treating food allergies!!) to thrush, this is honestly miraculous. It may be a bit pricier than other probiotics on the market but, trust me, it's worth every penny!! I can't praise this product highly enough! I encourage you to try this product-you will NOT be disappointed. PS you may experience some gas for the first few days but (in my experience) it almost always goes away within 3-4 days

I am taking Hydrocodone for a serious spinal injury and I have been for many years. With that said. The hydrocodone has caused severe constipation issues. My doctor has prescribed everything from softeners to actual harsh laxatives and none of them worked without serious and pain full side effects. On the advice of a friend who is also on this type of pain medication since he too was injured in combat like me. He said that this ultimate Flora was his saving grace. I told him I have tried the all the Yogurt promises and it failed, I tried the Stuff at W- Mart and it Failed, I even tried other name brand Flora replacements that promise and did not come through on their advertised promises. So I wasn't to interested in any over the counter fake stuff again. But out of frustration I tired this Ultimate Flora critical care and OMG! for the first time since my use of pain meds, this stuff REALLY WORKS!! ( at least for me.) No more Constipation and even the digestion of foods and absorption the nutrients has remarkably changed. I get blood work done monthly as I'm / was seriously low vitamin B's and D's and very very low Iron. To the point of going to the hospital to get Iron injections. But after taking the Ultimate Flora, my absorption of these and other minerals has come up to better then average. Even my grey hair is turning back to salt and pepper, so It must be helping my absorption of minerals also. SO ALL THAT I CAN SAY IS THAT THIS IS THE BEST SPENT MONEY I HAVE EVER DONE. I NEVER KNEW THAT ABSORPTION OF THE VITAMINS AND MINERALS CAN BE AFFECTED BY DIGESTION. WELL THIS STUFF HAS REDUCED MY NEED FOR SUPPLEMENTS AND I'M NO LONGER CONSTIPATED, BLOATED OR HAVE CRAMPS OR EVEN THE OCCASIONAL BOWL BLOCKAGES THAT I WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR SEVERAL TIMES. MY DOCTOR SAID THAT THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF FINALLY GETTING THE NUTRIENTS FROM MY FOODS HAS HELPED ME LOSE WEIGHT, BY CUTTING MY APPETITE. HE EVEN NOW RECOMMENDS THIS PRODUCT TO OTHER PATIENTS HE SEE'S AND TELLS THEM OF MY STORY. THIS PRODUCT HAS FREED ME FROM ISSUES OF CONSTIPATION AND VITAMIN & MINERAL DEFICIENCIES. I HAVE LABS TO PROVE THAT SOMETHING HAD DRAMATICALLY CHANGED MY BLOOD LEVELS AND THE ONLY THING THAT I HAD CHANGED WAS I GAVE THIS STUFF A 2 MONTH TRY AND IT WORKED. Note: Don't take too much as it will loosen up things too much, but find the dosage that works for you. Mine was 1 tablet every day. Please give this stuff a try and keep it refrigerated if you can, it will be stronger when you use it. It does (for me) it took couple of weeks to "really kick in", so give it a try. Remember I tried all the cheap stuff and even not so cheap stuff and this is the only stuff that worked for me. Write me if you have any questions, I suffered for so many years that this was like a whole new life in a little blue bottle. :

3 weeks in and reaping the benefits of having my gut in check. My gastro reccomened these after having issue from doing th Keto diet ( basically caused and acid storm in my stomach) and my micro flora was out of balance and due to taking Zofran for nausea I was super constipated and bowel movements were irregular. also found out I can't take anti inflammatory drugs as much. I took nasacourt daily and don't realized it was anti inflammatory. My stomach just didn't feel “right” it was always unsettled and just an odd feeling. Within a week of starting the probiotics I noticed a change in how my stomach felt. My energy levels returned as well as focus and general mood increased as well. My doctor told me 70% of our Serotonin is store in our stomach so our stomach determines our mood. Makes sense now. Definitely recommend these to help balance out the good bacteria and overall gut health

I ordered this product for several reasons vs other products. One of those reasons was the capsules are designed to resist stomach acid and deliver the product to your intestines. The other reasons is why I gave only 1 star. I read the box very carefully. I was looking for the temperature range to store the product. I found nothing on the box. When my order arrived I glanced at the bottle and guess what I found on the bottom of the front label. ==> Store at OR BELOW 73 degrees f. Best to refrigerate!!! The bottle goes on to say that you may not get 50 Billion if the product has been stored at temperatures above 73 degrees f! I am certain that prior to being placed in my fridge this bottle has been kept in a hot warehouse and on hot delivery trucks that far exceeded 73 degrees f. Had this been on the box I would have never ordered this product. I find it suspiciously convenient for the manufacturer to exclude this info from the box. I am certain that was not excluded by accident. SHAME ON THEM!!!! So although these capsules may have started off with a great product inside, you are probably getting a few "survivors" inside your intestinal tract. The billions of dead bacteria cells is probably what is sending users of this product to the rest room as claimed in other reviews. Bacteria are living organisms that are designed to live in specific environments. Long term exposure to a hot environment (warehouses, delivery trucks) will kill them off with the possibility of survivors. Until they provide all of the information on the box, AVOID THIS PRODUCT! THE DEAD BACTERIA CELLS THAT YOUR BODY WANTS GONE IS LIKELY CAUSING OTHER REVIEWERS TO BECOME MORE "REGULAR" AS THEY HAVE NOTED IN THEIR REVIEWS! ALSO, THERE MAY BE A FEW SURVIVORS (out of THE 50 Billion) WHICH MAY BE BENEFICIAL. HOWEVER, WHY PAY FOR 50 BILLION IF YOU ONLY RECEIVE SURVIVORS UPON DELIVERY? according to studies.. "Probiotics have greater stability at room temperature than generally realized and can be maintained for several weeks with minimal loss of 5% or less. However, loss in potency would be accelerated over time. That is why it is best to maintain probiotic supplements under refrigeration, as this offers the optimal conditions favoring long-term potency and viability." My question to anyone is do you think storage and shipping occurs at or below "room temperature"? I don't. Ever been inside the back of a UPS truck in the summer??? How about a non-refrigerated 18 wheeler? RECOMMENDATION: If you want to get what you pay for try Master Supplements or Klair Labs both are available via Amazon. Just ensure that any third party seller is storing and shipping these high quality products in the same manner as the manufacturers. For example, Klair Labs ships there product in a foil packaging that includes an ice-pack. You pay more but you also get a far superior product. Master's product does not use the "enteric coating" method as most others do to protect them from stomach acid. That is because that methos introduces other problems. So they bind their product in a gel (inside the capsule). The gel keeps the 15 Billion guys and ladies together through the stomach. It also kicks into protect mode when introduced to stomach acid. The enteric coating method is not as good for you or the probiotic as this method. Kirkman is another brand that ensures live cultures make it to your door. CONCLUSION: Your body already has some bacteria that you need hence the term "supplement". You should only seek to "supplement" your body's natural process vs "replace" it. Therefore I do not see a need to take probiotics every day for months and years on end. I would suggest every day for the first three days (three full doses over three days). Then every other day for ten days (five full doses over ten days). Then once a week for four weeks (four full doses over four weeks). Then either once a month from that point on OR stop altogether. Why? Bacteria multiplies on its own so there is no need to keep adding more. Also, you want your body to do the work it was designed to do vs popping pills for the rest of your life. Feel free to repeat this (or similar) process periodically. I may try this twice a year. Others may need to do this once per quarter. Others may try once a year. Others once every two or three years. All of us are different. Whatever the case do NOT take probiotics every day for weeks and months on end unless a doctor says to do so. Your body still works or you would not be alive to buy these products. Thus, give your body a "shot in the arm" or a "helping hand" from time to time and then let it do the rest. Also eat healthier and drink less (some of us). Your wallet will thank you too. SOLUTION: Buy refrigerated probitics locally OR make sure they are shipped with a cold pack. Other than that you are not getting what you are paying for. You are ingesting dead cultures that are sending you to the restroom to expell them. You should NOT need to take the product everyday if the cultures are alive and thriving because they reproduce on their own. If you need to take them every day to get results you are taking dead cultures that do not reproduce. UPDATE FROM 3rd PARTY INFO ==> Q: Do all brands of probiotics need to be refrigerated? A: The answer to this should be a loud "YES," however, some manufacturers advertise that their brand is stable without refrigeration. A study done by Bastyr University in 2003 revealed that brands of probiotics which were purchased from retailers off of refrigeration contained little or no activity. XXX has performed independent laboratory testing which supports the Bastyr findings. Consumer Labs has also tested probiotics and has reported many products of questionable quality in the marketplace. No probiotic can withstand the extreme temperatures that are often encountered in shipping, warehousing and hot climates. Manufacturers must be very diligent in all aspects of production to ensure quality. Heat and humidity control of raw material transit, storage, manufacturing and packaging conditions, and warehousing conditions are monitored by XXX to ensure product quality and potency through the best by date when stored by customers at refrigerated temperatures. Q: Once I start probiotics, do I have to take them forever for them to be effective? A: No. Once gastrointestinal flora are restored to a healthy state, many individuals can reduce the dosage to every other day, twice per week or a similar reduced dosage schedule. Sometimes probiotics are only given during a specific gastrointestinal condition such as a bacterial infection, which when cleared up will allow the probiotic to be stopped. When it comes to probiotics, every individual is different. You must find your own dosage and schedule which keeps your gastrointestinal tract and immune system healthy

A relative recommended these to me after they basically fixed some major gastrointestinal issues (literally docs were talking about needing surgery, then they try these and boom they've been functioning fine for 6 or 8 months provided they take them daily). If you've thought you might benefit from probiotics before but haven't noticed much difference I recommend giving these a try with the 50 bil dose. Most probiotics out there do not contain enough punch to really help the guts that need it the most. These do. I had a little sticker shock the first time I pulled them up, then I thought about the fact that if the doc gave us an rx for something that was an effective treatment we'd end up paying this much (or more!) for the prescription anyway. Plus this way we're not contributing to the rising costs of health care :D And forget about the co-pay to see the doc, possibly another co-pay for a specialist, the hours away from work to get to these appointments... sure our first choice would be to have no need of them but these things look like a better and better deal all the time! Another reason I like having these around is on the (rare) occasion we need antibiotics. Antibiotics are like micro-flora napalm, they don't distinguish between harmful and helpful. One of the reasons people so often get secondary infections on antibiotics is because the antibiotics are not primarily augmenting the body's immune system they are primarily trying to replace it so when the antibiotics run out you are (until your system recovers) without much "infection defense" of any kind. However, since the majority of the immune system is in the digestive tract (where we are very vulnerable to most infections entering as food-borne illness) taking probiotics is a great way to sustain / augment / replenish your immune system in addition to general digestive health. In other words, probiotics are supposed to supplement your immune system's digestive duties so it can concentrate on other infections, knock out potential infections IN the digestive track (for instance e. coli from a chicken contamination that wants to give you the runs), and quickly replenish your system if you have an infection that requires prescription antibiotics. I can vouch from my own experience that probiotics have helped me recover within an hour or two after eating something that was making others who ate with me sick for the next 12-18 hours (and while I take no pleasure in a friend's illness, I must admit it is gratifying at some level to be in better shape after being written off a hogwash naturopathy, and it makes a great time to mention some extra vitamin D for us Michigan office workers isn't a bad idea either...) Update 9 or so months later: My wife is still taking these. Every time she stops because "it's been fine for a while now" lo and behold problems start back up. It's still a lot cheaper than going to the doc and paying for prescriptions, plus it's much more convenient to not have to be mindful of exact restroom locations and distances after any imperfect mea

I could definitely see a difference in these compared to the ones I was taking. These are very powerful and hit my stomach pretty hard (the other ones didn't). I remembered seeing other people in the "one-star" section saying that they had the same problem with these so rather than rating them a single star and throwing them away (as those people did) I decided to do some research about it first. I found many things on the subject so here are just a few. Unless your symptoms are drastic and affecting you dramatically, don't stop taking the probiotics â€" this period should pass. Simply downgrade your dose to every other day or cut in half. It will usually not last more than 3-7 days. Instead of taking on an empty stomach (which some say when probiotics are most effective), for the time being, start taking with food. You can change to taking on an empty stomach after your body has adjusted. *Be sure to know the quality of your probiotic. All supplements are not created equal! Check for fillers or ingredients that might not jive with your system. 89 Comments S*** S*** on February 5, 2014 at 10:51 pm "Can you tell me a handful of trustworthy brands? I'm always worried that the vitamins, supplements, and probiotics I get for myself and my kids aren't all they claim to be." M*** M*** on February 5, 2014 at 11:34 pm Sure! We love MegaFoods, Dr. Ohirra, Metagenics, Jarrow and Renew Life, but there are more! K*** Posted 30 November 2009 - 03:52 PM Around November 19th I started taking a probiotic called *****. Within a couple days I was feeling so sick that I had to miss an entire week of classes. I stopped taking the probiotic around the middle of last week and now I am finally feeling better after a variety of strange symptoms ranging from odd aches and pains to coldness, to chest pains and a lack of appetite. My theory is that my immune system rejected the bacteria and gave me small stomach flu. My brother thinks that the bacteria could have impacted the wrong part of my stomach, making me ill. I*** Posted 03 December 2009 - 07:14 AM The Herxheimer Reaction is a short-term (from days to a few weeks) detoxification reaction in the body. As the body detoxifies, it is not uncommon to experience flu-like symptoms including a headache, joint and muscle pain, body aches, sore throat, general malaise, sweating, chills, nausea or other symptoms.This is a normal â€" and even healthy â€" reaction that indicates that parasites, fungus, viruses, bacteria or other pathogens are being effectively killed off. The biggest problem with the Herxheimer reaction is that people stop taking the supplement or medication that is causing the reaction, and thus discontinue the very treatment that is helping to make them better. Although the experience may not make you feel particularly good, the Herxheimer Reaction is actually a sign that healing is taking place.What Is The Herxheimer Reaction?The Herxheimer Reaction is an immune system reaction to the toxins (endotoxins) that are released when large amounts of pathogens are being killed off, and the body does not eliminate the toxins quickly enough. Simply stated, it is a reaction that occurs when the body is detoxifying and the released toxins either exacerbate the symptoms being treated or create their own symptoms. The important thing to note is that worsening symptoms do not indicate failure of the treatment in question; in fact, usually just the opposite. I*** My closing argument on Probiotics that make you sick: I was a germaphobe (until two weeks ago) so bad that I would wash my whole body (the top of my head to the bottom of my feet) in the shower with anti-bacterial soap in hopes of killing germs. I showered that way for many years. I somewhat recently was on antibiotics for two weeks as well and fell so ill that I began to research health like a crazy person because I was in frightening condition. A blessing in disguise I guess. So, why are these making me so ill? Because they're working. BIG TIME. I took them with food today and still started feeling very bad so I went to sleep for a few hours and made it through okay. I'll do what's necessary to get them working properly in my body. The main takeaway from all this is if you're taking ANY Probiotic and it's making you sick, not only is it working VERY WELL but how close are you to being as bad off as I am (with no good bacteria in my body at all I or close to it at least) Tough it out guys Ro

I have had IBS-C since I was 17 (I am 27 now). Vicious cycle of constipation, followed by my system emptying out every five days or so (sorry for the TMI). I tried fiber, drinking more water, exercise and these were all temporary fixes...my stomach would always revert back to its old habits. It eventually got to a point where I was afraid to leave my house for anything other than work because I was constantly worried that today would be the day that I would get an attack. My friend recommended this to me one day, saying that it worked wonders for her and she doesn't even have any sort of bowel disorder. I was obviously skeptical and tried it for about a week and didn't really see any results; in fact, I felt MORE backed up at first, but I didn't feel any worse either so I decided to stick with it. It's been about two months now and I have about one BM a day now (sometimes I go a day without one, but that's such an improvement over how I used to be)! I avoid my trigger foods, drink about 7-8 bottles of water a day and make all my meals at home and this definitely helps I think. I also allow myself to eat out about once a week or so, but again, avoiding my trigger foods. This probiotic has definitely changed my life in more ways than one and I find myself wanting to venture out and see my family and friends again. If you are not sure about this product or if it is right for you, just give it a try

This is the most helpful supplement for chronic fatigue that I've found. I take one capsule with breakfast and one with dinner. My acne breakouts have also decreased dramatically as long as I take one before I eat a big meal or a trigger food. If you are using this solely for acne though I would recommend purchasing the 150 billion as that is the one that I used for a couple of months for my acne before transitioning to this one. The 50 billion works great for chronic fatigue just one capsule 2 or 3 times daily. I take it before a meal but you can take it any time if you need an extra energy boost. This product is heat sensitive and my last purchase of this supplement off of Amazon wasn't as effective and even caused vomiting so now I purchase this exclusively from the Vitamin Shoppe store as they store it in a freezer until you purchase it and it works perfectly. . Hope this helps somebody as I know how hard it is to live with chronic fatigue but this is the closest thing to a cure that I have found! Update- I've found that the 150 billion probiotic works best for my chronic fatigue so I use that one exclusively now