Hi Starwoman,

From my experience on a number of forums and lists, and per my older post, probiotics seem helpful in general but can be very hit and miss - one person's cure can be another's poison (make things worse, temporarily). However, if you start off at a low dose and back off (oftentimes the bad effect is only temporary due to so-called "die off") or stop if they make things worse, one can safely trial and error ones way to find which ones work. Most (probably well over 90%) of the stuff sitting in store shelves is garbage of very low potency.

Though I am a bit put off by how "slick" and commercial Garden of Life (GoL) has become - with seemingly a hundred or more items in their constantly expanding product line - I do find GoL
's Primal Defense fairly potent, and strangely it doesn't seem to lose much bite unrefridgerated (most probiotics really should be to last long though). Another one I have used (and which does need refridgeration) that is high quality is customprobiotics, generally only available through their .com site. I make my own homemade yogurt, which is probably thre most cost effective probiotic method of all if one tolerates dairy (I ferment mine 24 hours to eliminate most all the lactose). You can also culture cabbage/cabbage juice (sauerkraut) or kefir if one is adventurous.