For My Tummy

Starting Align for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The following review of Align begins by examining the packaging, goes on to talk about starting to take Align, and concludes with an offer for a $5 discount Code for ordering Align on the web, plus a call for best suggestions for naming the 1 to 4 scale of reactions to Align.

Examining the Package

OK. We know that Align ™ shipped this reviewer’s first month’s supply in good time. It reached me five days after the shipping date I had been given. But, there was only one month’s supply. (You will remember that I was recruited as the owner of an IBS blog, and promised a two-months supply.) I have held off on reviewing the material and packaging, until I got my doctor’s okay, and the package for the second month had arrived. The package did arrive today, and now I can compare the two packages, which are very different.

You see, the packaging that the first shipment came in–the box, basically–is a light pea soup green with a yellowish tone. It looks like a cross between the vomit of the possessed girl in the Exorcist, and the yucky yellow material in the colon that one sees in a colonoscopy. Not the most hopeful of associations for a person with IBS.

Now I can report that others must have had had the same perception, apparently. The outside box is in the bright and hopeful yellow with dark blue accents that you also see on the Align gi website. The “Daily Digestive Tracker,” an insert found in each of the boxes, is in different colors.

Inside the first month’s packaging, the predominant color is pale yellow with a somewhat yucky tone reminiscent of the comparison to a colonoscopy, and the “Digestive Balance Tracker” echoes those green and yellow shades.

This first record-keeping chart has you entering from a choice of numbering 1 through 4, on how you /your tummy felt that day; also you are given “additional factors” to enter–T Travel, S Stressful day, SP Spicy Problem food, DM Digestive medication (laxative or antidiarrheal, I would think), MC Menstrual Cycle, and NAT No Align Today. It’s a tiny chart with tiny spaces and a brochure with small print. Easy to lose in your kitchen, purse, or desk. Also, “Spicy Problem food” may not be a problem in IBS, except that IBS gets lumped together with other digestive disorders in the physician’s mind. Heather van Vorous suggests that most spices are well-tolerated by people with IBS.

The brochure that came with my second month’s supply is much much more usable. One side of the fan-folding brochure carries all the backgound FAQ / benefits of Align kind of stuff which I will discuss at another time. The other side is devoted to a 9 1/2″ long, by 5″ high, simple “Progress Chart” covering four weeks. It’s a decorative chart you could stick to a kitchen or bathroom cabinet, and fill in as you go. The chart is designed in the following way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Good!
                 X X X X
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Not Bad!
         X X X
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Better
  X X X
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ugh!

The words on the side are my translation of their 1 to 4 rating scale for the IBS quality of life on that day.
Please comment with your suggestions for words that match the numbers!

There is green here as well, but it is a soft nice spring green, and the pamphlet is in slightly larger type size and in much stronger contrast.

So you have a nice chart of what they think will be your progress in controlling IBS with Align.

I want to stress here that the reason for the chart is a good one. It emphasizes that Align is not a pill to take only on days when you don’t feel so good because of IBS. In order to do its work and help your body cope with IBS, Align has to be taken every single day. If you travel, take it with you. Take it at the same time of day, every day. Before you leave home in the morning is good. Before bed at night is also good. Each of these times often gets a ritual attached to it; make Align part of the ritual of coping with IBS.

Back to the all-important question of packaging and appearances. In the first month’s box, Align is included in the form of a white plastic vial of small capsules with a black band across the middle. In the second package I received, Align is included packaged in four seven-day blister packs. Each pack has the seven days of the week indicated around the edge, with clear sectioning to match each blister pod with its day of the week.

This packaging resembles birth-control pills in being matched to a woman’s menstrual cycle. For those of us who are past menopause, or male, there seems no point. And I do not understand why menstruating women need 28 Align capsules a month rather than 30 or 31! IBS is not a menstrual disorder, and IBS is not something confined to women. Why would that matter in packaging? My answer, in the absence of any literature justifying their choice of 28 days, is that they get to charge $30 for 28 pills. Most supplements, whether for IBS or not, are sold in multiples of 30. Over the course of a year, Align makes $25 on the more frequent purchase of their IBS supplement.

Starting Align

I got my doctor’s okay on Tuesday, and started taking Align yesterday, and took it again today. Yesterday I felt worse than I had in eight months or so, with IBS symptoms of bloating and constipation and gas, and that kind of pain where you just want to eat something that will make your IBS tummy feel better! Today, this morning and afternoon, also, I felt pretty bad all over, like nausea except I didn’t need to vomit, and didn’t have the sense that vomiting would help. Still constipated.

Since I’ve been taking a probiotic for six months or so, my IBS has been under control. That is, I avoid all the IBS triggers except for a small amount of coffee, and the occasional time that I don’t read the label on a new product that has IBS triggers. And I take a daily 35 to 45 grams of fiber. It’s been good, pain has been gone 95% of the time, I’m not usually C (for constipated).

So, with Align instead of my “high-power” 15 strains of bacteria in 35 billion Colony forming units from NSI, I could, possibly, report

No Difference
Worse than past six months
Worse than past six months and worse than before

In other words, the best outcome by taking Align for my IBS would be “no difference.” Okay, a super super best outcome for my IBS would be the ability to eat yogurt and cottage cheese again. Lettuce would be good, too. I’ll settle for broccoli, though.

Last

Now that I’ve posted the first half of my review of Align, I can offer you a promotional code to get $5 off ordering Align on the web. Please make a comment and request the code.

Also, what are your suggestions for the 4-point scale from 1 to 4 with 4 being the best outcome?

July 13th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | Probiotics, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, IBS-C, IBS-D, Align, NSI Probiotics | 8 comments