Comments on: IBS Probiotic Align - This Is Not Good

by: Ryan

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:41:29 +0000

Hi TB,

Thanks for the reply. Not to be misunderstood, while IBS can often be a diagnosis for digestive and other issues, I do believe it is not always the proper diagnosis. Outside of trigger foods, stress and such people can actually have an intolerance to something that is a daily part of their diet. People could have sensitivities to gluten, dairy (lactose or milk sugar), yeast and/or fructose which could lead to IBS type problems. So saying gluten is separate should not be a blanket statement. Often doctors fail to test for those sensitivities. It’s not even a thought in their heads. They just push fiber, probiotics and a light diet and see where it goes.

So I think for some it could be worth it to go through certain restriction type diets or get tested for those sensitivities. They could possibly pinpoint the specific problem, make the necessary changes to their diet, and lead a much better life not being dependent upon fiber and probiotic supplementing. Granted those two things can’t hurt, but why waste money on treating a symptom when you can treat the cause? Not everyone is in this boat, but I think it can be a disservice to just have people treat themselves for IBS when there is a possibility something specific is actually causing those symptoms. Even worse, if there is a sensitivity to gluten, left untreated, can become full blown Celiac’s disease.

So before I give in to IBS being the actual problem, I’d like to rule out other possibilities first.

I mention the marketing to women because most of the searching I’ve done seems to bring up women and Align, though with more women being affected by it than men, it would make sense to skew the marketing in their favor.

And if more and more people find DA-IBS to work just as well, then Align sales will drop and they just might deem it time to lower the price. Might as well hold on to the premium for as long as they can. Heck, I’d do the same thing. But as a consumer I’d be more inclined to keep looking for something else if the price were better.

And for the record, I ordered Align direct and from Costco. The direct route got me my shipment quicker (came on Friday) while I am still waiting on Costco to deliver. And yes, Costco’s deal is not that great of a deal. Only if you’re located near one of the stores that actually carry it which is unlikely on a grand scale as I think less than ten of their stores across the country carry it. Shipping kills the deal where it’s quicker to order it direct from them.

Hopefully you were out of town for fun reasons. Thanks again.

Ryan

by: tummyblogger

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:57:33 +0000

Hi, Ryan
Thanks for your two comments on this post.
I’ve been out of town, and away from the computer, for the past week, and missed your comment before I left. :-(

Taking your comments in order:

On minimizing your symptoms, a probiotic will not do that all by itself. You need three things for this blog’s dietary approach to be effective:

First, be drastic in removing trigger foods from your diet. See “IBS Triggers” in the menu that runs across the top of FOR MY TUMMY.
Second, check out the series of articles on Fiber, by clicking on the Fiber category in the listings on the side.
Third, choose a good probiotic, and take it faithfully for two months, before you rule it out.

Because I like numbers, I’ll say that those three things above should provide relief to your symptoms 90% of the time. On diagnosis, you can ask your doctor “Have I described anything that is inconsistent with a diagnosis of IBS?” or you can (and should) go through all the diagnostic tests to rule out many other gastro-intestinal conditions and syndromes. The major harm in following an IBS-specific regimen, if you don’t have IBS, is that a) you won’t get relief, or b) the relief you get is masking some other condition that would be revealed by all those “rule-out” tests that are so invasive.

Also because I like numbers, using this blog’s approach, I allocate roughly 75% of the relief to avoiding trigger foods, 15% of relief to using a *proper* soluble fiber supplement, and 10% of relief to using a *suitable* probiotic. And that last 10% is very very nice to have.

Going gluten-free is in a separate category from all of the above. I find it helpful, and have gone gluten-free for extended periods of my life. On the other hand, I can break a gluten-free diet period without immediate consequences, so gluten does not act in the same way as trigger foods do. Trigger food act either very quickly — within an hour — or in the next 36 hours or so, what I call the “second-day effect.”

On Align ™ and marketing to women: as far as I could see from the Align web site, accessed today, their front page markets to women and men, with two signed “endorsements” from women, one from a man. The pictures, though, include one woman, a woman and a man, and one man.
Their brief “cartoon” showing stick figures has women, a woman and a man, and then women, so that’s a little lopsided.

Yes, the 28-day supply really bugged me. Now THAT’S what seems to me to be sexist (and ageist) about the way Align is marketed. Dare I whisper: it’s cheaper and for many of us at least equally effective to take one Digestive Advantage-IBS ™ in the morning, and one at night, than it is to take one daily Align.

Welcome to FOR MY TUMMY, and please check out more of the blog.

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: Ryan

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:41:40 +0000

and… 28 day supply? They can’t round it to a full month or even sell it in larger quantities? At least you can buy the other products in larger quantities and help save some money. Way to go Procter & Gamble. Bad enough we spend money out the wazoo trying to find a product that works. It’s a pain in the butt (literally) when availability is limited, prices are high, and purchase quantities are small.

by: Ryan

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:34:48 +0000

shipping for 2 from costco is $8.50. So you save $2.50 over buying it elsewhere with the product at $25. Or you can just place multiple single orders direct from Align using the discount code as the code only works for single purchases.

I don’t know if I have IBS or a food intolerance. I’m tired of doctors shoving miralax and fiber down my throat and changing doctors for the third time. Though I’d like to at least minimize the symptoms as I figure out the source of the problem. Have tried digestive advantage and have found it works about the same as the Natrol BioBeads or Enzymatic Therapy Pearls. Those are both the coated type pearls that are supposed to make it past the stomach and into the intestines where they can go to work.

I’ve gone gluten free to see what happens but know I’ve got a lot of damage to they system that hopefully the probiotic regimen can help with. Thought I’d give Align a try and see if I notice a difference compared to the others.

And what’s up with the marketing to women? Like this strand won’t work on men? Kind of puzzling.

by: tummyblogger

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:04:04 +0000

Hi, Darlene
Thanks for your report. I’ve added your information about the Costco web site as a post on www.formytummy.com.

The book you recommend, The Probiotics Revolution has gotten good reviews, and others may be interested. I’ll look into it. I know you’re starting back to school. Still, I wonder whether you would consider reviewing the book for www.formytummy.com. All we can offer is a writing credit, something you could put on your resume — perhaps somewhat disguised, depending on the end user of the resume!

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: Darlene

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:20:32 +0000

HI,
I was headed to the Align website when I found this blog. I intend to add this to my bookmarks a visit here again. I have had issues with IBS for sometime. I just started the Align and yes it did take longer that I’d hoped- I wanted to get the “possible side effects” out of the way before I went back to school. I just started the Align 5 days ago and so far no side effects at all except that I feel better in that area. I’m sure you know what I mean.

I started eating Active 10 months ago and I did find that it made a difference in things. So, I have just kept it up. My dr. approved of the Align but said it is basically doing the same thing as the Activa. Carefully, I explained to him that this Probiotic in Align is not exactally the same as the ones in Activa. (didn’t want to sound like I knew more!)

One more thing. I read an interesting book recently called The Probiotic Revolution. Pretty easy to understand and a chart with the different strains is included. I found it at Borders Bookstore.

Did you know you can order Align though Costco? It is not in the warehouse, it is online only. The catch is that you have to order 2 at a time. It is, however, a little less expensive. Around $23-24 each. I am not sure of the shipping costs or if it is UPS or USPS. My order from the manufacturer was USP ground and took about 7-8 business days. I’m glad I found this site. Think I will go exploring.
Darlene

by: tummyblogger

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:44:12 +0000

Hello, and thanks for sending in your comment on this active discussion! It is very helpful information, and I appreciate your sharing your successful experience. This same information exists elsewhere on ForMyTummy; your comment makes it available for people when they are most concerned about ordering and waiting!

It’s also great that Align works so well for you. Glad you have a “happy tummy.”

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: Just me

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:26:23 +0000

I, too, went through the irritation of waiting forever after ordering from the Align web site. I’ve been taking it for about four months (with no side effects or drug interactions) and notice a HUGE, uncomfortable difference if I miss a few days. After finding out that this stuff really works, I knew I’d need a more efficient way of ordering it.

Just have your local pharmacy special order it for you (thus the information that is provided on the Align web site for you to give to your pharmacist. The Align Pharmacy Order Companion literally has the catalogue numbers that the pharmacist would need to use to special order it–so they don’t need to know what it is.).

http://www.aligngi.com/buy-at-pharmacy.shtml

As you’re not asking that they CARRY it, but just special order a small amount for you, this should not be a problem. If it is, I would highly suggest switching pharmacies.

My CVS doesn’t carry it on the shelf, so I have them special order however many boxes I need. They receive it in about three days, and I don’t have to pay shipping. (Hooray!) They call me as soon as it arrives; I pay when I pick up my boxes.

No drama; happy tummy.

by: tummyblogger

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:35:30 +0000

Hi, Joyce
You wanted to know whether I had increased bloating when I started Align. This is what I wrote on ForMyTummy at the time:

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. (Tummyblogger, http://www.formytummy.com/2007/07/13/starting-align/, 7/22/08)

I did have a rather flip tone when I started taking Align. I had been disappointed in the probiotic formulations from NSI, and Align had contacted me to review the *new* product. Their web site seemed to be overblown and promise too much. Well, you’ve seen what I think of promising too much, in my review of Activia! But I agreed to take Align, and to write an honest review.
In retrospect, Align and Digestive Advantage-IBS (without the Sucralose), are both very effective probiotics. Both have the support of at least one clinical study showing their effectiveness with some or all of the problems of IBS. I would suggest sticking with Align, and waiting out the bloating and discomfort. Read the material that comes with Align, and at least make notes, if not keeping the record they suggest. When free samples from your doctor run out, you can use the ForMyTummy discount coupon, AlignWOM, which gets you $5 off when ordering from the www.aligngi.com website. Or you can pay between $29 and $31 and order Align from Amazon.com–that is, there’s not the usual discount, that way–but you would get it faster.
To get Align at a local pharmacy is certainly possible. If there is one pharmacy that you trust more, like bett er, or favor for its cheaper prices, try talking to one of the pharmacists who actually fills prescriptions. (S)he may not have heard of Align. Just ask the pharmacist to check with the warehouse on whether they stock Align or not, and get it for you. Then be sure to ask about how long it will take.
I’m saying this because Align is something your doctor has recommended, and you have a supply of it, and you have started taking it. Align is one of the two good probiotic products, in my estimataion. If you’ve started and it’s what your doctor wants you to take, the simplest thing is to continue. Tell your doctor about the side effects, and if they last past five days, call your doctor and complain!
On Culturelle, I checked out their web site. They do not have clinical studies, or reports of clinical studies, available. They say they will give such reports to a physician who gives them a State License number. Well, I can’t do that. I *can* read research reports! I requested (through their customer service tab) a list of their “250 clinical studies that prove the effectiveness of LGG,” just as I did from NSI over a year ago. A year ago I repeated the request to NSI for that impressive list of clinical studies, and still have not heard from them. So I think that Culturelle is okay for people without clinically significant stomach problems who would like to try taking a probiotic; anyone who is looking for a probiotic that will actually *do* something should try either Align or Digestive Advantage-IBS (without Sucralose). You can get Digestive Advantage-IBS without Sucralose by ordering the capsules in the economy size from Amazon.com, or on their web site. From correspondence with them, I think that if you write to them and request a trial size (about ten *capsules*), mention that Tummyblogger from the ForMyTummy blog, who had reviewed Digestive Advantage - IBS, suggested that you contact them, I think they would help you out. If you mention that your doctor gave you a sample of Align, that might encourage them, also.
I did not have the same initial queasiness when I started Digestive Advantage - IBS. Scientifically speaking, that just might be because it came after Align had staked out the territory in my tummy. I *could* do a case-control experiment: see what happens when I switch back to Align after taking Digestive Advantage. If the same bloating and yukkiness occurs again when I switch back to Align, it’s the product or the switching; if it doesn’t occur, it’s because both are effective formulations of probiotics for IBS.

On Crystal Light with Activia in it, I couldn’t find it on the web. On Splenda, yes, it’s approved for diabetics, both types. Splenda is also called Sucralose, in lists of ingredients. It’s very important to watch your diet and read labels. What is good for diabetics is not automatically good for IBS. For example, artificial sweeteners can be a problem for people with IBS.

On your list of products, I did know you were “just saying;” I didn’t suspect you of just using the blog to push a product as being “so great for my IBS.”

Thanks for writing in, and let me know how it goes,

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: Joyce

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:46:19 +0000

Hi, I read your blog and found a great deal of information on it. I wanted to know if you had increased bloating when you started it. I too was given a sample packet from the doctor and can not find it in the three local pharmacies that are within 1/4 of a mile from each other. However I also am checking into a product call Cultrelle. I was reading about it at the doctors before he even suggested Align to me. He knows nothing about it and told me he has had success with the Align with patients. He would not give me any numbers of succcess and did not mention if it would affect any other medications I take regularly. In researching things I also found that they have Crystal Light with Activia in it now as well. I know that there is one with Splenda in it that is safe for diabetics to use. Just how much Activia is in it I am unsure of. These are suggestions someone may want to try if they so choose.