Symbioflor or other probiotics? do they help with dry eye??

[jenny2008]

there are some older posts on here re: Symbioflor-which i guess you get in Germany... Sahara (a member on here) was saying it cured her dry eyes..

did anybody actually try this supplement/probiotic?? if so ,, what were the results..

i take probiotics.. but so far they havent helped or made worse my dry eyes from sjogrens..

i appreciate any input.
thanks!

[Thirsty]

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...5772#post75772

search "probiotics" you'll find some more info.

[LaDiva]

Jenny, have you tried going gluten free?

http://celiacdisease.about.com/b/201...s-syndrome.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...?dopt=Abstract

As for a pro-biotic, I take the most reasonably priced, which might not be the best advice, but it has made a real difference in terms of my gut.

[jenny2008]

La Diva
yes ive gone gluten free. my skin looked great! but other than that it didnt help my eye dryness or other dryness from sjogrens..does gluten free help ur dryness laDiva??

[LaDiva]

Hi Jenny,
We will see. So far, yes. Inflammation is way down, and my eyes feel better. I read that it takes 6-18 months for internal healing from glutens. I've only been free for about a month, but am seeing quite a big difference. Don't want to get too excited yet, though. You know how this dry eye thing goes! When did you stop eating glutens? One of my doctors gave me a sample of Evocax and it really helped stimulate saliva, but I didn't notice much difference with my eyes.

[jenny2008]

i was gf for 3 months and saw no change.. i try to be as gf as possible but cheated this weekend with a piece of cake.. and also when u go out to eat super hard.. even if they say its gf it could be cross contaminated..

i have talked with a lot of people on the sjogrens support board and those that are gf says it helps their aches and pains but not dryness..only that one author of the autoimmune book said it helped her eyes-but she had lupus andnot sjogrens... i have also been eating "real" sauerkraut that the book sugggest for about 3 weeks now--and nothing has changed..but for now i will keep that up and try to be as good as possible.
glad ur eyes are better..mine go up and down.. and switch from eye to eye... when i was eating really bad i actuallyt had about 8 months where i barely used drops.. years ago. go figure.. keep me posted ok! if it keeps helping u maybe i will get more strict again.. not sure what i believe anymore.. just seems so much hype about being gluten free lately.. i dont know

also they gave u evoxac? do u have dry mouth and /or sjogrens??? do you have celiac??? i dont think i have probs with my gut but take probiotics cause im on doxy..
i just read u had put down u were post lasik..? just curious.thanks! btw. evoxac helps my mouth but not my eyes either. bummer

[LaDiva]

Hi Jenny,
I will keep you posted. Not sure if I have Celiac, but took a DNA test last year, and I have the markers associated with Celiac, and they are high. The eye doc gave me a sample of Evoxac hoping it would help my eyes, but I am not sure it helped much. Not taking it now. I was tested for Sjorgen's, RA, and thyroid and they were negative, but the RA test for inflammation came back quite high. Something is going on inside my body, and it is messing with everything, including my eyes. Take care Jenn. Sorry you are having so much trouble. Cake sounds good, and ice cream even better.

[gormz]

Jenny have you looked into the GAPS/SCD diet? This goes beyond gluten free and really can help a lot of people (not everyone) heal inflammation problems from autoimmune things. You should also look into the book nourishing traditions. It gives some great background info on diet and also gives recipes for fermented fruits, veggies, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, etc. In my opinion getting your good bacteria or probiotics from different foods will be far better than any supplement. The reason being is that a lot of probiotics only contain a couple strains of bacteria whereas these different natural sources have many many different kinds of bacteria in much greater quantity than any pill. You literally have up to thousands of different types of bacteria found throughout your body so you want to get bacteria from as many different types as possible.

Also from what ive read, youre not really going to heal your gut/immune system if youre still taking an antibiotic. Antibiotics kill off both the good and bad bacteria in the gut. While probiotics do mitigate some of the effects of this, its kinda like pouring water into a cup that has a hole in it...youll never get the cup full. Im not a doctor though so take my advice with a grain of salt (although most doctors aren't really trained much in nutrition)

[jenny2008]

thnak u both.. i have been eating sauerkraut-raw 3 x a day for about 3 weeks now.. and yes i take doxy. my eye doc wont let me off of it.. i did cut the dose in 1/2 tho...
i will talk to my eye doc again about the doxy but i have a feeling as long as i have mgd he will make me take it.
i havent looked into the gaps diet.. i will...

ladiva--what kind of DNA test did you take re: celiac?