i got off track over the holidays - eating and drinking the wrong things too much! I am pretty well back on track, but have been having diarhea so i thought to introduce Probiotics at the beginning of the year. I wondered if my gut flora was thrown out of balance by eating so badly. I noticed no change/improvement over nearly 3 weeks. I thought maybe those are old - so I bought new ones and will start them this week. Directions say to take one a day.

I am curious what I should notice/ how can I tell if they are making any difference?

Id be curious about this too, I know activia yogurt got sued and had to stop saying it was good for your gut because there was no evidence of it being true. But im curious about other stuff.

I've had successive rounds of constipation since surgery and have been taking probiotics and eating Activia since Fall 2014. At first, I thought there was no difference, but then I bought some higher end probiotics (from GNC) and did begin to notice some improvement. However, when I went back to my brand X (Rite Aid) probiotics, I went back to being constipated. I don't really know if the Activia is having any affect or not, but I do believe that the probiotics do help, if you get the right ones (with 25-50 billion CFU's).

For me probiotics have caused diarrhea for a few days and eventually regulate me to a more normal flow

I'm on a zillion antibiotics for Lyme disease and probiotics really helped me. I take a lot of them, expensive ones, 2x per day. I can't speak to whether or not they'll help with the sleeve, but I know I feel better when taking them consistently.

I don't know. I've been taking them for about 2 months, and I can't tell a difference. My dietitian said you close 10% more with them, but that's not working out for me, ether.

I took pro-biotics for a few weeks post op because i was having diarrhea issues. They didn't seem to help me. I was taking culturelle pills.

The peer-reviewed evidence is shaky on "pro-biotics." However, I have been drinking kombucha from about 3 weeks out, and I've rarely had intestinal issues. I make my own, but occasionally but GTs brand. While the benefits are questionable, there are definitely no drawbacks. Lots of good organic acids in komucha, so that is how I roll :-)