Excellent High Quality Product!
"First let me be up front: I AM NOT A PAID CUSTOMER. In spite of how this might read like an advertisement, I am in no way being compensated for this honest expression of facts and opinion. I have absolutely “no dog in this fight” other than simply “paying it forward” in return for great information I learn from other Amazon customers!!!
I am extremely pleased with this product! It was very nicely packaged and the capsules are super easy to swallow. It arrived a bit slow but more on that later. But I am FAR more pleased that it appears to be accomplishing my goal of losing weight!
I am a 75 year old man. Prior to last year, I had never taken any probiotic before. In fact, I was only vaguely aware of the word, probiotic. Rather than telling this in the exact order it happened, much of what I relate is a result of hindsight—analyzing what happened to determine the how’s and why’s.
First a general summary for those who prefer less details: Due to two common antibiotics prescribed by 2 separate doctors, I lost over 15 lbs in about 5 months and suffered through 64 continuous days of diarrhea. Then I began my first probiotics combo, L. Rhamnosus + L. Acidophilus, which resulted in a 35 lb gain over 8 months.
Finally, with the probiotic L. Gasseri, I feel I am finally on the road to a return to my normal weight (whatever “normal” means). Until this period, I had NEVER experienced such major weight changes over such brief periods of time—especially since it was unintentional! Now more details….
The first antibiotic was prescribed by my podiatrist for a toenail fungus that led to surgical removal of the nail—all completely as expected and totally successful. The weight loss that followed began innocently, at first rather slowly and of little concern—easily dismissed as just a nice side effect?
But that was followed a couple of months later by a severe case of chronic diarrhea! Continuously! For the next 62 days!!! Prior to this, my last bout with diarrhea was decades ago and rarely for more than a day or two!
Lab tests confirmed a C-Dif bacterial infection and my GP prescribed an antibiotic widely used for treating this bacteria. But the diarrhea continued unabated. When I felt my GP was at a loss to resolve the issue, I contacted other doctors and they also seemed rather dumbfounded!
Desperate for help, through several internet searches of what I felt were reputable sources (never just common gossip!), I learned more about probiotics than I had ever imagined. I had certainly heard about the “gut microbiome” in generic terms before but I gradually became more aware of just what an important role it plays in our lives.
That search led me to the probiotics combination of L. Rhamnosus and L. Acidophilus which showed promising results curbing diarrhea. I decided to give it a try and ordered it from Amazon! Following the instructions, the diarrhea totally stopped 64 days of continuous diarrhea! Within 24 hours! That power truly blew my mind!!!
Unfortunately the story did not end there. Over the next few weeks, my weight loss reversed. I started gaining weight—first slowly but then gradually increasing at an ever more alarming rate. And I thought I knew why. It was the reason most often blamed: I was eating too much!
But then I began to question that usual culprit. I had totally lost control against overpowering hunger pangs. I could hardly go an hour without grabbing some sweets to calm it down. I had never experienced this behavior in my past.
In fact, though I may have occasionally gained a few more pounds than I wanted, I could reasonably easily change that--not by any special diet but by simply cutting back on the quantity of food I ate. I even continued my normal “junk foods”. But in all cases, I simply left about 15-25% of the food uneaten.
I have done that multiple times at various points in my life. But this time I had almost zero ability to do that. And again, discussions with several doctors produced no real help with the situation. So I gradually began to suspect it was closely related to my previous situation. Could it be as simple as finding another probiotic related to weight loss?
So as before, desperation led me back to the internet. That search led me to Lactobacillus Gasseri as being particularly related to weight control. I found a couple of lab controlled studies that appeared well designed. One Japanese study stood out.
The 60+ participants were carefully weighed, measured, and then given standard daily doses of L. Gasseri for 4 months. At the end, each was weighed and measured again. Nearly all showed either significant weight loss or at least measurable reductions in the waist. Extremely promising!!!
But the participants who had stopped the probiotic were checked again a month later and they had all gained almost exactly the same amount of weight as they had lost—gained back in one month all losses from the previous 4 months! Very discouraging!
But my next immediate question was, “WHY STOP!” If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! In other words, why not continue the L. Gasseri longer—perhaps even forever? I went back to the internet to see if I could find any indication of L. Gasseri side effects—especially long term. I found NONE!
With that previous success I decided to give L. Gasseri a try. I started with the recommended 2 caps per day, one each in the AM & PM. I could tell almost immediately my hunger had dropped substantially for at least 3-4 hours after each dose but came back too soon before time for my next regular meal. After 2 weeks, I doubled it to 4 caps/day, 2 each AM & PM. I still get occasional hunger pangs but nowhere near being beyond my control.
After 3 weeks, I had lost 3-4 lbs. After 2 months, I have lost about 11 lbs. For the first time in 6 months, I am losing weight steadily and consistently!
BUT I FEEL I MUST ADD THIS CAUTION!!!
I am NOT a doctor and have ZERO medical training. I am NOT recommending you try this. I am just saying it worked for me. THAT DOES NOT MEAN it will work for you!
More particularly, I have read numerous comments by people who have tried L. Gasseri. Nearly all were either extremely positive (greatest thing ever!) or extremely negative (terrible—will not work!). Actually only a relatively small percentage had middle of the road comments. They either hated or loved it!
Based on that, it appears clear to me that L. Gasseri works for some but not others. With what I have learned in my research of our human microbiome, that really doesn’t surprise me at all. As I understand it, the “good bacteria” that we all carry in our gut VARIES WIDELY from person to person. No two people are identical.
Therefore how any newly added probiotic (which are in fact among those “good bacteria”) will NOT always mesh as well with yours as it did for mine. I believe I was actually very lucky that the three specific ones I have tried, L. Rhamnosus, L. Acidophilus, and L. Gasseri, worked the way I hoped.
And in the later case, L. Gasseri, I have only been on it for a bit less than 2 months. While the results so far have been extremely encouraging, that is no guarantee it will continue. I will just have to wait and see!
Now finally about the late arrival of my latest shipment: My order for Lactobacillus Gasseri took a bit longer to arrive than in the past. But I believe most of that delay was by USPS. Nearly always, I follow the tracking closely so I can be ready when it will likely arrive.
I ordered it on Sun 3/1/2020 and it was turned over to USPS the next day, Mon 3/2/2020. From Harrisburg, PA, it took USPS two more days to reach Houston, TX, Wed 3/4/2020. But then it seemed to freeze there for 3 more days with no further tracking notices. Finally on Sat 3/7/2020, tracking finally "came back alive" again and it was delivered later that day.
While 7 days is really not far off from normal for USPS, it is still a disappointment when it is expected sooner and fails to appear. Then again, maybe I am just too “ticky”."
