I started researching and taking vitamins and supplements right after I had my daughter in 1981.
3 weeks after giving birth I started feeling so tired and fatigued.
I went into my local natural foods store, the associate asked me how she could help me so I told her how I was feeling.
The first thing she asked me was have you had a lot of yeast infections.
My first thought was well...
she is getting a little personal, second thought (again to myself) omg I have had several since I had my child.
So I told her the truth figuring she might be on to something.
The associate recommended that I start with a good acidophilus and a multi-vitamin.
Naturally I asked her what acidophilus was, of course I can't remember what she told me but I do know that once I got a computer with Internet I researched everything! Acidophilus consists of natural bacteria, yes bacteria, which is excellent for the human digestion system, sounds gross doesn't it? Acidophilus consists of several bacteria's which includes L.
acidophilus, L.
casei, L.
bulgaricus, among others which I will explain further on.
Bacteria is found naturally through out the human body, everybody has a normal amount of this good bacteria in their body.
Your probably thinking oh my, should I be taking acidophilus? Well that depends, if you are a female and you have a yeast infection also known as candida albicans, absolutely! Yes there are different medications that will treat yeast infections such as a pill called Diflucan which requires a written prescription.
Then there are OTC (over the counter) remedies, most of them are very messy, so choosing is a totally personal decision.
I just prefer the most natural way to treat any medical problems I have if I can.
Another form of Candida Albicans is when infants and children get thrush in their mouth.
My second child, Christopher had thrush in his mouth a lot when he was an infant which brings me to the reason why some people get yeast infections, that would be our immune systems, Christopher was born with extremely low gamma globulins which are immune globulins.
I didn't find out until he was 7 months old and hospitalized for pneumonia and that lead me to finding out that I had a immune problem also, not quite the same thing as my Son.
There are a lot of different reasons for taking acidophilus and I will touch on a few because I could actually write for several days talking about this subject and I am only scratching the surface.
First of all, acidophilus also known as probiotics can help protect the body against harmful bacteria, parasites, and other organisms.
Some people take it everyday and some only take it when a problem arises, I am sure you have seen the TV commercial for Activia Yogurt? My Mom is 82 and eats one activia yogurt everyday, not all yogurt's are the same which brings me back to what acidophilus consists of, because like yogurt they are not all the same.
If your going to take/try acidophilus the main thing you have to remember as far as the different ingredients also referred to as friendly bacteria, healthy bacteria, make sure there is a combination of L.
bacteria's (Lactobacillus) mainly bulgaricus or bifidus and you can't go wrong with a acidophilus that also says Probiotics on the bottle or package.
Some of the benefits of using Acidophilus can include the following: Constipation, diarrhea, decreasing bad breath, decreasing internal gas, cholesterol control, suppression of candida yeast, a number of intestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and urinary tract infections.