IBS Relief after 18 years of pain!

Hi! My name is Ruth Randle. I am 63 years old, and until a year or so ago had suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (diarrhea-based) since the age of 18 (undiagnosed). It always began with severe abdominal pain and bloating, which continued for several hours, ultimately ending with massive diarrhea -- after which I immediately felt better. It had gotten worse in recent years, to the point where the pain was so bad, the only thing I could do was try to sleep through it. I would sometimes have 2 or 3 attacks a week. A year or so ago, I had a colonoscopy and esophagoduodenoscopy (EGD) and was finally diagnosed with IBS -- the mystery of all those years of agony was solved at last!  

A friend from church suggested that I try Shaklee's Optiflora, the two-product "pre- and pro-biotic" combination. Within a couple of weeks, my attacks started getting less and less frequent, until they stopped entirely! I finished the 30 day supply, and bought another package "just to have" in case of a recurrence.

When I went back to the gastroenterologist for follow-up, I took the botttles with me and told him what had happened. He said that there was indeed research being done on the "intestinal flora" type of treatment like Shaklee's Optiflora, with some positive results, and he took down all the information from the labels to share with his colleagues.  

I have had perhaps 2 attacks in the past year or more, and they were of much shorter duration, and much less intense. (One episode was after I had been on antibiotics for a bad upper respiratory infection, probably killing off my normal intestinal bacteria.) I took the Optiflora for a week after each incident -- and I still have a 2 week supply in reserve, "just in case".  I'm sold on Shaklee!