Are probiotics okay to take when on prednisone and/or imuran? I see warnings on some probiotic containers regarding suppressed imune systems but not sure if it's just lawyer talk or not. Any opinions from your doctors?

Thanks,

Mick

It is best to discuss probiotics with your doctor when taking immune suppressing drugs.

I have seen things written in the HIV/AIDs community that probiotics may cause sudden death or illness. Also a study was done on patients with acute pancreatitis given probiotics and some of those patients died too. This is because in the manufacture of probiotics there can be fungal contaminants present, which do not normally make people ill. But when the immune system is suppressed, they become pathogenic.

One way to get some beneficial organisms is to eat a quality yogurt. Ask your doctor if this is okay for you. I think it is a more natural way to do it. Stoneyfield has 6 organisms in their organic yogurts. But you can read the labels to compare which companies have a better content.

So it is best to ask your doctor. Anyone on immune suppressing therapy should be very careful and instructed on what they should do and what to avoid.

Wow thanks so for this. Not sure if what I have here is pancreatitis. I went off my probiotic cause I just got so sick in my insides the last 2 weeks I just started to elimate things.

Annie59

This is a link to a Medscape article about this:

http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/570319

if you do not belong to Medscape you can join for free.

They have copyright restrictions about copying on the internet,
so I cannot put it up here.

Thanks so much, mrsD

My dog got pancreatitis in July 2008. I'm thankful I found this information this past year when he started flaring again. His vet thought probiotics would be useful but they were NOT.

They are useful while taking antibiotics but, as Mrs. D. has stated very well, you have to talk to your docs about it. I can't do dairy, so for me the pills are about the only alternative.

Annie