Probiotics may help bipolar mania

Another randomized, placebo controlled trial:

"The study randomized 66 patients with bipolar disorder who were hospitalized for mania and divided them into two groups of 33 patients. They gave a probiotic combination of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species to one group and a placebo to the second group. They asked all patients to continue taking their regular medications for bipolar disorder and followed them for a total of 24 weeks. Before the start of the study, the researchers identified which patients had higher markers of inflammation (that is, people with more overall inflammation in the body).

What this study on probiotics and mania showed
The results were striking. The rates of rehospitalization were 51.1% in the placebo group and 24.2% in the group who took probiotics. On average, the reduction in readmission was 74% lower in the probiotic combination compared with the placebo arm of the study. The most significant finding was an almost 90% reduction of hospitalization in the group with the highest inflammation score who took probiotics. Additionally, patients who took probiotics and were rehospitalized stayed in the hospital on average 2.8 days, compared with 8.3 days for those taking placebo."
Probiotics for bipolar disorder mania - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health Publishing

My pdoc told me about this in June when I saw him. He said the best one to take was culturelle and there was another probiotic strain to take along with that one. I've been taking culturelle a few days a week since then. Can't take it every day or I get the massive poops. This is the sheet he gave me on it that ended up in the pile in the back of my car lmao. Probiotics It's all pretty interesting research but they've been saying that mood can be tied to a happy gut.

Fascinating!
Thank you, both tecomsin and Moreta, for sharing!

WC

Thanks for sharing the info!

Very interesting. Probiotics have so many benefits that it certainly wont hurt.

Thanks for the link, Moreta. I looked up the article cited in my link and the two specific species they reported they used were:

"Patients hospitalized for mania (N = 66) were randomized after discharge to receive 24 weeks of adjunctive probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis strain Bb12"

That is from "Adjunctive probiotic microorganisms to prevent rehospitalization in patients with acute mania: A randomized controlled trial."

This looks very close to the two mentioned in your link for bipolar mania "Lactobacillus rhamnosus LG with Bifidobacterium lactis bb-12"

except one is LG and the other is GG, but I don't know, what, if anything that means.

I also wanted to add what the authors wrote about the impact of their research on treatment:

"A few words of caution before you buy probiotics to address mood changes. The study was small, and the selected patient population had a more severe form of bipolar disorder. Similar studies for patients with milder symptoms of depression and schizophrenia found little to no effect when comparing probiotics to standard treatment. We need a lot more data from high-quality research to change what we currently recommend for the treatment of other psychiatric illnesses.

Yet, this research still has the potential to change practice after patients with bipolar disorder get discharged from the hospital for mania. Adding probiotics to the regular medication regimen is simple, cheap, has no side effects, and appears to be highly effective."

I hope there is more research on gut biome/mental health interactions. It has the potential to help a lot of people. If I were facing repeated hospitalizations for mania I would definitely give it a go.

I was taking kefir in the morning with a protein chocolate powder a while ago. I'll have to buy it again and see what species were in it.