Source Naturals Essential Enzymes in Vegetarian Capsules, Digestive Aid* 500 Mg - 240 Capsules

My best advice about using digestive enzymes and HCl is : talk to your doctor!I was experiencing some pretty bad gut symptoms and it was clear there was fundamentally something wrong with my gut. There are MANY causes of serious GI issues (genetics, damage to the GI track itself, gut infections) but many of the symptoms are identical. In my situation, it was pointing towards gut infection AND damaged digestion from the infection from previous use of proton pump inhibitors and after that it doesn't much matter.My symptoms; savage gas, bloating, cramping, stomach pain, GERD, diarrhea.After starting the digestive enzymes/HCL using directions on bottle - less savage symptoms but stillMy doctor's advice was to use digestive enzymes and HCl following the directions on the bottle. She went with that because she's a psychiatrist and not a specialist in the GI track. I went to another doc who is and her advice is if using one doesn't work then go with two per meal. I was concerned because it seemed like I have more than enough acid. However, GERD is *sometimes* caused by low stomach acidity. The lower acid isn't enough enough to trigger the muscles in the esophagus to close and GERD.It took about 3-4 days at the final increased level (increase slowly - one extra capsule per day) for me notice it was turning around. It took about 10-14 days for me to say - my GI track is starting to feel OK again. After about a month, I still get GERD every few days but that's so much better than every few hours.Adding HCl and digestive enzymes to your routine, supports digestion. Doing it is essential , because if you don't, you are not extracting the full amount of nutrition in your food. I was experiencing a myriad of nutritional deficiencies everywhere; everything from vitamins to minerals to shortages of amino acids. The next step is to heal whatever is damaging your gut in the first place.Glutamine is an amino acid that is normally found in food. However the gut needs to absorb glutamine directly, and this happens only when glutamine is taken on an empty stomach. The gut absorbs glutamine and uses it to obtain energy and glutamine is ubiquitous throughout the gut and is essential for gut function and maintenance. glutamine is also one of the precursors for an essential enzyme called glutathione. Glutathione is the master stress enzyme, it regenerates all of your antioxidant enzymes in the body. During times of high stress it is possible to strip all of the glutathione in the body. Finally, glutamine is one of the precursors for GABA, a neurotransmitter in the brain that affects mood. The problem with glutamine is, during periods of high trauma or stress, body will consume more glutamine than you will obtain from your diet . That is why medical and other authorities recommend 2 to 3 g of glutamine during these periods. You don't want to exceed 3 g because excessive amounts of glutamine might alter the levels of GABA in your brain. However since I was experiencing extreme trauma , I would sometimes go as high as 6 g of glutamine daily. I limited these to about 2 to 3 days at most. I noticed that when I went high, the next day my gut pain would recede.if you experience broken digestion, it is strongly possible that your probiotics are way off. To correct this first you need supportive probiotics. For those of you experiencing gut trauma, Saccharomyces boulardii fights got inflammation directly. I use S. boulardii from Jarrow. I actually picked up this probiotic on my own after I read about a clinical trial, but I'm happy to report that my new doctor of functional medicine who is treating my gut approved it immediately.Feeding your probiotics is absolutely critical especially if you do have a gut infection.Bob's Red Mill unmodified potato starch, is readily available resistant starch. It's the most concentrated form of resistance starch that is easily available. Resistant starches do not raise your glucose level, because your body cannot digest it. It is instead digested by your probiotics. It is fairly difficult for invasive organisms to digest resistant starch. When I first tried resistant starch, I reacted poorly. The result was quite nasty. What was the problem? I had very few probiotics that could digest the starch. And basically the stuff traveled through my gut almost untouched. The problem went away as I took more probiotics, and the helpful probiotics increased in my gut as I continued to use the potato starch. Once I got used to it, I discovered I could use potato starch alone to help me fight off bouts of diarrhea.When I started using fiber, I started with Metamucil. And I used it for four years. My diarrhea during this period was relentlessly continous. Them I switched to glucomannan , which is a superior form of fiber because it has longer fibers than most. My diarrhea diminished. But it seems like things improved by the number of doses of fiber I took. In between doses of fiber, I still had diarrhea. So I upgraded to PGX. PGX is still glucomannan, but it has been put through a trademark process that preserves the fiber in glucomannan to the max. After a few weeks on the PGX, my diarrhea pretty much disappeared.So what is the difference between these forms of fiber, and why the performance difference? Part of the reason why certain fibers are superior is the length of the fiber. Metamucil start out with a pretty good source of fiber, unfortunately the processing produces junk fiber. Shorter strands of fiber, the less it feeds your probiotics, and the more it feeds undesirable inhabitants in the gut. The glucomannan was a big improvement , but still the fibers in glucomannan are shorter than fibers in PGX , and it makes a big difference. So my advice is, buy the best fiber you can afford, either the glucomannan or the PGX.Bentonite Clay; For those of you who are actively trying to destroy those infectious organisms in your gut, I found bentonite clay to be a superior form of detox. I started with activated charcoal, and it worked to absorb the toxins but it also seem to trigger diarrhea. So I switched to the bentonite clay. The clay needs to be taken on an empty stomach, or it will absorb your nutrients instead of your toxins. I found the clay needed to well hydrated, use double the amount of water, shake it vigorously three times over 1 to 2 hours to get it to dissolve. It works well, relieving gut pain and helping to form stools.With time, I'm hoping the complete protocol will fix my GI track so I won't need these enzymes.Of course the problem with this description is if you have something wrong with your GI track but it's not your enzymes or your HCl. Or you have something IN ADDITION. Get a doctor.Update: it's working! I'm tapering down to 1 capsule of enzymes and one capsule of HCLlast items: if you are trying to heal, you need a good multivitamin. A deficit in anything can stop healing in it's tracks. I use Hardy's Essential Nutrients which has lots of clinical trial evidence to support their claims of superior bioavailability. But it's expensive, over $100 per bottle AND you have to take 12 capsules per day. But unless you suffer from a genetic issue which creates deficiencies, you can correct problems in about 3-6 months, so it's not forever.And if you are healing, by definition, you must replace proteins and other biomaterials. In order to trigger protein synthesis, you must eat 30 gms of protein in one meal. That's a lot of protein, 5 large eggs, 1.5 cups of greek yogurt and once you're done with the bone and gristle it's an 8 oz steak. Nutritionists recommend doing this 3x per day if you are healing from major trauma. I am trying to do this at least 2-3 times per week and i noticed my hair grew at 2x the normal rate. My medical conditions are healing a bit faster but it's nothing like the hair growth.Update: Sept. 2018 - No enzymes or HCL needed! My digestion is still a bit off. Sometimes if I eat something spicy, I get "spice reflux". I only got this with spices, not anything else. Seemed fishy. I tried using some bitters to start digestion (Iberogast is my doctor's recommended medical grade bitter). Amazing. Two drops of bitters on the tongue fixed the reflux. My digestion appears to be almost normal except sometimes, it needs a kick in the pants to get it started. Sounds about right for someone my age.

The great thing about digestive enzymes, unlike many supplements, is that you won't need to use them for a long time to find out if they are helpful. They either help digestion or they don't. You will notice the change in discomfort, amounts of gas, reflux, and your stools in short order.My wife has had a wicked case of digestive problems for two years. Other than concluding that she had IBS after months of medical specialist visits and procedures, all that the medical world could offer was a diagnosis. Prescribed medications were not helpful, nor were the radical changes in her diet that were finally recommended. The most medications could offer was to stop the most horrible diarrhea, but then gave her constipation, and the resultant problems that come with that. Pain was high, bloating was awful, and she lost 20% of her weight. Then came the effect of not getting good nutrition. She tried the expensive OTC peppermint oil products in enteric capsules. She was offered an expensive new drug that warned of a potential serious side effect due her having lost her gall bladder years ago. She wisely declined. A year of serious symptoms left her weak and clinically depressed. Pain 24/7 will do that. My wife is a strong woman. She has battled some serious health issues for 20 years, including Sjoegren's Syndrome and painful arthritis of her hips and shoulders. I mention this to point out who serious IBS can become for some people. She was an active woman prior to IBS, cheerfully dealing with her limits and not letting it stop her from daily swimming, gardening, and a love of cooking. Severe IBS is no light matter.She spent many months and a huge amount of money in Korea, receiving traditional chinese medicine treatments at a hospital specializing in gastric issues. Went through fasting followed by ultrasonic massage to her internals, as well as acupuncture and extensive herbals. Thankfully, they were able to eliminate 80% of her problems and reduce the pain significantly, as well as get rid of the constant battle with diarrhea. It was a Godsend. The head doctor was amazing but he admitted she had one of the worse cases he had encountered when he first examined her and felt she could be helped but probably not cured. We burned through $30,000 in travel, living, and inpatient hospital costs. But she gained weight, her clinical depression resolved, and her pain was now manageable. (Nope, US medical insurance plans don't cover traditional Chinese medicine).The most troubling symptoms that remained were having to spend the first few hours of the day making trips to the bathroom for frequent bowel movements and loose stools (not watery diarrhea, thankfully) and the inevitable painful bloating and gas that followed her meals. It was considerable, but so much better than before the Traditional Chinese Medicine. I continued to try to find help for her and I've ordered many different products. We've done like many here probably have, spending lots of money trying all sorts of probiotics. Here are the ones that have been the most helpful:- Iberogast from Germany--hard to find but you can find it right here on Amazon. Not cheap but it is an herbal that really works to aid digestion. It reduced the severity of diarrhea and helped empty her stomach. Might be all someone with milder problems would need.- Enzymes for beans, like Bean-zyme-- Amazon carries this and it's a less expensive than Beano and free of additives. Works for breaking down beans and a few other things. She got some reduction in gas with some meals. Cheap.- Probiotics that have helped include Florastor, the less expensive alternative to Florastor, Jarrow Formulas Saccharomyces Boulardii, and Solgar - Advanced Multi-Billion Dophilus. These actually brought about noticeable changes, but were less than a cure.--This product, Essential Enzymes.This product was immensely more effective than anything she has tried. I went through her long history to emphasize how significant the relief is. Her stools are finally getting firmer and she has finally had some serious relief of bloating and gas pain, and the embarrassment of constantly passing gas. She knew it was helpful after the first meal. No side effects noticed. She still has to visit the bathroom several times in a row every morning. She no longer looks and feels pregnant, nor do I see her holding her abdomen or massaging her gut.Of course, our self-treatment is not a scientific study. It's subjective. IBS is complex. And it's probably not one condition, but several. The causes are not known, and may involve many. But until modern medicine can offer real help, we all have to do the best we can.

This is a great product that I have had positive results from over many years.

I love these enzymes. I take them after I’ve eaten a heavy meal such as pasta or meat, and it definitely relieves my stomach of bloating.

These are really good & help. Tried few other's that didn't help. I don't taste, I swallow 1pill each time B4 I eat. If I forget, I take it during or after. Prices nowadays are high,therefore the value for the money isn't to bad. I don't get stomach discomfort from these, they actually help with pain I've had& br issues, along with Wormwood 11 in 1. (Gluten-free diet helps tremendously too) I believe the ingredients are pretty decent overall. Thank you!

I truly believe this has helped my digestion