Well I haven't done a TON of research on probiotics, but I did some, and from what I read, the general feeling is that if you have heavy normal (not the bad stuff, the good stuff) flora in your system (bacteria), it competes for the same real estate that the bad flora (pseudo, staph, etc) competes for also, and then makes it much harder for bacteria to settle within you because "someone is already living there" so to speak. As an example, I was taking probiotics for a while because I wasn't sure if the heavy oregano oil dosing was going to lead in a reduction in my natural good flora in my system. Thankfully it didn't impact it, and now I have "heavy normal flora" in my system. Now it could have been due to the oregano oil, coincidence, or could have been largely due to the probiotic use, but now I have "very light" cultures of pseudo and staph. I had never been very very heavy with pseudo in the past to my knowledge, but I don't ever recall being classified very light either.
Aside from that good reason to use probiotics CF wise, there is also the aspect that we are learning new things almost daily on what the good bacteria do for us. Some actually make vitamins for us, some maintain and regulate a proper metabolism, and others assist in hormone regulation. You should think of the good bacteria as your bodies little helpers, or "Dozers" like from the old Fraggle Rock show. Always in the background toiling away at helping your body.
When you take broad spectrum antibiotics (which is what most of what us CF's take to treat our disease) it kills off these helpful bacteria along with the bad bacteria, so it leads to further health instability and basically damages our entire bodies ecosystem, like submerging a coral reef in gasoline.
In the human colon alone, there is over two pounds (the weight) of bacteria (a thought that is staggering), some good, some bad like E. Coli etc that you wouldn't want to get into the rest of your system. Since so many CF's take prophalactic antibiotics (like tobi), it's a good idea to take probiotic supplements to keep our bodies natural ecosystem healthy, and continue to gain the benefits from the good bacteria.
And the first premise I mentioned with probiotics does make logical sense. If all bacteria generally use the same principles to attach and thrive within your system, if there is very limited real estate to attach and thrive due to it being way too crowded with your good bacteria, then it forces the bad bacteria to not have a place to take up shop so to speak.
I always knew about the benefits of probiotics as in maintaining a good ecosystem, but I never gave any thought to the real estate and overcrowding your body with good bacteria principle. Makes perfectly good sense to me.
