Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Activated charcoal has many uses. Below are my comments. 1) I tend to have acid issues along with potential gastric distress. I travel for work, as well, so I need to have a more calm GI system 2) I use the charcoal to help with digestion leading up to the business travel. I begin taking the charcoal about 3 days before my trip. I'll take anywhere from 4-6 pills per day in either 2 or 3 doses. 3) The charcoal first helps with bloating and trapped gas removal. Then, because the gas and bloating are out of the way, the body can do some evacuation where the GI system is now moving again. Then, because you've removed the trapped gas and bloating and had some bowel movements, your GI system is calmer and more predictable. Suggestions: 1) Use a good digestive enzyme in combination with the charcoal. The enzymes help to fully break down your food, and then if your body has any reaction to the food, the charcoal will help the reaction. Example: If you have a yeast infection and you eat sugary/starchy foods, the sugars from these will feed the candida. The charcoal will help capture the candida as well as the toxins from the die-off effect which will help keep the GI system calmer. 2) You have to time the taking of the charcoal approximately 3 hours before and after you take other medications. Charcoal absorbs everything--medications, nutrients, etc. So, if you're taking charcoal in larger doses long-term, you will need to monitor your medication usage even more, and when it comes to vitamins, you may need to double up on your vitamins. 3) I've read some suggestions for candida treatment where they recommend huge amounts--like 25 grams per day. This would be a huge influx of charcoal, and if you take a lot of any product that binds, I think you could risk creating blockage. So, if you plan on taking larger doses daily, I highly recommend 1) slowly building up, and 2) taking the doses throughout the day. And, if you are taking larger doses daily, chances are there is something going on inside that you need to also focus on an elimination diet whereby you eliminate most trigger foods and slowly reintroduce one at a time to determine if a particular food or food group is causing the distress (ex.: dairy, gluten, lactose, eggs, etc). NOTES: 1) This review is not intended to diagnose or treat anyone's issues. If you are reading this and possibly realizing you may have an issue, I recommend you seek out a qualified licensed physician or nurse practitioner who can order proper tests. Before taking extreme measures, definitely have your stool examined for any and as many bacteria/parasites as possible as the over-processed American diet can lead to inflammation and provides a great host for all kinds of bugs! 2) I first discovered charcoal as a treatment for diarrhea because I was tired of taking Immodium which seemed to make the issues worse. I would have several days of diarrhea, take the Immodium, and then I would be lucky if I had a bowel movement for five (5) days! I didn't like the extreme opposite reactions. Also, as it was taking five days to have the next bowel movement, it seemed like I was getting more and more bloated and a bigger belly. Keeping waste in your body that long just seemed to make me feel worse.