# This is what is working for me (ibs-d)



## mrae (Apr 28, 2009)

Since I have had my partial hysterectomy 6 weeks ago I figured I might as well start trying to figure out what meds I can take to help me get my life back to some type of normal. I have ibs-d with urgency and couldn't go anywhere without my anxiety going through the roof if I didn't know where the bathroom was. For the last 3 weeks or so I have been taking 1 25mg Librium for anxiety and 2 lomotils first thing in the morning and I am good all day to go out and do whatever it is I need to without having to worry where the restrooms are. I'm also able to use the restroom the next morning like normal so this medicine is not constipating me in anyway. I thinkg my anxiety meds could be a little stronger but for now it is good. I was really reluctant to do pills everyday and really wanted to find something more natural to help and let me tell you I have tried alot of things. At this time I figure I am going to take these pills and live more normal and get out there and do things instead of being stuck in this house scared. I know alot of people say pills just mask the issue and I think they are right but until I can find out what exactly is wrong and get a straight answer I am willing to do what I need to to have a normal life. Just knowing I can get up and go throughtout the day ok makes me less stressed and irritable. I still have a few test my doctor wants to do like a biopsy of my colon lining but I first have to heal from my hysterectomy so we will see how that goes. I also just started taking 1tsp of Konsyl fiber at night. My suggestion to anyone and everyone if you have tried natural things and they just don't work find something that does and stick with it no matter what anyone says. As long as your doctor is keeping a good eye on you and your meds you should be fine. After all do you want to go through life not living it and stressed and stuck in your house or would you rather be able to get out and live a little. There are days I don't take the meds to give my body a break I just make sure those days I don't have anything to do. But as for me I say go for it. What works for you also may not work for someone else but after 2.5yrs I think I have found the combination that works for me at the moment.


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## Thai (Aug 22, 2007)

Good for you mrae!!It is nice to hear some good news around here from someone who has worked out what is of benefit to them.I hope that this continues for you and you enjoy your new found freedom.Thai


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Often with things like anxiety you need enough of a break from the symptoms in order to get other things (like therapy) to work. In most of the studies a combination does better than either therapy or medication alone.I really do not think there is any shame in needing medication, even if you can find something else to control the symptoms eventually.I really hope people do not feel like they are less than just because their illness is severe enough to need medications and there isn't an alternative other people feel is acceptable.


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi Mraei can empathise with your situation and am so pleased you are having a bit of respite. Long may it last! I am just about to start some amitriptyline tonight. A very small dose "sub-clinical" . I'm hoping this will break the vicious cycle of anxiety causing D. Tried SSRis which did help but couldn't take sufficient to get on top of things as it stopped me sleeping. After a couple of months I tried taking it in the morning instead of at night but think this made the D worse as it is a side effect. I'm really hoping this will help. I tried it before many years ago but it just wiped me out-now am going to try again but have a liquid form so can adjust the dose to the absolute minimum. Am starting at 5-10mg.


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

The Thing that has completely turned my IBS-D life around was when my GI doctor put me on : Pancrease MT-20.A Digestive Enzyme. My diarrhea is virtually gone. Be very carefull with the Amitryptaline , even in a low dose , in 1983 I had a extreme reaction to it. One 25 mg Capsule made me violently ill for 1 week.Hope you do Ok on it.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Petra, that sounds like a very good dose to start with. It's possible that it might help you sleep better too - hope you see good results from it.


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## Thai (Aug 22, 2007)

petra,Good luck with the amytriptiline, may it be the answer for you.Thai


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

PS, sorry, mrae, this was your thread to begin with! I apologize for not replying to you as the original poster! I'm very glad you and your doctor have found the combo of meds that really work for you. It's a good reminder, sometimes it does take a combination of treatments to get the results you're looking for. Glad you're getting good results!


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

Hopefully the amitryptaline will work for you and allow you to sleep.For me taking the one 25 mg. pill put me into a Wide Awake State and I didn't sleep for over 1 week due to the violent reaction I recieved from it.But this is My individual case ONLY*


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## Borrellifan (May 5, 2009)

I hear ya loud and clear Mrae. For the past 6-7 months i have been suffering through trying to find a natural remedy or cause of my IBS. Unfortunetly it seems no matter what i try or do i barely get any reliefe of symptoms and believe me i have tried it all. I am all for finding the cause and treating it naturally. Unfortunetly like you stated, for some of us this just doesn't work. The only things that seem to give me any reliefe and which i have been avoiding are Immodium, antispasmodics, and marijuana. I think what its going to come down to is that if i want to live any type of normal life im just going to have to accept the fact that im going to have to take these drugs in order to live. As much as i don't want to i really have exhausted all other options. Im glad you have figured this out as well and are now moving on with your life.


mrae said:


> Since I have had my partial hysterectomy 6 weeks ago I figured I might as well start trying to figure out what meds I can take to help me get my life back to some type of normal. I have ibs-d with urgency and couldn't go anywhere without my anxiety going through the roof if I didn't know where the bathroom was. For the last 3 weeks or so I have been taking 1 25mg Librium for anxiety and 2 lomotils first thing in the morning and I am good all day to go out and do whatever it is I need to without having to worry where the restrooms are. I'm also able to use the restroom the next morning like normal so this medicine is not constipating me in anyway. I thinkg my anxiety meds could be a little stronger but for now it is good. I was really reluctant to do pills everyday and really wanted to find something more natural to help and let me tell you I have tried alot of things. At this time I figure I am going to take these pills and live more normal and get out there and do things instead of being stuck in this house scared. I know alot of people say pills just mask the issue and I think they are right but until I can find out what exactly is wrong and get a straight answer I am willing to do what I need to to have a normal life. Just knowing I can get up and go throughtout the day ok makes me less stressed and irritable. I still have a few test my doctor wants to do like a biopsy of my colon lining but I first have to heal from my hysterectomy so we will see how that goes. I also just started taking 1tsp of Konsyl fiber at night. My suggestion to anyone and everyone if you have tried natural things and they just don't work find something that does and stick with it no matter what anyone says. As long as your doctor is keeping a good eye on you and your meds you should be fine. After all do you want to go through life not living it and stressed and stuck in your house or would you rather be able to get out and live a little. There are days I don't take the meds to give my body a break I just make sure those days I don't have anything to do. But as for me I say go for it. What works for you also may not work for someone else but after 2.5yrs I think I have found the combination that works for me at the moment.


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## bartek (Aug 8, 2009)

Hi, I fixed my IBS-D with a combination of food diary (alcohol+coffee), identification of stress, CBT, exercise, hypnotherapy and tricyclic antidepressants the ADs where the main fixim on 100-150mg of amitriptyline and apart from the usual AD side effects my stomache has been very well behaved for a week. completely normal. in fact its so normal it bothers me, its like its gone to sleep and only raises its head once a day, been like this for so long, being normal feels weird...anywayhowever i had a REALLY bad reaction to zoloft (SSRI) so yeah ADs are really something u unfortunately have to go with trial and error. tricyclics are good (amytrptyline) as they cause constripation which cancels out the D, but SSRI main side effect is D so for me it was a disasteranywayi have also tried peppermint, calcium, acupuncture, massage, chinese herbal, imodium, antispasmodics, 5htp, samE, betablockers, vitamins, saint johns wort with no success but some people have tried these and been successful. All the bestbartek


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

Have been a bit zombie like since starting amitryptyline-I only took 10mg! Just goes to show how we all react differently to drugs. I need 8 imodium and yet it seems I will only need a very tiny dose of this.


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## Thai (Aug 22, 2007)

petra,Not in all cases but certainly in some,( did for me ) the drowsy-state side effect will wear off in a few days when your body becomes accustomed.Thai


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## shyanna von banana (Jun 4, 2009)

hi congrats on getting better and I think that taking some off days of the pills is a good idea. the drugs clearly are more helpful to you when you take them off and on. B ecarefull with the anxiety medication they are only used for short term uses(4 to 6 months)..>http://helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_medication_drugs_treatment.htmAlso if you stop taking anxiety pills(prozac,BuSpar) you will most likely experience even more anxiety. One last thing make sure your careful with what you do when you take anxiety pills b\c it could make you very drowsy and I wouldnt want you to get in an accident or something.


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## shyanna von banana (Jun 4, 2009)

oh and petra I think u might want to read this. http://www.drugs.com/drug-interactions/ami...d_d01025.html... i read that amytriptiline can lower the effectiveness of loperamide(immodium AD)..I dont know positively that it does but on the page it said to be careful when combining immodiums with tricylic antidepressants and antihistamines as well as others. Just look'n out for ya buddy


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

thanks for pointing that out, Shyanna


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

Petra , this is why I caution about the: Amitryptaline , that stuff can be some wicked S*.It only took One 25 mg tablet to mess my head for a week. I lost all memory.I can belive you turned into a zombie on it !I hope you are feeling back to normal now.Time to search for another med.


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## mrae (Apr 28, 2009)

Thats what I like about the Librium it doesn't make me feel any different as far as messing with my head or even tired. The Lorazepam on the other hand was hard on me, it made me irritable and extremely drowsy.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Hence the need to try several different drug formulations in the same category. Different anti depressants will effect your body in different ways. Having a bad reaction to 1 anti depressant doesn't mean you will have a bad reaction to EVERY anti depressant. Many side effects you have initially will taper off within a very short amount of time, as Thai mentioned. Put in a call to your doctor if you're having a bothersome side effect initially. Your doctor will be able to tell you if it is a side effect that will likely go away with continued use, or if its an indication that this particular anti depressant isn't for you, and if you'd be better off trying a different one.


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## shyanna von banana (Jun 4, 2009)

if your thinking of taking anti-depressants or are on them make sure u were given them b\c u are severely depressed afterall that is what they are primarily used for. Here i found an article stating that anti-depressant probably will not be helpful if your are not severely depressed. http://helpguide.org/mental/medications_depression.htmPlus it is not always a good idea to keep trying several different brands of the same drug(anti-depressents). If it is not working after 1 or 2 it would be a good idea to step back and look at if u really need this drug and if there is some other type of drug(anti-anxiety, immodium, etc..) or alternative(exercise) that may work instead. It would cost a lot of money to just keep trying every kind of anti-depressant out there. I found another article stating that a good workout can alleviate depression just as well as anti-depressents and will not cause insominia. Insominia leads to d. http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/b...epressants.html I did read that if you take anti-depressants enough so that you can do therapy you will have much better results.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Shy, don't try to hijack this thread with this same argument. Don't mention it again. We've been over this many times.


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## mrae (Apr 28, 2009)

I take anxiety meds because I have anxiety not because I am depressed and like I have always said everyone is different and will different things that will work for them.


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi-sorry to go back a post or two but just want to clarify something. The link Shyanna gave to me actually shows that TCAs potentiate (not reduce) the antimotility effects of loperamide. It my case that is a really good thing as it means the loperamide should work better for me. I'm the opposite end of the spectrum for developing toxic megacolon.


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

Checked out the web links Shyanna posted above , they are excellent and well written , and Informative. Makes a person want to take a step back and re-analise the situation.


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

re-analise-I'd like to do that!


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## shyanna von banana (Jun 4, 2009)

srry Mrae i didn't mean for the anti-depressant info to be directed at you. It sounds like you got everything under control and figured out. See Petra sometimes my links will actually prove to help if looked at in different angles.


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

yes, that's right. You seemed to be saying that amitryptyline would lessen the effect of imodium but the link said otherwise. I guess I read "reed" for "red" if you follow me. Anyway, thanks again for your post.


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