# mannitol in pepto bismol



## knothappy (Jul 31, 1999)

i have been having a lotof nausea with ibs d so i started taking pepto with my imodium>>>i read the box and found that pepto bismol has mannitol in it !!! an artificial sugar that most ibs people are sensitive to..and even a lot of normal stomachs cannot tolerate it!!!! why i n the world would they put that stuff in it>>>>i am talking caplets not anything you disslove in your mouth,,i know all that has artificial sugars in them.. no wonder my D is not getting better >>> just blacker!!!!!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Generally most people do need a fair amount of a sugar alcohol to have an effect (although a few people may be more sensitive).One molecule of manitol (or other -itols) can physically only pull a couple of water molecules into the stool and can only make a couple extra molecules of gas so often it takes more than you'd find in a relatively small tablet.Unfortunately they add some kind of sweetener or other flavor masker to pretty much anything chewable or drinkable. Usually the amount is so much less than the main amount of the pill that on balance it doesn't change how it functions for the vast majority of people.That being said Pepto Bismol is a pretty mild anti-diarrheal so may not be strong enough for people with IBS-D in a lot of cases. I would look at Imodium rather than pepto bismol, and you probably want to stay away from anything you would taste.Ginger tends to be a better anti-nausea thing, if you can tolerate the taste of ginger tea or find capsules you can swallow. They rarely have added sweeteners from what I've seen.Sometimes they will put a small amount in the coating of the pill because something in the pill is very bitter so even if you don't chew it. But there isn't the 10-50 grams per pill it usually takes to have an effect for most normal people. There would only be a very tiny amount. I doubt there is even one gram and probably less than that. .5 grams is not going to pull in cups of water or make liters of gas.


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

I don't know if you would be sensitive to maple sugar or not; but my son makes a delicious ginger tea with grated ginger, hot water, and maple.Mark


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## kimberlyl (Mar 14, 2010)

OMG. Thank you for this post! My IBS has been worse lately and I couldn't figure out why. But I just looked at the bottle of Pepto that I've been using recently and found that it does, in fact, have artificial sweeter, which I am extremely sensitive to. Thank you!


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## knothappy (Jul 31, 1999)

we are darned if do amd darned if we don't! why do they put that junk in there??? many people i know are so sensitive to to this product...how can we take stuff that should help us ,then make us worse??? i even called the company, but got no sympathy>>>>did i want a coupon for Pepto HELLO no it makes me worse!!!!!!!!!!!duh


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