# Relief from Claritin-D?



## LilyBee202 (May 5, 2009)

I am new to this board, although I have been reading it for quite some time. In short - I've always had a sensitive stomach, but the past 7 months of my life have been hell. I am barely able to leave my house on most days due to chronic D. Once I start going to the bathroom, it doesn't stop for hours, and every time I go my cramping, pains, and nausea get worse. I pretty much have to run to the bathroom in the middle of every meal or immediately following. I've seen 2 different GI docs, Allergy specialist, been to the ER a few times, tried Caltrate, acupuncture, meditiation, yoga, probiotics, elimination diets, drastically changed the way I eat... have been on dicyclomine and pamine forte which made me either feel worse or gave no relief. I use Imodium... but it takes hours to start working, and doesn't relieve the cramps or take away the nausea. I've lost over 15 lbs in the past year - I'm down to 90 lbs at 5'4 which looks terrible. I never had depression or anxiety until this happened to me. I'm 26 years old, live with my parents, can't really work anymore... can barely function at all.A little over a week/ 2 weeks ago, the weather was unseasonably warm and I had typical allergy symptoms so I began taking Claritin-D 12 hour twice a day. I took it for a week. For some reason the D completely stopped, as did the pain, and nausea. I felt great... I got out of the house, spent the days out doing things, went out for dinner (which is usually out of the question). I had no anxiety, no depression. It never crossed my mind once to worry if there was a toilet nearby because I felt liek a normal human being again. I also started acupuncture at around the same time - at first I thought the acupuncture was the answer. The day after I stopped taking the Claritin, it all started up again and has been non-stop for the past few days.I would take the Claritin every day from now on, as I really am desperate at this point... but I'm sure it isn't good for your body and I would literally need to take it every single day. Has anyone else had an experience like this?


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## ksymonds (Jan 16, 2009)

I am not sure about claritin D but have friends who haven taken regular claritin for years straight to be able to live happily with their pets. The side effects are supposed to be minimal.KathyIBS D


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Histamine does a lot of different things in the body besides just making you sneeze.In the colon it can set off diarrhea. It may be for you that blocking that helps.


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## LilyBee202 (May 5, 2009)

I didn't think of it in terms of histamine. I thought maybe the decongestant was just drying me out.. but then again, Imodium should do that and I felt much better on the Claritin than I ever have when I take an Imodium.I'm going to look into it more and definitely discuss it at my next GI appointment. I have experienced short bouts of this before, but never lasting this long and never this debilitating. Thank you.


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## rockingirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Ask your doctor if you can try Gastrochrom. I'm on it right now, and it's not doing anything for me, but what you're describing sounds like this might be just the thing for you as it is a histamine blocker thats supposed to prevent your body from attacking food.


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## LilyBee202 (May 5, 2009)

I am going to ask about it at my next appointment on Wednesday. I've been reading up on histamine and how it affects the stomach.Were you put on Gastrochrom for allergies or for mastocytic enterocolitis? How long have you been on it so far? I have been reading alot about the condition. I just had a colonoscopy, and thought they would have checked for something like that... but from what I've read it says they don't commonly use the tryptase dye to check your mast cells unless the GI specialist specifically orders it.24 hours after I stopped taking the Claritin-D, everything started up just the same.. non-stop D, in the bathroom at least 10-15 times a day, in pain, and nauseous. I started taking it again, and within less than a day I am back to normal. Every doctor I go to keeps telling me I am too stressed out. I do yoga, meditate, and hypnotherapy. I don't work, I don't go to school... I do nothing since I've been sick, and while that bothers me, my parents are very supportive and have made things comfortable for me until I can get better. The only thing I am stressed out about is being chained to the toilet. The next step my GI doctor wanted to take is to put me on antidepressants.Ironically, yesterday I went to an interview for a school I'm trying to get into and was probably more nervous and stressed than I have been in the past year. But, my stomach was completely fine (besides a few butterflies), and I've been eating and going to the bathroom normally since. I really think it is because of the Claritin.


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## rockingirl (Jan 10, 2008)

LilyBee202 said:


> I am going to ask about it at my next appointment on Wednesday. I've been reading up on histamine and how it affects the stomach.Were you put on Gastrochrom for allergies or for mastocytic enterocolitis? How long have you been on it so far? I have been reading alot about the condition. I just had a colonoscopy, and thought they would have checked for something like that... but from what I've read it says they don't commonly use the tryptase dye to check your mast cells unless the GI specialist specifically orders it.24 hours after I stopped taking the Claritin-D, everything started up just the same.. non-stop D, in the bathroom at least 10-15 times a day, in pain, and nauseous. I started taking it again, and within less than a day I am back to normal. Every doctor I go to keeps telling me I am too stressed out. I do yoga, meditate, and hypnotherapy. I don't work, I don't go to school... I do nothing since I've been sick, and while that bothers me, my parents are very supportive and have made things comfortable for me until I can get better. The only thing I am stressed out about is being chained to the toilet. The next step my GI doctor wanted to take is to put me on antidepressants.Ironically, yesterday I went to an interview for a school I'm trying to get into and was probably more nervous and stressed than I have been in the past year. But, my stomach was completely fine (besides a few butterflies), and I've been eating and going to the bathroom normally since. I really think it is because of the Claritin.


My doctor just basically runs through all the possible IBS meds, so that one was just next on my list to try. I've only been on it for two weeks.


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