# Antihistamine Zyrtec affect on IBS, quite interesting and wanted to share



## MrBelAir (Mar 29, 2014)

Ive suffered from IBS my entire life which is always triggered by stress and eating outside my home of course. I tend to get flare ups alot with resturant food. Ive been treated for SIBO, etc and take Donatal on occasion. I tend to manage my symptoms to a point but the anxiety and stress does get a good part of me.

Ben tested for Celiac and all show negative. I have very bad airborne allergies my entire life. Also alergic to corn, shelfish. Crazy thing is if i ommit all carbs and wheat from diet i feel great so this leads me to believe i must have some sort of auto imune response to food i eat.

So about a year ago the allergies got so bad i started taking 10mg Zyrtec. It works on my nasal allergies but i noticed a 100% improvement with my IBS. If i take a Zyrtec in the morning and eat lunch out and indulge i get zero pains, gas or BM. Its like my intestines are normal and not overactive as they are daily. What i realize if i take a Zyrtec one day it will help my IBS for about 48hr. After the 48hr my BM are all over the place as if i am backed up and my body is fighting back to get back on my irregular schedule.

I have tested this for over a year but i did not want to be taking Zyrtec every day because it drys me out a bit. I also notice that in my BM they are more or less hard and dry.

I called me GI he thinks im crazy with this theory but it is a fact and true. Now this leads me to believe my food intake no matter what it is causes my body to react one way or another and the histamine block of Zyrtec prevents the attack and enables my digestion to be normal.

I wanted to share this with the community and would love to hear comments. I also suggest maybe to try this out for yourself as it might work. Im so confused over this and tired of mixed answers from doctors.

I plan to see an autoimune doctor soon to discuss this. fYI. If i take 2-3 advils a day for my chronic back pain it also helps my IBS , advil also dries me out and constipates me.. Maybe these two drugs stop the overproduction of digestive fluids which makes me feel better i do not know but i would like a scientific explanation to this.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Histamine is one of the signalling molecules used in the gut. Maybe you are blocking an inappropriate signal?


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## movetony88 (Mar 26, 2014)

What an unusual connection. I take antihistamines, and notice they really dry my eyes, sometimes to the point of being painful. (Drinking extra water did help, but took an hour or so.) What did the doctor think was the connection? Pretty interesting. I've been concerned that the antihistamines have affected my eyesight, as I have floaters, pretty bad.


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## Colt (May 5, 2011)

I have found a connection between antihistamines as well, but it was only temporary. Advil and Robaxacet also help my IBS. I think they slow down your system by dulling the muscle spasms.


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## MrBelAir (Mar 29, 2014)

Does any antihistamine such as Zyrtec reduce inflamation inside the body of any trigger that may cause ibs? I kmow advil does reduce inflamation im wondering if both otc drugs work the same way

I wish a doctor can scientifically explain this because it may be a safe treatment for ibs


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## Colt (May 5, 2011)

MrBelAir said:


> Does any antihistamine such as Zyrtec reduce inflamation inside the body of any trigger that may cause ibs? I kmow advil does reduce inflamation im wondering if both otc drugs work the same way
> 
> I wish a doctor can scientifically explain this because it may be a safe treatment for ibs


Quite possible......but no doctor will acknowledge anything these days. I think that the body sees IBS as an intruder and releases histamine. Histamine is then rejected by the body, which would cause the gastro system to speed up and maybe spasm and inflame. Advil would calm the spasm and the inflammation.

Just a theory as to why these products help.


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## MrBelAir (Mar 29, 2014)

Diamine oxidase deficiency is the cause ive been researching all night this is very common
Histamine Intolerance
Would anyone know how i can get an accurate test in the USA for this? Most articles A
are based in europe and australia.

I plan to make lots of call this week to try and find a doctor who can test.


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## IBS2 (Feb 7, 1999)

I found the same effect from claritin and like you the effect lasts for 24 to 36 hours. That is to say my ibs symptoms are significantly reduced. I found I can take the claritin for about 3 days and feel good. After that I feel the rebound effect, which usually starts with gastritis, which is followed by additional bm's. Beats me why it works and why it works for only several days, but the effect comes in handy when I need it, even if there's a price to pay at the end.


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## kc99 (Jun 7, 2007)

Re: antihistamines --

This has probably been posted on the boards before, but for those who are interested:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20650926

This is the Klooker et al. (2010) study on ketotifen and symptom improvement in patients with an IBS diagnosis.

The authors were interested in targeting the mast cells, but speculated that their results may have been mediated by H1 receptor antagonism.

The major antihistamines out there (benadryl/zyrtec/claritin) all work via H1 antagonism.

I have found GI and other doctors to be receptive to the idea that antihistamines might be helpful. So, if there are others who are more skeptical, I don't think their opinions necessarily represent those of the entire field.


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## Hansman (Jan 15, 2015)

Gut magazine published a study on anti-histamine meds and the benefits for ibs sufferers.

Supposedly, only anti-histamine drugs with the active ingredient "ketotifen" in it works.. but it's prescription only.

So I now ordered some Zyrtec. It has no ketotifen in it, but worth a shot..I'll let you guys know how it went

Once the springtime is over, I'll give it a go

( I have way less symptoms during the winter - spring transition )


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

What's the title/author of the article Hansman?

There is a doctor in Spain that uses ketotifen for IBS.


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## Hansman (Jan 15, 2015)

It's in the september 2010 edition ( I believe )

You can read the sort version here http://gut.bmj.com/content/54/7/914.abstract

The full version of the article isn't free


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Hansman said:


> It's in the september 2010 edition ( I believe )
> 
> You can read the sort version here http://gut.bmj.com/content/54/7/914.abstract
> 
> The full version of the article isn't free


It doesn't mention histamine. Are you sure this is the right article?


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## NHow (Mar 10, 2003)

Here's another article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3033552/#B26


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## Hansman (Jan 15, 2015)

jaumeb said:


> It doesn't mention histamine. Are you sure this is the right article?


Yes

I know because I've bought the full article ( witch was not worth it BTW )


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Hansman said:


> Yes
> 
> I know because I've bought the full article ( witch was not worth it BTW )


Thanks for the clarification.


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## Hansman (Jan 15, 2015)

jaumeb said:


> What's the title/author of the article Hansman?
> 
> There is a doctor in Spain that uses ketotifen for IBS.


Hi,

Can you tell me what doctor that is ?

I might one day visit him

cheers


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Hansman said:


> Hi,
> 
> Can you tell me what doctor that is ?
> 
> ...


He leads a research team on IBS. His name is Javier Santos and you probably will find some of his research online. I downloaded a Ph. D. thesis he supervised. It is in Spanish, though.

Can you speak Spanish?

He said it was ok for him to visit using Skype.

I didn't visit him again as he is not in my insurance, but I may consider him if I need a second opinion.


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## Hansman (Jan 15, 2015)

Can't speak Spanish am afraid.. only Dutch and English

I have a hard time finding doctors that are knowledgeable on IBS were I live.

I've been to some pretty reputable gastroenterologists in Belgium, but they never

did more then a diagnose. One prescribed me an antispasmodic. Witch didn't really do anything.

Only things that kinda work for me, like eating low fodmap and probotics I've only found out on the internet,

and the doctors didn't know about it..

I would like to try ketotifen, as I've read some good thinks about it. But only with a knowledgeable doctor.

There's also the problem of it being a presception drug.. I "know a guy" that might be able to get it for me,

witch it fine for now, but that's not a long term solution !

Do you know if he's likely to speak English ? That could still be a problem, as I believe not that many people

speak English in Spain..

I also PMed you asking the same (sorry), so you can just ignore that if you like.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I have no idea whether he has English speaking patients. You can call to the private clinic where he practices (Clínica Corachán, Barcelona) and ask there.


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## Hansman (Jan 15, 2015)

gonna look for a doc in belgium some more,

but I might call him if that doesn't work out

cheers !


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## kdubtee (Jul 5, 2016)

Hi all, I noticed this as well. It helps a lot on top of the probiotics, omega that I take. I noticed that it is the choice of foods combined with how stressed and or tired I am that trigger most of my attacks.


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## ♧Pandora☆ (Jun 23, 2017)

Seen this before on other ibs forums. Alot lived off a 1st generation anti histamine.

I seriously dont think its a clever idea at all. I warned them but they wasnt bothered and some started getting bad skin rashes they couldnt get rid of. Restless leg syndrome and other symptoms. 
Medicine induced side effects can be very hard to then get rid of. Which alot of them soon found out unfortunately.

Full allergy tests and seperate intolerance test is what most would need.

Then all foods the immune/digestive system sees as invaders would need removing.

Low histamine diet should be followed to.

Any other underlying root causes would need dealing with.

Mine were leaky, adrenal problems, ph to acidic, certain vitamin deficiencies, low digestive enzymes, yeast overgrowth etc

After 3 months i added certain food back that i wasnt intolerant to anymore on testing.

Hard part is finding someone who knows what to, I was very lucky.

Kd - I noticed that it is the choice of foods combined with how stressed and or tired I am that trigger most of my attacks.... makes sense to me - i was the same. 
Food intolerance symptoms depends on intolerance level to that particular food, how much you ate, when you last ate it, stress levels, hydration levels, hormone levels, digestive enzymes levels, digestive distress levels etc


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