# Habba Syndrome (IBS-D) (BAM)



## terrykeithsmom (Aug 29, 2016)

Has anyone on here researched Habba Syndrome?

Dr. Habba has been a gastro doc for over 30 years and you can read about him and the syndrome here:






Dr. Habba's website: http://www.habbasyndrome.com/

This has to do with the gall bladder dumping too much bile into the gut and causes diarehea and urgency, it is easily treatable with chlorestrol meds like Questran and Welchol. Dr. Habba says that 30% of his patients benefited from these meds.


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## LM10 (May 12, 2016)

I don't have any diagnostic center that does HIDA test . Will trying cholestyramine without prescription be harmful?


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## terrykeithsmom (Aug 29, 2016)

From what I have read, the only side effect of the medication is that your chlorestrol will be lowered, if you actually have the Habba Syndrome, you should see a difference in a month, maybe less.

You need to give time for your body to get used to the medication.

I'm starting today with the Questran, my doc was more than willing to let me try it for 6 weeks. I really wanted to try Lotronex, but that is about 1700.00 a month without insurance!!


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## Athan (Oct 8, 2015)

My personal experience with cholestyramine (Questran) which I took without doctor's prescription :

1st week slightly promising with a little improvement in BMs (let's say 20-40% improvement).

2nd week : Sudden change, urgent BMs and mainly, very strong pain in the abdominal area which continued for about one day after I completely quit the medication.

I know how much everyone desires to find something that will bring IBS to an end but, believe me, this time I got really worried and I decided not to try medication again without consulting a doc.


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## LM10 (May 12, 2016)

What Athan said makes me worried


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## terrykeithsmom (Aug 29, 2016)

I'm sorry that happened to Athan, but in order to be balanced we need to read other people's reviews. In my opinion, questran (or equivilant) will either work or it won't work. For the people who really do have the Habba Syndrome, it will work really well!

Here are Questran reviews on IBStales: http://www.ibstales.com/questran.htm

I've read through IBS tales treatment reviews and there are a lot of people who have found help through supplements, meds or other: http://www.ibstales.com/treatment-reviews.htm

I'm determined to find some more answers, not a cure but help for coping with urgency!!


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## Athan (Oct 8, 2015)

I support alternative (natural) medicine for IBS cure/improvement, but I'm not going to experiment again with normal medication.

But again, this was my personal experience. Maybe cholestyramine works for other people with IBS.

What really worked for me and I strongly suggest trying, is to quit eating sugar. Except from effortlessly losing weight, I saw a pretty good improvement on my IBS symptoms.

Just for discussion (some thoughts I had, after my bad experience with this medicine) :

I've also read many reports of Questran and that's why I've decided to give it a try.

Regarding the medicine's mechanism, one thing left me with a question : Cholysteramine is supposed to remove the excessive bile acids that irritate the IBS patient bowels and create the BMs (sorry for the simplified expressions, but I'm no doctor).

From what I've read, these acids are originally produced and afterwards re-cycled in our body. Meaning that our organism only creates the required acids to complete the needed amount. So if we artificially remove these acids, aren't we forcing our body to a daily produce of these acids ? So, isn't the organ responsible for this production (liver) forced to continuously produce larger amounts of acids than it normally would ? Is this situation good for our liver and our system and for how long can we do it without creating problems?

Just for clarification, I'm not a doctor and I don't question any doctors' thesis on Bile acid malabsorption, which seems pretty well founded. But I think that cholysteramine is just treating the symptom, while the cause still remains unknown.


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## terrykeithsmom (Aug 29, 2016)

I may take you up on the eating no sugar, but wow, no dairy, no gluten, no sugar  I guess lots of healthy options are left!

From what I have read, if someone actually has Habba Syndrome, they need the meds. I've tried natural remedies and diets over the last 30 years but I'm at the point that if I need some meds for the urgency and it would help me to have a more normal life, I would be happy!


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## London83 (Jan 12, 2016)

How do you guys take the medications to Habba and BAM? (timing, dosage)

I know the recommendations but I'm curious about real life experiences.


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## Lorelei56 (Apr 7, 2014)

Questran helped me. I still have IBS but I used to have flares where everything came out in a 2-3 hour time frame and the last literally burned. Now it still wants to but it's not as painful or rushed, and the bile doesn't burn me. Little steps...


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