# Miralax/Linzess



## Kaylene Keesler (Oct 10, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

In December I finally had a colonoscopy to figure out if there was a reason I was suffering from severe chronic constipation and gas/bloating/pain etc. Everything was structurally normal and I was diagnosed with IBS-C and lazy bowel syndrome.

I was given TONS of sample bottles of Linzess (the lower dose 190mc), and started taking one every other day or every two days at the recommendation of my GI doctor. It worked for about 2 weeks, and then stopped!! I was very fearful that this would happen and was frustrated that I had gotten my hopes up. I read on the forum that a lot of people had more success by changing the amount of time in between taking it and eating, taking it earlier/later in the morning, with coffee, etc. I played around with the time and food and really no luck. I began taking Miralax on Sunday evening (4 days ago) .. and it has worked! I started by taking two doses a day, and then over the next few days I took three doses a day.. now i'm tapering back down to half a dose 3x a day because it has really worked that well over the course of this week, and I obviously don't want it to start failing just like every. other. "remedy".

So, my questions are:

Does anything have any advice about the Linzess?? Did it also stop working for you as well? It was like a magic bullet in the beginning and then the happiness didn't even last for 2 weeks.

Does anyone have any experience with long-term use of Miralax? How much do you take a day and does it continue to work?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## William Hobba (Jan 17, 2014)

No experience with Linzness, but have plenty of experience with long term use of Osmolax which is virtually the same as Miralax.

I generally take the normal dose all the time to remain regular. I have consulted a number of doctors to confirm how safe it is to do that, the latest one being yesterday. Its perfectly safe to do that - it is simply a water attracting stool softener bulking agent. I have tried reducing the dose to the half normal dose they say to use as a maintenance dose and didn't find it effective - I had to go to the double dose for a while to clear a heap of stuff in there - and after getting out some hard stuff boy did it break - bowl after bowl of stuff and heaps of gas. Now I take the normal dose and everything is fine - fingers crossed.

The only thing to watch, is if you are like me, while my IBS is constipation predominant these days (when I was younger it alternated a lot more), every now and again it will switch to diarrhea and you need to be on the lookout for that and stop immediately. Aside from that for me its a life saver.

Thanks

Bill


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## pigeon79 (Oct 15, 2013)

I've been on miralax for about three months. It's working so far but I'm definitely developing a tolerance to it. I require more for it to work.


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## DrMom4two (May 19, 2013)

I have had experience with both Linzess and Miralax and unfortunately for me both have not worked for me. I have tried so many things and still to this day my gastroenterologist and myself are at a loss. I tried both the high and low dose and both eventually caused great pain and diarrhea. I also tried the Miralax and it had a constipating effect on me. Recently the doctor had me try Amitiza which is the older drug made for IBS-C. I also tried both doses and again same effect as Linzess. As of Thursday he stopped the Amitiza 24mcg and I am now just on a low resistance diet which is little to no fiber. He believes my body can't take the high fiber. Well time will tell I guess. Hoping I can eventually get this under control. I am really happy for you though that Miralax has given you positive results.


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