# Slippery Elm Bark



## Lorelei56 (Apr 7, 2014)

I kept hearing how great this stuff was, how it calmed the colon and cured both C and D for millions of people. I had no C but plenty of D. Desperate to try anything, I would mix about a tablespoon of slippery elm bark in warm water and drink it in the morning. For about two months, it worked like a dream. Dare I hope that I had found the cure for my D? What helped me soon crippled me. I was going constantly, not D so much but as if my colon were only 2cm wide and cramping so hard that I almost fainted a few times. I started seeing blood after many trips to the restroom.

Slippery elm bark is full of soluble fiber. I told my GI I was taking this but I don't think he knew what it was because he told me to take more fiber! I stopped all fiber and am still not great but much better.

Also, I'm not sure if this had anything to do with it but I started using an old bag of SEB and ordered a new one, same brand, about the time it started turning on me. Would fresh SEB be more irritating or is this just a coincidence?

Has anyone had any success stories with slippery elm bark?


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## Moises (May 20, 2000)

Sorry it didn't work for you. I have some capsules but I haven't started using them yet.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

I would suspect the new supply of having a contaminant. If you're boiling the bark then, probably (but not certainly), it's not a bacteria, but some kind of adulterant (like, maybe they included some other plant or mis-identified the right tree). If it is a bacteria then it's a nasty one that survives boiling. Unfortunately, this is why I'm so focused on new drugs being approved for IBS. When you get a bad batch of a drug, you can go to the pharmacy and get a new supply (turning in the old one, or verifiably destroying it)... when you get a supplement, and it's a bad batch, you can try to get a new supply, but you're safer if you switch brands. You can try to call the company (not the seller) and offer to send them what you bought if they'll send you a new container. If they're a good company, they might want to see what was wrong with it.

You can also comb through your recent memory of anything sketchy you may have eaten. A wonderful restaurant meal that had a questionable side dish maybe?


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## Lorelei56 (Apr 7, 2014)

That's a good idea, I think I will contact the company. The really bad flare cooled down after I had stopped it so I think that was the culprit. Of course, when I have a bad flare I wrack my brains trying to figure out what caused it and oftentimes I never know, but this was pretty obvious what caused this when I stopped.


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