# What does a transit study show?



## DonGilbert (Jan 14, 2003)

I am getting a transit study. I take some pill with little rings in it Wednesday morning and get an x-ray Saturday morning to see where all those rings have gone. What exactly is the doctor looking for and what does this test prove? I have been having c for 7 months now.


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## william brown (Feb 22, 2001)

a"transit" study is probably a colon motility study. When I was at Mayo Cliic 3 years ago, and after a colonoscopy, phisical, etc. the technician gave me a radioactive pill, then a metabolically designed sm,all breakfast. Every hour I stood in front of a "gamma camera", kind of like an x-ray machine for one minute, front and back. The images feed to a computer. After 8 hours, they scanned at 12 and 24 hours. This is to determine how rapidly food passes thru the colon. If it's too fast then too much serotinin is being produced and diahrea is generally the result. After 6 weeks on lotronex, the next colon motility test showed a marked improvement. I suppose the reverse is also true: if the colon motility test shows it is taking too long to process the food, they might want to increase your serotinin. I'm not a doctor-- just my personal observations. Bill


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

There are three different tests being discussed here1) a sitz marker study, which is what tiredof this is to have done.2) a transit time scintigraphy which is what william brown had done.3) a colonic motility study.The first test is an ordinary x-ray which films the rings, which just show up on on x-ray, so they can be tracked. It examines the colonic transit rate. The second is reversed, where one consumes radioactive material as described above. It is usually used to examine the motility of the stomach. The test can be extended to examine the entire gut. 24 hours should gives a little sense of how fast material is passing through colon, but not all of it unless it is fast. Generally, the study must last for three or four days to be entirely complete and it is generally more informative than the sitz marker study. In addition, Mayo is known is to do the test incorrectly by having the patient eat a regular meal shortly after starting the test. (That is not to say you experienced this or got a bad result, though). Temple University in Philadelphia is the only place I know which does this study correctly.The colonic motility or manometry study uses special catheters inserted into the colon to examine its contractions. It the most sophisticated study of colonic motility. It is done in two basic ways. The older and less accurate method confines the person to a bed and used water-perfused method (the way Mayo does it) for a relatively short time, or the newer and more accurate method uses electronic wires and allows the patient to go about daily activity and it records for a whole day (the way University of Iowa does it).


> quote:If it's too fast then too much serotinin is being produced and diahrea is generally the result.


Generally, the problem is the transit is too slow rather than too fast. If it were fast, it doesnï¿½t say anything about the mechanism, though, which may or may not involve too much serotonin.


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## DonGilbert (Jan 14, 2003)

What will they typically do if I have not passed all the rings in the three days? How would they increase my seratonin?Am I supposed to pass all those rings in three days?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

They do not typically do things to increase or decrease serotonin levels of the whole body or whole nervous system.Certain drugs target specific serotonin receptors and may effect serotonin in between the nerves which is the only thing that really matters (how one nerve signals another). They may stop uptake of serotonin thus creating a small local increase (but not a whole body increase) or they may effect another receptor either blocking it from getting a serotonin signal or make the receiving nerve thing serotonin is there when it is not (this is basically the major mechanisms of actions for drugs that effect nerves....either don't allow the nerves to suck the stuff back in when after they release it, or effect the reciever of the signal in one way or another).Zelnorm (see the 5-HT4 section of the board use the Hop to) is a drug specifically for IBS-C which effects the #4 serotonin receptor (there are like 7 known receptors) Zoloft which is an antidepressant also often effect the GI tract in ways that relieve constipation.The rings will come out on their own eventually so they don' t have to do anything about them if they stay in longer than that. But if you have too many rings in you , and depending on how that goes the may do any number of things.Some possibilities are:Try one of the drugs I mentioned that effect serotoninHave you make dietary changes.Use Miralax or other prescription osmotic laxatives.K.


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## DonGilbert (Jan 14, 2003)

I actually tried the Zelnorm and it gave me a bowell movement when I took it for about 3 days then it was like my body got used to it and it stopped working.I am interrested in what you said about Zoloft. I did not know it helped constipation. I am on Welburtin now.I have developed constipation about 7 months ago with terrible bloating. Now that I think about it shortly before this began I was trying to get off Paxil in which I finally did.Do doctors prescribe Zoloft for constipation? i have tried the Moralax and it eventually quits working pretty much. Can you damage your colon by using Miralax every day?


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quoteo doctors prescribe Zoloft for constipation?


No, some doctors are probably still not yet familiar with constipation when it is a motility disorder and prescribe fiber, which generally makes things worse. With the introduction of Zelnorm, pharmacological agents will begin to play a bigger role.The evidence for Zoloft in constipation seems to be anecdotal so far. There are a number of other drugs also to consider.


> quote:Zelnorm and it gave me a bowell movement when I took it for about 3 days


Iï¿½m confused here entirely. How can you possibly be constipated in *three days* time, let alone that feel that your body has gotten used to the drug or did you mean *three weeks*?


> quote:Can you damage your colon by using Miralax every day?


No.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There is a fair amount of data that antidepressants are good for IBS of all sorts.Zoloft seems to be the one that most of the IBS-C ers seem to find useful, which is anecdotal, but in a study of all IBSers in a clinic where they prescribe IBS 90% of people were able to find one or another antidepressant that made the IBS better, and most of those were in remission.I suspect that a goodly number of those had to have constipation predominate IBS, which can be a separate issue from constipation that is not IBS, of course.K.


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## DonGilbert (Jan 14, 2003)

I mean I was on Zelnorm for about 3 weeks twice a day. The first 3 days I took it I had a b/m. Then it stopped and I did not have another one for many days unless I took mom or something.I also sometimes use a bag enema with tap water in it. (With about 2 quarts of water). Are these a bad idea to use?) I used one the night before I took the pill for the transit study because I could not bear it anymore. The next moring I took the transit study pill at 9:45. Will this scew my test results when I go in for the x-ray Sat.?I am thinking about trying the Zoloft to see if it helps. I am on Welbutrin now and it does not seem to be working.


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## DonGilbert (Jan 14, 2003)

Flux you said there are a number of other drugs to consider, what are they?


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:a number of other drugs to consider, what are they?


colchicineerthromycinmisoprostolneostigmine


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