# try L-Glutamine



## Loretta (Dec 13, 1998)

Hi Guys. I haven't been on the board for a long time. 2 years. Linda helped me by advising me to use caltrate after my meals and it helped but now my son discovered something else. L-Glutamine. I take one 500 mg after every meal and I have much less IBS D symptoms than ever before. I actually feel normal. L-Glutamine is an amino acid. This helps the digestion of food which I think is one of the main problems for us IBSers. I have tried so many different things and this really seems to help. I also take a B vitamin complex and this helps releive my anxiety over my IBS. If anyone needs more info please ask or e-mail me at sunxix###aol.com. Good health everyone and don't give up.


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## Bubba1 (Jun 20, 2002)

It does work. I tried it after colonoscopy came back clear. There has to be a deficiency. Once I started L Glutamin and at least 2 banana's a day havn't had IBSD in about 2 months, and my stools are more consistent.


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## 4got (Nov 16, 2001)

Can you tell me where you get L. glucamine? Is it a pill form or powder? I have just recently started a high protein low carb diet. I also gave up sugar and artificial sweeteners. I have not been able to eat veggies in the past. This week I ate brussle sprouts and sauerkraut. I had not gas from either. I have read in various other forums that sugar plays a part in our guts. Not a good part, but that it feeds yeasts in the gut. So if it's feeding yeast and the yeast is not a good thing to have in your gut, then can we surmise that that is what is causing the problems? Gas is caused by the fermentation of foods in the bowel. Is the sugar causing the fermentation to occur by feeding the yeast? I am not advocating this at all, but I now know from experience that I do not have gas from these foods and I can tell you that I never would have been able to eat them before. I just find this to be extremely strange and I thought I would share my experience. DianneP.S. I forgot to say that the reason I bring this up is because L glutamine is an amino acid that is recommended to stop sugar cravings while on a low carb diet.


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

I've seen L-glutamine in both capsule and powder form. You can get it at health food stores, or places that specialize in vitamins and supplements, like the Vitamin Shoppe.I tried it for awhile and didn't notice any improvement, but have talked to others who found it helpful.


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## 4got (Nov 16, 2001)

Gasgirl, do you eat alot of sugar or sugar substitutes? This sugar thing is new to me, but my IBS has been so much different since I quit eating sugar and sugar subs. I used to have gas really bad and I started taking digestive enzymes and acidophilus. It got lots better! But, I couldn't eat alot of gas producing foods. Now, with this low carb way of eating, I have been able to eat things I wouldn't normally be able to eat. And they say that when you eat sugar, you crave sugar. I guess that must be true. That's what the L glutimine is for. The sugar craving. Anyway, thanks for the info. Dianne


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## Loretta (Dec 13, 1998)

Hi everyone. I got my L-Glutimine from the GNC Shop. I have really seen an improvement and like I said the B vitamin complex helps with my anxiety also. I have also used the acidopolus with Fos and that helps foster the good bacteria and kills the bad bacteria in your colon. I didn't continue to use the acidopholis because the store I used to get it from went out of business and I have tried other brands and they have not worked as well. I didn't know that L-Glutimine helps reduce sugar cravings. That is interesting. What I did notice is that the B complex improved my appitite and that I have to control. Good luck everyone and keep trying. We are all in this together and just try to remember that we are not alone out there. A lot of people suffer from this and just don't speak about it. But it does take a lot of energy and strengh to handle IBS. And I don't care what anyone says, it is not in our heads. The IBS brings stress and that is why they go hand in hand. It is a vicious cycle. Take care, Loretta


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

4got,I do use sugar substitutes in my coffee and also use sugar-free cough drops. I try to keep my sugar intake down, but haven't been avoiding it as much in the past year. I usually do a very low carb diet for about four months out of the year, when I have no sugars at all, not even fruits.


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## KLG (Jul 8, 2002)

Wow, I thought I was the only one who got extremely hungry when taking B vitamins. I bought a sublingual one, one that you put under your tongue so the body absorbs it faster. Later my stomach is growling like a Doberman


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## LDanna (Apr 13, 1999)

I tried the GNC tablets but, although it helped with pain and cramping, it didn't really stop the D. So I did some research and discovered that L-Glutamine works best on an empty stomach and in powdered form. Yesterday I purchased a new product called Intestinew the main ingredient in which is L-Glutamine, but it also contains a number of other ingredients that help rebuild the intestinal walls, including acidophilus and gamma oryzanol (another digestive ingredient that kept cropping up in my research). It's a powder that you mix with water and drink first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I started it last night so it's too soon to tell but I'll keep you posted.The web site for the product gives more information:www.renewlife.com


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## srhackett (Feb 11, 2001)

I was on lglutamine for 6 months - I really beleived that it did the trick for me and no doubt it stopped the sugar cravings. The problem is - this capsule I used had another facet to it -that worked on the receptors in the brain and caused me to have panic attacks. so be very careful. when I first joined the board - I had posted several tiems about lglutamine seeing if anyone else had tried it or hear d of it etc. It was strangely quiet - it intrigeued me as it seemed odd no one said anything. Lastly, cabbage is a source of L-glutamine according Mr. Juicman Jr buy.... Liqefyied cabbage mixed with carrots - is an unbeleivable tasty drink


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## Ekulrac (Oct 6, 2002)

Those of you who have used L-glutamine and found it worked......have any of you had your gall bladder removed as well?


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## LDanna (Apr 13, 1999)

As I understand it, L-Glutamine need only be taken for a short time -- one or two months -- until the intestinal lining is healthy again. I used a milder capsule form a few years ago in combination with fiber therapy for a couple of months and, after that, was free of D, gas, and pain for nearly two years. Recently I've had a setback due, no doubt, to lots of business travel and stress and I'm trying the more potent powder along with a strong probiotic and fiber therapy to get back on track. I've only been taking it for two days and already the D attacks have lessened to only two today (was suffering from about 8-10 per day for the last three weeks) and the bloating and pain are both gone. Once you've restablished a balance of good bacteria in the gut, you can stop taking the glutamine or take much less for maintenance.It really works fast though, and I feel so much better already, It's definitely worth a shot.


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## Blair (Dec 15, 1998)

loretta, I remember you, from Long Island?


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## LDanna (Apr 13, 1999)

Hre's a site that sells a powdered form of L--Glutamine by Jarrow. It also offers a description: http://store.yahoo.com/nubrain-store/more-...lglutamine.html I'm still taking the Intestinew and have been D-free now for well over a week.


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## RSKindred (Oct 13, 2002)

4got:I tried that type of diet (high protein, low carb) for 2 weeks.The problem was I was getting next to no fiber. I have IBS-D and I didn't anything resembling a solid BM for the entire 2 weeks. I then decided it wasn't for me.Good luck if you can get it to work. My friend lost 70 lbs doing it. However, doing my research on it, I read that the brain needs 130g of carbs daily to function properly, and on this diet you are supposed to have no more than 20-25. Also, it is not good for your kidneys. I heard a story about a guy who did this diet for 2 full years, which you're really not supposed to do, and had all kinds of organs failing him. I'm just going by what I heard on that one, but...generally, it's not something you want to do long term. Anyway, good luck again. Sorry that I was rambingBob


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## Homebound (Jan 27, 2000)

I tried this a few years ago, and I never saw any improvement. Although I was trying the pill form. From what I understand the powder is the best. So I went to get some of the powder, and a bottle was something like $40. And with the amount you need to take daily we simply couldn't afford it.I remember a lot of hype over it at the Parkview board. Seemed to quickly die out, which surprised me since some really said it was helping them. I guessed that it either stopped working, or people couldn't afford it anymore. But I'm glad to see it's helping some!


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

As KMOTTUS is fond of pointing out "your mileage may vary".Since the day I came to realize, from knowledgeable physicians who had studied the phenomenon, that abnormal inflammatory responses occur in the small bowel of the largest IBS population (diarrheics)and was a personal beneficiary of dietray therapy used as prophylaxis against these symptom generating reactions, it has always bee self evident that, especially in American society, the pill or supplement which would blunt or eliminate provocation of the cellular reaction would of course be a better long term solution than the permanent dietary modifications required.Mainly because as a society overall we are instant-gratification oriented, highly food addictive for gratification, especially to the most unhealthful processed stuff we can ingest (the overall population not you folks)and it is easier to do pills than diet as it requires less discipline...we are "pill oriented".So at the same time therapeutical protocols which would be effective based upon what we CAN do have been developed, the collective of physicians who approach IBS and other conditions from this angle are always looking at, well, "immunomodulation" as an alternative.The earliest I think was Stefanini givin cromolyn sodium to diarrheics...Among the various substances which have shown some promise of potential clinical utility (and there are several), there has been a lot of discussion and experimentation under not very controlled conditions with glutamine. Mostly on IBD due to the characteristics of this protein in vivo, and the fact that until recently most people denied the fact that there is an inflammatory response aberration at the core of (at least)IBS with diarrheic component. So only a few people who accepted this as obvious from their own expeirnce looked at glutamine for IBS....mostly for IBD.Anyway for those who are fascinated by glutamine here is the definitive if controversial book on the subject and a couple examples of what researchers think so far about the possible clinical efficacy of glutamine...clearly we have to understand getter what precise inflammatory mechanisms it may or may not be efficacious at blunting and how it needs to be administered, but there is clearly sufficient cause to justify looking at it much more carefully. ___________________________The Ultimate Nutrient: Glutamine/the Essential Nonessential Amino Acidby Judy Shabert, Nancy Ehrlich (Contributor) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089...3369143-6824157 _____________________________Rev Hosp Clin Fac Med Sao Paulo 2002 Jul-Aug;57(4):187-98 Inflammatory bowel diseases: principles of nutritional therapy.Campos FG, Waitzberg DL, Teixeira MG, Mucerino DR, Habr-Gama A, Kiss DR.Department of Gastroenterology, Coloproctology Unit, Hospital das Clinicas, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo.Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease- are chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases of unknown etiology. Decreased oral intake, malabsorption, accelerated nutrient losses, increased requirements, and drug-nutrient interactions cause nutritional and functional deficiencies that require proper correction by nutritional therapy. The goals of the different forms of nutritional therapy are to correct nutritional disturbances and to modulate inflammatory response, thus influencing disease activity. Total parenteral nutrition has been used to correct and to prevent nutritional disturbances and to promote bowel rest during active disease, mainly in cases of digestive fistulae with high output. Its use should be reserved for patients who cannot tolerate enteral nutrition. Enteral nutrition is effective in inducing clinical remission in adults and promoting growth in children. Due to its low complication rate and lower costs, enteral nutrition should be preferred over total parenteral nutrition whenever possible. Both present equal effectiveness in primary therapy for remission of active Crohn's disease. Nutritional intervention may improve outcome in certain individuals; however, because of the costs and complications of such therapy, careful selection is warranted, especially in patients presumed to need total parenteral nutrition. Recent research has focused on the use of nutrients as primary treatment agents. Immunonutrition is an important therapeutic alternative in the management of inflammatory bowel diseases, modulating the inflammation and changing the eicosanoid synthesis profile. However, beneficial reported effects have yet to be translated into the clinical practice. The real efficacy of these and other nutrients (glutamine, short-chain fatty acids, antioxidants) still need further evaluation through prospective and randomized trials.PMID: 12244339 [PubMed - in process] _____________________________________________Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2002 Jan;5(1):69-75	Comment in: ï¿½	Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2002 Jan;5(1):43-5. Glutamine: clinical applications and mechanisms of action.Neu J, DeMarco V, Li N.Department of Pediatrics/Division of Neonatology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 326-0296, USA. neuj###peds.ufl.eduSupplementation of the conditionally essential amino acid glutamine may be beneficial for individuals who are highly stressed and have minimal energy and protein reserves. This includes elderly individuals, postoperative patients, individuals with cancer and very low birthweight infants. Individuals who are undergoing treatment with catabolic glucocorticoids may also benefit. Unfortunately, confusion exists as to situations in which glutamine may be beneficial because a clearly defined "glutamine deficiency syndrome" has not been described as for some other nutrients. In this review, we will discuss how glutamine affects protein metabolism under certain stressful conditions, how it affects intestinal mucosal integrity and how this might relate to sepsis and systemic inflammation. We will also discuss nutrients that are closely related to glutamine such as glutamate, nucleotides, arginine, glucosamines, and ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate and how and why they might be used as substitutes for glutamine.Publication Types: ï¿½	Review ï¿½	Review, Tutorial PMID: 11790953 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ____________________________________________Dis Colon Rectum 1999 Sep;42(9):1209-15	L-glutamine enemas attenuate mucosal injury in experimental colitis.Kaya E, Gur ES, Ozguc H, Bayer A, Tokyay R.Department of Surgery, Uludag University School of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey.PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of 1-glutamine, short chain fatty acid, prednisolone, and mesalazine (5-aminosalicylic acid) enemas on mucosal damage and inflammation in experimental colitis. METHODS: Colitis was induced in rats with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid in ethanol. Saline (n = 14), prednisolone (n = 13), 5-aminosalicylic acid (n = 14), 1-glutamine (n = 14), and short chain fatty acid (n = 13) enemas were applied twice daily to the rats for seven days after the induction of colitis. The sham group (n = 9) received only saline enemas. Rats were killed at the seventh day and their colonic macroscopic inflammatory scores were determined. Colonic mucosal gamma glutamyl transpeptidase activity and colonic mucosal malondialdehyde levels were measured. The same measurements but no enemas were done in the control group (n = 7). RESULTS: There were significant differences in macroscopic inflammatory scores between sham and colitis groups (P less than 0.001). The macroscopic inflammatory scores of the colitis group were higher than the short chain fatty acid and glutamine groups (P less than 0.05). Whereas the mucosal gamma glutamyl transpeptidase activity was diminished in prednisolone, 5-aminosalicylic acid, and short chain fatty acid groups when compared with the control group; in the colitis, sham, and glutamine groups the activity of this enzyme did not change. The mucosal malondialdehyde levels were significantly lower in the prednisolone and glutamine groups than in the colitis group. CONCLUSION: Only one of four agents tested, namely, 1-glutamine enemas, could decrease the severity of colitis both morphologically and biochemically. Moreover, L-glutamine prevented the colitis-induced oxidant injury in the colonic mucosa. On the other hand, prednisolone and short chain fatty acids seemed to improve only the physiologic changes of colitis.PMID: 10496564 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] MNL


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## LDanna (Apr 13, 1999)

Homebound -- The point I want to stress is that you don't need to keep taking L-Glutamine long term. Just a month or two at most, until the gut is healed and functioning normally. The powder I'm using (Intestinew) combines other intestine-friendly ingredients and costs a little under $35 per jar. After one week, using it twice a day, I've already started taking smaller doses (1/2 scoop instead of a full scoop), and I'm still feeling great with one or two solid BMs per day. Supplemental acidophilus (Culturelle) is also recomended on this regimen. It worked beautifully for me two years ago and, after stopping the regimen, I was D-free for one and a half years. Recent travel, stress, and other factors brought on another severe bout so I went immediately to what had worked before. With the same results.I think the initial cost of both the Intestinew and the Culturelle are well worth long-term, symptom-free results.


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## 4got (Nov 16, 2001)

Bob, Thanks for the information on the diet. I will certainly be careful. Dianne


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## Homebound (Jan 27, 2000)

LDanna- I understand that is what many claim. I simply don't buy it I guess. Like many things I believe it may help some while your on it, but since there is NO cure to IBS, it will come back once your off of it, at some point. And it's effects will also depend on many factors like diet and for example if you've had your gallbladder out and have bile salt diarrhea like many of us have. But that is just my opinion. Like I said I tried the pill form, and that was even before I had my gallbladder out, it did nothing for me. I still had horrible D. And after that I didn't exactly feel like spending $40 on the powder form when the pill form didn't help even one tiny bit. To each their own. I realize what works for some won't for others. If others find success with this, or anything else, I'm happy for them. I've simply found other more affordable means that actually really do help control my IBS.I just felt others who haven't looked in to this needed to know how expensive this method can be. In the past I've also read posts where people were on it a lot longer then 2 months. If it works then yes it's worth the money, but for me I didn't see it as worth it. But that's just my honest opinion!


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## SpAsMaN* (May 11, 2002)

do you think it can heal gas with c-type?i want to try it.users please...i have try almost anything who didn't work.my gi talk about gut sensitivity and clinicals trials with glaxo drug sb2322...and seem to work.i don't know why no one talk about that


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## SpAsMaN* (May 11, 2002)

eeeee


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## Lookin'foraLife (Jan 2, 2009)

Very interesting. I've been controlling my IBS-C, mostly the PAIN aspect, with L-ORNITHINE,which is also a closely related amino acid. 1000 mg each night. It has been my life saver.Although it may not be fully understood yet, these things do work!


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## humiliated (Mar 19, 2011)

So this thread is very old has anyone had any luck with L-Glutamine? Now that some time has passed did it continue working or drop out like most things that seem to help for a while? I have IBS-A so my bowels eventualy take care of themselves with some pain mind you and uncertainty as to what is coming next all the time. My biggest issue is a high volume of the raunchiest gas all the time, made worse by the anxiety of being around people. So yep whenever there is a person around I am bound to embarrass myself without a doubt.Lets get this topic going again and see whats happened over the last few years with it.


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## PD85 (Aug 19, 2010)

Glutamine has not had any noticeable effects for me.


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## MIRMAK (Sep 27, 2009)

The same for me. I didn't see any effect from it







(not bad, not good).


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## Lookin'foraLife (Jan 2, 2009)

Like I mentioned before, I haven't tried L-Glutamine,but I've been on L-Ornithine for nearly 2 years now and I can definitely sayit helps the tremendous abdominal pain I experience. Still working!


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