# My two cents



## 18511 (Mar 30, 2005)

I was diagnosed with IBS four years ago after having intermittent cramping/diarrhea that got worse during a three week vacation where I had symptoms almost every day. When I got home my doctor put me on Mebeverine three times a day which I took for two years until I decided it wasn't having much effect anymore (though I seem to remember it helping in the beginning) and stopped taking it. My symptoms come and go, getting worse during periods of stress, but also get dramatically worse for a few weeks at a time seemingly at random. There are certain things that seem to make an attack more likely - onions, chocolate, eating too much at one time, fatty or fried foods. Alcohol (particularly vodka) strangely seems to settle my stomach at the time of drinking it, but if I drink enough to feel hungover the next day my stomach is much worse for it. It is often worst first thing in the morning (particularly if I haven't had enough sleep) before I've even eaten anything and I usually can't face breakfast until I've been awake for a few hours. I take Imodium if I need to stop an attack and in about half an hour it stops dead and is safe for the next day or so. But I don't like to rely on it as I don't feel like it's really made for regular use, and I'm afraid of building up an immunity, so I only take it if I am out/at work or the diarrhea is particularly bad. I took Colpermin (peppermint oil capsules - enteric coated so that they don't dissolve until they're in your lower intestine where they act as an anti-spasmodic) for a while which was very effective for a few weeks (stopped symptoms almost completely), but then I switched to Holland & Barrett capsules that seemed to be exactly the same thing but haven't been nearly so effective. I don't know if it just stopped working or if the Colpermin was a better medication. The big downside to Colpermin though was the price - Â£5 (nearly $10) for a pack of 20.I'm really struggling through my IBS-D at the moment, I haven't figured out what foods are best (nothing seems to be guaranteed safe at the moment, especially when I get diarrhea on a totally empty stomach!) yet, but I'm going to put my hours of Internet research to use and try out the big list of supplements/OTCs/etc I have made until I get control of this thing.


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