# Stopping treatment?



## WARRAVEN (Mar 11, 2004)

Hello! I've had IBS for 7 years. Originally, my doctor(a peditrician) was rather stupid(yes, he's a $$$$$$ing moron) and when I first became sick, I went to his doctors office multiple times in a week. However, he ignored me and told me it was nothing for a year. After insisting to see a specialist, I had many tests run and I was first placed on Hyoscamine. This was great, except it did very little except cut about 10-20% of the pain down(IBS-D, but I've always had a real problem with the pain, sometimes getting excruciating pain hours before I get an attack, then during the attack I can pass out). So, they ran more tests and finally gave me Amitryptline(Elavil). This was a godsend, it cut down my symptoms by 60% or so. This was 4-5 years ago. Now, as for me, since I was a child I've had milky white skin and my eyes apparantly lack pigment, or don't contract enough, making it very hard for me to deal with bright light. Sunburns, don't get me started but I've used every sunscreen and all it does is delay the envitable.Lately, for the past few years, my sensitivity to light has increased. However, for the years surrounding my start of this drug, nothing really changed. I also have the choice now of avoiding light(as my mother always insisted I was being a child and forced me into the light to get sun poisoning many times). My doctor down here(after seeing the bowel and lung problems I have) suggested that I check my history for albinism, as my family can't take sunlight well, I can't particularly well. I read it was the amitryptline. I don't know where to weigh in here, but I'm not stopping the Elavil for this.I was in to see my new GI doctor(I moved, kind of, I went to college, and my family moved). She ran a colonscopy after I was striken with a fever and bowel pain and was hospitalized because my blood showed signs of appendicitis, then liver trauma(all of which didn't pan out to anything but them running fluid, restricting my diet, running every known test, and telling me I pulled a muscle). After I had some bleeding in my stool a month or two ago for a few days I went in to see her. Due to the recent colonoscopy she told me I had a hemmeroid and that it was no problem. Also, over the past two weeks, I've had periods where I'll be sitting down, doing something, it doesn't matter, and I feel my heart rate JUMP to about 150-160(I work out with a telemetry strap, but I've been working out for months) for no reason, my lungs aren't working hard, so I start to take long deep breaths to try to make it go back down. I told me doctor this and she said she doesn't like the two drugs I'm on, so she pulled both of them, and told me to start using immodium every day instead of the amitryptyline. She also said I shouldn't have a dependency on either, so it was safe to completely stop. If my heart beat continues to do this, I should see a cardiologist.Is she right? Can my medicine start having side effects years after I started them? Can I just quit(when I don't get the medicine for a while I start feeling crummy)? She said " to deal with the diarhea take immodium once a day, or more if necessary" but she doesn't say anything about the pain. This isn't just for IBS-D its for the mind blowing pain. Now I don't trust Doctors in the least. When I was in the hospital I was exchanged from one idiot to another, all of which told me "it looks like we need to remove [insert organ]", then in the end "yea, if we take out the blood, lack of appetite, fever, no bowel movements, you were protecting your right side due to your knee surgery and tore a muscle, so that's what it is". I also had that idiot pediatrician, and I was told for years that my knee just needed more PT, when they finally inserted a camera and OPPS, yea, I needed to have cartilage drilled out of several areas to allow my movement to return. I don't trust doctors, and I can't stand them. Let me know how you all weigh in. Raven


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I'm one of those that can start having side effects after years of taking something.You might talk to the doctors about Cymbalta. It has some of the same effects of the tricyclics so should help with the pain and it is different enough that it might be something you can tolerate better.K.


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## WARRAVEN (Mar 11, 2004)

I got Pepto Bismol instead of immodium because I forgot which one to get, will they have the same effect or should I go get the immodium?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Pepto Bismol isn't usually quite as effective at stopping diarrhea (may take more doses, etc).It does have the advantage that it can sop up odiferous gasses so the farts are less stinky.Watch the doses on the Pepto if you are at max dose for awhile you can get bismuth toxicity so you may want to take periodic breaks if you end up needing it a lot.K.


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## WARRAVEN (Mar 11, 2004)

After discontinuing I did have one night where I felt horrible, but I feel much better now. Yesterday I was feeling good, even though I felt very hyper and worked up(something uncommon for me). I felt that stopping the medication helped my IBS yesterday. Today I feel like ####, and this is not from the meds, this is IBS. I've been up an hour and a half and I've been in pain the entire time, and now I'm losing my energy to it again. This immodium is helping keep my stool together, and making it harder to go, but it's not helping with my energy or pain at all. I'm also having trouble swallowing it today(those big thick chalky pills! ugh!). God I hate doctors! She knew the elavil worked, why not switch me instead of cutting me off? Thankgod it's the summer and my work isn't as demanding as school. I'd be going insane if it was.


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