# Does anyone take Donatelle/Belladonna?



## Brapple (Dec 29, 2004)

About a year ago my doctor diagnosed me with IBS. I primarily have the D-type symptoms but sometimes I have symptoms of C as well. Because of the extreme pain I often go through with IBS, the doctor prescribed Donnatelle (Belladonna) - a sedative to help with my symptoms. After taking it for a year, I'm beginning to doubt how much help it's really been, as most of my symptoms still remain the same. Has anyone else tried this drug in association with IBS?


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## tamara (Dec 20, 2004)

Yea I've tried it recently it seemed to help the pain 4 me. But I've only been on it 2 weeks so we will have to see what happens.........


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## NancyCat (Jul 16, 1999)

Yes, I tried it many years ago. It helped a little bit for a while but then didnt work well at all. I have had more luck with pain issues with low dose elavil, but remember that everyone is different and reacts differently. Hope this helps


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## Anthem (Dec 27, 2004)

I took it and noticed no change until about a week had passed, but the doctor said the effect of the drug is NOT cumulative, so perhaps the decrease in pain was just the IBS bout subsiding again. I stopped taking it and my system stabilized without medicines.


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## Albion (Feb 14, 2001)

I took it occasionally -- it seemed to help when I had really bad cramps. What your doctor said seems right-- I'm pretty sure Donnatal is taken as needed, when you have cramps, not on a regular basis. You probably alreay know, but Donnatal has 1/4th grain of phenobarbital (a barbiturate) and belladonna (an anti-spasmodic). The phenobarbital made me feel a little loopy, and the belladonna alkaloids (e.g., atropine) made my mouth really dry and actually blurred my vision a little bit, so I've switched to Librax when I have bad cramps from IBS. Librax is similar to Donnatal-- instead of phenobarbital, it has a small amount of chlordiazepoxide (related to Valium) along with clidinium (another antispasmodic). I've found that Librax works almost as well, but with fewer side effects.Your body builds a tolerance to barbiturates really quickly, so I would imagine if you took Donnatal every day, the sedative/calming effects would decrease and the drug would not work as well.


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