# misoprostol (cytotec) for colonic inertia--dosage?



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

i asked my gastro if i could try cytotec off label for my colonic inertia since laxatives don't work so well anymore.

he prescribed it for me like this: take 100 mcg 4 times a day after meals and at bedtime. that dose hasn't been working for me and the information sheet i got when i filled the script says that dose minimizes diarrhea. and of course, with my problems i want to maximize D--lol.

i did ask the pharmacist about taking it off label for C but she didn't have a clue about dosage etc.

the research i've done on it says 200 mcg twice a day is one way to take it for chronic constipation but i can't seem to find any info about whether to take it on an empty stomach or not---i'm guessing empty is best???

any help with all this is greatly appreciated!! thanks so much.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

rxlist.com has this in the techinical info on how the drug is metabolized and that.



> Maximum plasma concentrations of misoprostol acid are diminished when the dose is taken with food and total availability of misoprostol acid is reduced by use of concomitant antacid.


So sounds like if you tolerate it without food that may be better if you want to maximize the concentration in the blood.


----------



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

thanks so much, Kathleen!

that's how i've been taking it. not sure at this point that it's helping me (it's only been a couple days) but it sure is giving me a lot of abdominal pain and nausea. and i know taking it with food would probably help relieve the pain and nausea but first i want to tough it out to try to get the maximum effect.

might just take 200 mg first thing in the am tomorrow (an hour before breakfast) and then no more for the rest of the day---i'll see how it goes. have to play around with it, i guess.

thanks again for your help!


----------



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

update--early this morning (about 2 am--lol) it finally kicked in. hooray!


----------



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

for anyone who wants to read more about misoprostol ( cytotec), this is a terrific article--lots of useful information (thanks again, Lennie)

"Misoprostol in the treatment of chronic refractory constipation"

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2036.1997.00237.x/abstract

the abstract comes up, but to the right of the title is a box that says "get PDF". click on that and it will open the entire article.


----------



## oceannir (Mar 6, 2012)

I'm glad to hear its helping you Annie. I can't say ive ever heard of that drug before!


----------



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

well--i hope it's helping...

it's early days yet. and i'm still taking all my laxatives along with it, just like that study (link above) mentioned people were doing. as the study said, it's "unlikely" that misoprostol is effective as a stand-alone drug for the majority of those of us with chronic refractory constipation. but as always, your mileage may vary...and i'm hoping that it's effect on motility won't wane either like i've read it can. fingers crossed!! toes crossed too!

at this point, i'm just hoping it'll give the laxatives a little extra "oomph" since they don't always work as well as they used to. and i'm hoping to be able to stave off surgery.


----------

