# post nasal drip and ibs?



## insertnamehere (Sep 21, 2012)

So, I'm going on 2 weeks of symptoms in what my doctor diagnosed as a bad ibs flare up triggered by bad post nasal drip from fall allergies. It's actually the worst/longest flare up I've had since the one that initially sent me for the full range of testing with an IBS-D diagnosis 2 or 3 years ago...and it actually got worse the second week. Pain and cramping, frequent bowel movements in the morning and at night, soft and occasionally floating stools, reflux, gas/bloating (to the extent that I sometimes feel like I've been punched in the stomach), nausea, loss of appetite, some frequent urination, a lump in my throat with food getting stuck (maybe from the post nasal drip?), feeling warm and sweaty here and there, muscle twitches in my abdomen and elsewhere, feeling generally blah.Doctor put me on famotidine (pepcid), which has helped with some of the burning/reflux/gas (although I've had more appetite loss and nausea since starting it, along with a bit of trouble sleeping, making me wonder if it's helping or hurting. Especially since I'm sensitive to medicines and doctors steer clear of ppi's with me after prilosec made me pretty ill).Anyway, has anyone else had a flare up or these symptoms with seasonal allergies or post nasal drip? Any thoughts/suggestions?


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## sunflowers6 (Sep 23, 2012)

Yesss! I have post nasal drip and IBS! the drip gets worse during hayfever season but its there all year round. I had no idea the two things could be related what else did you doctor say?














I just joined the forum too, but I don't think the sub-forum I posted in is very busy...







http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/157123-where-to-start-with-finding-ibs-trigger-foods/page__pid__876463#entry876463


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## insertnamehere (Sep 21, 2012)

I was actually back there today and saw the physician's assistant this time after another week of symptoms and, unfortunately, side effects to the famotidine. Now trying protonix (fingers crossed...had a really unpleasant reaction to prilosec a few years back...I'm sensitive to medications) along with astepro to help with the post nasal drip (already on loratadine and flonase).Anyway, the doctor and PA both agree that post nasal drip from bad seasonal allergies is running down the back of my throat and into my stomach, basically causing my stomach to flip out and resulting in acid/reflux issues, nausea, and ibs flare ups. Around this time last year, I had about a month of plugged ears from the same thing. This year, it's apparently going into my stomach instead of my ears. I guess the plan of action right now is trying to calm/control symptoms until the allergies clear up.


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## erinelizabeth (Jul 6, 2012)

I've been experiencing bad flare ups for about a week now. And reading this post now I think I know why! My allergies have been horrendous. Makes tons of sense. Thanks!


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## sunflowers6 (Sep 23, 2012)

insertnamehere said:


> I was actually back there today and saw the physician's assistant this time after another week of symptoms and, unfortunately, side effects to the famotidine. Now trying protonix (fingers crossed...had a really unpleasant reaction to prilosec a few years back...I'm sensitive to medications) along with astepro to help with the post nasal drip (already on loratadine and flonase).Anyway, the doctor and PA both agree that post nasal drip from bad seasonal allergies is running down the back of my throat and into my stomach, basically causing my stomach to flip out and resulting in acid/reflux issues, nausea, and ibs flare ups. Around this time last year, I had about a month of plugged ears from the same thing. This year, it's apparently going into my stomach instead of my ears. I guess the plan of action right now is trying to calm/control symptoms until the allergies clear up.


Thankyou so much! I understand now. Loratadine doesn't seem to make much a difference to my hayfever, so I don't know about that. The doc gave me mometasone furoate (nasal spray) and doxycycline (antibiotic) I finished the antibiotics but I think I'll try again with the spray and see if it makes any difference this time...Good Luck!


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## sunflowers6 (Sep 23, 2012)

erinelizabeth said:


> I've been experiencing bad flare ups for about a week now. And reading this post now I think I know why! My allergies have been horrendous. Makes tons of sense. Thanks!


It's great isn't it!


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## Colt (May 5, 2011)

I have noticed that I also get post nasal when my ibs is at it's worst. I also find this coincides with waking up with a burning feeling in the stomach, and then the inevitable post BM leakage.


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## Paul66 (Oct 1, 2012)

Hi,I actually registered just to reply to someone elses comment but saw this post and thought I would relate my experiences incase it helps anyone else.What i am about to say might not be applicable for everyone/anyone else but on the offchance it does give someone some relief I will post it anyway. Please bear with me as it may be a little long winded..At the age of 14 I started having what the doctors described later on in life as exzema on my leg. it was only a small patch at the time about the size of a 10p piece. At its worse it spread to cover both my lower legs around the shin area. When I was 30ish, whilst on a diving holiday, my feet broke out in loads of tiny pus filled spots. After they went away the soles of my feet kept cracking with the skin getting hard but the feet constantly weeping. Cream helped with this but it always came back. I am now a 46 year old Male who has been suffering from what the doctors diagnosed as IBS for a good 15+ years. I dont remember it building gradually, it may have but if it did I wasnt aware of it. The first I remember of it was being away watching a football match and having intense stomach cramping (along with what follows for us sufferers of this condition). These bouts steadily became more frequent and a lot stronger over the space of a few years. I went through a bout of depression and the effects became horrendous with me having attacks that lasted a weak and left me curled up, completly drained on the bathroom floor at 2 or 3 am in the morning. I too had a very bad post nasal drip going on. A few years ago I started almost choking whilst eating food due to a very high level mucus build up. I would get an intense pain in my asophagus when trying to swallow food which resulted in me being sick and bringing up a thick mucus. This also happened when I got up in the morning.. i would cough and cough until I brought the mucus up. Again, this became an all too regular occurance. Oh, my stomach had also become very distended with a lot of gas. I was constantly having to burp or having wind which was unusual for me.So, you can see from the above I was not in a good place. I used to be an international athlete so for my body to be in this shape was torture.During this period of time a friend of mine came to live with my family. She observed what was going on and without going in to all the details of what why where and when, she started to try and find out if she could help me. We tried a lot of different things but one day she told me she thought I might be wheat intollerant. From what she had read and what she had seen it all seemed to add up. We set about trying to remove wheat from my diet completly. There is no test for wheat intollerace apart from not eating it but thats easier said than done. It turns out wheat is used in all sorts of things, its used to bulk out youghurt, its used to bulk out pre ground black pepper. its used in some chocolate bars or in crisp flavorings. I didnt see a return from this diet for nearly a month but I am now 18 months down the track and I have probably had 2 IBS bouts in the last 12 months. The distended stomack is back to normal, the cracked soles of my feet have completly healed, the exzema on my one leg has almost gone with the other clearing up, the thick mucus regurgetation has gone and the post nasal drip is almost non existant (air conditioning can still cause me to have it but hey... ).My friends rational on this is that the wheat was poisning my body in some way and my body was doing its best to get rid of it, firstly by the blood stream and secretion of the toxins through my feet and legsand then by flushing it through my system as fast as it could hence the cramping and diohreah. At this point in time I cant say she was wrong. Whilst I have had 2 episodes in 12 months, one of those we can trace to an inadvertant consumption of an item containing wheat. Were still not sure what the other one was caused by but asume it was a similar issue.As i said at the start, this might not be any use for anyone but if it gives someone food for thought and leads to anyone lessening thier symptoms then great.Paul Jeffs


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