Looking for a miracle drug
#168713 - 04/10/05 01:03 PM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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I know, aren't we all? But I'm looking for a short-term miracle for very specific situations. Here's the deal:
First, I'm IBS-D. Using Heather's diet and acacia has pretty much eliminated the twisting, crampy, hideous diarrhea from food. I still have more frequency and urgency than I'd like, but in normal day-to-day activities, I can handle that with Bentyl and Immodium.
However, certain stressful situations involving travel can still send me into an attack: I have to be somewhere at a certain time and I'm running late; I'm traveling a new route and I don't know if there are restrooms along it; I'm traveling a route I know doesn't have any restrooms; there's a good chance I'll get stuck in a traffic jam. You get the idea. I know that these situations cause an attack because I'm worried about an attack, but that knowledge isn't enough to short-circuit the process.
Since we live pretty close to New York City, I'd like to feel comfortable traveling into the City but, as you can imagine, that trip meets a lot of the stress conditions that set me off. Do any of you know of a drug I can take that is guaranteed to shut down my lower digestive tract? This wouldn't be something I would take every day or even every week, but would be available if I was making a stressful trip. I'm not too concerned about side effects - I'll put up with sleepiness, dry mouth, stuff like that cheerfully. (If the drug actually renders me unconscious, that's probably not going to work.  )
My long-term hope is that if I can manage some successful trips into the City with the help of a magic drug, I'll eventually feel relaxed enough to try it undrugged.
Thanks.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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It sounds to me that you might be having anxiety attacks or panic attacks. Maybe you can take dramamine or something along those lines.
Good luck
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I have a similar problem. My GI tract goes nuts in stressful traveling situations too. Usually it's not D but still no fun. I haven't found something yet, but I'm trying some counseling right now to see if I can better handle these stressful situations mentally. Who knows if it will work, but at this point I'm willing to try almost anything.
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I think of anxiety or panic attacks as episodes that occur for no apparent reason. Given my past history with IBS, anxiety/panic over stressful travel seems perfectly rational to me.
Dramamine isn't strong enough, but thanks for the suggestion.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I imagine that I will eventually give the IBS hypnotherapy program a try, but I'm not ready for it yet. Therefore, I'm hoping for better living through chemistry.
I figure there must be something out there. After all, if I played center field for the Yankees, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be missing games due to stress-induced IBS attacks!
Good luck with your counseling. I hope it helps.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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"After all, if I played center field for the Yankees, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be missing games due to stress-induced IBS attacks!"
I LOVE this response.  It is probably true of anything we love to do! Sometimes I get "lost" in something I love (like my photography), and no way I feel any gut problems (unless I eat somewhere, and even then I've coped very well some time back...just not right now!). 
You can take that comment and extrapolate it all through your life I am sure. And I'm going to think on this as I believe there is SO much truth in "playing ball" or whatever and losing ourselves or forgetting we have any sort of "gut" or other problem!
You go!
Birdy (aka Lindsay)  Wishing we could put images directly from our computers for the fun of it!
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Roger, you're right about just Dramamine, but put it with something else (clear with your doc or if you KNOW it's okay) and you CAN be quite relaxed. I've done it with Bentyl. I just use 25 mg. Dram and 10 mg Bentyl during day. I get dizzy (hayfever) and Dramamine or Antivert help that, but I was surprised some time back when I had pain for ten people. I probably was very bad, but I knew I could do it so I took Vicodin (not the best for IBS, but I have severe FMS and it's the only thing that works for the pain), 1/2 Dramamine, and a bit of Bentyl. It acted like "peace in the valley." I would rarely do that. I was just surprised by how nice it felt: no pain, no tummyache...just quiet and calm! Gad, that sounds like I went on a bender, but you get the idea.
IF you have panic/anxiety, welcome to my world. I've had anxiety (usually attached to real issues and hit when I awake), and I've had some panic attacks. I actually can deal with panic better than anxiety as I know the panic has a life of its own, and I just watch it so to speak maybe for two or three hours. But anxiety that goes on and on and on can just wear a body down. I have to be the "queen of anxiety attacks"! I also worry about the future way too much. I am working on that too.
Lindsay
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There are some really good anti-anxiety drugs out there your M.D./Psychiatrist can prescribe. I take Buspar and I highly recommend it as an anti-anxiety drug. It's really "clean" and non-addictive, too. It mimics the action of benzodopiates.
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I'm ashamed to admit that my intention in posting that wasn't nearly as positive as the way you read it. What I meant was that if I was doing something highly visible and well-paid, I bet someone would find a drug for me to take to keep doing it!
I like your interpretation, though, and I do think there's a lot of truth to it. The purely physiological part of IBS is out of my control, but there is a psychological component that I hope to learn to manage better. I have sometimes noticed that if I can get absorbed in something enjoyable, I can forget about whatever tummy problems I'm having.
Thanks for the positive outlook and encouragement.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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