Research question for Syl and other interested people
#312119 - 07/27/07 03:54 PM
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Ulrika
Reged: 08/20/06
Posts: 581
Loc: Uppsala, Sweden
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Hi Syl (and anyone else reading)!
Since you are interested in research studies I was wondering if you could find any studies on the general efficiency of the Solvay Pharmaceuticals drugs Dicetel and Duspatal. Someone posted about Dicetel working really well on the living room board. I read up on the med and it does sound good. It is described as a new more specific type of antispasmodic drug with less side effects. The only thing I am a bit skeptical about is that 1) antispasmodics in general don't seem to be extremely efficient and 2) it is described as a calcium-antagonist which makes me a bit confused. I mean, calcium is good for D:ers but not for C:ers and if this is something that has effect on the calcium channels in the smooth muscles it seems a bit complicated.
It's good if these drugs work for all the IBS symptoms even upper GI symptoms. But it seems a bit too good to be true... These meds are not approved in Sweden either at the moment so... But I thought it would be nice to find out more anyway. For now I am happy with my loperamide as luckily that works well for me.
/Ulrika, IBS-D
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I love loperamide!!! Couldn't live without it Ulrika!
I saw that post about Dicetel to which you're referring also and instantly discounted it as a spam email, although I really hope it was legit since it would be wonderful for someone to find something that worked well for them.
I haven't had any success with antispasmodics. They seem to work amazingly for about two weeks and then have no efficacy. They also make me incredibly sleepy and lethargic and I can't stand it. I tried them again a couple months ago and just stopped taking dicyclomine about a week ago. Instant mind clarity and energy spike! I tend to just take them as needed now.
Let me know if you hear anything more about this Dicetin drug. I have never heard of it.
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I don't know if anecdotal evidence will be of any interest to you but Dicetel has apparently been available in Canada since at least 2003. If you do a Search across all Boards with no time limit you'll find a good number of references and - anecdotally speaking - the reviews are mixed.
Duspatal only shows up once in the Boards here under that name but as "Mebeverine" it shows up in a lot of posts.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I will check the research literature and see what I can find.
Duspatal ( Mebeverine ) has been used for IBS for nearly 50 years.
Dicetel ( pinaverium ) is a newer drug that I believe is still not available in the US but is available in Europe and Canada. When muscle cells contract as a result of a stimulus there is a rapid influx of intracellular calcium (Ca+) into the muscle cells. This drug reduces the rate of Ca+ influx which in turn reduces the intensity of the muscle contracts. It is particularly targeted at intestinal smooth muscle cells.
Calcium is used in the body for a variety of things including things like bone structure and membrane depolarization. The amount of the total calcium pool in the body that would be affected by this drug would be quite small.
PS - I have tried a number of antispasmodics and other IBS drugs over the years. I have not found one that had an impact on my GI spasms 
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
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Re: Dicetel
#312138 - 07/28/07 06:19 AM
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Betharoo
Reged: 01/28/05
Posts: 815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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I tried Dicetel and it was a horrific experience for me. It gave me such bad D that I got stuck in the bathroom at work for over an hour and a half. Then I tried racing home (15 mins) and had to stop on my way. My stomach made crazy noises that I had never heard before and I could not keep anything in. I was so desperate for anything to work at that point, I had tried it for 2 weeks before giving up. I take Buscopan now and it seems to work great for spasms and pain. This is my personal experience, could work differently for others, but thought I would share. I know I have discussed this drug with other Canadians, you might find it in a search, Retrograde (a previous poster) had also tried it with bad results.
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Microscopic Colitis, IBS-A, GERD, Hiatal Hernia
Bethany, Ontario, Canada
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I did a literature search for both drugs. There is very little recently published research. It seems that pinaverium (Dicetel) has been around since the 1980s and mebeverine (Duspatal) since the 1960s.
A study done in 2000 compared the effectiveness of the two drugs for controlling pain in IBS-D women and found both were equally as effective in provide short term relief from moderate spasm pain. However, neither drug had an outstanding performance in relieving pain. The authors concluded "Their efficacy in the short-term treatment of IBS patients and colonic transit time is unclear."
It does not look like either drug is a wonder drug but they may be effective for some people when used as part of an over all treatment regime at least in the short term.
Reference
Lu CL; Chen CY; Chang FY; Chang SS; Kang LJ; Lu RH; Lee SD (2000): "Effect of a calcium channel blocker and antispasmodic in diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome", J Gastroenterol Hepatol, Aug; Vol. 15 (8), pp. 925-30
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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Thanks everybody!
I kind of thought the post in the living room might be spam too, since I thought a person who had had bad IBS and stomach issues for years and years would be cautious to shout out success after only a few days of use.
I am so glad I have the loperamide. I just pray and hope that loperamide will always work for me. I tend to worry about the future sometimes and the statements from some of the people on these boards about developing tolerance against loperamide are so scary! I really hope that will never ever happen to me. If I KNEW that my IBS would never get worse and that the loperamide would always work then it would be so much easier for me to just get on with my life. I suppose you all understand what I mean.
/Ulrika, IBS-D
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