From diarrhea to constipation?
#73199 - 05/25/04 09:51 AM
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tomoko
Reged: 04/20/04
Posts: 39
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OK, I have been faithfully taking Citrucel and trying to adhere to the IBS diet and now, the diarrhea (with really bad cramping) is gone, and I get solid (on the hard side) BM. It seems to hurt all the same when the bowel moves though. (Well, let me qualify this. It hurts all the same but the duration of pain is much shorter.) I push on my stomach and it feels really hard too. (I massage it a little after the BM in an attempt to ease the pain.) After the BM, I am stil hurting, but by massaging my tummy and with peppermint tea, the pain goes away in 10 minutes or so although it still feels sore a little while longer. Duration of time wise, this is much better than having a diarrhea type of attacks, but there is still this cramping and urgency.
I also keep a very very strong cup of peppermint tea on my bedside so in case the cramping starts in the middle of the night (which wakes me up from my sleep), I have the tea to ease the pain. (Only time in the past I had to go for BM in the middle of the night was when I had a jet lag traveling international with a big time difference. Oh well.)
I wonder if things could improve to the point that I don't need to go for BM in the middle of the night, and it won't accompany cramping...
I was hoping getting rid of diarrhea will solve the cramping problem, but not. At least not yet.
What do you think? Is this a pretty normal transition?
Any comments GREATLY appreciated!
T
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Does your doctor know that the pain is waking you up in the middle of the night? As far as I know, this is not typical of IBS. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong about that. Have you had all the tests to exclude anything else?
Also, now that your D is under control, it is time to slowly and carefully incorporate some insoluable fiber back into your diet. Don't forget, too, that you should be aiming for about 64oz of water a day (tea counts).
Are you taking Citrucel pills or powder? Most people have better luck with the powder. Check the posts on dosage and make sure you are taking enough.
Sorry you are not feeling your best yet, but I promise it will come with time.
AP
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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When I was diagnosed with IBS, I was predominantly D. I stabilized for a while, but when it returned in all its glory it was major C. I think the only thing in common with either is the cramping, discomfort and sense of urgency. All still very present with me and I am still predominantly C right now. Occasionally, I swing back the other way, but not very much at all!
The peppermint tea is a great help to me too, so don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Our gut has a mind of its own!
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God is Faithful!
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I went to a GI specialist (at Crohn's and Colitis Medical Clinic) and I did explain all that including waking me up at night with pain (mostly due to painful gas, but sometimes with BM). I haven't had colonscopy (or whatever you may call it yet) due to limited insurance right now. (Visit by itself cost me $300) but he seemed to rule out imflammatory diseases (he did do some anal exam to check if there was blood there..) Endometriosis was ruled out by my gyno and the gyno is the one who referred me to the GI specialist. (Mine is hormone based. I don't get IBS attacks at all the 1st phase of my cycle and they start a few days after ovulation and stops again a couple of days before my period, so the IBS potential each month is about a week and a half. I am much more revved up and rather on high gear (a bit agitated even or sometimes really anxious) during the IBS period, so it all makes sense.)
So you guys don't get pain in the middle of the night? I was certain many people did. My IBS does not care if the sun is up or not, it moves when it wants to and I so far have no control over the timing of it. I used to use a little massage board under my back before I go to sleep (for tight back and shoulders) but I quit doing that since it seem to start the instestinal movement and sometimes cause me to wake up at night also. I am useless at work in the daytime when I get my sleep interrupted at night. I only get the pain every 3 days or so at night, but it is still annoying. I have been listening to the audio 100 so hopefully, it calms down my overactive instestines.
Anyway, I take Citricel powder, usually twice a day (before breakfast and before dinner) and take Equalactin before lunch if I remember it. I got Acacia from Heather but I am planning to finish the full bottle of Citricel before moving onto hers.
I am amazed at how well peppermint tea works. My GI doctor gave me anti-spastic medicine (Nulev) but it makes me feel loopey and peppermint tea I think works as well or better, without any side effects. I just need to make the tea strong enough though. (I put two bags in one cup for daytimes and 3 bags in one cup at bedside for any emergencies.)
One thing you mentioned that I should be doing is drink more water! The weather has cooled down a bit here and I know I haven't been drinking as much fluid.
Thanks!
T
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And yeah, I forgot. I also take Caltrate 600 Plus (2 caps a day).
T
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Quote:
So you guys don't get pain in the middle of the night? I was certain many people did. My IBS does not care if the sun is up or not, it moves when it wants to and I so far have no control over the timing of it. I used to use a little massage board under my back before I go to sleep (for tight back and shoulders) but I quit doing that since it seem to start the instestinal movement and sometimes cause me to wake up at night also. I am useless at work in the daytime when I get my sleep interrupted at night.
Have you tried sleeping with a heating pad on your belly? I'm usually crampy in the evenings rather than in the middle of the night, but a heating pad really helps with those. On the bad nights, I keep it on all night and it makes me feel a whole lot better.
Sometimes one of the cats comes in and sits on top of the heating pad - the extra heat feels good, but sometimes the extra 10 lbs does not! 
--AC
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I had IBS pain wake me in the middle of the night recently but it's not a regular thing. (I'd been bad!!)
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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Quote:
And yeah, I forgot. I also take Caltrate 600 Plus (2 caps a day).
Oh, is that calcium only, or does it have magnesium in it? If you're heading towards the C side of things, you must be sure that you're getting enough magnesium - calcium is constipating. Your calcium/magnesium ratio should be 2/1. There are supplements out there that have the right ratio - I like "CalSnack".
--AC
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Hi AC,
Thank you for the idea of the heating pad. When I was half asleep and getting crampy just last night, I was thinking of getting my heating pillow (what I have isn't electric. It has rice inside and has to heated in the microwave) but I was too sleepy and lazy to get up to go heat it up. I would have if the pain was real bad but after I passed gas, the pain went away and I fell back to sleep.
I will go buy an electric pad. It will come handy if I already have it warm in bed.
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Quote:
I will go buy an electric pad. It will come handy if I already have it warm in bed.
Oh yeah, that's fabulous! Hope it helps....
--AC
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Have you tried peppermint capsules as well as tea? Heather swears by them for cramps - I think you get more concentrated peppermint than with tea.
I'm pretty sure that an external exam can NOT rule out IBDs, though the lack of blood is a positive sign. So you will need a colonoscopy when you can afford it. It's worth it to know that worse stuff has actually been ruled out.
The water and insoluble fibre is essential to prevent C. Just be careful about how you eat insolubles.
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Hi Linz,
Thank you for your advice. As for peppermint oil caps, I have tried it before (by Enzymatic Therapy - maybe a year, two years ago) and it worked against me then, and I don't want to try it anymore. Someone in another post mentioned it's like Vics out the other end, and that was exactly my symptoms. 
Anyway, I have been drinking more fluid today so that should help.
I opened another thread asking if anybody knows a web listing that lists up the amount of soluble/insoluble fibers. That will give me more ideas as to what I should eat on any given day.
Thanks again!
T
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Oh I got that too! And I have Gerds and my stomach managed to get through the enteric coating so I had heartburn and was burping peppermint! One way to have fresh breath, I guess.
It's annoying you can't have them. Oh well.
As I can't have Peppermint, I drink Chamomile tea. Why not try mixing that with your peppermint to get the benefits of both. Also, heating pads work wonders.
Btw, if you get really bad cramps, pain relief meds with codeine in them seem to work best.
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