Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: IBS-D and Anxiety Drugs

Welcome to the Boards.

I took Elavil (the tricyclic AD Amitriptyline) for a while. I started at 25mg. It did shut down my diarrhea but I found the side-effects extremely unpleasant. The side-effects did back off a little after a while but then the anti-diarrheal effect began to fade so my doctor upped the dosage to 50mg. Relief, more side-effects, relief stopped, upped the dosage to 75mg. At that point the side-effects were more than I could take so I dropped the med. On the other side of the coin, my doctor prescribed Elavil for me because she had had very good luck with it for other IBS-D patients so my experience may be atypical.

For a variety of reasons I've been having trouble with anxiety for the last 6 months or more - not panic attacks but enough situational anxiety to crank up my IBS-D from time to time. I do very well taking Lorazepam (generic Ativan, 0.5mg tablet) as needed. If I'm having a particularly bad day, I'll also take Imodium.

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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