Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Sorry lengthy, but I am ready to throw in the towel or die....

I'm so sorry you're still having such a terrible time of it. If you're sure all your symptoms are IBS, I have some suggestions below. If not, I'd really try to find someone to check out your general health. I know the Cleveland Clinic is somewhere in Ohio and I've heard good things about their endocrinology department - I don't know how good they are overall, although they do say they deal with IBS. You might check out their Website and see what you think.

Okay, assuming all your symptoms are IBS, here are some thoughts. I don't remember all the things you've tried, so if I suggest something you've already experimented with, please bear with me.

I'm assuming you have tried following Heather's Diet recommendations to the letter and taking an SFS and neither has done the trick.

Calcium. I haven't found that calcium affects my IBS-D one way or the other but I know some people report it helps and I do take it for my bones. I take Tums, 1500 mg of calcium per day, 500 at a time. That works out to one regular strength Tums and one Tums E-X per dose. I take one dose at lunch, one at dinner, and one right before bed. If you don't want to take Tums, here's some further info from an old post of mine:

If you're taking calcium to help with your bones, you also need to be sure to get enough Vitamin D. My doctors recommend 800 IU per day. Like the calcium, I started with a low dose of this and worked my way up.

Acupuncture. I tried this before I found this Website and it helped to some degree. It didn't help nearly as much as following Heather's guidelines did and when I got a case of food poisoning that sent my IBS into hyperdrive it didn't help at all. However, if you're running out of options, you might give it a try. If you're going to go this route, I think the ideal approach would be to find an all-around Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner who can also suggest herbs and possibly meditative exercises to go along with the acupuncture. Be sure to discuss with your practitioner what type of results you should be seeing after how much treatment, whether there will be a point at which you can switch to maintenance, and what is involved in that maintenance. Make sure you're clear on prices. Most insurance companies won't pay for this and it can get expensive quickly.

Anti-depressants. My Family Practice doctor tried Elavil (a tricyclic) for me and it worked great in terms of shutting down the diarrhea although we had to keep increasing the dose to keep the diarrhea under control. The side-effects were eventually too much for me but if you're at the end of your rope I think it's worth a try. There are also SSRI-type anti-depressants that may help IBS-D.

Lotronex. This is a big-time drug that can have serious side-effects but my GI guy insists that if you're reasonably attentive it's a good drug. I would never suggest it as a first resort but if my IBS hadn't improved with Heather's approach, I would have been on it in a flash. Only certain GI doctors are authorized to prescribe it and you should probably do all the reading you can about it to be sure you understand what the risks are and what problems to watch out for.

Hypnosis. A lot of people swear by it and I think it's worth a try.

If I were going to list these in the order to try them, I'd say this:

Try a calcium carbonate supplement but I wouldn't expect a significant impact.

Try hypnosis. It's a 3-month commitment so you'd have to hang in there for that long although some people report seeing results well before the program is completed.

Acupuncture/TCM. I'd try this at the same time as the hypnosis assuming cost is not an issue. If cost is an issue, I'd skip trying acupuncture and/or Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Lotronex. I'd try this before an anti-depressant because I hated the AD side-effects. I'd rather be super-cautious about digestive tract side-effects than have my mind feel mushy all the time.

Anti-depressant. I'd try this last.

I hope some of this helps. Take care.

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