Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Support Group

Irritable bowel syndrome is a common intestinal disorder that is characterized by bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, cramping, and constipation. Typically no abnormalities appear during standard medical testing, and so irritable bowel syndrome is identified by the symptoms. Although irritable bowel syndrome can cause serious discomfort, the intestines are not harmed.

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sammuel 08/17/2009

has anyone tried this drug , doc says it will help relax me but i have taken it for a week and now i have trouble going to toilet . were has before i couldnt stop going grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

deleted_user 08/17/2009

I just got off that med recently, after trying it for 6 months. It was supposed to help but actually made my stomach hurt more. I've heard it does help some people though!

deleted_user 08/19/2009

i tried it fr a week but ade me feel mre sick and out of it. ( i tried it for possible edometriosis )

deleted_user 08/20/2009

Did you mean amitriptyline (brand name Elavil)? I took it for years as a treatment for IBS, in very low dose. It helped me sleep and seemed to help with the IBS-D symptoms. That said at some point it was making me very depressed, it would hit me so quick and I'd just cry at nothing. It also seemed to build up in my system and eventually I had trouble waking up in the morning, way to sleepy too long into the day to a point that I felt very drugged on the lowest does possible.

My current doctor took me off it, refuses to prescribe it even though everything I have read indicates this class of drugs is very helpful in low doses for IBS. He has tried everything else with worse side effects and nothing has worked. That said, everyone is different. Recently he gave me Welbutrin which killed my stomach and made me so sick I missed work for days trying to get my stomach to stop hurting.

I recently watched a video on (you can download the mp3 file a listen too) on
www.researchchannel.org, title is:

"It's Not All In Your Head: Understanding Irritable Bowel Syndrome"
Pankaj Pasricha, MD, professor, Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center 2008

It's a little technical but good, if you can stand the technical speak. He talks about why most mediations don't work but that tricyclics in small does do, diet, stress. I guess because it is a technical speech, I actually liked it and understood more about my problems than I ever would have before.

Good luck.

deleted_user 08/20/2009

Thanks for the link to that download! I started on the Elavil last week, but My Dr. also started me on Lomotil--(Lonox-generic). I have also taken Bentyl 20 mg 3 times a day for 20 yrs!
The 2 together have helped me. I am still working on adjusting the dosage of Lomotil. My worse time is almost always early morn. So I take 2 of those before I get out of bed!. The Elavil is 25mg at night. The past 3 months have been really bad for me , but for 3 days now I have felt so much better!

deleted_user 08/24/2009

For me--prozac helps me a great deal. Let me know how you make out.

goodgirl1961

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