Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Irritable Bowel Syndrome And Stress

Question:
Can anyone here give me some information about treatments for irritable bowel syndrome and their effectiveness? I'm a 27-year-old female who has been diagnosed by more than one doctor as having irritable bowel syndrome.  I have taken all of the following meds at one time or another over the past seven years to treat the IBS and alleviate symptoms:  Bentyl, Levsin SL, Zantac, Imipram, and Propulsid. Right now, under my doctor's direction, I'm taking all of these but the Levsin SL.  Bentyl usually works to alleviate pain; on good days, I take 10 mg every 6 hours, and on bad days, I take 20 mg every 6 hours.  (On really bad days, it doesn't work very well.)  Also, under my doctor's direction, I am currently trying to work my way off the Imipram and Propulsid. Adding fiber to my diet doesn't seem to help; I'd go for a few days with a high-fiber diet, and then would become so ill that I could only eat chicken noodle soup and nilla wafers for a few days, even with the meds. I exercise regularly, and am working in a relatively low-stress environment. Although stressful events certainly do worsen my IBS symptoms at times, I also have frequent flare-ups when I am under no stress and for no apparent reason.  Several foods--including beef, coffee, chocolate, tomatoes, cinnamon, pepper, and fruits-seem to cause flare-ups, so I avoid them.  I have a lot of flare-ups that I can't link foods or stress, though. Normal symptoms include pain (sometimes throughout the abdomen, sometimes localized), mild to severe cramps, gas, and constipation. Flare-up symptoms include all of the above plus constant pain, severe cramps, nausea, and diarrhea or frequent bowel movements. Basically, I'd like to get off the medications if I can.  My husband and I want to have a baby in the next year or so, and I know it's not good to take these meds when you're pregnant.  Besides, I don't want to take the meds all my life.  I've been on them too long already.  My main problem, though, is that my symptoms seem to worsen as I work my way off the meds. (I have tried decreasing the amount of bentyl that I take, but the symptoms worsen and make me absolutely miserable.) Any recommendations or comments? Feel free to use medical terminology if you want.  I used to be an EMT, so I understand most terms.  I can look up the ones I'm not familiar with.

Answer:
I can relate to your predicament, for years (mostly in my twenties) I had this problem. My Dr. (I saw many as you have) finally hit on librax to lessen the pain.  I too got the attacks for no apparent reason no stress that I could see and still I would get hit by the pain.  Several changes have no taken place and I very rarely have mild episodes now.  The changes where first I stopped smoking, I do not drink so that was not part of the problem. I do not or rarely have fried food. Gave up coffee altogether.