Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Frequent Bowel Movement

Question:
After years of IBS and GERD which were reasonably well regulated with Lactulose and Prevacid, everything has gotten worse and I can't work around it anymore. The GERD is more persistent even though I'm pretty careful about diet and I am now taking 60 mg of Prevacid a day. Biggest problem now is that I seem to cycle between constipation and bouts of very frequent bowel movements which leave me with pretty severe cramps, generally exhausted, and a frequent sense of fullness in the rectum which only presses me to think I have to have yet another bowel movement. The confusing thing is that my stools are generally formed and remain so through as many as 7+ movements within 3 or 4 hours.  I then take Imodium and it calms down.  Sometimes I also take Librax, which also helps. I am confused because I don't have very watery stools, but the frequency and the cramping and fullness in the rectum, leads to many too many movements within just a few hours.   I have also noted that toward the end (when I finally take Imodium), the stools are usually lighter in color, and maybe thin, but definitely formed. I also get a lot of gas. I've tried to find food triggers for the spasms, but without very conclusive results.   Colonoscopy was normal and diagnosis was IBS.  I then found out that artificial sugars are gas forming and that the lactulose (since it is an undigestible sugar), might also be causing problems.  I don't eat the standard gas forming foods. ?

Answer:
I have the exact same situation as you.  I do believe it is considered mild-to-moderate diarrhea because of the frequency. The sugars may be an issue for you (they are for me) and you may need to look in to removing all complex carbs (ie. potatoes, grains of all kinds) that could be irritating your condition Your symptoms sure do sound familiar, although you must have an ultra-absorbent colon, because for me the first trip tends to be somewhat normal, followed by looser and more watery output each trip.  I know EXACTLY what you're talking about with the full rectum feeling too.  It seems that you're either in the bathroom, or feeling like you need to be in there all the time.  My GI doc has put me on 25mg of Elavil which I have been on for almost 3 weeks now and haven't really noticed much help, but I haven't given up on it yet.  His explanation for the constant feeling of having to go is that the nerves in your gut are oversensitive and are sending signals that something is there and ready to go when it really isn't.  The Elavil is supposed to mess with these nerve signals to your brain so that they function more like a non-IBS person.  It makes plenty of scientific sense to me, I just wish it would kick in sooner!  Might be something worthwhile to discuss with your doc though, just because it isn't working very quick for me doesn't mean it won't work wonders for someone else. About 20 years ago I took elavil for depression.  After a few weeks I became extremely constipated.  As the months went on, I began needing to use Ducolax suppositories every day and was so chronically constipated that it led me to go off the drug. I think those many months (almost a year), of severe constipation and eventually almost an obsession with whether or not I could have a bowel movement, contributed to the development of my IBS. However, if you have diahrrea, and your nerves are already sending mixed up signals....it might help a lot.