Stopping IBS

You poor thing... i know how you feel. I had IBS-D for 14 months straight... not one day of relief. Up to 30 visits to the loo per day. Earlier this year i had a blood test done at imupro300. VERY good results. Im intollerant to over 30 foods, colourings, preservatives. I was eating a small dose of these foods everyday not knowing what was making me so sick. 7 Specialists couldnt help me or even offer any more sugestions. Id already tried every test. So for me Doctors telling me "your going to have to deal with it" wasnt an option for me. so i got on the internet & found imupro300 & although very expensive i decided to give it a go. Soooooo happy i did. Not sure where you are, but im in Australia, & i had to send my blood to Germany for the test. But thats all included in the cost. Check there website if your interested. Its been 9 weeks now.. only one day of tummy pain.. but no D for 9 weeks,     :) 

Really hope this helps you.... let me know how you go

Blood is NOT a sign of IBS (unless it's very bright red, then it could be hemmroids bleeding due to all the time you are sitting on the toliet and all the pooping you are doing). If you have not seen a gastrointerolgist (GI), you need to see one as quickly as possible to see if the blood is indeed from hemmroids or if it's something more serious.

If your GI doctor rules out something more serious (like Crohn's Disease or Ulcertaive Colitis, which both have bleeding as a symptom), then you can try taking calcium or some other things to try and help control the D. But you have to get checked out first.

I might be the bearer of mixed news, but here goes nothing: after nearly 3 years of having an average (I'm just taking a wild guess here) of 8-10 bouts of watery diarrhea every day, without a good "answer," with several hospitalizations due to dehydration under my belt and a weight loss of about 50 pounds, I have learned that it will definitely be trial-and-error for some patients. I tried fiber supplements, calcium, Imodium, cholestyramine, Lomotil, anti-spasmodics, lactose-free diet, etc. with absolutely no consistent results. I am about to start on Lotronex, which is reserved for refractory patients with serious diarrhea (i.e., those for whom nothing else has worked). I am sure that going on Lotronex will stop the diarrhea - but it also has the potential to cause serious side effects and you have to be monitored very closely while you are taking it. So I would advise to try everything else possible before you go that route.

Granted, my case is weird since I have autoimmune disease (Grave's) and a history of serious parasitic infections, but the honest answer is that sometimes there is no good answer - not yet, at least. MOST people will find some relief with some of the aforementioned treatments.

You should not be bleeding, and unless this is caused by a hemorrhoid, it should be investigated much further. Also nocturnal symptoms are more worrisome. So I would encourage you to work it up for as long as you feel is necessary. Please keep us updated and don't lose hope.

For some people, the medicine that I'm on--Welchol, or its cousins, Colestaid or Questran--can help. It really is for people with bile problems (erm, actually it's for people with cholesterol, but it's now pretty well accepted as a bowel medicine too), but sometimes it helps people who don't seem to have a reason behind their D. Worth getting a sample and see if it helps.

Caltrate 600 w/ Vitamin D 2-3 times a day is another thing people on here use to help control D.

Have you tried probiotics? Some people have gotten good results with Digestive Advantage, Culturelle, or another one that they get from health food places (can't remember the name).

Others get help from fiber. Contrary to popular belief, it's not just for constipation. You want to look for something that's mostly insoluable fiber because it's insoluable fiber that gives your stools bulk.

Also, some of the newer antidepressants seem to work miracles on some people's guts. There's a theory that's been around a long time, but is just now being rediscovered and considered seriously, that the nervous system operates the entire digestive tract pretty much independently of any commands from the brain. I mean, there are a LOT of nerve endings/bundles in the stomach alone. They refer to this as your "second brain" and it's thought that the antidepressants work on this second brain like they work on a lot of people's regular brain and they help regulate your guts from having mood swings, if you will.

Dont get your hopes up for Lotronex. I did. The way they talked it would work 4-sure. I didnt want to take it but Drs. said qoute"you dont have a choice if you want to work and have a normal life,you cannot go on like this. Taking 8 immodium a day to get down to 8-10 times a day. Lost 40 pounds in 2 months(liked that Anyway it did not work and I started having terrible headaches and other problems so took me off.Now 2 years later I am on Fmla for D. Hey ive been looking for you Sarita to ask you about Mayo Clinic. My Dr. want s me to go there now. Was gonna ask if it was any help. But sounds like you are still having problems. I was getting my hopes up.