constant IBS-D for months

I have had constant IBS-D for 6 months, not a single normal bowel movement in that time. Colonoscopy showed nothing and specialist said "I'm not sure what's wrong" and told me to come back in a year. Taking cholesteramine powder to give some relief from diarrhea and add some bulk to bowel movements. Lomotil does not help. Pamine Forte does not help. Calcium does not help. Yogurt has not helped. Can't seem to tie this to what I eat as I can eat nothing all day, eat a normal meal and head straight for the bathroom before I finish eating and have diarrhea or I can eat taco chips & salsa and not be bothered at all. I plan my life around where the restroom is in every place I go or where the next gas station is when I'm in my car. I have no sex life any more as I am always having diarrhea and that area of my anatomy is just unattractive, off-limits, leaking diarrhea, and not any fun to be near. I don't get a decent night's sleep because I'm up many times a night with diarrhea. I'm running from my desk to the restroom while at work to have diarrhea. I feel nauseated yet hungry because all my food passes thru so quickly - yet I'm not losing weight but gaining. If any doctor asked for a "stool specimen" right now, he'd get a jar of mucous-like liquid poo with not one piece of solid matter. I've had tests for parasites (negative). Even after eating and drinking nothing but water for 24 hours I can still produce foul-smelling poo. I disgust myself with this mess - I can only imagine how my sweet & loving fiance feels about me. I am 55 years old and not ready to check in to the nursing home and wear Depends Undergarments 24/7. But some days I wonder if there are any solutions out there for me. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

gacatlanta, I have the same problem pretty much for the past 30 years.  Wish I could help.  Ray

I HAVE IBS D TO I CANT EVEN EXPLAIN HOW BAD ID B HERE ALL NIGHT LOL! I ALSO WAS XCHECKED 4 PARASITES I THOUGHT 4 SURE IT WAS THAT. IM TAKING CHOLESTYRAMINE 2 A DAY, ITS A DRINK OR HIGH CHOLESTOL BUT IT WILL HELP TURN UR BOWEL MOVEMENTS HARDER IM ALSO ON ELAVIL WHICH I USE 2 TAKE I WAS FORCED 2 GO BACK ON IT CUZ ITS NUMBER 1 CHOICE 4 TTHIS. FROM COMBINING THEM IM FINALLY FINDING RELIEF! I TRIED LOMOTIL, LOTRONEX - THATS LIKE THE LAST CHOICE, AFTER TRYING EVERY OTHER MED, EVEN THAT DIDNT WORK! ALSOMIGHT WANNA CHECK SIDE EFFECTS OF MEDS UR ON, I GOT FIBRO SO UM ON NEURONTIN AND THEY SAID IT COULD B MAKING IT WORST!! IT HELPS MY PAIN THOUGH SO I DIDNT STOP IT.THERES A MED CALLED LIBREX I THINK THAT HELPED BUT DRY MOUTH TERRIBLE CUZ ITS ALREADY DRY SO I CULDNT TAKE IT, IT ONLY HELPED W THE DRINK
THEY PROB TELL U 2 TAKE FIBER 2 ADD BULK DONT IT GETS WORST AND FRUITS MAKE ME WORST YOGURT ALSO. AR U ON ANXIETY-DEPRESSION DRUGS MOST HELP ALONG WITH SOMETHING ELSE BUT EFFEXOR AND CYMBALTA MADE ME WORST. IF U WANNA CHAT U CAN E MAIL ME AT [email protected]. WHERE R U FROM? I HAD 2 C 3 GI DRS TILL 1 FINALLY GAVE ME SOMETHING THAT WORKED SO CHANGE DR IF UR NOT FETTING ANYWERE

Hi feelinglousy,
Welcome to the board!
It seems you got pretty much all the tests done. The only thing next would be to check your gallbladder. Have you had an ultrasound or hidascan?
Are you taking any probiotics or calcium to help control the D?

I have come to the conclusion that doctors don't always know what they are talking about. From my own experience, of course. I'm not saying you shouldn't follow your doctors orders, but I highly recommend doing some research. Only after I did a bunch of research did I find that birth control pills can cause hair loss and disrupt digestion. Both of which I have. NONE of my docs even gave it a second thought when I brought it up months ago. So now I am experimenting.
I hope getting off the Synthroid will not affect you in a negative way (since it is probably against doctors orders). With that said.... Give it some more time to wear off. Also, the probiotics do make you gassy at first. It is always good to start with a low dose and work your way up. For example, take 1 billion live cultures a day up to 2 times a day. Then after a week or so, work your way up to 3-5 billion live cultures a day. It is just like taking fiber - your body needs time to get used to it. Please note that taking probiotics cannot harm you. They are what our intestines need to function properly. Most people with IBD take them to help control their symptoms.

The thing with pain is that it can come from anything, anywhere. Some people with gallbladder problems have pain only in the abdomen. Others have it radiating down their legs, across their arms or up near their shoulders. Our body is an intricate machine that if one part is out of whack it can throw everything else off.
My point is that I really can't say what I think is causing your pain. It could be IBS, it could be your gallbladder, it could be a number of things. I really do think you should bring it up to your doc again. Be persistent - after all, you are paying HIM (or her).
Wish I could help. Good luck!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Dumping-Syndrome:-The-Dirty-Secret-Gastric-Bypass-Patients-Keep&id=36837

Here's an atricle I found where a woman describes her gastric dumping symptoms. Hers are due to having had gastric bypass surgery, but I would think dumping would be the same regardless of ultimate cause. It looks like it gets the most attention with people who have had GBS, but I can't see why dumping wouldn't happen naturally too. Note the eating recommendations she has at the bottom of her article; maybe they will help. The other thing I have seen is that you should eat very small amounts of food many times a day; "grazing," if you will. At least when your stomach dumps things out, there won't be a lot of it (although it looks like only larger amounts of food actually trigger a dump).

Gacatlanta,
Are you from atlanta?? I am...just curious, it's in your user id.

Anyway, I'm sorry you're having problems but it's posts like yours that make my decision more and more firm about my gallbaldder! They want to do a hida scan on my gallbladder and the GI says if it's not functioning at 37%, they want to take it out. I don't think it's my gallbladder. I think it's my birth control. Regardless, I already have really bad IBS-D and I don't need anymore problems in that area and I think if they took out my gallbladder, I would just get worse!!

I hope you get better, soon!! I also have constant indigestion with my hiatal hernia and GERD AND the IBS-D!! Definitely add the probiotics. You might not be able to tell a difference for a month or two but they will help, eventually. I have been on them now for 2 months and they're finally kicking in, I think. I'm less bloated and gassy. I still wake up in the middle of the night with reflux and stomach upset, but during the day, I'm having less attacks. You could try the Calcium, too, since your gallbladder is out. The calcium upsets my stomach but it might work for you.

HTH! Get well Soon!!
Michelle :)

Gacatlanta: if you are post-gall bladder, get to a G.I. and make him prescribe you Welchol. It's a cholesterol medicine that has an interesting side affect: it binds up bile. Which means that for people like you and me who don't have a gall bladder and who have excessive amounts of bile, it takes care of it. I'm on it, my mother-in-law is on it and I turned another girl on this forum onto it and we're all right as rain now. You can take it daily to prevent bile diarrhea or you can take it as needed to prevent it (like when you eat something you know is going to bother you) or you can even take it after you start having problems in order to clear them up. One pill and 30 minutes usually stops most of my problems. I've heard it's not really a great cholesterol medicine; I think they should advertise it exclusively as a post-gall bladder medicine.

It would help people who still have their gall bladders too--at least to keep them from having so much diarrhea--but it won't do anything for the pain of a spasaming gall bladder. I tell you, after 5 years of intense pain and terrible sickness, I am very glad to have my gall bladder out and don't regret doing it in the least. I had diarrhea when I had it, so I'm really no worse off than before in that regards, only now I don't hurt horrendously.

Michelle (fly), did you see my post on heartburn meds and that certain types of heartburn meds cause a serious increased risk of catching c. difficile, which is a bad bacteria that leads to diarrhea and IBS symptoms? Also, your gall bladder can be causing your heartburn. My G.I.'s N.P. told me that sometimes bile goes up and causes acid reflux. When it goes down it causes diarrhea. Getting your gall bladder out may or may not lessen your acid reflux, but you shouldn't be any worse off afterwards. Like I said, my diarrhea didn't get worse after I had my gall bladder out and at the very least I stopped having those middle-of-the-night attacks that caused me so much pain. I also stopped getting nauseated and stopped feeling overly full after a bite or two of food. And once I got on the Welchol, the diarrhea stopped. Now I'm having to regulate how much Welchol I take on a day-to-day basis to keep from being constipated. Can you imagine constipation?

Caffeine is often a trigger for people with bad gall bladders and even for people without them. It bothered me when I had a GB and even now I can't do caffeine. You ladies may want to try giving it up to see if it helps lessen your diarrhea and acid reflux attacks. The other thing that is a trigger is fat. But I can tell you from experience that it's hard to find a balance between too much fat and too little. I went on a low fat diet and got severely constipated. But when I'm having normal BMs, the fat from a pizza can give me diarrhea (unless I'm on my Welchol). So you may want to give up some fattening (especially greasy) foods to see if that helps some. Pizza is a big one, but so is anything fried and pretty much all fast food. Milk products make some people worse--even no-fat milk products--but I happen not to be one of them and I eat my sour cream and yogurt full fat. I'm about of the opinion that regular fat--like that in milk--isn't so bad. I think maybe that partially hydrogenated crap they cook everything in now is a big trigger. That may be why I was always able to tolerate Chick-Fil-A out of all of the fast food fried places: they deep fry in peanut oil which is acutally one of those good fats (like olive oil and avocados, etc.).

    Hello!!!!! I have had IBS-D since I was 15, so 8 years now!!! I have tried a few herbal things, nothing helped for longer that 2 weeks. I started taking 'Digestive Advantage IBS' a few months ago, all it's really done is, OK It makes me constipated for about 5 days then I have horrible D for about 3 days, over and over. My doctor just pescribed me WelChol for the D, and I've stopped taking the DA IBS. Has anyone heard of Welchol for IBS? Does it work? What dose do you recommend? (my doc didn't know, she said to just ask others basically) PLEASE help if u can!!! I NEED IT!!!!!!! 

Well Lil pretty much said it all. When you have a bad gall bladder or none at all, you have problems with too much bile or getting it at the wrong time. The Welchol binds up the bile so it keeps you from having diarrhea. If you don't have bile diarrhea, I don't know that it will help you. It can be constipating to normal people, but that's because it keeps their normal levels of bile from further digesting their food (which is how it keeps you from absorbing cholesterol) and can make them constipated that way. Bile diarrhea, by the way, is yellowish in color (the more bile, the yellower it gets) and it usually burns.

My g.i. told me to take a pill once a day and increase it if needed. He actually wrote my prescription so I could take one before every meal and snack (100 pills a month). There's another girl on here who just got on it and her doctor has her taking 6 pills a day and it's fixed her without constipating her. I just take one in the mornings, although I occasionally need to take a second one if my stomach is upset for some reason or I eat something that bothers it.

My recommendation to you is to take one first thing in the morning and give it 30 minutes to work. If you develop diarrhea after that, take another, wait 30 minutes, take another one and so on until you stop having diarrhea. If you end up taking three pills, then plan on taking three pills a day. If you are worse in the morning, you may want to take two first thing then a second one mid-morning or lunchtime.

Be forewarned that you will have to adjust your dosage over time because you may go through a bad period and need to add an extra dose or you may go through a good spell and need to not take as much. You're taking too much if you get constipated. You're not taking enough if you have diarrhea. It's that simple. And there's nothing at all wrong with adjusting your dosage on a daily basis; if you're about to eat something that you know will bother you worse than usual, then take a pill right before you eat it to head it off at the pass, if you will.

Hi there,
I take welchol and used to take the questran you are talking about. The welchol has helped IMMENSELY! It might be something to look into :) Hoping you're having a better day today

Mala