Posted 9/26/2014 8:44 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks.
After talking with pharmacist and GI doc, they decided the side effects WAY outweighed any possible benefit from the med. They were thinking it might help stop some of the severe spasming in my colon, which was completely unproductive (that is, the spasms, or rather super intense contractions, should have been making me have BMs all day, every day, but I was only having BMs every two weeks, with the help of consuming multiple laxatives and drinking bowel prep, like they have you do before a colonoscopy). They figured if they were able to undo the constipation, I'd be having accidents constantly from the spasming. In a test at Mayo last month, they determined that while healthy people have at most 4 of those big spasms a day, I was having up to 4 of them every 30 seconds. Ok, lots of details you didn't need or want to know, but I was able to get off the med after about 2 weeks time, side effects were really bad--dangerously low blood pressures, increased nausea, constipation!, tiredness/fatigue all the time but unable to sleep more than 45 minutes to an hour at a time. The side effects, combined with the fact that the med wasn't appropriate, at least not now, made them decide to stop it. Thank God!!
It's interesting how these days, it has become so common for docs to use meds for "off-label" uses, like how the med was created to treat one thing, and then they accidentally discover it can treat lots of other things too! Pretty cool. Only problem is that some "off-label" uses for meds have not been proven enough for insurance companies to approve paying for them.
Thanks though for replying to my message. I am glad that you have found some meds that help you. Just curious, do you have trouble with the Propranolol affecting your blood pressure/making it too low?
Thanks again for the reply. Sometimes it's just really nice to know that someone is listening and does care or want to help.