Going back on Digestive Advantage

Okay, so since my scope I've had lots of D.  Lots of D and little control/warning.  I've missed a bunch of work because of it and thats not good.  So I've decided that I'm going to start using the Digestive Advantage Chrones and Colitis Formula again.  I really don't care what my Dr. thinks about it. (He reccoemnded that I stop taking it because it could lead to D. while on a flare.)  Well the D can't get much worse and if I have a 40% chance of the D/A working and slowing my D and making me feel better than I'm going to start taking it again.  I'm tired of drugs that have the same side effects as the symptoms of my IBD. 

Okay I hope that I don't jinx myself with this but let me give an update.

I've changed two things in my daily medication.

1 I started useing D/A Chrones and Colitis Formula. 3 pills a day taken at night before I go to bed.
2 I take 1 Imodium AD when I wake up in the morning.


The first night was horrible. I blame the D/A too. I was so gassy. Its a guy thing to joke about how "everyone loves their own brand" well it isn't true. I just about gassed myself out of my own bedroom. The second night I had considerably less gas and last night I'm not sure if I had any. This is a good thing. A very good thing. I've had really bad gas for quite some time now. I've not changed eating habbits so its not that. I credit this change to the D/A as well.

Tuesday morning (the first morning) I was up at 5 a.m. and took 1 Imodium at about 5:30 right about the time I had my first BM. (I habitually try to have 3 good BM's before I try to drive the 40 minutes to work.) I did not have D! While it definatly wasn't normal stool, it wasn't the watery woosh/rapid evacuation that I had been experiencing. The following two BMs progressivly lost what little form they had and the third BM had just a little blood at the very end. I had a decent trip into work even if I did leave a little late due to the last BM. There was no urgency or desire to have a BM in the middle of the day until about 5 p.m. This is the shocking thing (at least for me) I felt the need to go and without any sense of urgency walked my happy butt to the restroom, did what I needed to do and left.

Wednesday morning I followed the same routine. In all three habitual morning BMs I had slightly formed stool and no real sense of urgency. I left the house and the trip into work was great. The entire day was actually quite nice (except the fact that I was at work hehe). At about 7:30p.m. I had my first urge to use the restroom again. I went, passed a little gass and that was it.

This morning, again the same routine, almost. I made my first two habitual BMs with out incident or real urgency. I tried to go the third time and really didn't accomplish anything. On my drive into work, about 2/3s of the way in I felt like I had to go, so without any sense of urgency, just a normal desire to use the bathroom I pulled over at the nearest spot did what I needed to do and went on my merry way. So far at work things have been fine.


In my previous experience a single Imodium tablet has lasted at most about 6 hours. So my evening "sensations" I accredit to the unclogging from the Imodium. I can give some credit to the Imodium for helping me get to work. I say "some" because of this morning still needing to go while on the way in.

The D/A has seemed to have removed my night-time gas problems at the very least.

My plan for my medication is this.

I'm going to stay with my current routine until tuesday the 24th. If I feel that I have improved I will stop taking the Imodium and see what happens after that. If all goes well one month later I will drop down to taking 2 D/A a night. By then I will have had my next appointment with my GI and will have been able to talk to him about my experiences. If I am still doing good after a month on 2 D/A pills a day I will speak to him about starting to taper my Prednisone down again. Very, very slowly. Maybe 5mg every two weeks.

So there is my update, I'm sorry if it is long winded. I'll keep posting updates every few days. If things work out for me, I hope that others can use this as an example and feel better too. We may never be cured, but hopefully we can feel better some day.

I couldn't tell you without looking at the package, but I'll try to remmber you asked and do a post on it tonight. :)

If you look at the posible side effects it lists D. Just like all the other meds I've take for UC. They all can cause D. hehe crazy eh?