Loose stools.

[Redsea]

Hi All, just a query really , has anyone suffered with explosive diarrhoea due to heart medication. I had a NSTEMI 13 weeks ago and a stent implanted. Had a very hard time coming to terms with what happened,but finish Cardiac Rehab this week which has been great. However for the past 10 days I've had explosions, not to be too graphic! No nausea, pain, temperature, unfortunately no weight loss, nothing unusual with diet and no members of the family have had it. The only thing I can think of is medication. Don't really want to go to Doctors,but looking likely.

[Calliope153]

Go to the doctor - I was incapacitated for 3 days (couldn't leave home I bet you know what I mean) and it was the stomach protector pill that was causing it. Doctor not happy when I said that I was not putting another one down if it was the cause. So stopped taking them and magically stomach settled within 24 hours. We;re all different and it might be your meds. The end of the story was I saw the consultant's registrar some months later who said I should take a stomach protector and when I told him what had happened and I was now fine he said if you react badly don;t take it. The real difficulty is that everyone reacts differently to the cocktail of pills we all take every day. The person most likely to identify the culprit is your doctor..... try a bowl of porridge every day in the meantime. Good for heart health but you may also find it settles your stomach.... It;s early days yet and things will get better. I am a year and a half past my STEMI and it is only now I feel like my old self.... initially I thought I'd never get to a point where life was okay but you will get there. Rest as much as you can.... taake care.

[Maisie2014]

Yes. Calliope is right. It’s difficult to cope. My GP told me to take esomeprazole daily to combat this. I take it every 2 to 3 days. The heat has affected me badly in this regard too. Drink plenty of water.

[Snowdrops_17]

Please see your GP as that's not good. 10 days is far too long Readsea to put your body through this! It will make you feel weak as well. I never took a stomach protector med. But I eat before taking my meds and I feel that helps. I have a bowl of porridge with 1 banana every morning. Have noticed in this heat that if I don't drink enough water it makes me feel tired. But it took a bit of time for my digestive system to behave with the new medications I am on since end of February. I have had loose bowls on occasion but also felt constipated at times. Some food can affect our digestive system so I am more careful now! It's trial and error. Hope you feel better very soon Readsea!!!!

[NorthantsSteve]

Hi Redsea. My vote is to go to the Docs, too. I had issues with the meds (was taking Lansoprazole to combat effect of Aspirin/Ticagrelor). Spoke to the Doc who was happy for me to pause taking them and it cleared up. Then went back on Lansoprazole until I was off Ticagrelor.

By the way - I had an NSTEMI + stent 2.5 years ago age 55. It took me a while but I’ve never felt better. I’m sure you’ll get there in the end. It’s early days yet. Good luck.

[TheHud]

I have it all the time due to IBD, gut issues, but Oh boy all my control mechanisms out the window now I am trying out Bisoprolol. I was told to keep taking the meds, side effects will ease. To be honest I have just about had enough of the way doctors treat side effects in patients especially when they have known adverse reactions to start with. I am red flagged for beta blockers.

[17Nevil]

I have heart failure after having cardiac arrests and it has affected my kidneys which led to gout and a med I was given had that effect on me

I think you should definitely contact your gp - mine told me to stop taking it immediately

[Maisie2014]

Just a thought Redsea. Are you using Benecol spread? This definitely causes diarrhoea. My friend warned me about it but I said I’d try it anyway. He was right.

[45sue]

Nearly all the components of the cocktail usually prescribed have this as a possible side effect so if you are on several drugs it can be hard to identify the culprit. In my case , it was Atorvastatin which caused severe liver dysfunction so don't ignore this symptom & go to doctor who hopefully will do blood tests.

[BS-ZIG]

Oh my. I am on that drug. It’s caused bad constipation. Last weekend I went to the ER with an awful pain just below my rib cage. They said I had a blockage and told me to drink lots of Meri lax. I did. Still have the pain. Somewhat better, but if I touch in the right place it is there. Good luck to you.

Barbara

[Janma123]

Hi Redsea, because esomeprazole and the other PPIs lower your stomach acid you are more vulnerable to ‘stomach bugs’ so as well as your other medication upsetting your digestive system there is a greater risk of ‘bugs’ long term use of PPIs can also affect your ability to absorb essential nutrients from your food and your doctor should monitor this regularly.

Definitely speak to your doctor.

Best wishes

[HectorsDad]

Defiantly consult your GP, heart nurse, or whatever. There can always be something nasty at the bottom of it, and some of these drugs really mess with the liver.....

I also had problems, about 48 hours every three weeks for several months. Ironically ‘regular’, but it seems to have stopped now.

Just because you stopped taking a medicine, and it stopped, doesn’t mean that it was actually causing it. The mechanism is that the ‘runs’ is mostly caused by the digestive system trying to get rid of too much of something: might be a bug, or might be too much acid or whatever. The cocktail of drugs causes things to build up in the system, till it reaches the trigger point , and it flushes itself. Then the cycle repeats, till the body adjusts a bit. It doesn’t mean you can blame a drug- even if it is the trigger. A day or two without it to let the system get rid of the excess, and should be good to go.

We take some powerful stuff, it has side effects. If you want the benefit, you have to cope with it to some extent.

I have more problems with constipation- but the root cause of that is more likely that I’m sitting down too much when I have a bad week, not that the extra meds I’m taking is causing it, even though it clears when the meds stop.