Stomach and bowel problems, are these due to the medication?

[Karendeena]

I have posted before about this subject but my GP now thinks I have become so anxious I've developed IBS!

Has anyone here suffered from intermittent diarrhoea with mucus? Taken off Lansoprazole 3 weeks ago as doc suspected side effects. After a week or so things settled until I started to taper pred. Was on 3mg but pain came back so went back to 4mg, pain subsided but bowels started to play up again. Went back to 3mg yesterday and settled again but bowel motions floating. Have been suffering a lot of wind and never belch normally but I am feeling a little now. I a. Taking the pred with food in the morning as the doc instructed. Not sure where the IBS is coming from. Has anyone here had this triggered? Never had problems until I started with PMR and the associated medication.

[SnazzyD]

It seems not uncommon on this forum for intestinal problems and allergies to occur on low doses and I certainly developed all sorts of food intolerances which wore off over months. I also found, as have others, that Omeprazole and it’s relatives can mess up one’s intestinal functioning that can take a time to settle. Stopping Omperazole suddenly is not recommended either. However, since autoimmune conditions hunt in packs it might be worth considering an autoimmune cause such as pancreatic insufficiency that causes a lack of certain digestive enzymes. This can cause fatty, smelly and floating stools. There are others like coeliac disease. I would make a detailed food and symptom diary to spot any offending foodstuffs, so if it persists and you see a doc, you will have already done some homework.

[S4ndy]

Being a long term IBS sufferer I did find that I was having lots of flares of ibs while on pred. My GP referred me to a gastroenterologist who ran a whole raft of tests and took me off of ppi's. All the tests pointed to IBS flares and nothing sinister. He didn't think it was prednisolone either. Stopping the ppi's (drugs like lansoprazole) helped. However as I had suffered for years my consultant had me do the FODMAP diet. This diet is to identify food triggers and is very restrictive in the first stage. Best to do this with medical supervision. It took about 18 months but I now have a good idea what foods trigger me. I can be triggered by stress/anxiety but this is not as often as I had thought as most IBS flares can be traced to something I ate!

I am still on 5mg of prednisolone and my Rheumatologist is keeping me at this level.

If your IBS symptoms are new and don't clear up from stopping ppi's then I would be asking your GP for a referral to a gastroenterologist to rule out other causes.

[Predsharer]

I have had similar symptoms and whilst I can’t come up with any solutions can sympathise. I have been trying to eliminate things from my diet , trying gluten free, sugar free, low carb, drinking more water etc. I had my gall bladder removed several years ago and wonder if this has anything to do with it. I eat far more calcium rich food recently because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis following a DEXA scan (and have chosen not to take the medication). I do think my diet contains more fat than it used to, which doesn’t sit well with not having a gall bladder. It seems that you can’t win!

[arvine]

Hello Karendeena, well there are similarities between your story and mine however, I have had IBS D for many years , well before diagnosed with PMR, but as of past Dec, my bowel habits changed to IBS C, I did start to taper from 5 mgs to 4 in Nov, and thought that was the cause, so went back to 5 mgs, in Jan, 2021, but symptons did not improve, I also had some mucus in bowel movements, and quite constipated, had ultrasound done, then a catscan in Feb, results were simply that I had spasms in colon, and dr,s orders was to get on metamucil daily, that helped somewhat, still not great, then went on trip down east in August, and on road for days, was afraid to eat and was taking some immodium to stop any cramps, and have to stop for washroom, tried to continue metamucil, but some days didn,t get it, my diet was not was I was use to, as the other people in my group were fond of fast food, and being economical, so insides were really out of whack for those 3 weeks, back for week, back on usual diet, taking metamucil daily, but after that, mid Sept, started to have a lot of pain, pressure in lower abdomen, pelvic area, dr sent for ultrasound, and internal, showed diverticulosis which I have also had for years, and had a couple of bad attacks through the years, so not much improvement, now just had another catscan done, past Friday, and to my surprise, because they couldnt reach my dr(clsed at noon) on Friday, they actually called me rom clinic, couple hrs after my catscan, telling me I had inflammation in diverticuli, and if pain got worse go to urgent care, well in last week or so pain had subsided previous to catscan, just normal cramping first part of day, and several trips to bathroom, although not diarrhea, so they told me to call dr first thing monday morning, which I did yesterday, clinic had faxed results to dr office over wkend, so I saw dr yesterday at 11:30, which he went over results, and has put me on 2 antibiotics now for a week, metronidazole, and cipro flox,, so I was worried about this condition, as diverticulitis can be very serious, if they rupture and spread poison to your system, peritonitis, at any rate, I just started meds this morning, will continue to take metamucil daily as prescribed, and hoping this heavy, pressure feeling in lower abdomen clears up, so bottom line is, you also may have diverticulits with inflammation, and maybe suggest a catscan to see what,s going on with you, my dr doesn,t think pred has any influence on my condition however, so I have now started to taper again a couple of weeks ago to 4 mgs pred, so still not sure how much pred can affect your bowels at this point,

[Miserere]

My ibs is coming back now that my dose has reduced. Lots of wind etc. Hoped it would stay away. Every day can be a new world with this illness, can't it?