IBS...does anyone use Constella, I need some advice and reassured other people feel the same as me please

[EMCC1]

Hi, im 28 and have suffered with constipation/IBS all my life. Have tried everything and nothing has worked and im scundered with myself as this has taking over my life ! I spend all my time on the toliet and cant go anywhere.

I have had a colonoscopy in December and its clear, i have had all the other tests and they are all clear..my doctor has put me onto Constella 290g and sent me to see a dietican.

With the constella i still have diarrohea so was told to take the tablet every other day but its still the same, i also feel sick alot and get so tired and exhausted easily and the i am really bloated all the time and always have the urge to goto the toliet but cant do anything..has anyone else had symtoms like these? Is it constant diarrohea or will i have normally stools? I have been on constella since december 2019 and was told it would get better within a couple days bit no improvement.

When I take a Constella, i get the side affects like winds diarrohea and few pains but thos continues to the next day with constant pain in around my whole belly, is this normally? Would the tablet be too strong? If i stop the tablets I would be back to square one again

#constella #ibs #constipations #bloating

[IBSNetwork Partner IBS Network]

Sorry to hear you're struggling. If you need help and support we are here theibsnetwork.org.

[Noah93]

OMG me too, so freakin frustrated. I do exactly the same like you but still in the same situation

[Mparker75]

I was put on constella in December for constipation. Didnt work for me. Was bloated had pains and felt sick all day but didnt go to the toilet! Dr changed me to resolor but side effects are headaches which i have daily and still not going to the toilet regularly. Gastro told me if constella didnt work after a week or 2 they wouldnt work at all so may be worth changing

[EMCC1]

Thank you for your replies...some days the contsella works and some it doesnt...but i thought the diarrohea would have stopped by now, and its hard to know whats is normal and whats not...i hate this feeling

[xjrs]

I have been on Linaclotide (Constella) for 3 months now. Within just over the first 2 weeks the Linaclotide increased my motility significantly, but didn't soften my stools (it is meant to be an osmotic too). This meant the drug kept trying to make me have a bowel movement (i.e. I had to keep rushing to the loo) but since my stools were hard, I couldn't evacuate much. This then led me to get overflow (what seems like diarrhea, but isn't - it's liquid waste passing around the sides of compacted stool) and I passed mucus (with urgency). All of this kept me tied to the house for that period. Prior to starting the Linaclotide I was taking magnesium oxide as an osmotic laxative, so I started taking this again at bedtime as I normally would have done - this sorted me since I was able to completely evacuate in the morning and Linaclotide left me alone for the rest of the day which meant I could go out again. After this point the hyperactive motility slowed down to more normal levels (maybe the drug adjusting itself). However, on the plus side I have IBS-C with visceral hypersensitivity (intestinal nerve pain). The pain would wake me from around 2am onwards as my intestine starts to prepare for a morning BM. The Linaclotide hasn't helped with with my BMs but it has reduced my pain considerably. I have also just started the Alflorex probiotic (which has been studied for IBS) on a free 2 month trial from theibsnetwork.org - this in addition to the Linaclotide at times has removed the pain completely. This has allowed me to widen my diet a lot (I even have prunes for breakfast which I couldn't previously tolerate). Since I can now have fibre without being in pain I am managing to have BMs without needing the magnesium oxide, although they are still Type 2s/1s on the Bristol stool scale and I need to modify my diet much more.

If you are only taking Constella to get a BM and you don't have pain and the Constella isn't regulating for you, you might need to try something else. This list might help you - this is in the order of try the top stuff first and if those don't help, work down the list:

theibsnetwork.org/constipat...

Another question is whether you can tolerate fibre. If you are getting diarrhea with the Constella is this because you aren't bulking out the stool (see list above and advice below)?:

theibsnetwork.org/constipat...

When I used to take Magnesium Oxide I worked up the dose each night to get a response in the morning, but in time I had to keep increasing the dose until I ended up at 1500mg. You could start at 800mg and increase by 100mg each night if necessary. This comes in 100mg tablets and allows you to work up & down the dose taken at bed time:

myvitamins.com/vitamins/mag...