IBS-D Flare Up

[Discoverer]

Hey All, first time posting,

I’ve had ibsd for over 10 years now and I have the occasional flare up which I deal with, however since Christmas when I was caught short on a walk my anxiety has been through the roof with going out and worrying about getting caught short again.

I have been on Citalopram for over 9 years and the doctor decided to change me to Sertraline which I have been taking 50mg for the last 4 weeks. However since Monday, I have had a terrible flare up and nothing seems to be helping to calm it down. The past 24 hours I have had terrible gas and bloating and am going to the loo every few hours. I have taken Imodium, Mebeverine, Dr Gut, Buscopan to no avail. Abdomen is still bloated and aches.

Any suggestions? Also does anyone have suggestions of a good tested probiotic, as the last few I’ve used I’ve felt made it worse.

thank you

Rob

[MountainHare1]

Sorry to hear about your situation.

Having had IBS mixed for seven years, l have chosen not to go on any medication or use over the counter remedies. Up until recently I have done really well with keeping IBS at bay. Unfortunately this last week I have had to take a course of antibiotics for gum disease which has affected my gut microbes and caused a flare up. Thankfully I finished the course today and I am confident that things will be better soon and I will continue not to take any kind of medication unless absolutely necessary.

I can recommend Kefir as a probiotic. I enjoy having in my diet although to be honest I am not totally convinced that probiotics work but l acknowledge that people who have IBS have different needs and symptoms! May l suggest you continue to try different ones. Hopefully you will find one that works for you.

I am sure you are aware that there are lots of other things you can do to help manage your anxiety. If not l can help with that if you need support.

Take care!

[SharonEd]

Hi Discoverer,

I have had IBS-D since 2018 and it became so bad I was desperate. Like you I was going to the toilet so often during the day. I'm so sad you got caught short. You must be anxious. I had to supplement to keep up my energy. I have unfortunately been diagnosed with osteoporosis at 53 years of age, even though I'm very active.

Good news is that I have just cured my IBS a few months ago. It happened after reading a blog about water and IBS. I subsequently drank distilled water and within 2 days it cleared up. I distilled, then solid block carbon filtered the water. I had tried diets and probiotics but nothing worked to stop it. I take "life space +60 probiotic" and I try to steer toward dense vitamin rich foods, but not too much fibre or fruit, and less bread, pasta, and potatoes is best. This makes me feel better.

Did you know that olives have probiotics? I put the juice from this on my salad, or use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

I believe my microbiome is not well and the water was irritating it. It will take time to heal, but I can already eat dairy without any reactions.

I don't drink coffee every day. Actually, I have found going without for a couple of weeks is very helpful as it stops the purging of your bowels. I have found lots of substitutes. Black tea is an obvious one, but I also like chai (not powdered or syrup) with rooibos, and make my own turmeric latte. This has also helped with anxiety issues.

I don't drink alcohol except on special occasions and don't smoke.

Milk chocolate is still a little troublesome, but dark chocolate is no problem! YUM.

I didn't buy any water units at first. I just bought 2 litre bottles of distilled water. (Make sure it's not mineral water). I figured the concerns people had about drinking distilled water did not outway my diarrhoea condition.

If this helps, GREAT. If you spend a few dollars on water and it doesn't help, then that's all you've lost.

Good luck, Sharon

[xjrs]

I just looked up "sertraline side effects diarrhea" in Google and it came back with "Sertraline is the most likely of the SSRIs to cause diarrhea."

You may need to speak to your doctor about this and say that it is possible that Sertraline doesn't suit you. I suppose working with the GP you could try going back to Citalopram to see if this proves the point. I'm wondering why the doctor switched you, when you didn't have any problems with Citalopram (need to check that it isn't just economic factors from the GP perspective). If there is a medical reason for the switch, you may need to try something else that has less likelihood of diarrhea.

I have tried many probiotics over the years and Alflorex has worked best for me. It has been scientifically studied for IBS and is proven to reach the gut.

[welsh12]

Yes Alflorex was good for me for a few years

[Februarygirl]

Hello Discoverer,

I can sympathise with you totally. I too have terrible anxiety purely down to my ibs-d. I have been caught out a few times now, one time so horrendous and public I can’t even repeat it, and more close misses than I care to think about. I have tried lots of things over the years and Sertraline is one of the latest. My doctor prescribed it for my anxiety as I acknowledged that I knew that it was making things worse. I didn’t want to take them after reading up about them and I went to see our local pharmacist as well to get his opinion. Anyway I decided that if I didn’t give it a go then I couldn’t go back to the doctor and ask for more help. Well, to be quite straight talking, I took one Sertraline at 6 o’clock one evening and by 8 o’clock I was breaking the four minute mile to get to the toilet. This continued for the rest of the evening and I had to get in and out of bed until 2 o’clock in the morning. The next day I was tired and sore. I had a meeting to attend that next evening so couldn’t possibly take another tablet and by the following day had decided that I wasn’t going to take any more.

I’d had some success previously with Alflorex probiotic so ordered up some more. Ferrocalm actually made me feel worse although it might work for some. Whole psysillium husk also made me feel bad. Continual twinges and cramps. So, at the moment I am keeping things under control by one Alflorex of a night and two Imodium of a morning. When I originally took Alflorex it was fantastic and calmed my insides down almost immediately and within a week it was as if I was cured. I felt so good and was really happy. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and about four weeks in things started to revert back to how they were before. I do feel though that the Alflorex this time around is helping to keep me comfortable as I don’t get any bad cramps or aches whilst taking it.

The anxiety I’m living with and tell myself frequently that it will be ok when I go out as the Imodium will work. One other thing I do is to mostly follow a FODMAP diet. I’m ok with a small amount of broccoli but nothing in the onion family at all and no beans etc. I’m muddling through and would love to have the confidence to go more to places and do more adventurous things.

I hope some of my trials and experiences can help you in some way. I certainly know how much ibs can curtail and overshadow your life.

[Luisa22]

Sertraline is an SSRI drug (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.)

One side effect of drugs in that category is loose stools and possible diarrhoea.

This isn't the first time I've heard of Sertraline being prescribed for someone with IBS D !

I wish some doctors knew what they were doing and weren't acting like automatons.

Obviously the Sertraline didn't cause your problems as you mention it being bad since Christmas (when you weren't on it.) But it sounds like things got worse while you WERE on it.

If possible get to speak to your doctor and tell him/her what's going on, and hopefully something more gut friendly for IBS D might be prescribed.

Which probiotics have you tried, that didn't help? I have heard that Alflorex and Symprove probiotics are helpful for IBS. But of course everyone is different and will have an individual reaction to probiotics.

[Kelill]

You have my sympathy. Medication invariably causes a flare up for me that can sometimes take months to settle my IBS. Not what you want to hear I know.

If you can I find fasting and increasing liquids - still water, bland soups help. Also white bread, dry plain crackers, organic natural yoghurt, berries, cold pressed flax seeds and Complan help me rebalance as my stomach struggles to cope with my usual diet.

The #VSL3 sachets help me during flare ups and were suggested by my nhs dietician. I take one in the morning for a few weeks.

Walking outdoors, gentle yoga (some specific digestive postures) , listening to podcasts and audiobooks help take my mind off the anxiety of it all. Good luck.