Prucalopride side effects

[TrenchcoatPenguin]

Hi,

After conducting multiple tests over the past year, my gastroenterologist concluded that I probably have IBS-C. I have tried many different laxatives with varying levels of success, so my doctor prescribed me some Prucalopride for a few months to try. I had high hopes for this at first but I've been taking 2mg daily for the past 2 weeks and I am starting to wonder if Prucalopride really is viable in the long term.

It seems to be working at least to some extent since I have managed to have one bowel movement a day consistently since starting my treatment. However the fun stops here because my symptoms (bloating, fullness, tiredness) have not improved or not noticeably at least. In addition, I have high fatigue (and nausea and mind fog too at times) on most days as a side effect of taking the Prucalopride. I generally feel alright in the mornings, but in the afternoons and evenings after taking my Prucalopride (before lunch) I just feel like a vegetable, incapable of doing any significant effort, I feel sleepy, unmotivated and hard to focus.

These side effects are rather debilitating sometimes when I need to get things done or drive somewhere. Another point of concern is that Prucalopride (Resolor) is very expensive in my country (120€ / month) so I'm not sure it's that worth it in the end.

I'm curious what has been your experience with Prucalopride and if you have any advice to give as far as dealing with the side effects and improving my overall symptoms.

Thanks for reading my post. Have a great evening.

[Meleber]

I use prucalopride and it helps somewhat and don't experience noticeable side effects. In my case, probably a really slow whole gut transit due to an underlying (congential?) neuromuscular problem / problem with my autonomic nervous sytem (will see a neurologist / neurology professor in May), I also need extra medication, like 5mg bisacodyl, to keep the flow in my intestines. Also have to mind what and how much I eat, too much fat and fibre make my symptoms worse.

In first instance, before switching to prucalopride, I started trying linaclotide but because of the high dosage (no low dosage capsules available in the Netherlands), even after splitting the content of the capsule in half, my bowels didn't agree with it. Needed to run to the toilet. So you could say linaclotide works, but a bit too good in my situation 😉 That is why I switched to prucalopride, better tolerated.

Will have an appointment with a doctor in training to become a gastroenterologist in a week's time and will ask the physician if I should give linaclotide another try, instead of prucalopride. The consult is about the whole gut transit study that was done years ago and if I should do it again. The result of my initial transit study was flawed because I kept using bisacodyl, in agreement with the radiology department of the university hospital. If they think a new whole gut transit study is necessary, I only can do it clinically because of my hopelessly slow/bad working intestines/gastrointestinal tract and the severe problems even one normal warm meal already causes.