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What helped me with IBS-D

3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  susie419 
#1 ·
I wanted to share what helped my IBS-D. After dealing with episodes of extreme pain and diarrhea every couple weeks for months, I was referred to a really good gastrointerologist. After trying all the conventional treatments (fiber, probiotics, etc) he finally put me on an ultra low dose of a common antidepressant called nortriptyline. His theory was that since your gut has nearly as many nerves as your brain, a low dose antidepressant could help heal those nerves. The dosage wasn't enough to effect by brain activity, but it was enough over time to help with the nerves along my intestinal tract.

After being on this medicine for a couple months, by IBS "episodes" became less and less frequent and severe. Eventually I was going for long periods of time without any issues at all. Finally after being on the medicine for over a year, I started to gradually take myself off of it. It's been almost a year off of the medicine now. I still have IBS episodes from time to time, but they are few and far between. In addition, the symptoms are not nearly as bad as they used to be.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this because I don't see much mention of this treatment method on here. It may be something you want to ask your doctor about.
 
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