[Gill58]

I have had weeks, now, of sudden D, after feeling pretty good on the calcium and Elavil for some time. I can't work out why this IBS returned with a vengence as my lovely quiet life hasn't changed - no stress at all. My doctor has stopped the Elavil and prescribed 3 tablets of Librax a day, Calcium tablets, plus a powder called Smecta (a French medicine to bathe and soothe the gut - my guess it is like kaolin). This has not made any difference to the diarrhoea episodes and after a desperate dash for the toilet in our local supermarket today, I came home in floods of tears. This is really ruining my life and is very depressing. I am not depressive, just very depressed about my condition! What makes it even harder is that almost NO stores in France have toilets!!!Has anyone had any experience of taking Librax? How long should it take to start to work? Should I be patient and wait for it to start to work? I have given up sugars, caffeine, colas, orange juice, take Benefibre daily and eat oatmeal for breakfast. I don't eat fatty foods, never buy ready-made meals or junk foods. I am lactose intollerant and am very careful not to eat any foods that contain this, so this isn't the problem. My doctor said that I should try Librax for a month, and if no change, he will send me to the hospital for the pill swallowing camera test (which although I dread, I am desperate enough to do it!)Any help/suggestions would be so much appreciated,

 

[BQ]

Librax isn't supposed to stop diarrhea. It has two medications in it. One calms anxiety a bit and the other is an antispasmodic.Here is some info on it:http://www.drugs.com/librax.html How about using some imodium to get you through this. You may just be flaring. And if it's Diarrhea Flare, an antidiarrheal like imodium may help. And it might be good to have the camera test to be more thorough. The only problem with those tests is they can't take any biopsies to rule out other things like they can during a colonoscopy.I hope you feel better real soon.

 

[Gill58]

Thank you for your quick reply! I feel stupid, but I should have included in my list of meds, that I take 2 Immodiums in the morning and I have done this for many years. Maybe it is the foggy-ness of the Librax that made me omit them, or the lateness of the hour! Yes, I think I shall have to go for the pill camera test, at least my doctor is very willing to send me for any testing that can give us an answer (if there is an answer!).

 

[BQ]

Gill I find if I wait til morning to take the imodium.. that's too late. I need to co-locate the immodium WITH my meals so I take it with each larger meal. I take it in a preventative fashion. There ARE drawbacks to the camera endoscopy. Here is an article you may want to read about it:http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/705961I would opt for a colonoscopy if I were you. One must do the clean out prep for either the camera test or the colonscopy. So that is the same. But there is no way to get biopsies with a camera endoscopy.. And I think it is important to rule out everything and that would mean biopsies are necessary. But it is up to you.All the best