[Fed Up]

Does any one else feel that the medication our doctors prescribe is just prolonging the problem? I take immodium, and sometimes feel that I'm taking it one day, only for the problem to be worse the next day.

 

[bushja1]

Since there is no cure for IBS, medications can only treat the symptoms. Sad but true. All I can say is thank God there are medications that can help with our symptoms

 

[Lagomorph]

It would be nice if your body could talk to you and tell you what it needs. I'm not too keen on taking medications for the rest of my life but I am glad that they exist to make our lives more manageable.

 

[20327]

I have both IBS-C and IBS-D. IBS-C seems predominant, but when it flips to IBS-D, I am glad there is immodium. I have found times when it stops IBS-D in its tracks with 1-2 doses. Other times, the medicine just helps me to live a normal life. For example, I had a case of IBS-D where at work I was under great tension. Because of the fragile state of the intestines, I found myself needing to "go" every 5 minutes. How can a person hold a job that way? With Immodium I can have a social life. So, at times I have had the experience that Immodium seems to cut short an IBS-D attack. Other times it makes such a period more endurable.

 

[Kathleen M.]

When something just treats symptoms, usually the symptoms come back as soon as the med wears off unless the disease is something self-limiting (like a cold will eventually go away).Chronic conditions are usually symptom management issues rather than take a pill for a week and be cured sorts of things.Some medications can have symptom bounce back (not sure how much this is for IBS drugs) or if you take too much like with Imodium you may get diarrhea trying to force the constipation out so you can make things worse by over-doing it. You want to find the lowest dose that works, not take as much as possilbe in these situations.Sometims the symptom will seem worse if you have had a break from it. Constant misery never seems as bad as the exact same level of misery when it starts back up again.K.