[Automan]

Hi All.My doctor suggested I try taking Zelnorm (I think he figured just because it was new, it must be good). By most people's standards, I have IBS. Had zillions of tests done and nothing has shown up.I was reading the literature and it said Zelnorm is for women. Is this true? It said zelnorm had not been shown to make any improvement in men.He also mentioned it may cause D. I don't have D, or C... which means I could have really BAD D if I take this.

 

[Kathleen M.]

In phase II clinical trials which must be done in both genders for all drugs for every condition that effects both genders the results for men were not different than placebo so they can't say that it helped the men in that trial.However this is a *statistical* arguement based on a *group* of men. It doesn't say that the men that had improvement on the drug didn't have improvement. What it means is that the % of men that get better on the drug is about the same as the % of men that get better when they are in a clinical trial (for every condition someone gets better just being in the clinical trial and they want drugs to do more good than that)It was safety tested in people with diarrhea-predominatd IBS. Generally it didn't make the diarrhea worse and for some people might make the pain a bit better, but you are right it is primarily for constipation-predominate IBS.Lotronex is for diarrhea-predominate IBS. It should be back on pharmacy shelves by the end of the year. It also has the gender-specificity problem. For men *as a group* it doesn't do much better than placebo, but for a small % of individual men anecdotally it seems to do a lot of good.Now some insurance companies may not cover Lotronex or Zelnorm for men because of the approved for woman-only thing.I would talk to the doctor (like bring drug sheet print outs or fax them over) to remind him that it is for constipation-predominate IBS and you want to know precisely why he wants you to try it.K.

 

[JohnR]

Hi Doug,I live in Los Angeles too, I'm trying to find a doctor who will at least dispense Zelnorm samples. My current G.I. won't give them to me cause he says he contacted Novaritis & they told him no because there hasn't been a conclusive study for men.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks,John

 

[surfboar]

I was at my new GI last week and we talked about Zelnorn. He said that he has had alot of success with men taking it. Right now (fingers crossed) my IBS is in remission since I have been on antibiotics for a prostate infection. He told me that if my symptoms return he wants to try me on Zelnorn. Hopefully they never return!!!! but if they do, I will let you all know how it goes for me.