[14452]

Hi,I'm a 27 year old male I suffer from constipation for about 4 years untill recently some bran and enough water will get me trough the day but two weeks ago somthing changed and i became terrebly constipated nothing has helped since, bran, water, oil, and my doctor prescribed zelnorm is it safe for men?any side affects?Thanks for any help

 

[SpAsMaN*]

Start with half the dose.

 

[14452]

Thanks for the postWhy is there a reason that it's not for men?

 

[SpAsMaN*]

I dunno:www.zelnorm.comBut for me it seems only provide more movements and head aches.

 

[16487]

It has something to do with the way they did the study that it is not for men. My friend uses it and is basically normal with only the occasional problems form time to time. I still can't tell that it does much of anyhting for me. It can cause D and cramps early on but that usually subsides in a few days.

 

[14452]

Sorry i'm new here what is D ?i guess if it's somthing that dose not work wonders for people i think i wont try it if it's not for men..Thanks

 

[Guest]

"D" is diarrhea, "C" is constipationThey don't market it for men because the maker did not do studies on men. I don't know why besides assuming that IBS is linked to women more than men. That is not a good reason if you ask me.Personally, I could only take Zelnorm for 3 days and quit it. I could not function with the painful cramping and the nonstop diarrhea. I had to miss work.

 

[nj_jaguar_lady]

I started Zelnorm about 2 months ago taking 1 tablet in the morning and 1 at night. It did absolutely nothing. But for some reason I sayed on it. After my colonocopy in March 2005, my doctor said I definetly have IBS-C and he suggested 2 tablets in the morning and 2 again at night, which doubled the original dosage. Well I have never had a medicine work so good for me. It has become my wonder drug. No cramping or diarrhea at all. Just have the urge to go every morning. I wish it could work this well for all you other people also.

 

[Kathleen M.]

quote:don't market it for men because the maker did not do studies on men. I don't know why besides

No. they did Phase II clinical trials in Men (the kind with a couple of hundred people to see if it even potentially does anything at all)THEY MUST DO PHASE II IN BOTH GENDERSIn the Phase II it really didn't work for the men but it did for the women. Actually I looked at the data when it first was reported on the FDA website and men did better on placebo than on Zelnorm, but not enough better on placebo for statistical difference, just a trend.They just started doing this because they finally figured out that a lot of drugs tested in men only (which is what they did up until the 1990's when the rules changed) don't work in woman and some drugs rejected worked in woman.Anywho. There seems to be a small % of people who do not go the same way their gender does, but you really have to demonstrate some efficacy in Phase II for at least some people before you test in thousands of people.We will see more of this Men only or Woman only thing as time goes by. Just so happens IBS meds are some of the first places we see this.Generic drugs that were ONLY tested in men for other diseases (therefore work in men for other things) do not work in men for IBS, so it is not just new drugs that have this issue. (one of the tricyclic antidepressants only works for woman for IBS and it was approved under the old only men are tested thing for depression).They are looking at why there are gender differences with IBS drugs, but I don't know if they know anything for certain.K.

 

[Kathleen M.]

To the original question.I don't know if it would be any more dangerous for men than for woman other than it is unlikely to work for most men. A lot of people get diarrhea at first when they take it.K.

 

[14452]

Ok i started zelnorm 4 days ago and only had one bowel movement since how long dose it take for it to start working?Thanks for any help