Antibiotics and the effect on IBS
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi Everyone hope you all had a good Christmas.
Can anyone tell how antibiotics have affected your IBS. It is well known that the two don't mix. I am on a 7 day course of Amoxicillin 500 for a urinary infection (had to go to local hospital on Christmas Eve). Before the urinary infection I had been battling an awful cold with terrible cough (not helped by having asthma). This caused my system to slow down and I became constipated in desperation I took sennokot but was on the toilet around 6 or 7 times the day afterwards. Still not back to normal but better. Do you think it was the sennekot or the amoxicillin. I have family coming tomorrow for New Year so want to be as well as possible. Thanks.
0 likes, 9 replies
Nadine_00 libralady13
Posted
i know with my ibs when I'm aniobotics I have to take a tablet called caloxil and ciner to make me go every day otherwise I'm the same as you and I get very badly constipated and very bloated how ever when I finally start going after been blocked up for a few day I will be going to an from the loo a few times a day as well so to me it sound normal then after a day or so everything returns to normal and I will start going as I normally would so I hope this gives you a bit of help and makes you relax a littlle.
happy new year I hope you all have a great day with all of your family
regards Nadine
libralady13 Nadine_00
Posted
Thanks for your kind words of reassurance. I suffer from Anxiety particularly health anxiety and at 67 years old do have other health problems and am on various medication. I have been this morning but still feel I could go again. If in the New year it is not back to normal then I will go and see my gp. Happy New year to you and your family.
Best Wishes Carol
Nadine_00 libralady13
Posted
I can't believe what you have written is me reading about myself I'm 38 and I also have just been put on medication for anxiety problem because I've been suffering quite bad how ever I also have a lot of medical problems my self which doesn't help with the ibs and yes I think if your still having trubble in the new year go to your gp and see what they tell you to do as they are the ones with the medical ticket and will help in all way. Take care
I hope also you and your family have a very safe an happy new year as well 🎉🎉 I'm pretty sure I'll be in bed before 12am though
from Nadine
libralady13 Nadine_00
Posted
blepharitis, mild glaucoma,IBS,osteoarthritis in knees spine and neck and now possibly silent reflux, I can never relax as I never feel 100% and that feeds the anxiety. Today my daughter,husband and grandaughters age 6 and 2 are coming to stay for New Year. I have all the food in Christmas presents etc and panto tomorrow. I am looking forward to it but today I don't feel so good and am panicking about whether I will be able to cope and still be awake at 12am.
Anyway as said before Happy New Year to you and your family and I hope 2015 will be a better year for us both.
bobcrachet libralady13
Posted
I dread the thought of taking laxatives, I was put on 6 sachets of laxido orange per day after a hospital visit for sivere constipation. These medical professionals don't seem to understand how delicate our systems are with IBS.
I would suggest it was a combination of the two which upset your system. Sennokot is a strong laxative which causes your colon to push things through a bit faster, my GP does not like prescribing this type of laxative.
The Amoxicillin is a fairly strong antibiotic and as you say they do not agree with people who have IBS. I was put on metronidazole and ciprofloxacine because they thought I had diverticulitis which a colonoscopy revealed I did not have. Antibiotics made my IBS a lot worse because they kill of the good bacteria in your gut.
I know you had to take the amoxicillin that your GP prescribed but please be careful if you are taking other medication.
I control my constipation with diet alone now. I think you would feel a lot better if you followed the low FODMAP diet. I also found that avoiding wheat, rye and dairy products helped me right away.
I do hope you feel better soon and that my blog helps you in some way.
Please look after yourself
robert
libralady13 bobcrachet
Posted
Thanks for your reply. The IBS seems to be settling down (I hope). I will look at the low fodmap diet but can you tell me if you have to avoid wheat etc how do you cope with constipation. Also I suffer from osteopenia (not bad enough to be osteporosis) so I need a good calcium intake so would be worried about excluding all dairy products.
I have possible silent reflux as well so should really be following a low acid diet. I do avoid things like tomatoes,citric fruit and juice but have not been strict enough. It is quite a strict diet and with it being Christmas I have eaten things I shouldn't. If you read my message to Nadine you will see that one of my main problems is anxiety which obviously affects the IBS and things in general. I am just so fed up with never feeling 100%. I find it hard to accept long term medical problems like my arthritis.
I wish you and Happy and Healthy 2015.
Best Wishes
Carol
bobcrachet libralady13
Posted
Thank you for your kind response to my blog.
A few months back I was of the same mind as you, I thought I need wheat to maintain digestive transit. I have now discovered that wheat and dairy very seriously slow up my system and there is quite a bit of information on this subject. My main sources of carbohydrate are now porridge and potatoes, I avoid wheat and by not eating dairy you will find you do not need to starve yourself on some diet. 8oz of whole milk contain 290mg of calcium. 8oz of fruit low fat probiotic yogurt contains 338mg of calcium and does assist with digestive transit. Cheddar cheese contains 204mg of calcium per ounce but is known for slowing up digestive transit and causing constipation. It is suggested that someone suffering from osteoporosis requires a dose 1200mg of calcium per day. For this sort of input I would take calcium and vitamin D tablets because even if you eate lots of dairy and leafy green vegetables it is questionable whether you would get enough vitamin D to absorb the calcium.
I think your main problem is stress. Do you know that over the christmas period women do twice as much work as they normally do. I would say that is probably three times as much as men as we normally take it easy, drink and watch TV. It's not surprising that you are a bit stressed out. Tell you other half it's time for you to have a hoilday for health reasons, chill out an take it easy.
Happy New year to you
robert
libralady13 bobcrachet
Posted
Just stopped for a cuppa mid housework. Your reply is interesting.
I do eat porridge with skimmed milk most mornings but I don't like potatoes boiled mashed jacket never have done since a child. I do take vitamin D3 and have done for 2 years since fracturing my wrist a follow up dexa scan revealed osteopenia. I will speak to my gp about calcium tablets. Which is the best site for low fodmap diet. I love cheese but hardly ever eat it now because of the silent reflux. What fruit can you eat on the low fodmap diet? I tend to eat pears apples and nectarines on a regular basis are these high fodmap fruits? Family are arriving at around 4pm so better get on and be ready to watch grandaughters open their Christmas presents. Thanks for your interest and help.
Carol
bobcrachet libralady13
Posted
I will make comments in the order of your last blog.
1) Potatoes are really good for digestive transit and they release there sugar slowly so they are a sustaining food unlike foods that are high in sugar. You might like to experiment with some herbs as this transforms the taste. Another option is brown rice, I had an indian neighbour and I could not believe how many sweet and savoury ways she could serve up this complex carbohydrate.
2) I would definitely speak to your GP about calcium and vitamin D supplements as this would help you a great deal.
3) The best site I have found for the low FODMAP diet is
" Should you cut out bread - NHS choices " then download the pdf 369kb called foods suitable on a FODMAP diet. The reason I like this site is that it gives you too charts to print out, one red which is bad foods and one green which is good foods.
4) Foods which are good are ripe bananas, blueberries, grapes, kiwifruit, oranges, pineapples, raspberries, stawberries, rhubarb, (this is just a few)
5) Pears, apples and nectarines are all on the bad list I am afraid.
I do hope this is some help to you Carol. We were talking about stress, well my two boys live over two hundred and fifty miles away from us. We will have no visitors over the new year. We live in a fairly remote part of North Wales, it's very quiet and all I see out of the bedroom window in the snow capped mountains. Its fairly cold but nice by the woodburning stove. No stress except what goes on in your head. I still think you should take a nice rest in the new year.
All the very best
robert