Would you mind disclosing who the doctor was? I have been dealing with this for years and it's been wreaking havoc on my personal and professional lives. Doctors in my area are not familiar with my condition and don't have a solution. I'm especially tired of the malabsorption, dietary restrictions, sleeping issues, inability to gain weight, edema.. a whole laundry list. Would love to hear your doctor's opinion.
I am not surprised that the brain-gut circuit affects the sympathetic nervous system. I find that when my symptoms start getting very bad my heart rate variability drops basically to 0 (with loud, thunderous heartbeats). When things are good I don't notice my heartbeat whatsoever. Symptoms improve basically when I stop eating.. which is not a treatment plan.
I find it strange that my gastroenterologist does not even contemplate cases involving gut dysbiosis. I ask all of the relevant questions and the answer is "dysbiosis is not something we treat". And he's a gastroenterologist for christ's sake. He literally said to me "Get used to it. Some days you will have good days and some days you will have bad days". Modern medicine for you.
I had similar experiences, but with amitriptyline at the lowest dose of 10mg taken every night. At 25mg I was too drowsy. It drastically improved all of my chronic problems almost immediately - gut problems (IBS-D), inability to sleep more than a few hours, and issues with peripheral nerves.
Amitriptyline has a slight sedative effect compared to nortriptyline, which is good if you suffer problems with sleep, but has slightly more side effects.
I'm in the UK, and a GP at my previous clinic prescribed me this. Your doctor should be able to also, there shouldn't be a need to see a specialist.
Wow that's so interesting. What problems were you experiencing with peripheral nerves? I have also developed these problems recently. I had a colonoscopy where I had to chug a bunch of polyethylene glycol and after that I've had fluctuating levels of numbness (peripheral neuropahy? I am assuming) in both of my hands. I have no idea the pathology here.. electrolyte problems? Docs aren't even investigating.
My GPs seem to think I am insane and that this is all induced by "stress and anxiety" since my bloodwork is for the most part normal—although in the past months it's been teetering on the verge of becoming problematic in some areas. Because of this, they write most of my symptoms off.
Was there something that you said specifically that caused them to prescribe that or it was just after describing your symptoms? I feel like if I go in saying "well I read about this SSRI on the internet"... instead the psych ward is going to be their next prescription for me.
I had those same issues with first numbness, then progressing to sore joints, in the fingers and toes. Then it progressed to sore joints around the body.
It seems that the flare-ups heighten pain sensitivity in the peripheral nerves in addition to the gut problems. My whole body feels 'raw' when it happens.
I have no idea on what the pathology is, but I expect it has a genetic component. It seems that my gut has issues with the self-regulation of certain neurotransmitters.
Over the past decade or more, I've tried nearly all of the other treatments for IBS and none of them work. The peppermint oil capsules were the worse. It was a complete waste of time and you walk around with the smell of toothpaste, at least that's how it felt to me.
You can refer back to some credible information for patients like this here from the NHS -
Amitriptyline is clearly a treatment option for IBS there. Insist on it and your doctor should have no reason to deny it to you unless you have a contraindication.
If you're not in the UK, then there are other sources like this -
>In one trial, nearly 70 percent of patients receiving 10 mg of amitriptyline experienced a complete loss of IBS symptoms compared with 28 percent of those on placebo.
I guess I'm lucky and in that 70%. I hope you are as well. It's such a big effect on my health, I wish I knew how to deal with it sooner.
Wow. Thank you. This is enlightening in ways that you cannot even imagine. For example I thought maybe the gut problems had been causing other complications which resulted in the neuropathy. Now, I can maybe begin to look at the gut issues as the sole catalyst here.
Anyways thank you so much. I will run this buy them and see what they say. Now I have a new path to explore and some new found hope as my options were running out.
Forgot to add that head posture can also cause peripheral numbness. I find that using 2 pillows (to help with acid reflux) overextends my neck and sometimes results in numb fingers in the morning depending on sleeping position.
Hope everything goes well. IBS sucks but what sucks more is that a lot of doctors still treat it as an inconvenience as opposed to an actual illness that deserves proper attention.
Man, I've been taking Trazodone as per this comment for the last week (had some extra laying around), and my IBS-C is basically gone. I've tried everything and this is the first thing that has worked. Thank you so much for your comment; this is a truly life changing paradigm for me. I hope it continues, but I am feeling so much better than I have in a long time. I can't thank you enough.
Ami. also helps with migraines. Foods can also be migraine triggers and should be carefully observed when trying to tackle them. There’s a lot going on there between gut and brain.
I am not surprised that the brain-gut circuit affects the sympathetic nervous system. I find that when my symptoms start getting very bad my heart rate variability drops basically to 0 (with loud, thunderous heartbeats). When things are good I don't notice my heartbeat whatsoever. Symptoms improve basically when I stop eating.. which is not a treatment plan.
I find it strange that my gastroenterologist does not even contemplate cases involving gut dysbiosis. I ask all of the relevant questions and the answer is "dysbiosis is not something we treat". And he's a gastroenterologist for christ's sake. He literally said to me "Get used to it. Some days you will have good days and some days you will have bad days". Modern medicine for you.