I have post infections ibs (diarrhea) since 2004. My pain and symptoms improve on 2006 due to amitriptyline (50mg a day), a tricyclic antidepressant. My conditions get worse about a year ago. I think amitriptyline was not working anymore. My doctor prescribed antibiotic to reduce gas problems and it work, but I still had to get to the bathroom a lot. Depression, which I also had, got worse as well. Worried about something else different from ibs I get a colonoscopy, which my doctor recommends. I get ride off three polyps and discover some diverticulums. But my ibs symptoms continue out of control. And my doctor was not interested in find some solution to ease my symptoms. I change to mirtazapine for four months trying to reduce depression but didn’t work. It even get worse. Coffee start triggering bowel pain.
Recently I get infectious gastroenteritis from eating raw fish. I get well with antibiotics, but my ibs get worse than ever. I had to get to the bathroom 5 to 6 times a day, and suffer a lot of pain from about three hours two times a week. I felt helpless. Three weeks ago I changed to amitriptyline again. A week later I found a study which shows vitamin D deficiency in 80% of ibs patients. I thought that was a very high and significant number. But the study didn’t show if deficiency was an ibs consequence or was it the cause. Patients in the study didn’t improve significantly with vitamin D supplementation either. Additional studies were appointed. Anyway I decided to get vitamin d supplementation: 400 UI a day from monday to friday and get 30-40 minutes of sun exposure (saturday and sunday) – even thought 10 to 15 minutes were suggested. Vitamin D production in the body starts with direct sun light on the skin, no glass window between. Light skin color produce more easily vitamin D under the sun, compare to dark skin. But at the same time light skin is more vulnerable to sking cells damage (cancer).
After a week of vitamin doses and two weeks after amitriptyline intake, my symptoms improve drastically. I even get worried when I didn’t go to the bathroom in a whole day. But there was nothing to worried about. My depression got reduced as well significantly. Recently I ate fatty meat and some wine in a restaurant and my bowel didn’t move at all. Another day I feel confident enough to drink coffee and still my bowel didn’t move. Now I go to the bathroom one and some times two times a day without urgency. My improvement could be only thanks to amitriptyline. But I still will be taking vitamin d supplements and sunbaths. Hope this improvement lasts.
