Finally some relief - neuropathy and diarrhea

Eldri,

I'm really glad to hear that escitalopram is working so well for you! Quality of life issues are so important beyond just surviving cancer. It's ironic that the side effect of constipation, which I'm sure causes other people taking this drug some distress, is the solution for your chronic diarrhea. I hope it continues to keep the diarrhea under control and help with the neuropathy. What a relief it must be to have a good night's sleep after so many years of disruptions. Thanks for letting us know about this.

EldrI, you made my day reading this! Like the others, I have felt so badly that you were suffering so much! Thank goodness you finally got some relief!

And thanks for sharing!

❤️❤️❤️, Alicia

Eldri, I am so happy to hear you have some relief!!!  "Survivorship" is living with so much, and people have no clue.  Such happy news to read!  

Eldri, so happy for you that you have found something that helps with chronic issues of neuropathy and diarrhea. What a relief for you! Thanks for sharing the info with all of us. :-)

That is incredibly good news to hear, Eldri! I'm so happy for the relief you've had after so much discomfort and misery for so long. Do keep us posted!

Tamlen

I'm so happy to hear that you've found something that not only has resulted in a dramatic improvement with your diarrhea, but also with the neuropathy!  Yours is a textbook example of how important it is never to give up hope on these challenging issues!! 

And I want to thank you for posting the thread on your longstanding bowel issues several months back.  I've had longstanding intermittent loose stool and multiple bowel movement issues for years.  While I think some of the bowel changes may have come from radiation, I think the majority of my problems were related to having been misdiagnosed with pneumonia in 2009 and put on heavy-duty antibiotics for a number of months.  I subsequently was diagnosed with microscopic colitis, and though I have no way to definitively prove it, the closeness in time to receiving the microscopic colitis diagnosis makes me think there may have been a causal relationship.  In any event, microscopic colitis has no connection whatsoever to radiation.  After your earlier post, and reading everyone's informative responses, I decided to make another attempt to address my bowel issues.  I already was taking colesevelam, a bile acid sequestrant that used to be prescribed for high cholesterol before statins came into fashion.  One common side effect of colesevelam is constipation, like the anti-depressant you're now taking.  But my doctor would only allow me to take 1/2 the recommended dose, because I have had intermittent bowel obstructions since finishing cancer treatment.  So what I have been doing since your post several months ago is in the early afternoon taking calcium (600 mg) and vitamin D (800 IU in calcium plus 2,000 IU more to help with calcium absorption).  My thought was that calcium is supposed to be constipating, and I, like you, need something to firm up the bowels.  I also realized that most of the foods I ate a lot of were high in magnesium, which is great for constipated people, but not so much for my situation.  So I've significantly decreased the amount of things like nuts, peanut butter and dark chocolate that I was previously eating probably more of than I should have.  And guess what?  My conservative estimate is that there's been a 40-50% improvement in my symptoms on most days.  Not a home run, but not too bad!

So thank you again, Eldri, for initially raising this important issue and getting an informative discussion started! 

Be well,

MoeKay

I am so happy for you. I suffer with the same issues. Tomorow I see my doc and Im going to ask him about it. thank you. glad your better

I'm so happy to read that medication has Lowered your pain and controlling the diarrhea