In Reply to: My mother's uncontrollable diarreha posted by rainyghost on November 09, 2000 at 20:55:04:

: My mother is 84 years old and has survived quadruple bypass surgery, valve repair and a minor stroke. Now her life seems to be more threatened by her uncontrollable diarreha.

: I believe that a lot of her problem is nerves as she has never accepted that it's time for her to slow down and face that life is going to be different from now on.

: When she has severe diarreha she may go as many as 10 or 15 times per day. This greatly dehydrates her and after a couple of weeks of this, she needs to be hospitalized to replenish her fluids.

: Whenever she goes to the hospital they run numerous tests and the results are all negative. After a week or so, she is discharged and sent home but the problem re-occurs after a week or two.

: The poor woman is so distraught.

: We have tried every remedy imaginable. Lactose free, Metamucil, lomotil, lotronex, etc.

: If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi ---There has been alot of work done at Johns Hopkins Gastro Department by the Director Dr. Marvin Schuster,MD about the mind--gut connection. He recently retired after 39 years.There are many people that when they get upset it causes diarrhea. Severel people I know are treated with a low dose of an antidepressant ---say 10mgs of ELavil with good success.This is used as a result of Dr.Schuster's work.

I also think she needs a water soluble fiber daily ---psyllium like that in Metamucil.As you may know it is a bulk stool forming agent. In unusual urgent sitations you could ask your Doctor about using Questran. It is not normally used for diarrhea but it works for short periods.
God Bless---Harry