Bile Salts Poo and WelChol

So many here know of my fissure and past diarrhea issues as well as my acidic poo issues. I finally found a doctor who would listen to me. I have what is called Bile Salts diarrhea. This is where your liver makes too much bile for your intestines to absorb so you poop it out instead causing rectal burning and inflammation. This was caused from my gallbladder being removed 20 years ago. Everyone gets it after gallbladder removal but it normally goes away. It is very rare for it to become chronic. I thought I just had IBS. I now know that it was not IBS but BSD. It is extremely painful and is what caused my fissure. I had it before my surgery but since I only went about every two to three days it did not bother me badly. Bile Salts diarrhea mixed with DS is not a good idea. I wished I had known this. I would have asked for a longer common channel.

They have a way to fix it. There are Several medications that bind to the bile and eliminate the acid and flu**** out of the body. The downside for DSers is that it causes mal-absorption of fat soluble vitamins. We already have this issue so this medication will make my vitamin absorption even worse. So I had to weigh the pros and cons. I opted to take the medication after talking to my doctor. Why? Because I had to leave work early yesterday and was screaming and crying all the way to the doctor's office. Then laid down in the waiting room crying my heart out until they took me back. This **** hurts. The acid just irritates my fissure and the entire lining of my rectum. I was so swollen yesterday that I could not even pass gas...which made it worse.

I am temporarily back on Prednisone and he started me on a medication called WelChol for the bile salts poo issue. I will have to increase my vitamins to counteract the increased mal-absorption. My doctor thinks this is doable. Also if I take the vitamins four hours after the Welchol and give them a couple of hours absorption time then I can fight against that problem.  This medication also stops diarrhea. I have not had diarrhea in awhile but my poo was still burning me. I might be able to get off the Imodium eventually because of this medication. This morning I can breath without pain and I could tell a difference in my poo smell and lack of acid. No more sulfur smell. There was no burning this morning. That was after taking two Welchol yesterday. 

The reason I am posting this is because I did some research yesterday and there is an increase in bile salts poo with some people who have the DS. If anyone else is suffering like me I wanted them to read my story and maybe this could help them. Yesterday was a nightmare from hell. I have an extremely X10  high pain tolerance and if I am crying then this was about a 100/10 pain. This morning things are tolerable and almost no pain...just my hemorrhoid hurts a little. This medication is working. Thank the Lord. 

I'm so glad you was able to find out what the problem was.  And a med that will help. 

Brenda

I can not seem to get consistancy because I am always trying stuff.  Right now I am on antibotic and we all know that gives you diarrhea...however, I often have diarrhea minus the buring.  So I will definitely beaware once I get off the antibotic.  You know I often suffer from acid reflux, and when I take the antiacid the stool is much solider.

Thanks for sharing

I'm so happy you found an answer.

Re vitamins, I say get whatever you can intravenously and whatever else you can sublingually.  Sublinguals get straight into your blood stream so they bypass your intestine.  Below is how the folk at Superior Source say it:

"Typical tablets and capsules need to be swallowed and are inefficiently absorbed in the digestive system. MicroLingual® tablets dissolve immediately under the tongue heading straight into the body."

Thank you, I will definately check into this. I will prolly do my vitamin D through injections for sure and A, K and E I will find another way, SL or intravenously. 

There are a number of people who are trying patches to see if that helps since it absorbs directly into the blood.

I just got 3 months of vitamin D from PatchMD that I'm going to take in addition to my usual doses and see where 
that takes me. I don't know anyone with the DS yet that can really vouch for the effectiveness. Something you might want 
to think about. I guess it all depends on what part of the absorption process this medicine interferes with.

I really hope this gets you past the acid and fistula problems. I've had my own butt problems and don't wish anyone to have anything
that bad.

Thanks, Pete. 

I'm printing this and taking it with me to my upcoming appointment!! I hope to get rid of this burning pain! I too have a very high pain tolerance and this is awful!!

so glad you are feeling better!!!

I hope it helps you. I wish you luck!