Sorry to be Crude.

[sewandsew]

Try a gluten free diet for a while to see if that helps.  I did and it was the answer for me.

[cport]

Thankk you all for your replies they really have been helpful. I hae been so tearful over the last couple of days because i am so fed up. I know you all know exactly how i feel but unfortunatly everyone i know can't seem to understand whats wrong with me. They try to be helpful but sometimes they just make me feel worse. I am going to have some bloods taken and if there is anything going on,ie low HB or raised inflammatory markers then they will do something,if not i will be phoning my Rheumy to get an earlier appointment and she can refer me to a gastro doc.

I appreciate all your help.
Claire xxx

[elliea]

Prairie Gal-Hi-I have bouts of diarrhea for months(allGI test okay).I was diagnosed in May of this year and have been taking Plaqueni.Plaquenil finally kicked in last month and has been a life changer. I don't know if it is causing diarrhea or not. Have been eating gluten free and yogurt is the only dairy. My rheumy is so wonderful and listens to  me.I don't want to stop the meds since they are really helping, butI can' be running to the bathroom all day either. Seeing my doctor next week. The nurse told me yesterday to stop the Plaquenil for a few days to see if that helps-I am very frustated!  Thanks for listening.All you guys are so helpful. 

[Prairie Gal]

elliea, the gastro doc thinks my first - and worst - episode of diarrhea was caused by a pathogen they "don't normally test for."  He doesn't know the reason for the other episodes.  The first time it was after I'd been on Plaquenil for almost 3 months and the pharmacist said it would have affected my digestive system long before then if the Plaquenil was the cause.

I didn't feel like eating for a few days, then started eating Healthy Choice Chicken soup - half a can only.  I ate that daily for 2 weeks, along with some rice, bananas, apple juice and applesauce.  (Does this diet sound familiar to you?)  The only way I can eat that chicken soup now is if I add a bit of curry powder; I had so much of it that the smell turns me off. (Tip:  Healthy Choice has less salt and fat than many brands; Sam's Club and/or Costco usually stock it in cartons of 10 cans.)

I take Plaquenil after I've eaten a meal; some get better results taking it at bedtime.  I don't know if staying off it for a few days would be long enough to know whether it's the cause of your problem, because it takes quite a while to build up in your system, so I assume it would take a while to deplete it, too.  However, I didn't go to medical school.

I usually wait until I've had diarrhea for about 3 weeks before I see the dr. I take one Imodium -- sometimes two -- every day and that keeps me from having to worry about where a bathroom is more than twice a day when I'm not home.   

You may have to play around to find out what diet works best for you, but remember that rice and bananas both 'clog' one up, plus bananas have potassium which you need when you have diarrhea for a while.

I hope you can figure out something that'll help; it's miserable to be dashing for the bathroom frequently.  Let me add this:  thank goodness for baby wipes!   (They sell them for adults now, but not when I had my first lengthy episode in early 2002.)

[elliea]

Thanks so much for answering-sometimes you feel so alone with this stuff.Appplesauce and bananas and imodium help alot.I don't want it to be the Plaquenil,so I am  trying new foods(or less!) and we'll see.I was thinking today, that because I am so anxious about this,that doesn't help the stomach either.So, I guess trial and error--I appreciate your thoughts.

elliea

[newhorizons]

It your time schedule permits, several small meals a day is better than three.  Smaller quanitities=more times!!

[elliea]

Thank you-I do try to do that and it does help!

[Prairie Gal]

elliea, I should mention that for my first violent episode -- just wouldn't quit and Imodium did absolutely nothing for me -- my GP put me on Questran after about 3 weeks of misery.

It's a binding agent that comes in powder form.  You mix a measured amount into a glass of juice or water a few (? can't remember how often) times a day.  I asked my GP how long I could take it, and she said, "Forever, if necessary.  But it's constipating.  In your case, that's what we want." 

I went through almost a whole can of it, gradually decreasing the amount.   It did help within a couple of days and gradually everything got back to normal.  If you look up Questran, you'll see it's meant to bind cholesterol to remove it from the body.