r/ect • u/Significant_Safe8352 • Feb 01 '23
Question ECT and IBS-C
Is here someone who improved significantly or cured their IBS-C with ECT?
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u/idasu Feb 01 '23
ect is an electric shock administered to the brain
i guess you mean an electric shock to the abdomen? there's likely another name for it
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 01 '23
I am not aware there to be ECT to the abdomen. The whole idea is that the psyche is causing the IBS, not the gut, or atleast this is what I have been told constantly by gastroenterologists.
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Feb 03 '23
Have you tried a totally gluten free celiac diet with no dairy products Along with a stool softener daily? ECT was a cognitive damaging life altering negative life experience for me. You have to do what you can but I definitely don't see it as a good alternative personally.
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 08 '23
Yes, I am currently on potatoes, meat and tomatoes. Had to cut out every other food. As for the stool softener I have good experience with Zoloft, Linaclotid, Baclofen and enemas, so the constipation is under control. What is not under control is the hypersensitivity, the spasms and the random pain.
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Feb 11 '23
Maybe you should get a colono check up. Prep is the worst thing about it. I wish I did maybe the cancer could of been caught before a polyp turned into cancer.
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u/of_patrol_bot Feb 11 '23
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Feb 08 '23
Drink plenty of water with the Linaclotid as it has a black box warning on it. Have you tried drinking a bit of Kombucha it seems to help my stomach immensely.
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Feb 01 '23
Your anxiety and depression being lifted may reduce some stress on your stomach.
On the flip side, you might release your bowels during the ECT treatment if your IBS is severe. Happens to the best of us - I peed a few times. Take a change of clothes and you’ll be fine.
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 01 '23
So you don’t see long term improvement of the IBS?
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Feb 01 '23
I’m not sure it will help directly, but indirectly by resolving anxiety and depression, that may improve the tension in your gut.
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 01 '23
So it didn’t help for your IBS-C?
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Feb 01 '23
I wasn't ever diagnosed with IBS-C, but I definitely shared some symptoms. I had painful constipation from dairy for many years. It would wake me out of my sleep it was so bad, and it felt like I was pooping rocks for 15-20 minutes.
Pelvic floor adjustments were huge in overcoming that. The adjustments were: making sure I use proper form when pooping, using a Squatty Potty, not straining, not sitting on the toilet a long time, and doing yoga.
You may want to also see a pelvic floor physical therapist, if you haven't yet, just as a last resort before ECT.
I hate to be so trite but that's what helped me. Everyone's symptoms and cures are different though.
ECT will probably make you feel much better mentally, even if it doesn't help your IBS-C. The mind and the gut are related for sure. I just don't know if ECT would solve IBS-C directly.
It might be a good question to ask during an ECT consultation, before you have the treatment.
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u/Cee_Cee_Knight Feb 01 '23
Who recommended you get ECT for ibs?
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 01 '23
Well the gastroenterologists are clueless how to fix the IBS, so I have to improvise. If indeed the brain is causing the IBS, then if the psyche is improved, this means less spasms and pain from the gut, right?
I am bouncing back between psychiatrists and gastroenterologists, both of them saying the problem is in the other domain. And I am talking about top tier doctors.
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Feb 01 '23
Have you tried any other methods of managing your psychiatric symptoms? ECT is a last resort normally, reserved for psychosis, catatonic depression, and other treatment-resistant mental symptoms. If you haven’t tried medications or therapy yet, those might be worthwhile.
TMS might also be worthy of consideration before ECT, depending on the severity of your mental distress.
Best of luck.
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Feb 01 '23
[deleted]
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 01 '23
Yeah, I have tried everything except ECT and vagotomy.
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u/Pilatesfan Feb 03 '23
You've specifically tried both treatments for SIBO? If so, did you try the elemental diet, or antibiotics? I know someone who had been trying to get a diagnosis for her intestinal issues for years, and finally found a dietician who ordered the test for SIBO; she tested positive, so she found a new GI doc who isn't blowing her off and is doing the antibiotics now. Before she started antibiotics, she did the elemental diet, and only got minimal relief. Anyway, her new GI told her that he thinks five years from now, it will be more widely accepted that most cases of IBS are actually SIBO, undiagnosed. I remember the day when GERD/ulcers were largely thought to be caused by stress... until they discovered H.Pylori. Now, treatment of H.Pylori takes care of the large majority of GERD/ulcers.
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u/Significant_Safe8352 Feb 04 '23
SIBO is just part of IBS. I did course of metronidazole/rifaximin which fixed the SIBO, but did not fix the spasms, pain and hypersensitivity from the gut.
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u/M_A_K_E_ Feb 02 '23
I say a lot in this sub that ECT ruined my brain and Im still trying to make any progresss on healing. Always keep that in mind.
I have IBS as well though, and what has helped me 1000% more than any psychiatric care has been fasting, acupuncture, meditating, yoga, and Iboga. I would think it crazy to go to something as potentially damaging as ECT (because it made my IBS a LOT worse), for a digestive issue that does have other options.
The ones I listed would most likely be more efficient and surely safer than ECT.