suffering for three years and now the doctors are taking away the one thing that helped me

by Harley
(England)

ive been an IBS victim for just over three years now. it started when i was just sixteen, the occasional urge to immediatly need the bathroom, but over a period of just two months it got so serious that i was needing the bathroom ten or more times a day, and was dropping a serious amount of weight due to the stress IBS caused me. i was getting to the point were i didnt wont to eat and never wonted to leave the house. i was sent home from college near enough once a week and i just couldnt handle working my part time job in a office block, for fear of constant use of the bathroom. I found myself so embarrsed about my condiction, and envious of my friends who could live a care free lifestyle without worrying where the nearest bathroom was. just before my 18th birthday, my GP put me on a course of pills called
Amitriptyline, which are a mild form of anti-depressents. the doctors believed these may help me, so i had all the blood tests needed to make sure my bodie would be able to cope with the pills. after about a month on the Amitriptyline my IBS died down alot! i mean i went from using the bathroom ten times a day down to two! i was so happy and was able to live my old life again, going out with friends, going on roud trips, going on holiday and too festivals without the worry of an IBS attack. even though the pills helped alot i still occasionly got the reminder feeling that IBS had not been cured and sometimes would be in some dicomfort, but nothing too serious. So everything was going fine....up untill a month ago. now the doctors are trying to ease me off the pills, due to the fact that they could long term effects. But instead of suggesting something else that could help me they have just told me too see how it goes! down to one pill a day (i was on two) the IBS has returned, some days as bad as before, and once again i can get myself in a complete state due to the worry and concern over where the local bathroom is! im hoping that at my next appointment the doctors recommand me something else that may help...i cant go back to the way i was. Thank you.