Hi Pippa if you're out there - we're both regulars on here. I'm currently having a really bad ibs-d flare for last 5.5wks. its not my colitis, as calprotectin stool tests & bloods ok. it feels like colitis except no blood. in the past my gastro consultant has said i sometimes have flares of "overlapping ibd/ibs". my doc increased my amitriptilline on monday from 20- 30mg at bedtime as we both concluded this must be an ibs flare, so some extra anti-cholinergic help from the amitriptilline would probably help to slow my bowels down. However, when i have a bowel movement & afterwards for some time i am getting lower back pain (as well as dire stomach ache) which i don't remember having on previous flare ups of ibs - did you ever get lower back pain when your ibs flared? hopefully the amitriptilline will settle it soon (buscopan not helping, & using cocodomol for pain). ironically the temp side effect of increasing the amitriptilline is giving me dire stomach ache that is not responding well to cocodomol or buscopan, but i know this will pass as i got this side effect when i initially started them
I used to get lower back pain when my IBS started. It’s because the lower part of the colon (sigmoid colon) wraps round the lower back. I also have a back injury from a fall that affected the bone at the base of my spine. So the two pains together were not much fun.
Thanks Pippa.
Hope everything settles down soon.