Thank you for writing Susan. Sounds like you are doing everything right! We love Tamara and you are doing great research and are listening to your body. It is so liberating when we start making progress and learn what your system needs.

Hi Marianne, We are so sorry to hear of your frustrations, but I hope you know you’re not alone. I do not know of any doctors or dietitians in Brazil in particular, but these days it is very easy to work with a registered dietitian anywhere in the world remotely. I highly recommend that you take a look at our directory and reach out to somebody that could work with you in that manner. It could be Skype, Zoom or phone. Many people have found this to be quite effective.

Thank you for letting everyone know your experience. We are grateful for all of our community members.

Tamara is amazing! Good luck and good for you for not giving up. You are working on yourself and that is Huge!

Thank you, Dede, for forwarding Joanna’s response to me!

My counselor did defer to my GI doc’s opinion regarding antidepressants for IBS. It’s just that my counselor had suggested the Prozac for mental illness issues before I saw my GI doc. And the GI doc’s recommendation for the IBS (she did not yet know about the Prozac for mental illness) made me wonder which would be the best option. It sounds like all around that everyone feels the TCAs are the best route for the IBS. I had a past bad reaction to a different antidepressants, and I’m hesitant to take another one. 🙂

I have a consultation with Tamara on Wednesday. I don’t know if we’ll get around to the antidepressant issue since it will be my first appointment with her. If we do, though, I am interested in hearing what she has to say about using antidepressants at this point, in case there is something else that might be going on that needs attention that an antidepressant cannot fix. I am so looking forward to my time with Tamara!

Thank you, again, for the response!

Hi Beth, this is from Joanna: “I would suggest discussing her concerns and her counsellors recommendations with her GI doctor. But it sounds like she may have done that. My initial thoughts are that counsellors are not qualified to prescribe or recommend medication anyway, while the GI doctor is. So I would generally follow the GI doctors advice on that. If she is uncomfortable, perhaps see another GI doctor for a second opinion?

In terms of IBS, there is research that low dose TCAs help with IBS directly because they target the gut nerves. There is no evidence that Prozac helps with IBS directly. Prozac does make people feel better in general, and this impacts IBS.”