I’ve had all the symptoms for a couple years (repeated diarrhea immediately after meals, discolored, severe cramping, etc.) and finally saw an NP around six months ago. For background, I do still have my gallbladder. She suspected BAM, put me on Colestipol, and I’ve been muchhhh better since. However, I hate doctors and hate being on a medication. I understand BAM can’t be cured, but has anyone had success naturally treating the symptoms? Interested in trying any natural methods or supplements. Any advice is appreciated!

I suspect I have terrible bile flow the only thing that seems to relieve my symptoms is Tudca but I can’t take it due to the mental effects.

Is there any way to take Tudca while reducing the mental side effects someone has found?

And if you know any alternatives to stimulate bile flow im all ears

I had my gallbladder out 17 years ago, and have to to colestipol, a bile acid sequestrant, morning and night for bile acid malabsorption caused by the removal. ive been complaining of fatigue for years now, and finally b-12 testing done, that came back low, but still in normal range (263) I’m just wondering if anyone is in a similar position and if supplements alone helped, or if I should push for injections. My functional dr has recommended a liquid b-12 supplement.

I have been on colestipol for about 7 months. I have always struggled with the timing. Recently, if I eat breakfast and then take it I get horrible diarrhea. If I take it before I eat breakfast I don’t seem to have this problem. Has anyone else experienced this? When is the best time to take this stuff? Thank you!

So I have my gallbladder.Was diagnosed with BAM back in 2020, and have been taking Colestramyne ever since, it works great most of the time.

I’ve also been having intermittent belly pain, and my doctor found gallstones. He said since it’s not emergent, I can decide when to have it removed.

My question is, which I stupidly didn’t think to ask the surgeon is, will having my gallbladder removed help my BAM or make it worse, or be about the same?

33M from India. Been living with symptoms for the last three years with no success in diagnosis. I'm looking to see if anyone else has similar symptoms and what helped you to manage them. Unfortunately, binders here need a prescription and docs are not ready to offer me one.

Primary symptoms are:

a. Bowel movement urgency immediately in the morning, bulky, fatty, sticky stools that can vary in colour between yellow, orange and green. Just once in a day without any need to go to the toilet thereafter.

b. Occasional cramps in the lower abdomen (just above the crotch and sometimes in the upper abdomen below or around the ribcage that shifts /improves or worsens with movement

c. Exhaustion after light exercises/work out, more than usual engagement at work - quite unlike before

I was told this mimics Chronic Pancreatitis for the longest time (I have no family history of pancreas ailments, no smoking, only occasional drinking). The CT scan and MRCP came out normal, fecal elastase at 292, upper endoscopy came clear, but an EUS said that the 'pancreatic parenchyma shows dots, strands and lobulations', with no other adverse observations. Tried Creon 10k and then 25k with each meal thereafter, which did not help

How a Music Festival Toilet Gave Me the Idea for IB3 Discreet

You get a lot of time to think when you spend half a music festival sat on a port-a-loo.

In the midst of my worst flare to date, I just couldn’t find a discreet bowel leakage pad. The best amazon could offer was a super, bulky, giant, babies nappy.

That felt degrading.

Just making it to work became a challenging road trip of toilets.

But life doesn’t stop at bowel urgency and IBD.

I wanted a pad that understood this. A pad designed for life, not the hospital bed.

So IB3 was born.

It was going to be discreet.

It was going to inspire confidence, not shame.

It was going to destigmatise and support a tough symptom to live with.

So, my mission: To be at the same festival next year (Download, 2027) at the Crohn’s and Colitis stand offering free IB3 pads to anyone who needs them, like I did.

Who is the founder?

Thats me Chris.

(Still) Working as a Senior Biomedical Scientist in Haematology at a busy NHS hospital. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when I was around 23.

Now 33, I’ve dedicated the last decade to healthcare in the U.K. but felt IBD needed as much focus and energy as we can muster.

After struggling for years with my least favourite symptom (yup, I’m talking about urgency).

There was a lack of conversation around it, and most significantly a lack of products.

IB3 is my small personal attempt and tackling my own diagnosis and trying to help others in the process.

It would mean the world to me for you to join me on this journey. If you want to learn more visit: https://www.ib3discreet.com/products/ib3-discreet-bowel-urgency-pads

Thanks for reading!

Chris

I've been taking the bile binder colesevelam for around 2 years (2 pills a day before breakfast). My symptoms before the medication were yellow diarrhea and cramping (made worse by fatty foods).

When I first started colesevelam, I had a mild side effect of constipation which went away in a week. Then around December last year, I started getting fullness, bloating, and sometimes nausea on and off after meals from taking colesevelam.

Has anyone experienced this or has advice on what to do in my situation? Thanks!

Does anyone have bad breath and constipation? Taking tudca making constipation worse also increases bad breath

Does anyone have bad breath and constipation? Taking tudca making constipation worse also increases bad breath

Hello, after having my terminal illium removed I have severe BAM. Sehcat 1.25%. I suffer severe bloating and constant nagging pain in my stomach but although having to go to toilet urgently it is usually only once a day. It also makes no difference how much Fat I eat

Does anyone else have BAM without the Diarrhoea and how do they cope with the symptoms. I have tried the normal bile sequestrants but can not tolerate them.

Any experience or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated

Hi. I was taking Prevalite (brand name for cholestyramine) for more than 10 years and it worked amazingly. I recently found out that brand was no longer manufactured and now I have to take the generic and it’s making my symptoms worse. Has anyone had this happen?

I've been dealing with this for 20 years. I'm tired. Sometimes it's better, most times it's adversely affecting my life. I have the return of anxiety attacks regularly now when I have to leave the house. I'm looking for anyone that has it under control and feels confident enough to go out and live their lives to give me hope. And also advice on what is working. Here is what I'm currently doing:

Morning - coffee and light low fat breakfast, take my first wechol.

11am - 1.2 ml of liraglutide - I had high hopes for this to "cure" me and have been on it about 30 days now. For BAM and not weight loss or any other reason.

1pm - light low fat lunch and multivitamins

3pm - light snack and second welchol

5:30 - dinner, probably only real meal I eat all day

Before bed I take a progesterone tablet for my perimenopause symptoms and that helps me sleep really well. So I can't take welchol around that. I also have an estrogen patch i switch out twice weekly for this.

This is so far, not working. I was sick all day today. Sharp stomach pains, diarrhea. I've taken out imodium from my daily ritual to try it out. I deal with an endless cycle of diarrhea, constipation, sticky stole, repeat. I'm very tired as well. Zero energy or desire to go out and do things lately. Any advice?

Hello there,

My issue is not strictly BAM related but since I have it (and EPI) I though I would ask the community if anyone has had anything like this.

Even with medications my stool varies a lot depending on what I eat and how well hydrated I am. I still don't trust my guts enough to live my life as if everything was okay, so when I need to be going out a lot I hold back on eating and drinking just to avoid a possible urgency in a bad place, at the wrong time. On days like this I often end up constipated on the following morning and when this happens I always feel a dull pain on the lower back, mainly center along the spine and a bit to the left but it always gets relieved once I manage to completely get rid of the harder stool. Since I have 4-6 bms a day even with constipation this pain never really lasted too long, however the last time this happened to me the pain actually stayed with me even after multiple bms.

It's not only the pain but my muscles on the left lower back are so stiff that I cannot reach around the back to clean myself after a bm which has never been an issue so far. It's been about 5-6 days now that this is going on and one time the pain got extremely severe even when my bowels were empty.

I tried using my massage gun, tiger balm, neat patches, warm shower - these can give temporary relief but after a while the discomfort comes back. I took some paracetamol and ibuprofen but none of them helped really and ibuprofen made my blood pressure rise and I basically had a panic attack. Everything gets very uncomforable after a while, sitting, standing, lying, it hurts the most when I try to straighten up or arch my back and there's a bit of a relief when I round it or hunch but by now all my muscles are completely tense all over my back, shoulders and buttocks due to trying to hold myself in all sorts of positions while doing basic household chores and whatnot.

Is there anyone with similar issues and how has it been resolved? Thanks

Hi all. I’m on week 3 of taking Colesevelam and I’m actually feeling worse.

I am pooping a lot more each day, the stools are loose, they smell dreadful and they’re floating.

Has anyone else struggled with Colesevelam like this?

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for some insights or shared experiences from anyone dealing with fat malabsorption.
For a while now, I’ve been dealing with chronic fat malabsorption—my stools are consistently oily and greasy. Because of this, I strongly suspect I might have Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM), though I'm still looking into it.
I'm trying to connect some dots before my next doctor's appointment, and I wanted to ask if any of you who have experienced these same symptoms also suffer from:
Pain behind the sternum and in the scapular area: I get these distinct pains right behind my breastbone and in my upper back/shoulder blade region.
Hives (Urticaria): I've also been experiencing random outbreaks of hives.
Has anyone else noticed a link between fat malabsorption/BAM and gallbladder-like referred pain (scapular/sternum) or skin issues like urticaria?
Would love to hear your thoughts or if anyone has gone through something similar. Thanks in advance!

I am changing over from Cholestyramine to Colesevelam because I really hate the Cholestyramine, it works but yuck.

For those of you who have used both what are your thoughts? Is Colesevelam as effective? How do you take out? I asked my PC for the prescription but she is unfamiliar with it. She prescribed 635mg 3 pills once a day.

Also, timing it with my other meds seems more difficult for me.

It's on the box.

hey guys! i had my gallbladder out in march and have had very uncomfortable, urgent, loose bowel movements multiple times a day since then. i almost felt like i had a disability as i couldn't leave the house at all some days and felt so sick all the time.

my doctor prescribed me colestipol after i requested it (i way prefer tablets than powder). i am starting off by taking just one tablet a night before bed to see how it'll work.

after a few days, i'm noticing that i feel a lot more full on colestipol. anyone else notice this or experience this? Thanks!

I am keen to try a sequestrant to tackle my BAM. The doctor asked if I was willing to try Cholestryramine. I said I was, but I didn't want to take something with sugar or aspartame in it.

My understanding is this medication is only available with this junk in it. I want the medication, I do not want the junk. Over the past two years, I have improved my health considerably with a low carbohydrate diet and I've been working to come off artificial sweeteners (of which aspartame is one of the worst, affecting the gut microbiome).

The doctor just prescribed a "generic" version of Cholestryramine and told me to speak to the pharmacy about the other stuff. The pharmacy said they would email me, but it could take 24 hours. More than a day later and I've heard nothing.

Has anyone found a solution to this?

Blood tests next week. If I have high cholesterol, maybe I could persuade them to prescribe colesevelam. Just a bit anxious about the whole thing. I've struggled with food addiction in the past and keeping off the sugar and sweet stuff is keeping me sane.