Xanax For Ibs And Coliitis - Need Advice Please! (Top voted first)

I've been suffering from Ulcerative Colitis and IBS for about 4 years now and I have found no relief from changing my diet or othee various meds my GI doctor has prescribed me. I have (or had) flare ups at least 3-4 a week, where I would literally end up going from the fetal position, crying to the toilet for hours on end. I also have a lot of psychological issues, amongst the worst would be my OCD and Anxiety. My doctor had me on Ativan, Kolonopin, and three months ago he put me on Xanax. For the last three months, I have had only one flare up and that was the first week I started the Xanax. I Google'd it and the results were mixed; so I was wondering if anybody here could give me maybe some personal or professional experience with this? I have not changed my diet, taken any new meds (besides xanax) and really done nothing to change my lifestyle. Is it possible that the Xanax is helping?

My other question is, I'm on 1mg BID (2x a day) I know that people are prescribed much more than that, and if I wanted to ask to up my dose because of my IBS and Colitis, how do I go about that? I know if I were to get my GI doctor to prescribe me 1mg a day along with my separate script for 1mg 2x a day, that would look bad and put me on some watch list. But since my psychiatrist works with my mental issues, I don't know if he'd be able to do that if the reason was for digestive issues, I know he could lie and say I needed a larger dose, but I wouldn't want him to do anything that could cause him problems. My psych would probably have no issue upping my dose anyways, but I don't want to take advantage of that. Would I be able to go to my GI and have him write a letter to my psych or something so they would both be covered if any questions arose? Or am I just worrying for nothing?

Yeah, I know TL; DR. But if you did stick it out and read it, I'd love any advice! Thanks in advance.

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Hello, Brittany! How are you?

Benzodiazepines can have some muscle relaxant properties, so yes, it could actually be helping.

However, if the current dose is helping, why would you want to ask for an increase, already?

It would be best to leave it where it is for as long as it continues to work, before raising it. Otherwise, you may run out of options far sooner than you should.

This medication carries the risk of being habit forming and could cause side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, headache and irritability.

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Have you tried Donna talk elixir for flareups ? I also find that VSL#3 A probiotic twice today might help avoid those flareups for you ask your doctor hope this helps?

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I would not up your Xanax dose. It is hard to get off of, so you don't want to take more than you need to get relief. The Xanax will act a bit different than your other benzos, so it may be relaxing in a different way which may be helping your GI issues. All the anxiety makes your muscles tight, insides too as your intestines are smooth muscle. So being more relaxed may be helping your pain. Just don't be too eager to take more, it is a really difficult medication to detox off of. I had a stroke when I detoxed off of Xanax I was taking for anxiety and PTSD. Just be careful, but it sounds like you are. Good luck!

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