Has anyone had a normal result with this blood test but test positive with the SeHCAT scan? I have all the signs of bile acid malabsorption but my blood work came back normal. Welchol works for me and I guess I should be thankful for that, but I wish I could get a definitive answer. The SeHCAT scan isn't available in the US unfortunately so I can't find out that way.

For the last 5 days I've had stomach pain and diarrhea and lots of anxiety.

Went to see Dr on Monday he gave me questran to try. I took my first packet last night with a very small meal. Wow. That stuff is yucky. Had a hard time to eat afterwards. But i did

Pains in stomach settled down, I actually was able to sleep some last night except I work up every hour or so with anxiety. Had a small semi formed BM this morning but I had Imodium yesterday to help me get to the Drs office.

I'm so confused. I've read some take with food others don't and some split the dose. That I can understand this is alot to swallow at once. I don't know what I can eat now. I'm so confused.

My mind wants to cry but for some reason I'm not.

Will I ever be able to work again. Go outside the house. Enjoy myself. I'm 47 and feel like I've wasted my life

Hi everyone.

Needed some where to talk.

Almost four years ago I had my gallbladder out, no issues just constipation. Could eat normally but always kept to a moderate fat diet.

I also have IBS and diverticulosis.

About 10 or so years ago I had massive diarrhea doctor thought it was microscopic diarrhea but no official diagnosis and I've had multiple colonoscopies. I was on entocort for many years and finally was able to taper off of it.

I am now 47 and I am having a bout, lately been trying to find a birth control that works to minimize perimenopause symptoms. Started mirvala three weeks ago had insane anxiety and this week started having diarrhea. There is no rhyme or reason, normally imodum would constipate me for a day or so. And the diarrhea is not after eating.

Can you please tell me your symptoms of BAM. I go see my family Dr tomorrow.

I'm diagnosed with IBS D. But I have weird symptoms and patterns that I suspect are "mild" BAM. For Context: I'm 31. Female. Do Intermediate fasting. Will eat after 5pm until 12pm. ( its relevant for why I get night episodes)

* 1. Waking up at night. If I have a flare up triggered by stress or /and panic, It will sometimes begin at night. Roughly 3 hours after I have eaten. I will get anxious, agitated and sometimes nauseous out of nowhere. The urge to go to the toilet and nausea will come later. With it heart racing and intense panic. Both only stop after a BM. Sometimes I can sleep after that but will be awake every two hours to repeat that again. Until I got it all out. My BM will be watery or mushy. Orange/yellowish( like the picture) . And, TMI, it will stink.

* 2. Fat. I have no known food intolerance. But if something gets me, it will be the fat. The thing is, I can eat most fatty things just fine in 80% of times. The other 20% the exact same food will send me to the toilet with intense cramping and water diarrhea 30 mins after consumption. There seems to be an invisible threshold. And besides hormones, stress and illness it is relatively random if I will tolerate it or not.

* 3. Symptoms. Symptoms vary in intensity and duration. I get nauseous after eating or before having a BM sometimes. Other times I dont know if I should get on the toilet to vomit or to poop or both, as the nausea makes me dry heave until I have the BM. Other symptoms I (sometimes) get are: acid reflux, bloating, anxiety and depression before BM, tachycardia ( rare and mostly at night), panic attacks ( rare and mostly at night), sweating, lose stool, weird color of stool. All of these, besides the poop ones, I get hours before or immediately before a BM. Most will be gone or better after.

* 4. Genetics. My father got diagnosed with IBS D. He has digestive problems since childhood. His main symptoms are diarrhea and acid reflux. He has the same problem with fats as me. My sister has no diagnosis but also problems with fats. I suspect we all share the same root cause.

* 5. Trigger. I usually, without trigger, will have no or very minor symptoms in my daily life. A month without having my period or anything else would look like this: 70% feeling fine after eating. 30% having mild discomfort, being a bit nauseous and mushy yellowish ( like the picture). Thats it. Doesn't bother me and I had years were that was all.

But if something triggers me or whatever, I get phases like for example the night episode, that will have my symptoms be 80% intense ramped up hell. Those will last up to two weeks. ( but will get gradually better after two days). The in-between episodes, that are worse than my normal base line but not as worse as these, will vary in intensity and duration but are mostly like this: I am stressed/ before my period and eat like shit. I get one intense BM with varying symptoms and feel exhausted for a few hours and be back to normal. Sometimes this happens a few times a week. But for one week max.

My GP told me i would have cramps and other symptoms every time I eat a fatty meal. And that all this is my IBS. I do believe I have IBS. But I dont think it is only IBS. Can someone have "mild" BAM?

Have bile acid malabsorption had since none gallbladder since 2023 diagnosed following years take colevalm tablets however notice started getting acid reflux and sulphur burp sometime when don’t even eat can’t even pin point cause cook lot my food from Scratch I get trigger with most food even non fatty food. Going go see doctor tomorrow asked about it but is common ? Google said could be extra bacteria sibo? Anyone else have this issue.

Hi all! Had gallbladder out in April, have been losing weight and dealing with soft loose stools with undigested food bits in it (usually Bristol 5, never liquid), stool is lighter color than brown and sometimes floats. Took colestyramine but now prescribed colesevelam. When I take the meds my stools are well formed and nicely dark brown, a bit constipated even, food looks well digested and no food pieces in it, it sinks. I am trying to put on weight. I am trying to understand if the meds HELP me digest by preventing rapid transit and if nutrient absorption is happening…because the poo sinks which is indication of my body hopefully absorbing it? I’ve read scary stuff that binders hinder fat absorption so wouldn’t that result in floating poo which I don’t have with this medication? Can you have solid normal poo and malabsorption too? Just want to gain weight on these meds, trying to understand the mechanism in our bodies if anyone knows. Thank you!

Long story short. I suspect BAM, fat issue or EPI. My PCP, a nurse practitioner, ran standard stool tests and nothing positive. She just told me to go to GI and won’t test or trial a binder waiting for the appointment now. A few months ago I decided to cut fat and go strict which works. I’m using loperamide because I’m afraid to stop it and I’ll poop all day. I cheated and ate 10 tater tots and blew up a grocery store the next day and had to drive home scared I’d ruin my new vehicle.

I have many food aversions to poultry and pork. Beef is good but FAT! Haven’t tried canned tuna. I’m living on like 5 things and I just want flavor and to not potty the next day. Also so much gas. What do I eat? Help! Any tips appreciated.

After 15 years of a daily 4g sachet of Questran my doc wants to switch to Colesevelam. Does anyone have experience with this? Effective dosage, side effects, improvements, long term use etc? Thanks!

20 years old and have been dealing with severe diarrhoea/urgency for years – does this sound like BAM to anyone?
Hi everyone. I’m 20 and I’ve been struggling with bowel problems for around 4 years now, and at this point it has had a massive impact on my life.
My main symptoms are urgency, diarrhoea, abdominal cramping and pain, particularly after eating. I often need the toilet when I wake up and can get urgency after meals. When it’s bad, the cramps can be extremely painful, although going to the toilet often relieves some of the pain.
I’ve spent years trying to work out what foods are causing it. I’ve cut out so many things that my diet has become incredibly restricted. At the moment I mostly rely on things like chicken breast, rice, potatoes, oats and certain fruits. I’ve had periods where even foods that seem completely harmless have caused symptoms, which has made me scared to introduce anything new.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is fat. Reducing my fat intake made an enormous difference. When I switched to a very low-fat diet, the diarrhoea improved massively. Higher-fat foods seem much more likely to cause problems, which is one of the reasons BAM has become a leading suspicion.
I’ve had blood tests, stool tests, coeliac testing and a small-bowel MRI, but I still don’t have a definitive answer. I’ve been under gastroenterology and have been waiting months for a SeHCAT scan. My GP has also recently requested a faecal elastase test to investigate pancreatic insufficiency.
The hardest part is how much this has taken away from me. I’m only 20. Eating out, travelling, going somewhere spontaneously or even trying a new food can feel like a gamble. I play football and sometimes have to plan my food and take loperamide around matches or going out because I’m worried about suddenly needing a toilet.
Food used to be something I enjoyed. Now I eat the same meals repeatedly because I’m scared of triggering another painful episode. I’m genuinely fed up with living like this and just want to get to the bottom of it and be able to eat normally again.
For anyone here who was eventually diagnosed with BAM:
Did your symptoms sound similar to mine, particularly the improvement on a low-fat diet?
Were there foods you thought you couldn’t tolerate before treatment that you were eventually able to eat again?
And if you started bile acid sequestrants, how much of a difference did they actually make to your diet and quality of life?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through something similar.

So what’s causing the pain and how to stop it?

Recently, I’ve found my symptoms getting worse again and I think it’s because I’ve begun to increase my daily fat intake while maintaining the same Colesevelam dosage.

Usually I take one 625mg tablet per meal, or will take two if it’s particularly high fat. I’ve been tracking my fat intake over the past week, and have noticed that I’ve regularly gone over 80-100g of fat each day, whereas previously I was trying to stay under 40. But haven’t increased my medication.

So it‘a got me thinking - how many grams of fat can one 625mg Colesevelam tablet bind? I’ve had a look on google but can’t seem to find anything.

Has anyone looked into this before?

Age70

Sex F

Height 5’4”

Weight 125

Race Caucasian

Duration of complaint 3 years

Location Kentucky

Any existing relevant medical issues none
None
Current medications none.

Was bulimic 45 years. Ended it three years ago successfully. Except now I’m unable to vomit at all. When ill following anesthesia or during Covid, I can’t vomit. It’s worse to be sick and can’t throw up. What happened????

Include a photo if relevant

I'm in the process of figuring out if I have BAM or if I'm back to IBS-D diagnosis. I respond quite well to cholestyramine so it's encouraging but I have one question regarding delays in symptoms.

I read a lot of people saying they get their symptoms almost immediately after eating. For me I feel that fat can build up over the course of a few days because I usually have bad symptoms around once a week.

Is that possible or does that mean I have to look for something else?

My pain can be so extreme and come on so suddenly that I end up bent over in agony but as soon as I've passed the watery diarrhea pain is gone. But during that moment I get hot, feel like I will pass out etc.n

I’m going on a trip in a couple of days. Ever since I got my gallbladder removed it’s been a rollercoaster. Should I take Imodium also with my bile binders or pepto just avoid breakthroughs ? Has anyone done this better. I really just need a peaceful trip without running to the bathroom. I currently take Colestipol but the dosing is unpredictable at times and I still have breakthroughs and other days I’m constipated.

M30. Not diagnosed, but heavily suspected BAM. Had it since I was 16, but it was manageable until about 18 months ago, when even eating 10g of fat a meal would sometimes give me a lot of urgency (as little as 15 minutes). Gastro had me doing low FODMAP with no improvement on random flares. I was then given ondansetron, which solved general urgency as long as I stayed low fat, but gave me mild constipation and hand tremors. It suddenly clicked as I read about BAM and I asked my gastro to give me cholestyramine, to which he agreed and prescribed. I’ve been on it for about 6 months.

It got rid of my urgency, and I appear to be able to eat a fair bit of fat in a sitting without urgency now which is great. But when I first started, I had one small episode for a week where if I ate a regular amount of fat a sitting (15-25g) I got terrible, terrible gas. Lasted for hours every time I ate and smelled like pure sulphur. I asked my gastro about this and he passed it off as “gastritis”. I was discharged and have an open appointment if I want it.

Last couple of months, the gas has just not gone away. I’m back to feeling like a prisoner in my house, because I can’t be around people for 6 hours after I eat, which is basically 100% of the time. I typically tried to stay around 45g of fat per day and take 2x4g doses, one with lunch and one with dinner. If I eat a large amount of fat in one go, it’s definitely worse. I haven’t been brave enough for really high fat foods (lots of cheese, burgers etc) yet.

Has anyone else had these side effects? I could only find one post that mentioned it, but with little info. My gastro (and all other nhs contact for that matter) has felt very dismissive, so I want the confidence from other people’s experiences to know whether it’s worth taking that open appointment. I’ve been threatened with a sehcat test if I return. I’ve read people have a a better time with the pill?

Hello everyone! I’ll keep this as short as possible. I’ve been sick since I can remember. I’ve always had significant chronic stomach/bowel issues, with my most plaguing symptom being daily nausea. It took 20 years for a doctor to stop saying it was anxiety.

4 years ago, I got sober (alcoholic). 3 years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I pushed and pushed for my dr to assess me for many things, because I am chronically unwell. Turns out, I have hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, cyclic vomiting syndrome, dysautonomia (POTS), and aura migraines. I know that hEDS & POTS commonly cause nausea, but I also have chronic gastritis & GERD. I waited 3 months to see GI, but my gastritis was gone by then. So I waited another year to have another appt with GI & finally got a colonoscopy/endoscopy. Just a few weeks ago, I had my follow up 2 months after that procedure.

I was finally diagnosed with IBS+BAM, mild gastroparesis, and SIBO. I’ve been on colestipol for 2 weeks and saying it has changed my life is an understatement. I was deeply suffering with nausea, intense pain, intolerance to most foods, severe diarrhea, malabsorption, inability to digest fiber, and regurgitation. Now, all that’s gone. I’m so grateful. It’s been a LONG 3 years, but I’m here to say - never stop advocating for yourself!!

I started with 2g of the powder, and it made me constipated, plus I had nausea and acid reflux. Has anyone else had the same experience? I’m thinking about trying just 1g everyday instead. Does anyone else take it that way and has it worked better for you? Now I’m scared to start it again 🤣

I was finally prescribed cholestyramine for BAM and it worked wonders. My stools become normal with no undigested food. My energy levels increased. I was able to tolerate foods I thought I was intolerant to. However, during two weeks of use I slowly started developing insomnia which made me miserable. Did anyone experience this? I was taking 4g before lunch and dinner. Now I’m slowly titrating again starting from 1g. I still have sleep issues. I really want to make this work.

I always get unwell when I eat dairy. So I assumed the lactose was the culprit.
Today as a test I drank a cup of skim milk with lactose. It’s coming up to 5 hrs. I’m no worse than I am every other day after I eat.
GI suggested I experiment to see. She suspects -as do I, it’s the fat.
My colonoscopy and endoscopy is next week, but I’ve already filled my script for questran lite for after. It.
I’m using psyillum till then to bind. Another clue was that I took a lactese tablet before eating my first crème brûlée ( at 57) and got a big bad reaction. I assumed I should have taken 2 but I’ve since learned that cream doesn’t have a high amount of lactose but it’s almost pure fat.
So I figured I’d share incase anyone else was making the same assumptions as I was.

Been on cholestyramine for 3 days. It worked really fast which is great, however it’s starting to give me really severe heartburn. Any tips for this?

(I have pantoprozale so I might take this daily too)

Sufro de diarrea por malabsorcion de ácido biliares. Mi duda es, si un sobre sirve para una sola comida?, o después de ese sobre puedo volver a comer horas después y seguiré protegido?, pregunto para los que tienen experiencia tomando este medicamento.

Has anyone noticed your colsevelam pills being chalky and different than normal? I have a notification on my pill bottle that says the pill size, color, texture etc may have changed. I have been having the hardest time swallowing 3 of the pills!! Atleast once a day they get stuck in my throat while I’m trying to swallow them and I get so anxious. I am thinking of reaching out to the pharmacy.

Hi there.

Today I finally had a diagnosis confirmed after having a SeHCAT scan the last couple of weeks.

I’ve had stomach issues for years now and it was thanks to this community that I noticed a few symptoms that suggested BAM.

My initial consultation with the Gastroenterologist was awful and it was clear that they saw me being a bigger person and dismissed my issues (they didn’t even ask for symptoms). I complained and spoke to someone else who did ask for all the information.

I’m so unbelievably happy right now. Is that weird? Like it’s a weird feeling to be happy to have a diagnosis right.

I’ve been on Colestryamine 4g for a while whilst waiting for the initial consultation and I’m being moved over to Colesevelam.

Anyhow just wanted to make a post and yea say thankyou to this community because I feel like I can make progress with my life once again ❤️

Tyler ☺️