I am a 28 year old female who prior to about 1 1/2 years ago, had absolutely no medical issues, let alone GI issues, to speak of. I'll also say there are no GI issues in my family history, with the exception of my brother who developed ulcerative colitis around the same time I started having constipation issues. All of a sudden I went from having regular bowel movements to having 1 every few days. I would take laxatives and it would still not help and would cause a great deal of pain in my stomach. MY PCP said increase fiber,exercise,miralax,etc. I followed those instruction and still no change in bowel habits. In fact, miralax makes my abdominal pain much worse than if I do not use it. I saw a GI specialist who said the same thing and then put me on bentyl (which I later found out through my current GI doc was probably making my abdominal pain worse). I came back to that GI doc after finishing the bentyl with no improvements and was put on linzess. Still no change in bowel movements after 2 months of being on linzess. I did not appreciate how this GI doctor never listened to what I had to say so I switched to a female (who I thought may be more sympathetic and compassionate to another female) GI doctor. I repeated the history of my constipation/IBS issue and was prescribed amitiza (take 2x a day 8mcg each dosing). I began having bowel movements every other day-however I still had to use at least 4 suppositories each day to make a bowel movement occur. I went back for my follow up appointment and reiterated that I still constantly feel like there is a knot in my stomach or a pile of bricks building up in my stomach sometimes making it difficult to breathe. She told me I could take 3 a day (24 mcg) which I began to do. I now have a bowel movement daily but it varies to whether it is liquid or solid or pellets and sometimes it is next to nothing coming out. Also the issue(s) with my insurance is 1. the maximum they will cover is 2 a day 2. I have a $3500.00 deductible and the monthly quantity of 60 (for 2 a day) costs me $286.00 out of pocket each month (and that is after the discount coupon I printed out online) 3. Since 3 a day is the only way I can have bowel movements, I am running out much sooner than my insurance will allow the medication to be filled. Even with 3 a day, I still need to wake up 1 hour than I would have to otherwise for work just so I have enough time to use the now 3 suppositories I need per day to have a bowel movement in the morning. I am in a great amount of pain everyday still-I am constantly bloated with cramps (is this an amitiza side effect?), my stomach is constantly making "squishy" , gurggling sounding noises even when I have not eaten recently, It is extrememly painful to sit (which is becoming increasingly difficult because I have a desk job), and I can constantly feel things 'popping" in my stomach (again side effect of amitiza?). I always with no exceptions feel like I am not emptying myself completely. I have heard of people combining linzess and amitiza -can anyone tell me if they think this will help me since I cannot continue to take 24mcg a day due to insurance and furthermore even taking 24 mcg a day is not making anything more comfortable to me-the only thing it does is create a bowel movement but does not relieve any of the bloating,"popping" in my stomach, cramping,etc. I'd also like to add I have had multiple X-rays,ultrasounds, and scans-all I have been told is "all thye reveal is a lot of gas and stool). I should also additionally add since beginning the amitiza I have a real issue with gas-I am constantly emitting gas and the whole reason my GI doctor told me I could take 3 was because maybe it would help relieve the extra gas I was experiencing however I feel it may be worse at 24mcg than 16 mcg). Also, I have gone to the ER on 4 separate occassions due to the intense abdominal pain and have consistently been told "there is nothing they can do for me-all of my x-rays only show gas and stool). I have had a colonoscopy too where polyps were removed but I was told that they would not have been the cause of my IBS and I think that is accurate because I still have the symptoms and they are worse after the polyps were removed. I am really at my wits end and hope someone can offer some type of advice to improve my quality of life-I don't know how much longer I can go on like this. I am so desperate, please any advice (even if not directly an answer to my question) would be appreciated.