Imipramine for Irritable Bowel Syndrome User Reviews

• Ric...
• September 14, 2020

"After 30 years of IBS and having taken many prescribed medications, including nortriptyline, Dicetel, Pristiq, all of which are supposed to be helpful for IBS, nothing worked for me. I also took herbal supplements and Metamucil and tried different diets, including the FODMAP diet. I tried high fiber, low fiber, no fiber, and everything in between. I tried eliminating dairy and wheat from my diet. Nothing worked very well at all. I also tried Align and other probiotics, etc. Finally, I have found something that works for me after 30 years. And it is the prescription antidepressant medication called imipramine. At a very low dosage of 25 mg at bedtime, along with one heaping teaspoon of Metamucil in the afternoon, after 30 years of suffering with severe IBS, my symptoms are gone. Be aware that it took about 10 days before I was symptom-free. This post isn’t about me. I am posting this in the hope that it can help someone else who is suffering."

• Dai...
• November 14, 2022

"I have chronic IBS-diarrhea, which started in my twenties. I get severe, severe nausea when I get an attack. It is so bad I think I have to go to the hospital. The nausea is the worst part of my IBSd. My whole body feels sick. After years of horrible suffering, I was put on imipramine, and it gave me back my life. I was 30 when I started it. I am now 61. I had to modify my lifestyle in conjunction with the imipramine, I watch what I eat, avoid onions at all costs, and I don’t drink. My attacks were daily, and now they are sporadic. Rare. But when I try to go off the imipramine, they come back, so I am still on it. But it is manageable now. When it comes, I take a Tylenol right away and use my hot water bottle. If it is a bad one, I will chew a bit of Pepto Bismol. Imipramine does have side effects, but the benefits outweigh them."

• Ohi...
• February 12, 2019

"I was placed on Imipramine, 10 mg. Taken at bedtime. The 3rd week after starting it, I began having nerve-like pain and burning down both legs into my feet, lower back pain and muscle spasms in my back and legs. I couldn't sleep and was irritable. Three days later, I started noticing balance and coordination difficulties. It was so bad I was finding it hard to stand and walk, often falling into walls. I was dizzy and shaky. My cognitive abilities were diminished. Days later, close to the end of week 3 of being on the Imipramine, I began to have nerve-like pain in my arms and hands, my lips and tongue were numb, and my lips were peeling excessively. I was sure it was the Imipramine by then and stopped taking it at week 4. Thirty hours after my last dose, I noticed a slight improvement of side effects. Four to five days later, all the side effects were greatly reduced, and by seven days after the last dose of the Imipramine, all symptoms had stopped and I began to feel like my normal self. I never noticed that it helped the IBS."

• Kat...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 26, 2021

"I started taking the 10 mg of imipramine in September 2020 for my IBSD. I was told to take it at night because it makes you drowsy. I had the total opposite reaction. It kept me up at night and did not make me drowsy at all. I ended up switching to take it in the morning instead. By November, I noticed that the low dosage was not helping much with my IBSD. My doctor upped my dose to 25 mg, and I started having horrible night sweats. I was waking up every hour at night drenched in sweats. Other than that, this medication really worked for my stomach when the dose was at 25 mg. I wish I did not have this horrible side effect!"

• Joc...
• January 27, 2011

"Great for irritable bowel syndrome, but I've gained a lot of weight."

• Anonymous
• March 10, 2023

"Great. It's better than amitriptyline in case of side effects, i.e., confusion, sedation, etc."